WASHINGTON. 





The laws in regard to peddlers' licenses, pawn- 

 brokers, and junk dealers were modified, and it was 

 provided that dealers in farm and garden seeds 

 shall be bound as guarantors that the seeds are as 

 represented. Local authorities may pay public 

 money for extermination of the San Jose scale ; 

 formerly the owner was liable. 



Other enactments of the Legislature at this session 

 included the following: 



Prohibiting the manufacture and sale of adul- 

 terated candy, and also of adulterated wheat flour, 

 unless marked. 



Requiring corporations organized as social clubs 

 to pay a license tax to dispense liquor. 



Amending the law providing for fines for pro- 

 fanity and drunkenness, so that it does not apply 

 to towns and cities having police regulations on the 

 subject. 



Amending the law on collateral inheritance tax 

 so that it does not apply to property used exclu- 

 sively for State, county, municipal, charitable, edu- 

 cational, or religious purposes. 



.Requiring railroads to carry bicycles as bag- 

 gage. 



Providing that the penalty for an excessive ex- 

 press charge is not to be enforced if the excess is 

 refunded within ten days after demand. 



Prohibiting imitations of butter from being col- 

 ored like or sold as butter, and requiring placards, 

 " Imitation butter used here," to be exhibited in 

 hotels, bakeries, etc., where oleomargarine, butter- 

 ine, or the like is used. 



Providing that building and loan associations 

 and similar institutions may elect trustees for a 

 fixed term ; rights and po wers of the original trus- 

 tees are vested in new trustees. 



Providing for listing by owner of bonds, notes, 

 and other securities, and statement of indebtedness 

 of owner ; no deduction for indebtedness on account 

 of non-taxable securities or for debts created to 

 evade taxation. 



For taxing slot machines $2.50 a year. 



Providing for fine or imprisonment for riding a 

 bicycle, vehicle, or animal on any sidewalk in an 

 unincorporated village. 



Abolishing the office of Fish Commissioner and 

 the Board on the Chesapeake, and creating a Board 

 of Fisheries to enforce the laws relative to oyster and 

 fish industries. 



Changing the limit of the open season for oysters 



from April 1 to April 15, with exceptions. 



Requiring companies other than those for works 

 of internal improvement, incorporated under gen- 

 eral law, to file annually a list of their officers and 

 directors; and in cases where the officers and direc- 

 tors are not residents of the county where the prin- 

 cipal office is located, to appoint agents upon whom 

 process may be served. 



Requiring employers to provide seats for women 

 in their employ. 



Forbidding proprietors of billiard or pool tables 

 to allow minors to play without consent of parents 

 or guardians, and forbidding the selling of articles 

 for use in games of billiards or pool to college stu- 

 dents under twenty-one. 



Changing the law for taxation of building and 

 loan associations so as to require a license tax of 

 $50 on companies with a capital stock of less than 

 $25,000. 



The Senate passed a bill to submit the question 

 of calling a constitutional convention to vote in 

 the spring of 1899. The Ilouse amended it by fix- 

 ing the time in the autumn of the same year, but 

 the Senate refused to concur, and the bill failed. 



The reductions made in salaries and appropria- 

 tions amount to about $100,000 a year. For crim- 

 inal expenses $260,000 was appropriated, though 

 $300,000 has been the cost. Other amounts appro- 

 priated were : State University, $45.000 ; Medical 

 College, $4,000; Soldiers' Home, $35,000; 1' 

 Dumb, and Blind Institute, $35.000 ; Central Hos- 

 pital, $75,000 ; Western Hospital, $85,000 ; South- 

 western Hospital. $49.000; oyster navy, $20,000; 

 public printing, $25,000; Rsstern Hospital, $68,- 

 500 ; Colored Normal and Collegiate Institute. $15,- 

 000; Military Institute, $30,000; Polytechnic In- 

 stitute, $15,000. 



Political. No State officers were elected this 

 year. At the congressional elections in November 

 all the Democratic candidates were succe>>ful. 

 Official tabulation of the returns shows that the 

 total vote was 173,368, of which the parties received 

 as follows: Democratic, 105,439: Republican, 66,- 

 156 : Prohibition. 988 : scattering. 7^~>. 



The Legislature for 1899 stands : Democrats in 

 the Senate 35, in the House 95 ; Republicans. 4 in 

 each house : I Populist in the Senate ; and 1 Inde- 

 pendent in the House. 



WASHINGTON. A Pacific coast State, admitted 

 to the Union Nov. 11, 1889 ; area, 69,180 square miles. 

 Population, according to the census of 1890, 349,390. 

 Capital, Olympia. 



Government. The State officers for the year 

 were : Governor, John R. Rogers ; Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor, Thurston Daniels ; Secretary of State, Will D. 

 Jenkins; Treasurer, C. W. Young; Auditor, Neal 

 Cheatham ; Commissioner of Public Lands, Robert 

 Bridges; Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 Frank J. Browne; Attorney-General, Patrick II. 

 Winston. 



Finances. The total receipts for the two years 

 ending Oct. 31, 1898, were $3,984,049.30; the total 

 disbursements, $3.443,424.31. The general fund 

 amounted to $42,426.13; the military fund to 

 $9.166.61; the interest fund to $19,798.20; the per- 

 manent school fund to $243,425.93; the current 

 school fund to $187,955.46; the revolving fund, 

 Penitentiary, to $115,764.11 ; the grain inspection 

 fund to $9,544.87 ; the university fund to $1,624.39 ; 

 the fish hatchery fund to $15,744.42; the United 



States fund to $9,135.93; the printing and binding 

 fund to $817.51 ; the harbor fund to $1.513.48; tin- 

 State library fund. $12.', ) .">.s!i : special land deposits, 

 $998.31 ; special tide land deposits, $99.25 ; deposits 

 for survey of tide lands, $210; making a total of 

 $670,480.49. 



Owing to the failure of tho Legislature of 1897 to 

 make appropriations from the revolving and grain 

 inspection funds for UM- of departments dependant 

 upon those funds, a largo part of tho money was 

 diverted from its usual channel and applied direct. 

 As a consequence, the volume of business in these 

 funds \v;i" comparatively small. 



The permanent school fund also showed an un- 

 usually largo balance of cash on hand, duo to the 

 failure of t lie Board of Slate Land Commissioners 

 to find investments other than general fund war- 

 rants, which, owing to tho premium thereon, ran 

 not be secured for 'this fund in sumYient amounts 

 to absorb the surplus. 



Slate Institutions. Tho State Board of Audit 

 and Control succeeded the Boards of Trustees and 



