MONTANA. 



513 



word, but contracts between the agency and the 

 papers. 



Education. The estimates for the higher in- 

 stitutions of learning of the State for the bien- 

 nial period were: Normal school, $29,910; uni- 

 versity, $42,180; College of Agriculture and ex- 

 periment station, $15,910, in addition to the Gov- 

 ernment appropriation; School of Mines, $20,300. 



It is expected that the School of Mines will 

 be ready for opening in September, 1900. The 

 dedication exercises of the State University, at 

 Missoula, took place Feb. 18. 



A table of the libraries of the State gives the 

 total number of volumes as 157,000. It includes 

 not only public and free libraries and those in 

 State institutions, but those of school districts 

 and of private institutions. 



The school children of the State have chosen 

 the pine by vote as the State tree. Last Arbor 

 Day they planted 375 trees. 



The Supreme Court gave a decision in October 

 which threatens to close the schools for a large 

 part of the time before the next session of the 

 Legislature in some parts of the State. The 

 law, passed some years ago and amended in 1897, 

 providing for the voting of special school levies 

 was declared inoperative, because of vagueness 

 and ambiguity in its wording. The law came 

 before the courts on a suit by the Great Northern 

 Railroad, which refused payment of a tax of 

 $1,800 levied after vote according to the law. 



Charities and Corrections. The number of 

 inmates at the State Soldiers' Home, Dec. 1, was 

 51, the same number as on Dec. 1, 1898. In the 

 year 19 were admitted, 10 died, and 9 were dis- 

 charged. The average age is between 62 and G3. 

 The receipts were $11,308.30, of which $7,200 was 

 the State appropriation, $3,358 came from the 

 Government, and the remainder from pensions 

 retained. The total expenses were $9,894.24. 



The deaf-mute asylum cost the State for the 

 year $12,683.02. 



The report of the Commissioners for the Insane 

 shows that, while there were 457 patients in the 

 .asylum on Dec. 1, 1898, there were 427 at the 

 same date in 1899, of whom 375 were men. The 

 whole number treated during the year was 602. 

 The total cost of maintenance was $114,140.50 for 

 the year; $2,250 was received for those not indi- 

 gent. 



In the State Prison there were 328 convicts on 

 Dec. 1 ; in the year 148 had been received, 183 

 released, and 6 had died. The cost of maintenance 

 was $52,806.40. The contractors reported great 

 improvement in the conduct of the prisoners this 

 year. They have organized a full military band 

 among the inmates. 



Products. The sheep industry is reported to 

 have yielded about $4,500,000 during the year 

 ending Nov. 30. Of this amount about $3,000,000 

 came from the sale of wool. The number of sheep 

 and lambs slaughtered or shipped out of the State 

 since March 1 was 368,421 ; the number of pounds 

 of wool sheared was 23.290,639. 



The latest figures at hand on the mineral pro- 

 duction are for 1898, published in May. They 

 show that the total value of mineral products of 

 the State that year was $51,319,067.15. Of this 

 amount the following sums were contributed by 

 the different metals: Gold, valued at $5.247,912.91 ; 

 silver, $19,159,842; copper, 216,979,354 fine pounds, 

 valued at $26.102,616.29. The value of the lead 

 taken out of the mines last year was $809,035.78. 



The Mine Inspector says of 1899: "A compari- 

 son of the mining industry during the year with 

 previous years exhibits a marked improvement. 

 More mines are in operation, a greater number 

 VOL. xxxix. A 33 



of men employed, with better methods arid results 

 in the mining, smelting, milling, cyan id ing, and 

 the combination of these urnl other processes 

 which are being applied to the recovery of values 

 contained in the ores of this State. Several old 

 mines, after a long period of inactivity, have 

 resumed operations, and are yielding handsome 

 profits from a class of ores that were worthless 

 to their early operators." 



Lands. In the year 218,058 acres won- se- 

 lected for the State. This nearly completes the 

 location of lands to which Montana is entitled. 

 Of the several grants made by Congress, all have 

 now been filled, with the exception of the public 

 buildings grant and the Agricultural College in- 

 come grant, which have approximately 45,000 

 and 3,500 acres respectively to be selected. 



To meet the unusual demand for grazing lands 

 the Land Agent, acting under instructions of the 

 board, selected 115,000 acres of indemnity school 

 land in lieu of the school lands upon the Fort 

 Peck Indian reservation, also 21,000 acres of lieu 

 lands for school lands claimed by homesteaders 

 and miners. 



The Northern Pacific, having facilities for as- 

 certaining the exact location of valuable bodies 

 of timber on unsurveyed land, forestalls the State 

 in regard to many desired locations and places 

 forest-reserve scrip upon them. In addition, 

 speculators have secured large amounts of Cali- 

 fornia forest-reserve scrip, and are indefatigable 

 in their searching and scripping the unsurveyed 

 domain. 



The report of the Land Register shows a large 

 increase in business, the receipts for the year 

 ending Nov. 30 having been $200,195.20, against 

 $126,883.31 the preceding year. Of the sum re- 

 ceived, $100,415.80 was for leases, $41,666.23 for 

 timber sales, and $27,098.78 for land sales of the 

 year, the remainder coming from payments on 

 sales and rental of preceding years. 



Insurance. The fire companies doing business 

 in the State in 1898 wrote $37,396,391.69 of insur- 

 ance, $739,954.29 was received in gross premiums, 

 $255,255.31 losses paid, and $246,783.14 in losses 

 incurred. 



The regular life insurance companies collected 

 in premiums $703,262, and incurred losses of 

 $154,115, and had at the end of the year $20,192,- 

 799 insurance in force. 



The mutual benefit companies received $30,526 

 and disbursed $24,000. 



The New Capitol. The corner stone of the 

 new Capitol was laid July 4. Joseph K. Toole, 

 first Governor of the State, was the orator of the 

 day. He deprecated the inscription on the great 

 seal of the State, " Oro y Plata " (gold and sil- 

 ver), and suggested as a better motto, "No 

 tyrannical sentiment can intimidate, no gilded 

 bribes seduce." 



Legislative Session. The Legislature was in 

 session from Jan. 2 to March 2. T. P. Cullen 

 was President pro tempore of the Senate and 

 Henry C. Stiff was Speaker of the House. 



There were in the Senate 5 Republicans, 18 

 Democrats, and 1 Populist; in the House, 10 Re- 

 publicans, 56 Democrats, and 4 Silver Republicans, 

 but 1 Democratic Senator was later unseated in 

 favor of a Republican. 



The election of a successor to United States 

 Senator Lee Mantle devolved upon this Legisla- 

 ture. The leading candidates were W. A. Clark 

 and W. G. Conrad, both Democrats. Other can- 

 didates who received support were J. K. Toole, 

 T. C. Marshall, J. M. Fox, F. M. Malone. E. D. 

 Matts, C. S. Hartman, Lee Mantle, H. L. Frank, 

 C. W. Hoffman, Martin Maginnis, and Messrs. 



