SOUTH CAROLINA. 



SOUTH DAKOTA. 



801 



Provision was made for the increase and reduc- 

 tion of capital stock by corporations other than 

 railway, turnpike, and canal companies. It is 

 forbidden to levy and collect taxes to pay town- 

 ship bonds in aid of railroads not completed 

 through the townships and not accepted by the 

 Railroad Commissioners. 



The law for inspection of fertilizers was amend- 

 ed. They are not to be sold without the stamp 

 or tag showing that they have been inspected. 

 Dealers in long, or sea island cotton in the seed 

 are to pay a license of $50. A maximum schedule 

 of charges for the sale of leaf tobacco by ware- 

 houses was fixed. Cotton bales weighing 300 

 pounds or more are made merchantable, and 

 buyers are required to accept them. 



Loans by the Sinking Fund Commission must 

 be repaid in gold or silver coin, in United States 

 currency, or national bank notes. A poll tax of 

 $1 a year is to be levied, the proceeds to go to 

 public schools. The penalty for nonpayment is 

 $5 to $10 or imprisonment ten to twenty days. 

 Liens for taxes are to expire in ten years. 



An instrument without a seal shall be con- 

 strued as having a seal attached when it is clear 

 that the makers intended it to be sealed. It is 

 required that the affidavits upon which a warrant 

 attachment is granted be filed at once, and copies 

 served upon the defendant. 



A general law was made for the amendment of 

 town and city charters. The metropolitan police 

 law was repealed. Places of 45,000 may acquire 

 lands for hospital, park, and other municipal 

 purposes. Such cities or towns, before contract- 

 ing debt beyond their income for the current 

 year, except for light, water, and sewerage, must 

 declare their intention by a two-third vote in 

 council, must affirm this declaration by a two- 

 third vote of electors, and must submit the propo- 

 sition to the Legislature for approval. Towns 

 of 500 to 1,000 may maintain fire departments 

 and establish fire limits. 



The act for establishing new counties and for 

 changing county lines and moving county seats 

 was amended. Recent legislative acts establish- 

 ing new counties, found to be unconstitutional, 

 were repealed and the former status restored. 

 County supervisors may exchange convict labor 

 and hire such labor, one county from another. 



Persons holding offices of the State or in public 

 institutions are forbidden to take compensation 

 other than that provided by law. An act was 

 passed creating a board of county commissioners, 

 taking the place of the present county and town- 

 ship commissioners, who are to continue in office 

 as county boards of equalization and township 

 assessors. 



The tax levy was fixed at 5 mills. Among 

 appropriations were: To South Carolina College, 

 $25,000 ; to the Citadel Military Academy, $20,000 ; 

 to the negro college, $15,000; to Winthrop, 

 $35,450, of which $5,450 is for scholarships; for 

 the militia, $8,000; to the Asylum for the Deaf 

 and Blind, $19,000; to the Hospital for the Insane, 

 $108,800; Catawba Indians, $800. 



Among other measures were the following: 



Making distress for rent subject to prior liens 

 on property ; landlords may issue distress warrants 

 where tenants remove from their premises before 

 expiration of the contract. 



Making desecration of graves and cemeteries a 

 misdemeanor. 



Requiring travelers on roads, causeways, and 

 bridges to keep to the right of the center. 



Permitting the State Board of Health to order 

 vaccination and enforce orders. 



Requiring the State Board of Health to co- 

 VOL. xxxix. 51 A 



operate with the Government in establishing 

 quarantine rules for the protection of the live 

 stock industry. 



Authorizing the utilization of the county chain 

 gang for labor for preserving public health. 



Requiring employers of women in mercantile 

 establishments to provide seats for them. 



To prevent shooting on the highways. 



Making it a misdemeanor to order work to be 

 done in shops on Sunday. 



To provide for immediate payment of wages 

 due discharged laborers. 



To punish persons digging ginseng from March 

 15 to Sept. 15. 



Permitting convicts sentenced for less than five 

 years, instead of three, to be employed in the 

 chain gang. 



Decisions. The statute allowing an owner of 

 land surrounded by private lands to gain a pri- 

 vate road to a highway by condemnation pro- 

 ceedings was pronounced unconstitutional this 

 year, as taking private property for private use 

 without the owner's consent. 



Two decisions were rendered in regard to dogs 

 one that they are property and may be subjects 

 of larceny; the other, that a railroad company 

 can not be charged with negligence and held for 

 damages for the killing of a dog upon the track 

 by a train. 



In a case of the State against a railroad in 

 which it was sought to collect taxes on property 

 which, it was alleged, had been escaping taxation, 

 the court decided that assessment was necessary 

 to produce liability, and as the complaint did 

 not claim that the property had been assessed 

 there was no liability. 



Claims against the Government. The Gov- 

 ernor in November wrote to the governors of 

 other Southern States, asking their co-operation 

 in recovering from the Government moneys 

 claimed to be due to citizens of those States. The 

 amount, the letter says, is about $11,000,000, aris- 

 ing from the sale of cotton seized by the forces 

 of the United States and its Treasury agents 

 during the period of the war and during a few 

 years thereafter. 



SOUTH DAKOTA, a Western State, admitted 

 to the Union Nov. 3, 1889; area, 77,650 square 

 miles. The population, according to the census of 

 1890, was 328,808. Capital, Pierre. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1899: Governor, Andrew E. Lee, Popu- 

 list; Lieutenant Governor, John T. Kean, Repub- 

 lican ; Secretary of State, William H. Roddle, Re- 

 publican; Treasurer, John Schamber, Republican; 

 Auditor, James D. Reeves, Republican; Attorney- 

 General, John L. Pyle, Republican; Superintend- 

 ent of Schools, E. E. Collins, Republican; Com- 

 missioner of School and Public Lands, David 

 Eastman, Republican; Adjutant General, H. A. 

 Humphrey; Mine Inspector, James Cusick; Oil 

 Inspector, R. E. J. Meyer; Public Examiner, 

 Maris Taylor; Commissioner of Insurance, L. C. 

 Campbell ; Surveyor, William L. Bruce ; Veterina- 

 rian, J. W. Elliott; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Dighton Corson, Republican; Associate 

 Justices, Dick Haney and Howard G. Fuller, Re- 

 publicans; Clerk, Miss Jessie Fuller. 



Finances. The report of the Treasurer for the 

 year ending June 30 shows the receipts from 

 all sources to have been $1,048,979.28. The dis- 

 bursements were $1,011,387.28. Among collec- 

 tions were: From counties, $237,674.79; lease of 

 lands, $2,382.75; liquor license, $56,752.28; insur- 

 ance, $21,239.87; miscellaneous, $131,324.77; 

 telegraphs, $8,874.94; telephones, $2,984.07. Re- 

 ceipts from counties for the insane tax were $85,- 



