814: 



TENNESSEE. 



Insurance. For nearly two years the Insur- 

 ance Commissioner has been examining, through 

 his representatives, the books of all insurance 

 companies doing business in the State, for the 

 purpose of ascertaining the correctness of tax re- 

 turns, the law requiring a tax on all premiums 

 received in the State. Premiums properly tax- 

 able and not reported have been found running 

 back as far as fifteen years, and in all cases com- 

 panies have been required to pay the tax. as well 

 as 6 per cent, interest. Most of the unreported 

 premiums were due to misconstruction of the law 

 or carelessness. The expenses of examination are 

 paid bv the delinquent companies. This is the 

 first time that the State has ever made such in- 

 vestigation. 



National Banks. According to the abstract 

 of the reports of the condition of the national 

 banks of the State, the total resources on Sept. 

 7, 1899, aggregated $38,881,748.70. This is $3,- 

 434,411.24 in excess of the total resources as 

 shown by the corresponding statement of 1898. 

 The individual deposits were $21,090,057.90. as 

 compared with $17,827,335.97 in September, 1898. 

 The loans and discounts show an increase over 

 those recorded by the last statement of 1898 of 

 nearly $1,000,000, the amount this year being 

 $21,395,690.58. There is an increase in the lawful 

 money reserve in the banks of about 33 per cent, 

 as compared with the statement of last Septem- 

 ber, the figures being $2,428,050.55, against $1,- 

 803,387.45. In the vaults of the 49 national banks 

 of Tennessee there was $1,532.579.55 in specie; 

 in legal tender notes, $895.477. 



There is only a fraction of 1 per cent, differ- 

 ence in the average reserve held by Tennessee's 

 banks on the date of the statement in 1899 and 

 that of the preceding year, the figures being 32.09 

 per cent, this year, against 32.89 last year. 



Railways. The report of the Railroad Com- 

 missioners for the last biennial period showed a 

 total main track mileage of 3.180.22, of which 

 3,049.10 represented the mileage for operations 

 for railway earning purposes; 118 miles have 

 since been added. The cost of the commission, 

 aside from salaries, was $1,786.89. 



In October an agreement was reached by the 

 State Board of Examiners and the attorneys rep- 

 resenting the railroads which took out of the 

 courts the litigation in regard to the assessments 

 of railroad property for 1897-'98. In 1897 the 

 railroads of the State were assessed at $63.818,- 

 404, an increase over the previous year of about 

 $25,000,000. The examiners were enjoined from 

 certifying the assessments, but the Federal court 

 directed the railroads to pay taxes on a basis of 

 75 per cent, of the assessment. The case was 

 still pending. The present Railroad Commission 

 assessed the railroads for the next two years at 

 $52,880,718, and the examiners had decided to in- 

 crease the assessments by about $6,000,000 when 

 the compromise proposition was made, and, after 

 negotiations, accepted. The assessment as fixed 

 by the commission of $52,880,718 is to be accepted 

 by the State and by the railroads for all four 

 years 1897 to 1900. 



Localized railroad property is assessed at $2,- 

 322,289, as against $2,689.222 in 1896, and $3,118,- 

 234 in 1897. A compromise was made also with 

 the Knoxville and Ohio, which has a charter of 

 exemption from ad valorem taxes, but has had to 

 pay privileges. The railroad is to pay $4,500 an- 

 nually for ten years and then surrender the char- 

 ter of exemption as to ad valorem taxes. 



Telephone and telegraph property is assessed 

 at $1,332,941.10, as against $765,067.10 in 1896 

 and $2,185,395.50 in 1897. 



Industries and Products. The phosphate 

 industry has been growing rapidly, and large 

 amounts of capital are now invested in it. The 

 product in 1898 was given as 272,191 tons. 



The cotton crop of 1898-*99 was 414,000 bal.-. 

 and the amount consumed by mills in the Slate 

 34.31(1 bales. There are 23 mills with 103.300 

 spindles. 



From the report of the Commissioner of Labor, 

 Statistics, and Mines, published in May, it is 

 learned that the number of coal mines in the 

 State was then 76, of which 61 were in operation, 

 while several others were opened in the summer, 

 and 3,084.748 tons were produced during the y ar. 

 The maximum numl>er of men employed \\as 

 7,820. The amount of coal converted into >k- 

 was 736,280 tons. 



The production of other minerals \va- ;is fol- 

 lows: Iron ore. 595,777 tons; pig iron, 2> 

 tons; copper. 89.721 tons; zinc, 454 tons; man- 

 ganese. 1.250 tons. 



All minerals have shown an increase over the 

 previous year, the most marked being in coal, 

 coke, and iron ore. The increase in the output 

 of coal was 203.754 tons; coke, 25,960 tons; and 

 iron ore. 69.013 tons. 



There were strikes of miners at the Dayton, 

 Ducktown. and Goddy mines. 



Lawlessness. A dispatch of Sept. 2 says: 

 " Wednesday night 6 Mormon elders were < < in- 

 ducting a meeting in a schoolhouse at Pine HI nil', 

 Stewart County, when the building was stormed 

 by a mob of over 100 men. Kggs and rocks \\ere 

 thrown through the windows and the building 

 almost demolished. Those present fled to -a\e 

 their lives, as bullets commenced to strike the 

 building thick and fast. Miss May Harden, a 

 young woman of the place, walked between the 

 elders Olson and Petty with a view to phot-king 

 the work of the mob. While the trio passed down 

 the road shots were fired from ambush, and the 

 woman was hit and almost instantly killed." 



Legislative Session. The General A embly 

 met Jan. 2 and adjourned April 24. Hon. Sied 

 Waddell was President of the Senate, and Hon. 

 Joseph \V. Byrns was Speaker of the llon-e. 



Senator William B. Bate wa- rr elected to the 

 United States Senate by a vote of 94 to 23 for 

 Hon. G. N. Tillman, the Republican candidate. 



Out of 1.721 bills introduced, 435 were pa !. 

 Many were important. Among them wa- the 

 creation of a sinking fund for beginning the pay- 

 ment of the State debt. The tax rate \v:i- rai-ed 

 to 50 cents on the hundred dollars; of this 

 35 will be for general purposes and 15 for 

 schools. The assessment law was redrawn, with 

 a view to reaching personalty that has been escap- 

 ing taxation and all property that has been rated 

 too low. The power which it seemed to give for 

 back assessments of property that might be found 

 to have escaped its just taxes caused dissati^ fac- 

 tion and criticism; the matter was referred to the 

 courts, and an opinion was rendered at Chat- 

 tanooga in October that no reassessments or 

 back assessments could be made under the law 

 till 1900. and not then unless the owner refn-e- 

 to turn in his property at its actual cash value. 

 A State board of equalization was created, to 

 consist of the Treasurer, the Comptroller, and 

 the Secretary of State, who are to serve without 

 additional compensation. The revenue laws were 

 changed so as to increase the income. The fee 

 for filing the charter of a foreign corporation will 

 be $100. A tax of one tenth of 1 per rent, is 

 imposed on the capital stock of domestic corpora- 

 tions. The fee for registering a charter is raided 

 from $3 to $10. The tax on mutual fire-insurance 



