698 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (ARKANSAS.) 



her the Guard consisted of 2 regiments and 7 sepa- 

 rate companies 31 companies in all of infantry, 

 a battalion of cavalry, and a battery of light- 

 artillery. In June the adjutant-general demand- 

 ed the resignation, which was tendered, of Farry 

 H. Myers, nominee of the regular Republicans for 

 Governor as lieutenant-colonel and judge-advo- 

 cate general of the State Guard. The demand, it 

 is understood, was based upon Myers's speech in 

 accepting the Republican nomination for Gov- 

 ernor, when he referred to Gov. Jefferson Davis, 

 the Democratic nominee and commander of the 

 State Guard, as a " human windmill and bom- 

 bastic dictator." 



Railroads. The number of miles of new rail- 

 road-track laid in 1901 was 155.91. The annual 

 report of the Railroad Commission, rendered in 

 September, 1902, says : " Encouraging progress 

 has been made in the construction and extension 

 of railroads running into practically new and un- 

 developed sections of the State. The White River 

 Railroad, a branch of the Missouri Pacific sys- 

 tem, is being built from a point north of Bates- 

 ville up White river in the direction of the zinc- 

 fields of northeast Arkansas. The St. Louis and 

 North Arkansas Railroad has been extended from 

 Eureka Springs to Harrison, a distance of some 

 45 miles, and the construction is being pushed, 

 with Marshall as the present objective point. 

 The Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway, the 

 Fort Smith Western Railroad, the Arkansas and 

 Choctaw, and the South Missouri and Arkansas, 

 have also made considerable progress in construc- 

 tion." 



The annual meeting of the Association of 

 Southern Railroad Commissioners was held at 

 Hot Springs in October. A resolution was adopt- 

 ed " asking the national Congress to pass an act 

 requiring federal courts to treat all cases ari- 

 sing under and by virtue of laws creating railroad 

 commissioners, whether State or interstate, 

 wherein the public interests are involved, as ' pref- 

 erence cases,' and as such they be entitled to be 

 placed at the head of the docket and to be speed- 

 ily and promptly heard." 



Insurance. A statement showing the sums 

 paid by life-insurance companies in the cities and 

 towns of the State gives a total of $949,433. In 

 the same year the fire companies received $1,258,- 

 878 in premiums, and paid losses amounting to 

 3717,838. 



Congressional Appropriations. For im- 

 provement of rivers in the Arkansas district, 

 Congress appropriated as follows: Upper White, 

 $270,000; Arkansas, $110,000; lower White, $22,- 

 000; Black, $21,700; Current, $6,900; St. Fran- 

 cis and 1'Anguille, $9,000; Cache, $2,000. The 

 total mileage of the rivers of the Arkansas dis- 

 trict is 1,571. For repairing the Government 

 levee near Walnut Bend and extending it to Wheel 

 Ridge $90,000 was appropriated. Provision was 

 also made for public buildings at Hot Springs, 

 Fort Smith, Batesville, and Harrison. 



Products and Industries. The coal-product 

 of the State in 1901 was valued, according to the 

 bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, 

 at $2,033,193; the number of tons was 1,784,136. 



A great deposit of liquid asphalt is being 

 opened up in Pike County. Beneath it has been 

 discovered a stratum of fullers' earth. 



About 3,000 persons are engaged in the pearl 

 industry in the vicinity of Newport. Two steam- 

 boats and barges are employed in transporting 

 the mussel-shells on White river. 



The amount of capital invested in the lumber 

 industry increased between 1880 and 1900 from 

 $1,067,840 to $21,727,710. 



The capital in grist and flour mills in 1900 was 

 $1,183,052; the value of the product, $3,708,709. 



The number of farms in the State in 1900 was 

 178,694; the value, $135,182,170; total value of 

 farm property, $181,416,001; number engaged in 

 agriculture, 340,994; farm-products, $79,649,490. 



The estimate of the average yield of corn to 

 the acre in 1902 was 20.9 ; in 1901 it was 8.1 ; the 

 mean of the average of the past ten years was 

 17.3. 



The cotton-crop of 1901-'02, according to Sec- 

 retary Hester's report, was 820,000 bales, against 

 762,000 the year next preceding. The consump- 

 tion in mills of the State was 2,463 bales. The 

 whole number of spindles was 14,588; number of 

 looms, 150; of mills, 4. 



The cotton-seed product was 190,015 tons; the 

 cost, $2,245,710; the products, $3,188,812. 



The number of commercial failures in the State 

 the first half of the year was given as 152, with 

 liabilities of $795,380. In the corresponding 

 months of 1901 there were 116, with liabilities 

 of $611,009. 



Early in the year measures were taken to col- 

 lect relief for the sufferers by the drought in the 

 northern part of the State in 1901. 



Court Decisions. The Supreme Court has sus- 

 tained the act of the Legislature of 1901 author- 

 izing cities of the first class to pass vehicle te,x 

 ordinances. The tax was resisted on the ground 

 that it was unconstitutional and void " in this, 

 that it is either an attempt by the Legislature 

 to authorize said cities to impose or levy a 

 direct tax upon wheeled vehicles as property, 

 in excess of the amount limited by the Constitu- 

 tion and in violation of its provisions relating 

 to taxation, or is an attempt to create out of the 

 common right to use vehicles a privilege and 

 thereupon to tax the same." 



The act " to suppress the illegal sale of liquors, 

 and to destroy the same when found in prohib- 

 ited districts " was attacked, but was pronounced 

 constitutional by the Supreme Court. 



Hot Springs. In the annual report of the 

 Secretary of the Interior much attention is given 

 to the Hot Springs reservation. It says in part: 

 " The success of the Hot Springs as a health re- 

 sort since the assumption of supervisory control 

 by the Government in 1878 has been remarkable. 

 The increase in patronage has been constant year 

 by year. During this period of twenty-four years 

 the superintendent estimates that a total of 650,- 

 000 people havevisited Hot Springs for health and 

 recreation; the patronage of the year just ended 

 was 65,000. 



The reservations, including the mountainous 

 districts known as North mountain, Sugar Loaf 

 mountain, and West mountain, together with 

 Hot Springs mountain, were forever reserved from 

 sale and dedicated to public use as parks. These 

 reservations, with Whittington Avenue reserve, 

 comprise in all 911.63 a'cres. 



Little Bock. The local chapter of the Daugh- 

 ters of the Confederacy last winter entered an 

 emphatic protest against any presentation of the 

 play Uncle Tom's Cabin in the capital city. 



Pardons. The Governor, having been inducf d 

 to grant a pardon for remission of a fine by a 

 petition on which, as was afterward found, about 

 100 names were forged, including those of tie 

 sheriff, the clerk, and the prosecuting attorney, 

 issued a proclamation directing that in futuie 

 " the applicant or his attorney shall deposit peti- 

 tion for pardon with the circuit clerk of li s 

 county fifteen days, subject to the inspection of 

 the general public." 



The Governor gained considerable notoriety in 



