UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (NEVADA.) 



761 



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to enter a protest upon the City Council, during 

 its sitting in January as a board of equalization, 

 concerning the disproportion between the assess- 

 ments of real estate and the property of such 

 corporations as the street-railway, electric-light, 

 telephone, gas, and water companies. The Coun- 

 cil refused to entertain their protest, and an in- 

 junction was served by the Supreme Court re- 

 straining the Council from passing the tax-levy 

 ordinance until a hearing had been secured in 

 the cases of the 5 corporations above mentioned. 

 The litigation lasted three montns. The injunc- 

 tion was dissolved on May 18, after the hearings 

 had been completed, and resulted in an increase 

 of $1,523,190 in the assessments of the 5 public- 

 service corporations. The ruling was that the 

 bonded indebtedness of the corporations, instead 

 of being subtracted from the taxable property, 

 i added to it. 



Penitentiary. The $75,000 appropriated by 

 the Legislature to rebuild the Penitentiary, -which 

 had suffered by a fire, proved insufficient to com- 

 plete the new structure, and work was suspended. 

 Political. In the State election, Nov. 4, the 

 Republican ticket was successful by a large ma- 

 jority. The following were the officers chosen: 

 Governor, John H. Mickey; Lieutenant-Governor, 

 E. G. M'Gilton; Secretary of State, George W. 

 Marsh; Treasurer, Peter Mortensen; Auditor, 

 Charles Weston; Attorney-General, Frank N. 

 Prout; Commissioner of Public Lands and Build- 

 ings, George D. Follmer; Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction, William K. Fowler. The 5 Rep- 

 resentatives elected to Congress were all Repub- 

 licans. 



The platform adopted at the party convention 

 in June expressed its sympathy with the Pres- 

 ident's policy in favor of the national irrigation 

 law; favored a speedy revision of the State Con- 

 stitution to meet the changed conditions of the 

 new century; called for the enactment of addi- 

 tional, laws to hold every custodian of public 

 funds responsible for the repayment of principal 

 and accruing interest; called attention to the ne- 

 cessity of increasing the State's revenues and re- 

 ducing the State's debt, which had exceeded the 

 constitutional limit: to this end requiring a more 

 strict enforcement of the laws relating to assess- 

 ment and taxation, also requiring a revenue from 

 all non-resident corporations writing life and ac- 

 cident insurance in the State (except mutual- 

 benefit and fraternal societies) ; favored the cre- 

 ation of a board of pardons to investigate and 

 pass upon applications for executive clemency; 

 favored the creation of a board of audit, who 

 should examine the accounts of the State Treas- 

 urer and periodically make public reports. 



In the April town elections the main contest 

 was over the liquor question, and high license 

 won in a majority of cases. 



An amendment to the State Constitution, pro- 

 sed by George W. Marsh, Secretary of State, 

 as voted on at the November election. The 

 reposition was to make it easier to amend the 

 'onstitution by requiring that when amendments 

 ave been agreed to by three-fifths of the mem- 

 >ers elected to each house and published at least 

 nee each week in at least one newspaper in 

 ch county for a period of thirty days before an 

 lection of Senators and Representatives (the 

 resent Constitution requires three months), the 

 mendment shall become a part of the Constitu- 

 ion if its adoption is approved by a majority 

 if voters voting at such election on the proposed 

 .mendment (the present Constitvition requires 

 :he vote of " a majority of the electors voting at 

 uch election "). The amendment was defeated by 



the provision which it sought to correct. Out of 

 the 198,574 votes cast at the election, 49,147 were 

 cast in favor of the proposition and 15,999 

 against it, the total for and against not being 

 a majority of the whole. 



NEVADA, a Western State, admitted to the 

 Union Oct. 31, 1864; area, 110,700 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial cen- 

 sus since admission, was 42,491 in 1870; 62,200 

 in 1880; 45,761 in 1890; and 42,335 in 1900. Capi- 

 tal, Carson City. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1902: Governor, Reinhold Sadler; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, James R. Judge; Secretary 

 of State, Eugene Howell; Treasurer, David M. 

 Ryan; Comptroller, Samuel P. Davis; Attorney- 

 General, William Woodburn; Surveyor-General,. 

 Edward D. Kelley; Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, Orvis Ring; Adjutant-General, James 

 R. Judge, ex offlcio; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Thomas V. Julien; Associate Justices, 

 Charles H. Belknap, Albert L. Fitzgerald; Clerk, 

 Eugene Howell, ex officio. All are of the Silver- 

 Democratic party except Superintendent Ring, 

 who is a Republican. William A. Massey resigned 

 as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Gov. 

 Sadler appointed Thomas V. Julien to fill Ihe un- 

 expired term. 



State officers are elected in November, once in 

 four years. An Associate Justice of the Supreme 

 Court is elected in the alternate even-numbered 

 years. The Legislature meets every second year 

 on the second Monday in January. 



Finances. The treasury, Dec. 31, 1902, had 

 $288,616.50 in coin. The State fund securities 

 were: Irredeemable State school funds, Nevada 

 4-per-cent., $240,100; Nevada 5-per-cent., $380.000; 

 United States 4-per-cent, $900,000; total, $1,520,- 

 100. In 1902 the Bond Commissioners redeemed 

 $13,000 worth of bonds and issued $15,500. The 

 Nevada war claims against the Government 

 amounts to $462,000. The annual report of the 

 Treasurer shows that the State is better in a finan- 

 cial W 7 ay than it has ever been. 



Lands. The grants to the State were 2,732,- 

 884.70 acres, of which 30,293.56 acres are still due 

 to the State. There are 1,400,000 acres under con- 

 tract at 6 per cent, per annum. The State has 

 400,000 acres of reverted lands, the greater part 

 of which are for sale at $1.25 an acre. The State 

 has issued patents for 876,378.59 acres. Approxi- 

 mately 61,250,000 acres in the State are owned by 

 the General Government. 



Education. The school population between 

 the age of six and eighteen years is 9,277. The 

 semiannual apportionment was $70,414.27. 



Products. The number of cattle in the State 

 is estimated at 50,000, and the sheep from 5,000,- 

 000 to 7,000,000. 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 met in Reno on Aug. 26, 1902. The Silver Party 

 Convention also met on the same day. After a 

 three days' meeting the two parties agreed to a 

 fusion, and the following ticket was nominated: 

 For Congressman, Clarence Van Duzer; Governor, 

 John Sparks ; Lieutenant-Governor, Lemuel Allen ; 

 Supreme Judge, George F. Talbot; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, James G. Sweeney; Secretary of State. Eu- 

 gene Howell; Treasurer, David M. Ryan; State 

 Comptroller, Samuel P. Davis: Surveyor-General, 

 Edward D. Kelley; Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, John Edwards Bray : Superintendent of 

 State Printing, Andrew Maute: Regents of the 

 State University, William W. Booher (short 

 term), Richard Kirman (long term). 



Their platform pledged to them the free and 

 unlimited coinage of silver; opposed trusts and 



