UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (WASHINGTON.) 



815 



iw; but no act increasing such salary shall take 



feet until after the end of the term for which 

 members voting thereon were elected. 



The General Assembly shall meet once in two 

 ears on the second Wednesday in January next 

 succeeding the election of the members of the 

 House of Delegates, to continue sixty days; but 

 with the concurrence of three-fifths of the mem- 

 bers elected to each house, the session may be 

 extended for a further period not exceeding thirty 

 days. 



The Governor shall hold office for a term of 

 four years, to commence on the 1st day of Feb- 

 ruary next succeeding his election, and be in- 

 eligible to the same office for the term next suc- 

 ceeding that for which he was elected. 



The Supreme Court of Appeals shall consist of 

 5 judges, any 3 of whom may hold a court. It 

 shall have original jurisdiction in cases of habeas 

 curium, mandamus, and prohibition; but in all 

 other cases in which it shall have jurisdiction 

 it shall have appellate jurisdiction only. 



The assent of at least 3 of the judges shall be 

 required for the court to determine that any 

 law is, or is not, repugnant to the Constitution 

 of this State or of the United States; and if, in 

 a case involving the constitutionality of any such 

 law, not more than two of the judges sitting 

 agree in opinion on the constitutional question 

 involved, and the case can not be determined, 

 without passing on such question, no decision 

 shall be rendered therein, but the case shall be 

 reheard by a full court. 



The judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals 

 shall be chosen by the joint vote of the two 

 houses of the General Assembly. They shall, 

 when chosen, have held a judicial station in the 

 United States, or shall have practised law in this 

 or some other State for five years. They shall be 

 elected for terms of twelve years. 



The General Assembly shall set apart as a per- 

 manent and perpetual literary fund the present 

 literary fund of the State; the proceeds of all 

 public lands donated by Congress for public free- 

 school purposes ; of all escheated property ; of all 

 waste and unappropriated lands; of all property 

 accruing to the State by forfeiture and all fines 

 collected for offenses committed against the 

 State and such other sums as the General As- 

 sembly may appropriate. 



The State tax for schools may not be less than 

 1 mill on the dollar, nor more than 5 mills. 



Each separate school district may raise addi- 

 tional sums by a tax on property not to exceed 

 in the aggregate 5 mills on the dollar in any one 

 year for establishing and maintaining schools, 

 with the provision that primary schools be main- 

 taineM at least four months in the year before 

 schools of a higher grade receive appropriation. 



The General Assembly may provide for the 

 compulsory education of children between the 

 ages of eight and twelve years. 



White and colored children shall not be taught 

 in the same 'school. 



A board of directors, consisting of 5 members, 

 is charged with the management and control of 

 the State Penitentiary and prison farms. A spe- 

 cial board of directors, consisting of 3 members, 

 is provided for each of the 4 State hospitals, and 

 these special boards are constituted a general 

 board for the control of all the hospitals for the 

 insane in the State. 



A permanent commission to consist of 3 mem- 

 bers, to be known as the State Corporation Com- 

 mission, appointed by the Governor, subject to 

 confirmation by the General Assembly, is to hold 

 office for six years. One of the commissioners 



must have the same qualifications that are pre- 

 scribed for judges of the Supreme Court of Ap- 

 peals. The commission becomes a department 

 of the government through which shall be issued 

 all charters and amendments or extensions there- 

 of for domestic corporations, and all licenses to 

 do business in this State to foreign corporations, 

 and through it will be carried out all the provi- 

 sions of the Constitution, and of the laws made 

 in pursuance thereof, for the creation, visitation, 

 supervision, regulation, and control of corpora- 

 tions chartered by and doing business in the 

 State. It shall from time to time prescribe and 

 enforce against all transportation and transmis- 

 sion companies such rate charges, classifications 

 of traffic, and rules and regulations, and shall re- 

 quire them to establish and maintain all such 

 public service, facilities, and conveniences as may 

 be reasonable and just. It has the power and 

 authority of a court of record, to administer 

 oaths, to compel the attendance of witnesses, 

 and the production of papers, to punish for con- 

 tempt, and to enforce compliance with any of 

 its lawful orders or requirements. Appeals from 

 its rulings may be taken in the manner in which 

 appeals are taken to the Supreme Court of Ap- 

 peals from the inferior courts. 



Free passes are forbidden except to members 

 and officers of the State Corporation Commission 

 for their personal use while in office. 



The General Assembly shall enact laws pre- 

 venting all trusts, combinations, and monopolies 

 inimical to the public welfare. 



The General Assembly may levy a tax on in- 

 comes in excess of $600 a year; may levy a license 

 tax upon any business that can not be reached 

 by the ad valorem system; and may impose 

 franchise taxes. 



The General Assembly shall levy a capitation 

 tax of, and not exceeding, $1.50 a year on every 

 male resident of the State not less than twenty- 

 one years of age, except those pensioned by this 

 State for military services. 



Railroad and canal property must be assessed 

 for taxation, like any other property; and the 

 companies shall also pay a franchise tax of 1 

 per cent, on gross receipts. 



Amendments to the Constitution may be pro- 

 posed in the General Assembly, and if they shall 

 be agreed to by a majority of the members they 

 shall be referred to the General Assembly at its 

 first regular session held after the next general 

 election of members of the House of Delegates, 

 and shall be published for three months previous 

 to the time of such election. If, in the General 

 Assembly so next chosen as aforesaid, they shall 

 be agreed to by a majority of all the members 

 elected to each house, then the General Assem- 

 bly must submit them to the people, and if the 

 people shall ratify them by a majority of the 

 electors qualified to vote for members of the 

 General Assembly voting thereon, such amend- 

 ments shall become part of the Constitution. 



WASHINGTON, a Pacific coast State, ad- 

 mitted to the Union Nov. 11, 1889; area, 69,180 

 square miles. The population, according to each 

 decennial census since admission, was 349,390 in 

 1890 and 518.103 in 1900. Capital, Olympia. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1902: Governor, Henry G. McBride, in 

 place of John R. Rogers, deceased (see Annual 

 Cyclopaedia for 1901, page 464) ; Secretary of 

 State, S. H,. Nichols; Treasurer, C. H. Maynard; 

 Auditor, J. D. Atkinson; Attorney-General. W. 

 B. Stratton; Land Commissioner, S. A. Calvert; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction. R. B. Bry- 

 an; Adjutant-General, E. H. Fox all Republic- 



