sis 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (WEST VIRGINIA.) 



or, the court continued : " It is argued, however, 

 that since it is made the duty of the Lieutenant- 

 Governor under the Constitution to be presi- 

 ding ofiicer of the State Senate, and as such to ap- 

 prove all bills passed by that body, he must as 

 Governor review and approve or reject bills which 

 as Lieutenant-Governor he has already approved. 

 These duties are no doubt inconsistent, but this 

 argument we think is fully met by another pro- 

 vision of the Constitution which provides in sub- 

 stance that when the Lieutenant-Governor shall 

 not act as Governor the Senate shall choose a 

 temporary president. The Lieutenant-Governor, 

 therefore, when the duties of Governor devolve 

 upon him, is relieved of the duties of presiding of- 

 ficer of the Senate." 



The Legislature of 1901 passed an act increas- 

 ing temporarily the number of judges of the Su- 

 preme Court from 5 to 7, and authorizing the 

 Governor to appoint 2 judges whose terms of of- 

 fice should end on the first Tuesday after the first 

 Monday in October, 1902. The grounds upon 

 which the mandamus proceedings were based were 

 twofold; 1, That when the increase was once 

 made, no decrease could be made; and 2, that the 

 temporary increase made was in conflict with the 

 constitutional term. The court's decision was as 

 follows : " The act in question does not attempt to 

 change or modify the terms of judges elected. It 

 undertakes to create a vacancy and to terminate 

 the vacancy at a fixed time before an election can 

 take place and before an elective term may begin, 

 and this we hold may be done because there is no 

 fixed constitutional appointive term." 



Forest Fires. In Washington 434,000 acres 

 were burned over by forest fires in June. It is es- 

 timated that 5,026,800,000 feet of Douglas spruce 

 was killed, representing a value of $5,026,800. 

 Other timber to the value of $725,000 was de- 

 stroyed. The total loss in Cowlitz, Clark, and 

 Skamania Counties, where the fires were most 

 disastrous, was $6,600,800, and in the other 

 burned areas $2,256,300. 



Soldiers' Monument. The Legislature of 1901 

 appropriated $2,500 for the erection of a monu- 

 ment to commemorate the valor of the dead of the 

 First Washington Regiment, United States Volun- 

 teers, of which there are 11 resting in the State 

 plot in the Masonic Cemetery, in Olympia. The 

 monument was placed in position in March. The 

 pedestal is of native granite, 16 feet high, sur- 

 mounted by a bronze figure of a United States vol- 

 unteer in the service uniform worn in the Philip- 

 pines, making the whole structure nearly 23 feet 

 nigh. The bronze figure was modeled after a pho- 

 tograph of one of the members of the First Wash- 

 ington Regiment. The inscription is as follows: 

 " The State of Washington erects this Monument 

 in Memory of her Valiant Sons." 



Political. At the elections, Nov. 4, Hiram E. 

 Hadley was chosen Associate Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court, and Francis W. Cushman, Wesley L. 

 Jones, and Will E. Humphrey, members of Con- 

 gress, all of whom are Republicans. Both 

 branches of the Legislature chosen are Republican 

 by large majorities. 



The new Capitol annex was delayed in construc- 

 tion on account of the failure to receive steel 

 trusses for the domes. Up to August the building 

 had cost $335,892.18, and the expenses of the com- 

 mission had been $2,293.33. This amount em- 

 braces the contracts already made; something in 

 addition will be demanded for fixtures. 



WEST VIRGINIA, a Southern State, admit- 

 ted to the Union June 19, 1863; area, 24,780 

 square miles. The population, according to each 

 decennial census since admission, was 442,014 in 



1870; 618,457 in 1880; 762,794 in 1890; and 958,- 

 800 in 1900. Capital, Charleston. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1901: Governor, A. B. White; Secretary 

 of State, W. M. O. Dawson ; Treasurer, Peter Sill- 

 man; Auditor, Arnold C. Scherr; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, Romeo H. Freer; Superintendent of Schools, 

 Thomas E. Miller; Adjutant-General, S. B. Ba- 

 ker; Librarian, S. W. Stark; Bank Examiner, 

 C. B. Kefauver; Secretary of the Board of Agri- 

 culture, J. O. Thompson; Labor Commissioner, I. 

 V. Barton; Mine Inspector, J. W. Paull; Game 

 and Fish Warden, E. F. Smith; Presiding Judge 

 of the Supreme Court of Appeals, M. H. Dent; 

 Associate Judges, Henry Brannon, H. C. Mc- 

 Whorter, George Poffenbarger. All the State offi- 

 cers are Republicans except Judge Dent. 



State officers are elected for terms of four years 

 at the time of the presidential elections, and are 

 inaugurated on the 4th of the following March. 

 The Legislature meets biennially in January of 

 the odd-numbered years. 



Finances. The receipts in the Treasurer's of- 

 fice for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1902, were: 

 State fund, $1,804,738.25; general school fund, 

 $458,903.16; school fund, $85,346.48; total, $2,348,- 

 987.89. The disbursements were: State fund, 

 $1,670,346.54; general school fund, $460,058.19; 

 school fund, $162,129.10; total, $2,292,533.86. In 

 addition to this there was to the credit of the 

 State, Sept. 30, 1902, stocks, bonds, other invest- 

 ments of the school fund, $650,336.44. The amount 

 paid out for criminal charges for the year was 

 $180,438.45. 



The chief sources of income for the year ending 

 Sept. 30, 1902, were these: Licenses, $324,321; cor- 

 poration licenses on charter, $399,845; railroad 

 taxes, $101,321.45; interest on deposits and stocks 

 and bonds, $72,675 ; sundries, fines, etc., $29,324.42; 

 capitations, $163,415.75; land, $298,875.25; build- 

 ings on land, $45,254.20; lots, $42,109.50; build- 

 ings on lots, $89,340.54; intangible personal 

 property, $140,250.15; tangible personal property. 

 $75,890.90. 



Militia. The Adjutant's report for 1902 gi\.^ 

 an enrolment of 1,545 men in the State militia, 

 with 156,000 available. 



Education. In 1902 there were employed 8,445 

 teachers in the public schools, which numbered 

 6,478. The enrolment was 276,234 ; the total cost 

 of the schools was $2,890,500; the enrolment of 

 the State University at Morgantown and the two 

 preparatory schools at Montgomery and Keyser 

 was 1,675, the university enrolment being 899. 

 There are 6 normal schools, chief among which is 

 the Carshall Normal School at Huntington. which 

 had an enrolment of 630 students alone in 1902, 

 that being the largest number that ever attended 

 this institution. 



Public Institutions. The State in 1902 main- 

 tained the following institutions: Asylum for In- 

 curables at Huntington ; insane asylums at Wes- 

 ton and Spencer; Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum 

 at Romney; Boys' Reform School at Pruntytmvn : 

 Miners' Hospitals at Welch, McKendree. and Fair- 

 mont; colored institutions at Bluefields and Ka- 

 nawha ; Home for Girls at Salem ; Storer College 

 at Wheeling. 



The Asylum for Incurables had 3 fine new build- 

 ings added in the year, as well as large power- 

 houses, electric-light plants, laundries, etc.. which 

 together cost $85,000. 



In 1902, 250 United States prisoners were re- 

 ceived at Moundsville, and 320 State prisoners 

 were received at the Moundsville Prison. The 

 expenses of the institution were much less than 

 the profits from its various workshops. This 



