444 



INDIANA. 



ments. It was finally decided by a vote in the 

 Senate of 25 (mostly Democrats) to 23 (mostly 

 Republicans) that the constitutional amend- 

 ments favoring probibition and woman suf- 

 frage, which were adopted at the previous 

 session, were not legally pending, and could 

 not be considered except as entirely new mat- 

 ter. The point upon which the decision was 

 made was that the amendments were not set 

 out in full in the journals of the last session, 

 as provided by the Constitution, but were 

 merely indicated by their titles. 



Among the acts of this session, those for 

 the reorganization of the benevolent institu- 

 tions of the State, relating to the House of 

 Refuge, abolishing the Soldiers' Orphans' Home 

 at Knightstown and converting the institution 

 into an Asylum for Idiotic Children, and the 

 metropolitan police bill for some of the cities 

 of the State, have been characterized as parti- 

 san. The appropriation bills failed to pass. 

 The Senate passed sixty-four Plonse bills, and 

 the House passed fifty-four Senate bills. Some 

 of the most important of these follow : 



1. The decedents' estate act. All the obnoxious 

 features of the law of 1831 have been repealed. 



2. The road law of 1881 has been repealed through- 

 out, and in its stead there is a supervisors' law. The 

 law, as it now stands, secures work on the high- 

 ways as under the law before the passage of the act 

 of 1881. 



3. The dog law, in view of the wide-spread dis- 

 satisfaction that existed under the tagging system 

 of the law of 1881, is of importance to the owners of 

 dogs. 



4. The mechanics' lien law is also worthy of men- 

 tion, as it secures more certainly than ever before in 

 this State the wages of laboring-men in a mechanic's 

 lien upon their employer's property. 



5. An act to enable the several counties of the State 

 to sell and dispose of lands forfeited to the State for 

 the use and benefit of the school fund, and providing 

 for the deficiency in said school fund occasioned by 

 such sale. 



6. An act regulating the business of express compa- 

 nies in the transportation of gold and silver coin and 

 paper currency. 



7. < An act creating asylums in which to provide for 

 the insane that are now scattered over the State. 



Other acts are those suppressing the so- 

 called "graveyard " insurance companies ; reg- 

 ulating the transaction of business by express 

 companies of the State ; an act concerning for- 

 eign insurance companies ; an act to declare 

 exempt from taxation certain moneys and 

 causes in action held by executors, bequeathed 

 or devised to literary, scientific, benevolent, 

 or charitable institutions ; and an act to pun- 

 ish persons who disclose the contents of mes- 

 sages or conversations sent over telephone 

 lines. 



Special Congressional Election. An election was 

 held on the 9th of January, in the ninth con- 

 gressional district, to fill a vacancy. The re- 

 sult was the choice of Charles T. Doxey, Re- 

 publican, over Thomas B. Ward, Democrat. 



Finances. The following is from the annual 

 statement of the State Treasurer, showing the 

 receipts and disbursements for the fiscal year 

 ending Oct. 31, 1883 : 



Balance in Treasury, Nov. 1 , 1882 $698,069 52 



Transfer warrants $634,286 99 



Net cash receipts 3,203,926 14 



3,838,213 13 



Total $4,536,232 65 



DISBURSEMENTS. 



Transfer warrants $634,286 99 



Net cash disbursements 3,398,068 47 



4,032,355 46 



Total $503,927 19 



RECAPITULATION. 

 Balance by funds : 

 General fund overdraft, $924 30. . . 



Common-school fund $3,217 22 



Swamp-land 2,416 47 



School-fund revenue 134,152 45 



College fund, principal 17,631 71 



College fund, interest 1,886 70 



Unclaimed estates 18,374 11 



Escheated estates 1,067 25 



Excess of bids to sinking fund 2,088 52 



New State-House fund 324,017 06 



General fund overdrawn . 



$504,651 49 

 924 30 



balance in Treasury Nov. 1, 1883 $503,927 19 



Since the last annual report the permanent 

 common-school fund has been increased $70.- 

 747.79, making the total amount of the fund 

 $9,204,353.98, which is larger than that of any 

 other State. 



Statistics. The agricultural production of 

 1882 was remarkable. The wheat area was 

 3,063,348 acres, and the production 46,928,643 

 bushels. The chief of the State Bureau of Sta- 

 tistics observes that the cultivation and growth 

 of wheat has developed more rapidly than that 

 of any other staple crop, and has more than 

 kept pace with the population. In 1850 the 

 product per capita was 6-30 bushels; in 1860 

 it was 12-50 bushels; in 1870 it was 16'51 

 bushels, and in 1880 had increased to 23 '75 

 bushels per capita. The yield of other crops 

 was proportionately large, as shown by the 

 following : 



In a resume of the economic statistics it is 

 shown that in 31 counties there was a decrease 

 in the mortgage indebtedness during 1882, and 

 that the transfers of real estate amounted in 

 value to over $9,000,000. 



The apportionment of common-school reve- 

 nue, at the close of the year, was as follows : 



Amount collected from counties $727,633 82 



State semi-annual interest on non-negotiable 



bonds 117.14349 



Balance in Treasury at last apportionment 5.676 99 



From other sources 11,831 97 



Total $861.701 29 



Amount apportioned 848,461 30 



Amount added to shares of several counties, on 

 account <f errors in report of enumeration 870 87 



To State Normal School $10,000 00 



Palance in Treasury 2,950 62 



Total enumeration of children, 719,035. 



Per capita 1 18 



