WASHINGTON TERRITORY. 



819 



the orchestra. Under his and the master's 

 training, with artists selected and schooled for 

 effects never attained before with the human 

 voice, and possessing dramatic talent of a high 

 order, with scenery and costumes in which ex- 

 pense was not spared, with stage-machinery 

 invented for the purpose, with instruments of 

 new designs, Wagner's operas were placed on 

 the stage, one after the other, as no operas had 

 ever been. In 1868 the " Meistersinger " was 

 brought out, and even this extreme example 

 of the " music of the future " became a popu- 

 lar favorite. Wagner was resolved that the 

 Nibelung cycle, if ever produced at all, should 

 be presented in a special theatre, and not left 

 to its fate on the regular stage. For this pur- 

 pose the Wagner Union was founded, and in 

 1872 the corner-stone of an opera-house in 

 Bayreuth was laid. The completion cost far 

 more than was expected, and the deficiency 

 was made up from the private purse of King 

 Louis. Wagner intended to found a school of 

 operatic art in connection with the monumental 

 theatre. In order to carry out the project, he 

 was obliged to allow the Nibelung cycle to be 

 played in ordinary theatres, and, singularly 

 enough, the managers of Germany, one after 

 another, introduced it in their repertoires. The 

 great work was presented in Bayreuth in 

 1876. Richard Wagner's last work was " Par- 

 sifal." Wagner separated from his first wife, 

 after living with her twenty years, and subse- 

 quently married Cosima, Liszt's daughter, the 

 divorced wife of Billow. 



WASHINGTON TERRITORY. The Governor 

 during the year was William A. Newell; Sec- 

 retary, N. H. O wings. Present population, esti- 

 mated at 125,000. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature met on 

 October 2d, and adjourned on November 28th. 

 Among the acts passed were the following: 



To establish and provide for free scholarships in 

 Territorial .University. 



To change the time of convening the Territorial 

 Legislature. 



Memorials praying for various river improvements. 



Memorial for the admission of Washington Territory 

 to the Union. 



Memorial to abolish Indian reservations. 



Consolidating New and Old Tacoma. 



Creating the counties of Skagit, Douglas, Kittitas, 

 and Lincoln. 



Prohibiting hogs from running at large. 



Relative to inspection and measurement of logs. 



In relation to drift saw-logs. 



To secure for the owners of live-stock payment for 

 injuries sustained by railroad-trains. 



For the inspection and ventilation of coal-mines. 



In relation to habitual drunkards. 



Submitting to electors the question of taxing church 

 property. 



Prohibiting the sale of pistols and tobacco to chil- 

 dren under sixteen years of age. 



To preserve and protect school lands. 



Relative to liens on rolling-stock of railroads. 



An act was also passed extending^ the right of 

 suffrage to women. A memorial was introduced for 

 the creation of a separate Territory from eastern 

 Washington and northern Idaho, but it failed to pass. 



Finances. The total receipts for two years 



ending Sept. 30, 1883, including balance, were 

 $156,016.27; disbursements, $127,703.44. 



The total valuation of property in the Terri- 

 tory in 1882 was $32,568,901. In 1883 it was 

 $44,107,567. 



Penitentiary and Insane Asylum. The Peniten- 

 tiary at Seatco contains 73 persons. The coat 

 of their maintenance for the past two years 

 has been $33,000. 



The Insane Asylum is near Steilacoom. The 

 number of patients, Aug. 15, 1833, was 129. 

 The expenditures for two years were $57,- 

 106.52, which includes repairs and improve- 

 ments to the amount of $7,389.18. 



Education. The public-school statistics for 

 the year ending Aug. 31, 1883, are: 



Of school age, between 5 and 21 82,000 



Pupils enrolled 4,00 



School districts 700 



School-houses 700 



Teachers employed 650 



Graded schools 15 



Average length of schools in months H 



Paid to teachers $97,000 00 



Paid for buildings $60,000 00 



Paid for furniture and apparatus $20,000 00 



Amount paid for school purposes $177,000 00 



Indians. Thirteen thousand Indians occupy 

 fifteen reservations, which contain seven mill- 

 ions of acres of the best agricultural, grazing, 

 timber and mineral lands of the Territory, using 

 them variously for hunting, fishing, farming, 

 and strolling; besides the use of which, they 

 receive liberal assistance from the Government 

 in the guardianship of agents, the benefit of 

 physicians, medicines, hospitals, schools and 

 teachers, with donations for food, clothing, and 

 implements for forest and land. 



Statehood. On the subject of the admission 

 of the Territory, Gov. Newell says : 



Our ability to sustain a State government and our 

 claim to admission based upon resources and popula- 

 tion which are the only reasonable requirements 

 are conceded. Our people are quite unanimously in 

 favor of the measure, desiring to be possessed or the 

 rights and privileges exercised by other American 

 citizens. If there be any doubt as to the population 

 required to entitle us to a member of Congress, a new 

 census would solve the question. 



The people of the Territory have already adopted a 

 State Constitution preparatory to admission, which 

 instrument is generally regarded as being too volu- 

 minous and cumbersome, containing many provisions 

 which might properly be embodied in statutory en- 

 actments, and others not adapted to our present and 

 advanced requirements. 



Northern Pacific. The completion of the 

 Northern Pacific Railroad from Lake Supe- 

 rior to Puget Sound is an event of vast im- 

 portance to the Territory of Washington. 

 The Governor says: 



Forty -five millions of acres of timber, coal, pasture, 

 and mountain lands, mines of precious metals, quar- 

 ries of lime, stone, marble, granite, slate, and stone, 

 and beds of mica ; ocean front and inland salt sens ; 

 many lakes and rivers affording thousands of miles 

 of navigable waters, all alive with a hundred varieties 

 of fish, some of them of great value: water-powers; a 

 climate of even temperature and healthful ; grand 

 scenery of water and mountains, facilities for manu- 

 facturing the staples from our own material, wood, 



