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The United States has a lower per¬
centage of blind people than any oth¬
er country in the world.
In Boston the women pay into the
city treasury annually in taxes about
$1,500,000 on over $120,000,000 worth
of property.
It. is reported that four out of the
twenty four chaplaincies in the United
States navy are vacant—a very rare
occurrence. The position is in many
respects a difficult one, and one that
many persons are very unwilling to
take.
In some villages in the south of Eng¬
land the appointments of the wedding
are made to bear a relation to the bus¬
iness of the groom. At a carpenter’s
wedding the aisle of the church was
strewn with shavings; at a blacksmith’s
with coal and iron fillings; a farmer
walked on straw, a butcher on skins.
The first steam engines didn’t have
automatic valves. Little boys were
hired to open and shut the valves at
the right time. But fishing was more
fun, and one boy rigged up an auto¬
matic valve of his own with a piece of
string. His invention—it was really
that—has saved countless millions of
dollars.
The Government of Saxony has in¬
stituted a unique method of enforcing
the payment of taxes. The names of
persons who did not pay their taxes
last year are printed and hung up in
all the restaurants and saloons. The
proprietors dare not serve those men¬
tioned on the list with food or cl rink,
under penalty of losing their license.
Another instance of the uses of the
telephone has just been shown at a
Liverpool auction-room. The auc¬
tioneer was selling shares in a building
society. The bidding had reached
$16.50 per share, when, as the result
of an inquiry by telephone, the bid¬
ding was continued between the gen¬
tleman making the last bid and the
telephonist, to whom the lot was event¬
ually knocked down for $26.87 per
share.
An observer who took 1,000 notes of
the conversation of young women
which he overheard in New York cars,
on the street, and in various public
places, reports that no less than 780
began with either “And I said to him,”
or “He said to me,” or “She told me
that he said;” 150 referred to dresses
or hats that were either “perfectly
lovely,” or “just splendid,” and the
remainder were pretty evenly divided
between comments on other girls, who
were “horrid,” or “stuck up and hate¬
ful,” new novels, studies, the holidays,
and the latest scientific discoveries.
A paragraph which originated with
a romancing American journal and
which has been extensively copied by
our papers states that the Prince Con¬
sort’s life was insured for $5,000,000,
which Queen Victoria has now in her
possession, and her life is again insured
very largely for the benefit of her
yo'unger children, notably Princess
Beatrice. This, a London letter de¬
clares, is a farrago of nonsense. The
Prince Consort’s life was not insured
for a farthing, nor is tho Queen’s, ex¬
cept so far as it is insured by persons
who have put Her Majesty’s life on
leases and other outside speculation.
It is also utterly untrue that the Em¬
peror Frederick’s life was insured for
$4,000,000._
Professor Selim Lemstrom of the
University of Helsingfors, Finland, a
person well acquainted with the life
and products of Europe, is now trav¬
eling in this country for the purpose
of making observations concerning
onr agricultural products and science
related to rural affairs. The most
striking peculiarity of the daily life of
our people which he has observed is
the abundance and variety of food
which even the poorer classes enjoy,
and especially the great amount and
excellence of fruits which they con¬
sume. He declares that in no Euro¬
pean country, not even in Italy, are
there such excellent fruits, nor are
they used to such an extent as a daily
food. He is impressed with the fact*
however, that the Americans do not
cook fruits in so many appetizing ways
as the Europeans do, a circumstance
which is partly due, no doubt, to the
almost uniform excellence of our fruits
for consumption in the natural state.
TEE STATE LE&ISLATURE.
Georgia’s Law Mate Asssmbla at tin
Capitol.
Routine of the House and Senate Brief*
ly Reported.
THE HOUSE.
Wednesday, Not. 8. t— There was
a very slim attendance in the
house Wednesday morning—in fact,
it did not appear that there was
a quorum present all of the time. The
finance committee reported back the
bill to reduce the homestead, with a
recommendation that it do not pass; al¬
so a similar recommendation on the
bill, requiring parties who have issued
checks to laborers, good for supplies,
to pay the same in cash. The gover¬
nor notified the house that he had ap¬
proved the following bill: To amend
an act to create a system of pub¬
lic schools for Marietta; to levy a
ta^ for that purpose, etc. The
house passed the bill to refund
the amounts received by the
state from tho purchasers of wild
lauds. The bill provides for the pay¬
ment when parties who bought wild
lands when Goldsmith was comptroller
general, and have either since been
ousted from possession, or who will
make a quit claim to the land to the
state. The bill passed with only one
dissenting vote. Mr. Calvin, of
Richmond county, -introduced a reso¬
lution authorizing the commissioner
of agriculture to publish a handbook
of Georgia, setting forth her re¬
sources, etc. The book is to be sold
at a price to cover the cost of print¬
ing. Tne resolution was referred to
the committee on agriculture.
A number of other new bills were
presented and read first time. Bills
on third reading were then taken up
and the following passed: The bill
making the same formalities necessa¬
ry to the attestation of a deed, apply
to the attestation of bonds for tittle;
The bill to allow judges to appoint
bailiffs in special cases. The bill to
fix the fees of the ordinaries of the va¬
rious comities, in making settlements
with executors, etc., was after some
dilatory discussion laid on the table.
At 12 o’clock, in pursuance of a joint
resolution, Dr. Boggs, chancellor of
the University of Georgia, delivered
an address on “The University, Its
Needs and Its Progress.” There is a
statute law requiring the chancellor to
make this address annually. It is in
the nature of a report to the legisla¬
ture of the work of the university.
Dr. Boggs delivered an interesting ad¬
dress. In addition to the members of
the legislature, there was a large crowd
of citizens in the gallery.
Thursday, Nov. 9.—Mr. Gordy, of
Chattahoochee county, wants to short¬
en the session of the legislature, and,
therefore, offered a resolution in the
house Thursday morning that the leg¬
islature adjourn sine die on the 3d
day of December. If his resolution
is adopted, which is not at all proba¬
ble, the session will be ended within
forty days from the time it convened.
Mr. Hill, of Merriwether, made the
suggestion that the house hold an
evening session to dispose of unfinish¬
ed business, which was adopted.
Mr. Ham, of Hall county, introduced
a bill to authorize and direct the gov¬
ernor to issue bonds to the amount of
$368,000 for the purpose of raising
money with which to pay off that por¬
tion of the public debt, or so much as
may be necessary, represented by the
interest of the public debt maturing
in the year 1893. The finance com¬
mittee reported favorably to the pas¬
sage of the bill, but there was a mi¬
nority report signed by Messrs.
Branch, Wheeler and others. The dis¬
cussion of the bill waB participated in
by several members, when it was laid
on the table temporarily. The bill in¬
troduced by Mr. Harrison, of Quit
man, to establish a county court for
Quitman county was passed. Mr.
Martin’s resolution authorizing the
governor to purchase a few hundred
copies of the code was passed. A num¬
ber of new bills were presented And
read, and the house adjourned.
Friday, Nov. 10.—Three new school
bills were introduced into the house
Friday. The first of these was a bill
by Mr. Geddens, the populist member
from Whitfield and authorizes the
levy of a tax of three-fourths of a mil
for the payment of the salaries of
teachers in the public schools. Mr.
Flemming, of Richmond, who cham¬
pioned the measure of Mr. Ham in the
house, Thursday, offered a bill with
the same provisions as that of Mr.
Geddens, but was not offered as a sub¬
stitute. The third bill is one by Mr.
McDonald, of Gwinnett, and pre¬
scribes that the first six months’ rental
of the Western and Atlantic road shall
be applied to the payment of the sala¬
ries of teachers in the public schools.
The bill introduced by Mr. Allen, of
Upson, to grant a pension
to Mr. J. A. Roquemore, who
was a citizen of Alabama at
the time of the passage of the pension
law, but who has since moved into
Georgia, provoked considerable dis¬
cussion. Upon the passage of tho bill
the yeas were 77 and the nays 27, so
the bill was lost. A number of new
bills were then read. The bill of Mr.
Walker, for the relief of A. L. Bart
ley, was passed. The bill to amend
the charter of the city of Macon was
passed. The house then adjourned
until Saturday.
Saturday, Nov. 11.—The first thing
the house did Saturday morning was
to reconsider its action of Friday in
defeating the bill to pension Mr.
Roquemore, of Upson county. Mr*
Allen, the introducer of the bill, ex
plained that he desired it reconsidered
that it might be tabled until a general
bill prepared including all veterans
who are in the same fix as Roquemore.
The bill was then recommitted. The
resolution to appoint a committee of
two from the senate and three from the
house to go to the Savannah river
and inspect the obstructions in the
river in the shape of a dam
placed there by the city of Augusta,
was taken up. Mr. Hogan of Lincoln
county urged the adoption of the reso
lution, claiming that the dam obstruct
ed the passage of fish. Mr. Fleming
recited how the dam came to be built,
and that a good fishway had been
built at Augusta’s expense. He op
posed the appointment of the commit
tee. on the ground of expense to the
state. If the dam is a nuisance it can
be abated in the court. After some
futher discussion the yeas and nays
were called, and the resolution was
adopted. The speaker announced as
the committee on part of the house,
Smith of Gwinnett, Perking of Haber
sham and Cummings,of Richmond. The
resolution of Senator Chambers ap
pointing a committe to call on the state
school commissioner to ascertain what
amount was required to pay off the
school teachers, was adopted. A bill
was passed providing for t\ registra¬
tion law for Chattahoochee county.
A bill to provide for the election of a
treasurer for Burke county, giving
him same commissions as other county
treasurers, was passed. The bill to
establish public schools in Jessup, w as
passed. The resolution accepting the
medical library of Dr. Robert Battey,
of Rome, was adopted. The bill to
authorize judges of superior courts to
appoint bailiffs in certain cases was
passed. A bill was passed to define
the duties of the board of eommission
ers of McIntosh county, A bill to
amend the rule of admitting testimony
in cases where one of the parties to a
cause of action was dead or insane was
passed. After the introduction of a
number of new bills, the house ad¬
journed until Monday.
Monday, Nov. 14. —There was a full
attendance at the house Monday morn¬
ing. A bill was introduced that will
be the object of much discussion if it
ever comes up on its final passage. It
is a bill to levy a tax on life insurance
policies. The bill provides that the
taxable value of policies is to be based
upon the surrender of value of poli¬
cies wrhich have been paid for such a
time as to make the poliey have a fixed
policy. Many other measures of more
or less importance were also presented
and read first time. Then came bills
on third reading. The bill by Mr.
Cumming, to more clearly define per¬
sonal property for taxation, was pass¬
ed. Under this bill stocks in land and
mining compan es are personalty. An¬
other bill by Mr. Cumming was pass¬
ed, allowing executors and administra¬
tors to transfer stock and to draw divi¬
dends. A bill by Mr. Lew r is, pro¬
viding that persons seeking divorces
in Georgia shall be bona fide
residents for six months in the
county in which the suit is brought
and twelve months in the state, was
passed. The bill of Mr. West of Han¬
cock to increase the crime of embez¬
zlement by county treasurer from a
misdemeanor to a felony’, was passed.
A bill by Mr. Overstreet to amend the
law of a year's support to widows was
passed. The bill by Mr. Lewis of
Milton authorizing the governor to
have the Georgia reports from the 66
to the 76 inclusive re-published was
passed. The bill introduced by Mr.
King of Fulton, to amend the
manner of drawing grand and
traverse jurors was passed. The
bill allows jury commissioners to put a
suitable man’s name in the jury box
whether his name appears on the tax
digest or not. Mr. Hodge’s bill to
amend section 4,058 of the code, re¬
lating to granting writs of certiorari,
was passed. A bill introduced by
Mr. Martin of Fulton, to pay George
W. Harrison & Company $400 for
printing the report of the state geolo¬
gist, was passed, as was the bill to au¬
thorize the graduates of the Atlanta
law school to practice without examin¬
ation. The bill to appropriate $1,500
to the Georgia School for the Deaf to
pay certain deficits was passed. The
house then adjourned until Monday.
IN THE SEMTE.
Wednesday, Nov. 8. —The senators
met one hour earlier than usual Wed¬
nesday morning to listen to the ad¬
dress of the Rev. John Jones, the
chaplain of that body. The venerable
preacher, from time immemorial, has
opened the proceedings of the Geor¬
gia upper house. It was a unique
scence for a legislative body. The
aged, silver-haired chaplain, with
square collar and white stock tie,
talked for‘something over an hour.
He stood near the alert, youthful
president of the senate, who through¬
out his talk regerded the chaplain
with affection and interest. Mr.
Jones’ talk was reminiscent in its
nature. Ho dwelt on the religious
side of the life of many of Georgia’s
departed statesmen. By a rising vote
the senate thanked Mr. Jones for his
address. The senate passed the fol
lowing bills: To repeal section 1329
of the code of Georgia; A bill giving
the governor authority to designate
certain banks in certain cities ns state
depositories; To amend section 3211
of the code; To regulate costs in dis
possessory warrants; To authorize
the proper athorities of the town
of Washington, Georgia, to issue
and sell bonds npt exceeding $18,000.
Mr. Chambers, of the twenty-first
district, introduced a bill to regulate
the rights of widows and minors to
year’s support out of crops of tenants,
At 11:30 the senate took a recess un
til H :55, when it met in joint
session with the house to hear Chan
cellor Boggs. The senate passed a
resolution thanking the Hon. J. L. M.
Curry,of Virginia,for nisrecent address
to the house and senate in joint ses
sion. Mr. Wilson, of the 11th seha
torial district, introduced a reso
lution whioh was adopted. It
was in regard to the repeal of
the 10 per cent tax on state banks,
The resolution is as follows: Whereas,
We believe that upon matters so vital
ly affecting the people as the mode and
manner of issuing currency, local ne
cessities require local government and
regulations and a recognition of the
principle and practice of home rule.
And, whereas, we believe that a large part
of the financial distress under which
we labor is due to capacity of central
control and manipulations of currency,
and that the remedy for this consists
in decentralizing the currency so far
as possible, and that this can only be
accomplished by a safe, sound and
well regulated currency. And,
whereas, the national democratic
platform declares in favor of the re¬
peal of the ten per cent taxation on
issues of state banks; therefore, be it
Resolved, By the senate, the house
concurring, that we request congress—
soon to assemble—to repeal the ten
per cent tax on state banks’ issue as
soon as the same can be properly done.
Resolved, second, That a copy of these
resolutions, when signed by the gov¬
ernor, shall be made out and sent to
the speaker of the house of represent¬
atives, with the request that the same
be laid before congress.
Thursday, Nov. 9—The cold murky
atmosphere and the drizzling rain
Thursday morning, while it did not
prevent a quorum in the Georgia up¬
per house, soon made the senators
weary in their work and at 11:05
o’clock the body adjourned until Fri¬
day. There were several important
matters attended to, however, before
adjournment came. Mr. Hackett in¬
troduced a resolution providing for
the printing of one hundred copies of
the committee to investigate the con
dition of the treasury. The motion
was clued adopted. Mr. Reese intro
tion a very important resolu¬
which was immediately and
rights unanimously adopted, bearing on the
of the state to the right of way
of the "Western and Atlantic railroad.
Another resolution ,of importance
was introduced by Mr. Pinson. It
relates to another branch of Georgia’s
underpaid and overworked judiciary.
It was to raise a committee of seven to
examine into the propriety and prac¬
ticability of the state’s equalizing the
work of the judges of the superior
court of this state. The chairman an¬
nounced the committee. Mr. Wright
of the first introduced a bill which
passed to increase the liquor license of
Effingham county to $5,000. A bill
was passed to repeal an act creating a
board of commissioners of roads and
revenues for the county of Clinch and
to restore the law as it existed prior
to August, 1887. The senate then ad¬
journed.
THE NIGHT SESSION A FARCE.
The Thursday night session of the
house proved to be a farce. The sum
total of the work done was the reading
of one little local bill for the second
time by title only, the hearing of three
reports of committees, and the read¬
ing of the roll of members nine times
on a question to adjourn. With this
record the members of the house
showed that a stubborn determination
to enforce a night session can be met
by a stubborn determination to make
it a howling, pious fraud.
Friday, Nov. 10.—In the senate
Friday morning Mr. Chambers intro¬
duced a joint resolution to investigate
how much money is due to the teach¬
ers of the public schools. Adopted.
On the joint committee Senators
Chambers, Hatcher and Robbe were
appointed. Mr. Hatcher introduced a
resolution which was adopted request¬
ing the treasurer to inform the senate
what amount of the common school
fund is paid into July tho treasury by the
1st of April and of each year, and
from what sources this is paid. Mr. Rob¬
inson introduced a resolution for a joint
committee to investigate and report
on the obstructions in the Savannah
river. Senator Robinson and Ghol
ston were appointed on the commit¬
tee. A number of new measures were
introduced and read first time. The
following bills were passed: Requir¬
ing the claimants to file abstract of
title with claim; To amend the act
providing the venue of jnstice courts
in cities of 15,000, so as to make it ap¬
ply to cities having a population of
5,000; Preventing the dismissal of cer¬
tain cases in the supremo court; the
bill incorporating the city of Atlanta
to extend the corporate limits of At¬
lanta over the territory now incorpor¬
ated as the city of West End. The senate
went into the executive session at 11:30
on the confirmation of nominations.
The following confirmationswere made:
Heinan H. Perry, judge county court,
Burke county; Alvan -D. Freeman,
judge city court, Newnan ; Pullian P.
Proffitt, judge county court, Elbert
county; A. C. Riley, judge county
court, Houston county; Chas. W. Ash¬
more, judge county court, Liberty
county; J. R. Alexander, judge county
court, Thomas county; J. S. Williams,
judge county court, Ware county;
H. T. Peeples, judge county court,
Berrien county; W. D. Crawford,
judge county court, Marion county;
Julian B. Williamson, judge county
court, Monroe county; James M. Bel
lah, judge county court; Chattooga
county; John A. Wilkes, solicitor
county court, Berrien county; Sea¬
born Jones, solicitor county court,
Burke county; W. H. Quarterman,
solicitor county court, Coffee county;
H. J. Brewer,solicitor county court, El¬
bert county; Frank R. Durden, solici¬
tor county court, Emanuel county; W.
C. Davis, solicitor county court, Hous¬
ton county; J. D. Kilpatrick, solicitor
county court, Jasper county ; R. C.
Cannon, solicitor county court, Ware
county; J. E. Shepperd, solicitor
county H. court, Marion county;
C. Jones, judge county
court, DeKalb county; W. C.
Wright, solicitor city court, Newnan,
Several new bills were introduced
after the executive session. House
bill No. 421 by Mr. Martin, of Fulton,
was read the third time and passed.
It provides for the establishment of a
new charter of Atlanta. The sentate
adjourned at 12:15 until Monday
morning at 10 o’clock.
Monday, Nov. 13—The following
bills were introduced in the senate
Monday morning: A hill to incorpor¬
ate the town of Bullochville, to define
the corporation limits thereof and to
provide a mumciple government for
said town. A bill to provide an
appointment by the governor of
graduates of edcational institutions of
this state in which military instruc¬
tion is given, as second lieutenants of
infantry of the Georgia volunteer, as¬
signing duties thereof. The following
bills were passed: A bill to regulate
the rights of widows and minors to a
year’s support out of the crops of teu
ants; A bill incorporating the town
of Haney, in Floyd county ; A bill to
provide for the reorganization of the
military staff of the governor of
the state, and assigning rank
thereof and prescribing the duties
thereof. A bill to provide for the reor¬
ganization, the discipline and to regu¬
late the volunteer forces of the state,
and for other purposes; A bill to
amend section 3740 of the revised code
of Georgia of 1882; A bill to enable
persons selling personal property and
reserving title of the same to en¬
force the collection of the same in
summary manner; A bill for the relief
of persons holding title to real estate
as security for debt; A bill to incorpo¬
rate the Commercial travellers’ Savings
Bank by changing its name to “Trust
Company of Georgia;” A bill to regu¬
late the elections of county commis¬
sioners of McIntosh county.
BIG BLAZE AT MEMPHIS.
Several Business Houses Suffer Heavy
Losses—Some Narrow Escapes.
What promised to be one of the most
disastrous fires of late years in Mem
phis, Tenn., was checked Monday
night by the fire department after a
hard effort with the following losses:
Schmalzereid Stove company, build¬
ing and stock, total loss, $20,000;
insurance for $50,000. Lemmon &
Gale, wholesale dry goods, stock $180 >
000; building, $35,000; loss on build¬
ing by fire, $7,000; loss on stock by
water, $108,000; insured for $160,000.
The Young Men’s Christian Associa¬
tion had rooms in the Schmalzereid
building and found themselves
hemmed in by the fire. Several
jumped from the third story and were*
seriously and perhaps fatally injured,
though no deaths have yet been re¬
ported. It is claimed that other
members were overcome by the heat
and burned in the building, but noth¬
ing authentic is yet known.
PUSHING THE BONDSMEN.
Mississippi Wants Hemingway’s Short*
age Settled.
1 A Jackson, Miss., special of Friday
says: Attorney General Johnston has
caused au execution to he issued
against the bondsmen of ex-State
Treasurer Hemingway to compel the
payment of the balance due by the
bondsmen. - Their original liability
was $83,000, all of which has been sat¬
isfied, save $15,000. The bondsmen,
who are protected by a large amount
of property turned over by ex-State
Treasurer Hemingway to O. J. "Waite,
trustee, have hesitated about selling
the property at a forced si 1 \ They
desired, of course, that it should bring
as much as possible. The bondsmen
have not been pushed for tho balance
on accofint of the financial dopression.
Over and above the trust property,
the bondsmen are easily worth a quar¬
ter of a million.