Appropriation, amount of. Further ap propriation. Money, how paid. To be incorporated in State tax. [No. 113.] AN ACT making appropriations for the Central Michigan Normal School at Mt. Pleasant, for the six months ending June thirty, eighteen hundred ninety-nine, and for the fiscal years ending June thirty, nineteen hundred, and June thirty, nineteen hundred and one, and to provide for a Tax to meet the same. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. That there be and is hereby appropriated for the current expenses of the Central Michigan Normal School, for the six months ending June thirty, eighteen hundred ninety-nine, the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars; for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred and one, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. SEC. 2. The further sum of forty-three thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the fiscal year ending June thirty, nineteen hundred, by amounts and purposes as follows: Fortythree thousand dollars for additions to the Normal building, furnishing the same, and for improvement of the grounds. SEC. 3. The several sums appropriated by the provisions of this act shall be paid out of the general fund in the State Treasury to the treasurer of the State Board of Education, at such times and in such amounts as the general accounting laws of the State prescribe, and the disbursing officer shall render his accounts to the Auditor General thereunder. SEC. 4. The Auditor General shall incorporate in the State tax for the year eighteen hundred ninety-nine, the sum of seventy-four thousand two hundred fifty dollars; for the year nineteen hundred, the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and for the year nineteen hundred and one, the sum of six thousand two hundred fifty dollars, which, when collected, shall be credited to the general fund to reimburse the same for the moneys hereby appropriated. This act is ordered to take immediate effect. [No. 114.] AN ACT to provide for the location, establishment and maintenance of a State Agricultural and Horticultural Experiment Station in the Upper Peninsula and to make an appropriation therefor. The People of the State of Michigan enact: site, etc. SECTION 1. That the members of the official board of the Who to select Agricultural College of this State shall ex-officio constitute a board of locating and building commissioners for the purpose of selecting a site and erecting the necessary buildings thereon for a State Agricultural and Horticultural Experiment Station in the Upper Peninsula. donation of SEC. 2. The said board of commissioners may receive by May receive donation within six months from and after the approval of land. this act in some portion of the upper peninsula which seems to them most suitable for the above mentioned purpose a tract of land containing not less than eighty acres. executed. SEC. 3. That the deed for such site shall be duly executed Deed, how to the people of this State and delivered to the Auditor General. plans and etc. SEC. 4. If, after the selection of such site, it be found neces- Power to adopt sary, the said board shall have power and it shall be their duty specifications, to procure and adopt plans, specifications and estimates and to erect buildings, erect suitable buildings thereon and the said board shall carry on such experiments pertaining to agriculture and horticulture as in their judgment will be most beneficial to the agricultural interests of the upper peninsula, and they shall have full control of the management of said experiment station: Pro- Proviso as to vided however, That the entire cost of said buildings shall not exceed the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars. cost. proposals. let. SEC. 5. Upon the adoption of plans and specifications by Advertise for said board, they shall advertise for a time not less than four weeks in such papers as they may select in said upper peninsula for proposals for constructing said buildings in accordance with the plans and specifications. All contracts for labor Contracts, how or materials to be used in the erection and construction of the buildings provided for by this act requiring an expenditure of more than three hundred dollars shall be let to the lowest bidder or bidders, the advertisement thus provided for to specify the time and place where the bids or proposals made in pursuance thereof shall be opened; all bids or proposals thus made shall be sealed and shall not be opened at any time or Bids to be place other than that designated in the advertisement; all or any bids or proposals received by said board may be by them rejected and whether accepted or rejected shall after decisions thereon by said board be deposited in the office of the Secre- Where tary of State. sealed. deposited, etc. contractors, SEC. 6. In letting contracts, said board shall not obligate Payment to the State to pay any contractor any money other than that to limit of which said contractor may be justly entitled by reason of amount, etc. labor or materials already furnished or supplied, and in no event shall more than seventy-five per cent of the amount called for in any contract be paid to the contractor named therein before the completion of his contract and its acceptance by said board: Provided, That every contractor perform ing service or work or furnishing materials under this act shall enter into such bonds with sureties for the proper performance of his contract as shall be required by the board of commissioners. SEC. 7. Each of the members of said board of locating and building commissioners shall be entitled to receive his actual traveling expenses in the discharge of his duties under this act. SEC. 8. And there is hereby appropriated for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act the sum of five thousand dollars and the same shall be incorporated in the State tax as follows, to-wit: For the year eighteen hundred and ninetynine, two thousand five hundred dollars; for the year nineteen hundred, two thousand five hundred dollars, and the sums when collected shall be placed by the Auditor General to the credit of said experiment station fund and may be drawn by the treasurer of said board upon warrants made by their secretary and approved by the president of said board. And the treasurer above mentioned is hereby required to give his bond to the people of this State in the penal sum of double the amount that is liable to come into his hands under the provisions of this act. The amount of said bond to be determined by said board. SEC. 9. It shall be the duty of the secretary of said board to render semi-annually to the Auditor General accounts current of all cash transactions and all moneys received, with the proper vouchers, and no money shall be drawn by virtue of this act by said board unless they shall have first filed with the Auditor General an estimate and statement showing the purpose for which money is required, also have made the semi-annual account of all moneys previously drawn. This act is ordered to take immediate effect. Governor to appoint library commissioners. [No. 115.] AN ACT to create a State Board of Library Commissioners, to Promote the Establishment and Efficiency of Free Public Libraries, and to provide an Appropriation therefor. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. The Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint four persons, residents of this State, who, together with the State librarian, who shall be a member ex-officio, shall constitute a board of library commissioners. Term of office. Two members of said board shall be appointed for a term of four years and two for a term of two years, and thereafter the term of office shall be four years. All vacancies occurring in filled. the appointive membership of said board, whether by expira- Vacancies, how tion of term of office or otherwise, shall be filled by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the library commission to Duty of board. give advice and counsel to all free libraries in the State, and to all communities which may propose to establish them, as to the best means of establishing and administering such libraries, the selection of books, cataloguing, and all other de tails of library management. In January of each year the To make report. board shall make a report to the Governor of its doings, of which report one thousand copies shall be printed by the State printer for the use of the board. to make SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of all free libraries organized Free libraries under the laws of the State, whether general or special, to annual report. make an annual report to the board of library commissioners, which report shall conform as near as may be reasonable and convenient, as to time and form such rules as the board may prescribe. of board. expenses, SEC. 4. No member of the Board of Library Commission- Compensation ers shall receive any compensation for his services, except that the board may appoint one of their number to act as secretary, and such secretary may receive such sum as shall be agreed upon by the board, not exceeding three hundred dollars annually, for clerical services. The board shall be en- Sums may titled to expend a sum not to exceed five hundred dollars in expend for any one year for supplies and incidentals and for the actual supplies, etc. and necessary expenses of its members in the discharge of their duties. The accounts of the board shall be audited by Accounts, how the State Board of Auditors, and paid out of the general fund. audited. S SEC. 5. The Auditor General shall add to and incorporate To be with the State tax for the year eighteen hundred and ninetynine, and every year thereafter, the sum of eight hundred dollars, to be assessed, levied and collected as other State taxes are assessed, levied and collected, which sum when collected shall be placed to the credit of the general fund to reimburse it for the sums authorized to be expended under this act. This act is ordered to take immediate effect. Approved June 1, 1899. incorporated in Section amended. Application and distribu [No. 116.] AN ACT to amend section one of chapter seventy of the revised statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, entitled "Of the administration and distribution of the estates of intestates," as amended, being section five thousand eight hundred forty-seven of Howell's Annotated Statutes, and section nine thousand three hundred twenty-two of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninety-seven. The People of the State of Michigan enact: SECTION 1. That section one of chapter seventy of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred forty-six, entitled "Of the administration and distribution of the estates of intestates," as amended, the same being section five thousand eight hundred forty-seven of Howell's Annotated Statutes, and section nine thousand three hundred twenty-two of the Compiled Laws of eighteen hundred ninety-seven, is hereby amended so as to read as follows: 9322. SEC. 1. When any person shall die possessed of tion of estates. any personal estate, or of any right or interest therein not lawfully disposed of by his last will, the same shall be applied and distributed as follows: Widows, 38 Ill., 526. Family during Children under ten years without mother. Widow, and children under ten. First. The widow, if any, shall be allowed all her articles of apparel and ornaments, and all wearing apparel and ornaments of the deceased, and the household furniture of the deceased, and other personal property, to be selected by her, not exceeding in value two hundred dollars, and the allowance shall be made as well when the widow waives the provision made for her in the will of her husband as when he dies intestate. Second. The widow and children constituting the family of the deceased shall have such reasonable allowance out of the personal estate and the income of the real estate as the probate court shall judge necessary for their maintenance during the progress of the settlement of the estate, according to their circumstances, which, in case of an insolvent estate, shall not be longer than one year after granting administration nor for any time after the dower and personal estate shall be assigned to the widow. Third. When a person shall die leaving children under ten years of age, having no mother, or when the mother shall die before the children shall arrive at the age of ten years, an allowance shall be made for the necessary maintenance of such children until they shall arrive at the age of ten years, out of such part of the personal estate and the income of the real estate as would have been assigned to the mother if she had been living. Fourth. If, on the return of the inventory of any intestate estate, it shall appear that the value of the whole estate does |