Sanders, Grubb, Powers, Goddard, Henry, C. R. Leonard, Hedges, Carney, and L. A. Luce.

On Jan. 9 a resolution was passed providing for a joint committee to investigate charges of bribery in connection with the senatorial contest against members of the Legislature and lobbyists. The next day the committee reported to a joint session that evidence had been found upon which to base an indictment before a grand jury, and asked that the matter be referred to the district attorney with that purpose. State Senator Whiteside made a speech in which he said that, in order to get a case against the corruptionists, he had taken $5,000 from John B. Wellcome, acting for W. A. Clark, with the understanding that he was to get more if he should negotiate successfully for the purchase of other legislators, and that he received $25,000 for three others-Messrs. Myers, Clark, and Garr-who also went into the scheme for the purpose of exposing the attempt at bribery. This money ($30,000) was turned over to the committee, and from them to the joint session, and the three members made statements concerning it. The Legislature accepted the report, resolved to ask for a grand jury investigation, and continued the committee. The money was intrusted to the State Treasurer. A grand jury was called Jan. 11, and on Jan. 26 reported that 44 witnesses had been examined, and that, "while there has been some evidence which tends to show that money has been used in connection with the election of a United States Senator, it has been contradicted and explained in such a way that all the evidence introduced before us, taken together, would not, in our judgment, warrant a conviction by a trial jury."

A contest for the seat held by Mr. Whiteside was decided against him that day, and it was given to his opponent, a Republican, Mr. Geiger, by the votes of all the Republicans and 9 Demo

crats.

On the seventeenth ballot (Jan. 28) Mr. Clark was elected, several Republicans voting for him. There were 54 votes for Clark, 27 for Conrad, 4 for Marshall, and 4 scattering.

In the summer disbarment proceedings were instituted against John B. Wellcome for alleged bribery in connection with the contest; the Supreme Court decided that he must plead to the charge, and Nov. 6 was fixed as the time for beginning the hearing. The principal witnesses were those who gave testimony before the investigating committee of the Legislature and the grand jury; Mr. Wellcome did not appear in person or make a direct denial, but his counsel made answer under oath upon information and belief. The decision of the court was against him, and he was disbarred.

Several of the State officers signed a protest against the seating of Mr. Clark, which was sent to the United States Senate, and an investigation was begun in January, 1900, before the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections.

A bill that was passed over the Governor's veto referred to the disposal or mortgaging of the property of mining corporations. In his message the Governor said the bill was an attempt to reverse the decision of the Supreme Court, which declared invalid the sale of the property of the Boston and Montana Copper and Silver Mining Company to a New York corporation, compelling its stockholders to accept stock in that corporation instead of that which they held in the home company; that the bill was in the interest of a great copper trust about to be formed; and that it allows private property to be taken for pri

vate use by the provision that if any stockholder dissents from the action of the majority in combining with other corporation or trading for the stock of another corporation a commission is appointed to appraise the value of his stock, which is his individual property, and sell it out at public auction or to the grantee of the corporation.

Foreign surety companies may do business in the State under certain restrictions, and they may be accepted on bonds given for the performance of any duty. Fire companies may insure property in the State only through resident agents, and companies authorized to do business in the State must not reinsure risks in unauthorized companies.

Acts were passed permitting the Arid Land Grant Commission to construct water systems for irrigation and other purposes; allowing the exercise of eminent domain for aqueducts supplying mills, mines, and smelters with water; fixing a standard for measuring water rights; substituting the cubic for the miner's inch; and providing that a commissioner may be appointed to distribute water from streams to those entitled to it by decrees of court.

The tax levy for stock inspection was fixed at 1 mill on the assessed valuation of stock (formerly the law required only that it should not exceed that amount), and horses before removal from the State must be inspected by a sheriff or stock inspector.

The privileges of the State Soldiers' Home were extended to soldiers and sailors of the Mexican and Spanish wars.

Provision was made for division of counties into road districts by county commissioners. The act of the preceding Legislature abolishing the office of road supervisor was repealed, and provision was made for the election of such officers. This act the Attorney-General held to be unconstitutional, as it interfered with the rights of county surveyors, depriving them of their duties and their fees; but the Supreme Court declared it valid.

The creation of a State board of horticulture was provided for. The State is to be divided into five districts, each to be represented by a member of the board, appointed by the Governor, and these five are to select a sixth. None of them may be interested directly or indirectly in the fruit or tree business. They are to inspect nursery stock and destroy any found to be infested with dangerous insects or otherwise diseased. The term of office is four years.

The offices of deputies to the Treasurer, the Secretary of State, the Auditor, and the Land Register were created.

The office of Supreme Court Reporter was abolished, and justices of the court are to report their own decisions and receive each $1,500 additional salary.

Other session acts were:

Providing for liens on lumber or other timber in favor of those who work upon it and the owner of the land on which the timber is cut.

Providing that a bishop, priest, or elder of a church or society may be a sole corporation and hold property in trust.

Prescribing 4 per cent. interest for State Treasurer's warrants not paid for lack of funds, instead of 6 per cent., and for county warrants 6 per cent. instead of 7.

Reducing the legal rate of interest from 10 to 8 per cent.

Fixing the bounty on wolves at $5, that on coyotes at $2, and on wolf puppies at $2.

Repealing the law prohibiting selling at retail on credit.

Exempting graduates of the State Normal School from examination before teaching, and providing for granting them life certificates after two years' experience.

Permitting the maintenance of kindergartens in connection with district schools, and of county high schools after a vote in favor.

Providing that reports of State officers may not be printed oftener than once in two years, except by order of the State Board of Examiners. Prohibiting insolvent banks from accepting deposits, and regulating the increase or diminution of the capital stock of banks and trust companies; also regulating their dissolution.

Amending the law regulating powers of building and loan associations.

Changing the method of sale or lease of State lands.

Requiring contracts for sale of personal property to be recorded with the county clerk in cases where the title does not pass till the whole price is paid.

Changing the boundary between Deer Lodge

and Lewis and Clarke Counties.

Annexing part of Meagher County to Cascade. Appropriating $11,000 for completing the Orphans' Home at Twin Bridges.

Providing for a 24-mill State levy.

Appropriating $577,000 to State institutions. The Governor vetoed bills legalizing 20-round glove contests; amending the antigambling act so as practically to license gambling, and making it a misdemeanor instead of a felony; depriving an applicant for a medical certificate who has failed to be certified by the Board of Medical Examiners of the right to appeal to a jury; permitting doctors to compound drugs without having passed an examination in pharmacy; and repealing the license on State banks.

MORAVIANS. The following are the statistics of the Moravian Church in America to Dec. 31, 1898, as officially published in March, 1899:

Northern Province: Number of communicants, 11.775; of noncommunicant members, 1,155; of children, 4,892; total membership, 17,822; membership of Sunday schools, 1,237 officers and teachers and 10,248 pupils.

Southern Province: Number of communicants, 2,955; of noncommunicant members, 234; of children, 1,553; total membership, 4,742; membership of Sunday schools, 346 officers and teachers and 3,708 pupils.

Total for the American Province: 14,730 communicants, 1,389 noncommunicant members, and 6.445 children-in all, 22,564 members-1,583 of ficers and teachers, and 13,956 pupils in Sunday schools. The numbers show increase during the year of 177 communicants, 162 children, 219 in the total membership, 17 officers and teachers, and 122 pupils in Sunday schools, and a decrease of 120 noncommunicant members. The returns from the Northern Province represent 89 churches, classified as in four districts, of which the first district embraces churches in New York and Pennsylvania; the second district, churches in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; the third district, churches in Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Indian Territory, Missouri, and Illinois; and the fourth district, churches in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and North Dakota; and the Alberta (Canada) district, comprising three churches. Detailed statistics are given of the contributions and expenditures of the Northern Province. The whole amount contributed during the year for Church support was $120,128, or $13,612 more than in

1897. The contributions for Church enterprises were: For retired ministers, $1,295; for the Bohemian Mission, $1,277; for foreign missions, $7,987; for the Alaska Mission, $3,026; for home missions, $7,169; for the Theological Seminary, $4,476; for all other Moravian causes, $1,655; for general Christian objects, $1,220. The whole amount of contributions of this class ($28,105) was $4,731 more than in 1897. The average salary of pastors is $592.

A summary of the gifts of the American Moravian Church, North, for foreign mission causes for 1899 gives the whole amount as $28,690, showing an average contribution per communicant of $2.44.

The General Synod met at Berthelsdorf, Saxony, in May. A number of important constitutional changes were adopted, mainly bearing upon the status and relations of the several provinces and missions. The West Indian missions were organized into two provinces, to be called the Eastern West Indian Province and the Jamaica Province, each of which is to be governed by a provincial synod and a provincial elders' conference. These provinces will be aided by the General Synod with yearly grants of £700 each, to be increased to £1,000 if necessary, for the next ten years, while the Mission Board will bear the entire cost of the Theological Seminary for the two West India provinces, the Mosquito Coast, Demerara, and possibly other fields, and the training schools will be supported by the general missionary treasury. The Mission Board will continue to bear the expenses, as hitherto, for foreign brethren now in service, and one half the expenses connected with outfit, pension, education of children, etc., of foreign missionaries appointed after December, 1899. Sanction was given to an agreement made in 1897 between the Mission Board, on the one hand, and the American Provincial Elders' Conference in the North and the Society for Propagating the Gospel on the other hand in reference to the administration of affairs in the mission in Alaska; and the agreement was interpreted to mean that the American congregations and the Society for Propagating the Gospel would provide the means to meet the entire cost of the current expense of the mission, while the general missionary treasury would bear the expenses involved in the outfit of the missionaries called to Alaska, their sustentation during furlough at home, the education of their children, and their pensions. The Synod decided to transfer the mission in Greenland to the Danish Lutheran Church. The work of evangelization in Bohemia and Moravia was assumed as the charge of all the provinces, to be carried on with the intention of reestablishing the Church in the land of its origin, the final decision in matters of administration resting in the hands of the Directing Board of the Unity, with seat at Berthelsdorf. In the management of this work the Directing Board will be assisted by the Bohemian-Moravian Committee, which committee will consist of two sections

namely, the executive section and the circle of nonresident members. It was decided that in each of the larger mission provinces there shall be a bishop; that missionaries called to those provinces shall, as a rule, go out unordained, and shall be ordained as deacons only after serving one or two years; that, as a rule, five years shall elapse between the missionary's ordination as deacon and as presbyter, with exceptions in case of a missionary receiving a call as superintendent or warden of a province or as head of a regular station or as a member of a helpers' conference, when he may be ordained a presbyter at once. In

defining its financial policy as to missions the Synod declared that "a mission is suported by the home province in the early days of its existence either out of the general mission exchequer or out of the proceeds of businesses existing for the purpose. The aim of mission work, however, is to create in the mission fields self-supporting, independent churches, which shall look for no help from abroad, but raise all the money that is necessary for church and school and for the salaries of their ministers, according to the ability of their members." The minute further defined the relations of the missions, etc., in the different steps between entire dependence and complete self-support. The Mission Board was authorized, if means allow, to found and carry on in the West Indies one theological seminary for the West India provinces, Mosquito Coast, and Demerara, and one in Surinam; to make arrangements for the training of native ministers in the Himalayan Province; and to provide for the further education of native ministers in con

nection with the training school at Guadendal. The Mission Board was further commissioned to lay before the members and friends of the Church a complete and unreserved and detailed statement of the condition of the missionary operations as a whole. A declaration was made in the adoption of these rules that the office of bishop as such carries with it no connection with Church government.

The Rev. Edward C. Greisler, president of its Conference, was elected bishop of the Eastern Province of the West Indies.

A special grant of £1,000 was made to Antigua for the payment of its debt and of £500 for repairs, and a loan of £1,500 was made to Kingston, Jamaica.

In a formal statement the Synod again declared "its adherence to the fundamental doctrines of the Church as given in the second chapter of the general synodial results of 1889. The Synod holds that all that is essential is expressed there, and that nothing therein should be changed either by additions or by omissions. At the same time the Synod declares that it accepts all Holy Scripture, Old and New Testament, which is the source of these doctrines, as the word of God, given by God as the rule of our faith and life, and that we are determined to adhere thereto with all earnestness and faithfulness." The declaration further urged fidelity to these principles, and continued: As to the request of the Synod of the Northern American Province, to the effect that the staff of every educational establishment in the Unity shall be called upon plainly to declare their adherence to the fundamental doctrines of the Brethren's Church, the Synod declares such profession of faith to be the concern of the individual provinces. At the same time all intrusted with the management of our schools, and especially of our theological colleges, are admonished and requested conscientiously to do all in their power to bring up our young people in the spirit, the doctrines, and the principles of our Church."

The reports of the committee in charge of the work of evangelization in Bohemia and Moravia recited the course of events during the past ten years, showing slow progress. Stated services were held at 20 places, with a membership of 597. The accounts of the decade showed a deficit

of $1,250. The contributions from America had averaged $1,500 a year, those from the German Province $3,821, and those from the British Prov ince $680. The revolt in Bohemia against Roman Catholic ecclesiasticism was interpreted as a call to prosecute the evangelistic work.

The committee in charge of the leper hospital near Jerusalem reported that the number of inmates had risen from 20 to 37. The institution was under the charge of Charles and Anna Schubert as managers, and the actual attendance on the patients was in the hands of three deaconesses (in future to be four), who belonged to the Deaconess Institute of the Brethren's Church at Niesky. Two of the number had adopted the work of the home as their life work. Among the improvements in the property of the institution was a steam disinfecting apparatus, the gift of the Emperor of Germany.

The New Constitution.-In the revised constitution of the Church as adopted by the General Synod the general divisions of the Unity are classified as: (a) The four self-supporting and independent divisions-the Brethren's Unity in Germany, the British Province, the American Province, North, and the American Province, South; (b) the 15 mission fields; and (c) the Brethren's Church in Austria. The General Synod is the legislative body of the whole Church, and consists of members ex officio (certain missionary and provincial officers); elected members, including nine delegates from the German and British districts respectively and nine from the two American districts, which for this purpose are counted as one; one delegate from each mission field entitled to such representation; and not more than five missionaries called by the Mission Board, with also advisory members. These members of the General Synod, while considering the welfare of their own provinces and being generally guided by their directions, are expected to be primarily solicitous for the good of the whole Church. The General Synod relegates to the provincial synods the right to elect their bishops, while it reserves to itself the election of bishops for the work of missions among the heathen. The General Synod will meet every ten years, but special convocations may be ordered by the Governing Board. The Governing Board or Unity's Board, which takes the place and the general power of the former Unity's Elders' Conference, consists of the Mission Board and the directing boards of the four independent provinces. Its organization and functions are so shaped as to give the provincial boards more freedom in their own administration than they had before, while it remains as the central body for reference and appeal and for ultimate decision in matters that may touch the unity as a whole; and it will act when necessary in the intervals between meetings of the General Synod, holding meetings at which each corporation shall be represented by one delegate (the two American provinces having one delegate and one vote each), except that the Mission Board is given two delegates. The Mission Board will have its seat at Berthelsdorf, near the General Synod. Provision is made in the constitution of all the committees and of the Mission Board for the even representation upon them of all the three nationalities-German, British, and American-of the Church.

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. The officers of the Academy in 1899 were: President, Wolcott Gibbs; Vice-President, Asaph Hall; Foreign Secretary, Alexander Agassiz; Home Secretary, Ira Remsen, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; Treasurer, Charles D. Wal

cott.

Two meetings were held in 1899. The first or stated meeting was held in Washington, April 18-20. On that occasion the following papers were read: On the Diamond and Gold Mines of South Africa and On the Tanner Deep-sea Tow Net, by Alexander Agassiz; also On the Acalephs of the East Coast of the United States, by Alexander Agassiz and A. G. Mayer; On the Development by Selection of Supernumerary Mammæ in Sheep and On Kites with Radial Wings, by Alexander G. Bell; Ophiura Brevispina, by William K. Brooks and Caswell Grave; exhibition of specimens of Nautilus pompilius, by William K. Brooks and L. E. Griffin; The Shadow of a Planet, by Asaph Hall; Remarks on the Work of the Nautical Almanac Office during the Years 1877'98 in the Field of Theoretical Astronomy, by Simon Newcomb; and Progress in Surveying and Protection of the United States Forest Reserves, by Charles D. Walcott.

The following papers were read by scientists not members of the Academy: On the Limestones of Fiji, by E. C. Andrews (communicated by Alexander Agassiz); On the Bololo of Fiji and Samoa, by William McM. Woodworth (communicated by Alexander Agassiz); The Work of the Division of Forestry, Department of Agriculture, by Gifford Pinchot; and The Resulting Differences between the Astronomic and Geodetic Latitudes and Longitudes in the Triangulation along the Thirty-ninth Parallel, by Henry S. Pritchett, both of whom were introduced by Charles D. Walcott.

The meetings were held in the hall of Columbian University. The public business included the fifth conferring of the Watson gold medal, the recipient of which was David Gill, astronomer in the observatory at the Cape of Good Hope for the British Government, for his work in perfecting the application of the heliometer to astronomical measurements; also the conferring of the Draper medal on James A. Keeler, of the Lick Observatory, for his researches in spectroscopic astronomy. The new members elected were Charles E. Beecher, of the department of palæontology in Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; George C. Comstock, director of Washburn Observatory, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.; Theodore W. Richards, of the chemical department of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Edgar F. Smith, of the chemical department of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.; and Edmund B. Wilson, of the biological department of Columbia University, New York city. The following six members were elected to the council: John S. Billings, Henry P. Bowditch, George J. Brush, Arnold Hague, Samuel P. Langley, and Simon Newcomb. These gentlemen, together with the officers er officio of the Academy, constitute the council. A popular lecture On the Photography of Sound Waves and a Description of a New Process of Color Photography was presented by Prof. Robert W. Wood, of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.

The scientific session was held in Columbia University, New York city, Nov. 14 and 15, 1899, when the following papers were read: The Hydrogen Vacua of Dewar, by George F. Barker; The Definition of Continuity, Topical Geometry in General, and The Map-coloring Problem, by Charles S. Peirce; Recent Results of the Henry Draper Memorial, by Edward C. Pickering; The Electro-chemical Equivalents of Copper and Silver, by Theodore W. Richards; Variations in Normal Color Vision, by Ogden N. Rood; and The Statical Properties of the Atmosphere and A Direct Proof of the Effect on the Eulerian Cycle of an Inequality in the Equatorial Motions of Inertia of the Earth, by Robert S. Woodward; also, by invitation, The Time of Perception as a Measure of Difference in Intensity; Relations of Time and Space in Vision, by J. McKeen Cattell, of Columbia University.

A biographical Memoir of William A. Rogers as a Physicist, by Edward W. Morley, was read. At the business session Henry P. Bowditch presented the report of the delegates who represented the Academy at the congress held in Wiesbaden during the summer to consider the establishment of an international scientific association. A committee of five was appointed to select the name of the scientist who, within the past five years, has made a discovery in physics or astronomy or in the application of science which shall be adjudged most valuable to the human race, and to present the name of that person as a candidate for the Barnard medal at the next meeting.

NEBRASKA, a Western State, admitted to the Union March 1, 1867; area, 77,510 square miles. The population, according to each decennial census since admission, was 122,993 in 1870; 452,402 in 1880; and 1,058,910 in 1890. Capital, Lincoln.

Government.-The following were the State officers in 1899: Governor, William A. Poynter; Lieutenant Governor, E. A. Gilbert; Secretary of State, W. F. Porter; Treasurer, J. B. Meserve; Auditor, John F. Cornell; Attorney-General, C. J. Smythe; Adjutant General, P. H. Barry; Superintendent of Education, W. R. Jackson, all Populists except E. A. Gilbert, Silver Republican, and C. J. Smythe, Democrat; Land Commissioner, J. V. Wolfe; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, T. O. C. Harrison, Republican; Associate Justices, T. L. Norval, Republican, and J. J. Sullivan, Fusion; Clerk, D. A. Campbell, Republican.

Finances. The receipts for the year ending Nov. 30 were $2,650,324.78; the expenditures, $2,660,737.87. The balance at the beginning of the year was $624,523.43; at the end, $614,110.34.

Of the receipts, $996,378.25 were for the general fund, the main part of which, $856,638.86, came from taxes. The disbursements from this fund were $968,819.33; of this amount, $894,033.63 were for general fund warrants and the remainder for interest.

The permanent school fund received from sales of lands $243,059.36.

The total appropriations of the Legislature for 1899 were $2,591,373.

The assessed valuation for 1899 was $169,105,905. The general fund levy was $845,529, and the total levy $1,286,792. The floating debt now consists almost solely of general fund warrants outstanding. Nov. 30, 1898, there were general

fund warrants outstanding amounting to $1,571,686.61. This with a bonded debt amounting to $153,267.35 made a total of $1,724,953.96. The bonded debt is now $55,000 and the outstanding warrants amount to $1,774,588.92.

Education. The school population in 1898 was 366,069; the enrollment, 273,919; the average daily attendance, 173,930; number of schoolhouses, 6,676; average number of days of school in all districts, 131; number of teachers in public schools, 9,608; total wages, $2,359,807. The total expenditures, including a balance on hand at the close of the year of $673,341, were $4,385,358. The number of students in the State University in December, 1899, was 1,560. There were 622 new students admitted in the autumn.

The enrollment at the State Normal School for the year ending June, 1898, was 699.

There were 110 at the Institute for the Blind. The School for the Deaf had 165 pupils.

Charities and Corrections.-The State Industrial School for Boys, at Kearney, in 1898, had 150 inmates. In all 1,202 boys have been in the school since it was established in 1881. The Girls' Industrial School was established at Geneva in 1893.

The Institution for Feeble-minded Youth, at Beatrice, had 220 inmates, and applications for 250 more who could not be accommodated.

A fire at the State Penitentiary, Dec. 15, consumed the manufactures building and caused a loss amounting to between $75,000 and $100,000. The principal part of the loss falls upon the State, which owned the building and machine shop, together valued at $50,000 and uninsured.

Products. The annual crop review of the Omaha Bee, compiled from reports of correspondents in every part of the State, and published in October, indicates that the corn crop of 1899 exceeds the record of 1897, the best previous year, by 14,217,240 bushels and reaches 244,125,093 bushels. The average yield per acre is 34.5 bushels, and the crop is not only the largest, but, taken as a whole, is of as good quality as any ever raised in the State. The total of the wheat yield is below that of the last two previous years. This is due to the damage to the plant during the winter in the winter wheat district. In the spring wheat region in the northern part of the State the crop is fully up to the average in quality and quantity. The total yield is 29,333,914 bushels, an average of 11.4 bushels per acre. The oat crop amounts to 53,575,097 bushels, an average yield of 33.1. This is about an average with other years.

Mortgages. The report of the mortgages given and canceled in the first half of 1898 shows the number of farm mortgages filed to be 6,411, the amount being $7,003,266.46. The number satisfied was 8,758, amounting to $8,197,147.84. The number of town and city mortgages filed is 2,593, amounting to $1,908,343.60. The number satisfied is 3,215, amounting to $3,623,290.64.

The number of chattel mortgages filed is 38,839, amounting to $21,518,388.48. The num ber satisfied is 20,558, amounting to $9,019,358.87. The number of foreclosures of farms is 502, and of city property 432. Lancaster County is not included in the report of chattel mortgages.

Banks. The semi-annual report of the State banking department in July shows a total of resources and liabilities of $30,453,723; with loans and discounts, $17,898,386; capital stock paid in, $7,232,485; and general deposits, $21,025,766. This was believed to be the best showing so far made by the banks of the State. The whole number of banks covered by the statement is 398,

including State, savings, and private banks. The average reserve is 45 per cent. In three months the legal reserve had increased $2,230,506; the cash reserve, $64,170; the capital and surplus, $190,740; the deposits, $1,772,716; the total resources, $1,658,125.

Building Associations.-There were 60 of these doing business in the State June 30, 8 having gone out of operation since the beginning of the year, while 4 new ones had been formed. Their assets amounted to $3,331,042, of which $2,358,773 was in first mortgage loans, besides $35,652 that were in process of foreclosure. The loans made amounted to $539,149.

Insurance. From the statement of the insurance department, published in April, covering 1898, it appears that the joint fire insurance companies of other States and nations wrote risks amounting to $96,326,346 and received $1,250,079 in premiums. The losses paid amounted to $552,704, and the losses incurred to $569,760. This shows a great increase in the amount of business. The Nebraska farmers' mutual companies wrote risks amounting to $18,592,249, and received an income of $176,409. The expenses of these companies amounted to $77,456. The losses paid were $79,349, and the policies in force at the end of the year amounted to $56,537,124. This does not include the Nebraska farmers' mutual companies organized under the law of 1873. Companies organized under that law wrote risks amounting to $7,972,723, and received $134,693 in premiums. Their expenses amounted to $54,454, and the losses paid were $33,827. The losses incurred amounted to $31,244. In addition there were many city and village insurance companies that paid $32,654 for losses and wrote risks amounting to $6,852,566 and received an income of $86,151. Agents' commissions and expenses amounted to $80,498.

The

Nebraska joint stock companies wrote risks amounting to $11,106,593, received $157,947_in premiums, and paid out $63,752 for losses. expenses of these companies amounted to $81,375. The business of these mutual companies also shows a large increase.

The Exposition.-No full account of the affairs of the Omaha Exposition has come to hand, but reports at the close appear to indicate that it was not financially successful. An Omaha letter of Nov. 1 says: "It would be impossible to state the exact total receipts. The paid stock was $89,300; sale of buildings and material about $50,000; water plant, $18,000; concessions, about $70,000; admissions, something over $190,000; making a total of something less than $420,000 as received by the management. At the opening of the gates the corporation was in debt something like $60,000. At the time of the reorganization, a month later, the new management, by hard work, was able to secure loans to the amount of about $40,000 within ten days after taking control. The gates closed with a debt in excess of $130,000, not counting the $89,300 capital stock paid up."

Legislative Session. The session of the Legislature lasted from Jan. 3 to March 31. A. R. Talbot was president pro tempore of the Senate, and Paul F. Clark Speaker of the House.

There were 6 Democratic members of the Senate, 10 of the House; 18 Republicans in the Senate and 55 in the House; 9 Populists in the Senate and 35 in the House.

The term of United States Senator William V. Allen having expired, a successor was elected, but only after a long contest. Mr. Allen was the candidate of the fusionists, Monroe L. Hay