and Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Grekoff; Minister of the Interior, M. Radoslavoff; Minister of Public Instruction, M. Ivantchoff; Minister of Public Works, M. Tontcheff; Minister of Finace, M. Teneff; Minister of Commerce and Agriculture, M. Natchovich; Minister of Justice, M. Pesheff; Minister of War, Col. Paprikoff. The cause of the fall of M. Stoiloff's Cabinet was a bill passed through the Sobranje sanctioning the transfer to the Bulgarian Government of that part of the European railroad system of Turkey which passes through the principality. The contract itself encountered much opposition from residents of certain districts through which they wished the Government to build a competitive line. An arrangement was also concluded for the conversion of all the Bulgarian railroad loans. The haste of the Government in stipulating that the transfer of the railroad should take effect on Feb. 1 incensed its opponents the more. In the bill it was made dependent on the sanction of the Porte, and when M. Stoiloff and his colleagues expressed a determination to carry out the agreement with the Eastern Railroad Company even if the Porte should fail to sanction it before Feb. 1, or, indeed, should withhold its approval altogether, the Prince intervened in the controversy to prevent a possible conflict with Turkey. The Ministers of Finance and the Interior first offered their resignations, and then the Cabinet as a whole. The country at this time was suffering from a severe financial crisis, for which the Stoiloff Cabinet was held to be responsible. The new Cabinet proceeded with the negotiations with the Porte relative to the railroad lease. The Turkish Government raised difficulties, and in the end the proposed lease fell through. The agitation in favor of Macedonian emancipation had been revived in Bulgaria, and in Macedonia the Bulgarian propaganda and the rivalries between the Bulgarian, Servian, Greek, and Roumanian schools and languages produced unusual excitement. The new Bulgarian ministry was not disposed to countenance the resuscitation of the Macedonian question, the less so because it had to face serious financial difficulties, and was at a loss where to find the funds to meet the obligations of the Government. It opened negotiations with the Eastern Railroad Company for the transference to it of the sections of the parallel line already built for the purpose of forcing the company in self-defense to cede to the Government the Bul

garian section of its railroad system, thus terminating the conflict into which the Stoiloff Cabinet had plunged with this powerful company, composed of the German and Austrian bankers who had undertaken the loan of 1892. In addition to the parallel railroad the late ministry had begun the construction of other railroads and of harbors at Varna and Bourgas, a programme greatly in excess of the present financial means of the Government. The ministry of M. Grekoff thus found these unfinished works on its hands, and had to meet at once a debt of nearly 50,000,000 francs. The parallel railroad, on which 4,000,000 francs had been expended, it was decided to abandon if the part constructed could not be sold to the company. Of the other unfinished constructions only the almost completed railroads connecting Sofia with Shumla and Rustchuk with Tirnova and the harbor works at Varna and Bourgas would be proceeded with. Peace having been made with the syndicate of foreign bankers, these were willing to help the Government out of its immediate difficulties with an advance of 5,000,000 francs, with the option of loaning 45,000,000 francs later at the price of 87 per cent., with interest at 6 per cent. The Bulgarian Government pledged itself to repay 15,000,000 francs obtained in recent years, and the syndicate undertook to carry out the conversion of the national debt, including the recent loan of 28,000,000 francs, by the creation of a unified 5-per-cent. loan of 200,000,000 francs, to be taken at 893 per cent. This arrangement was concluded early in March. On May 7 a new Sobranje was elected, in which the Ministerialists obtained 104 seats and the various groups of the Opposition 53. The submission of the Government to the foreign syndicate, from whose control over the railroad communications and public finances the people hoped to be emancipated, created much indignation, and produced a situation that was almost revolutionary. The Stambuloff group in the Sobranje withdrew its support from the Government. The Prince was made the object of violent attacks, and these led to restrictions on the liberty of the press. The Government obtained an additional loan from the syndicate in May, but this was not sufficient to relieve its needs. The salaries of officials were months in arrears for the first time since Bulgaria became a nation, and the scarcity of money was acutely felt throughout the country.

C

CALIFORNIA, a Pacific coast State, admitted to the Union Sept. 9, 1850; area, 158,360 square miles. The population, according to each decennial census since admission, was 92,597 in 1850; 379,994 in 1860; 560.247 in 1870; 864,694 in 1880; and 1,208,130 in 1890. Capital, Sacramento.

Government.-The following were the State officers during the year: Governor, Henry T. Gage: Lieutenant Governor, Jacob H. Neff; Secretary of State, Charles F. Curry; Comptroller, Edward P. Colgan; Treasurer, Truman Reeves; Attorney-General, Tirey L. Ford; Surveyor-General, Martin J. Wright; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Thomas J. Kirk; Superintendent of Printing. Alfred J. Johnston; Adjutant General, W. H. Seaman; Commissioner of Labor, F. V. Meyers; Railroad Commissioners, E. B. Edson, C.

S. Laumeister, N. Blackstock; Board of Equalization, Alexander Brown, R. H. Beamer, Thomas O. Toland, and J. C. Edwards, who died, and was succeeded in May by Lewis H. Brown; Commissioners of the Supreme Court, H. S. Foote, Wheaton A. Gray, and E. J. Pringle, who died, and was succeeded in May by James A. Cooper; Building and Loan Commissioner, Frank H. Gould: Bank Commissioners, John Markley, A. W. Barrett, and B. D. Murphy; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, W. H. Beatty; Associate Justices, T. B. McFarland, C. H. Garoutte, R. C. Harrison, Walter Van Dyke, F. W. Henshaw, Jackson Temple; Clerk, George W. Root. The officers elected in 1898 were chosen on the Republican ticket, excepting T. O. Toland and Walter Van Dyke, who were candidates of the Fusionists. Justice Temple is a Democrat.

Finances.-The balance on hand June 30, 1898, in the general fund was $2,001,093. The aggregate valuation of real estate of the counties this year was $667,722,881; the value of improvements on real estate, $264,881,957; of personal property, $164,070,620; of money and solvent credits, $50,694,940; the value of railroads as assessed by the State Board of Equalization, $46,394,275; total valuation, $1,193,764,673. The original assessed value of mortgages was $160,860,992; the assessed value of university and other State mortgages, $1,249,000. The rate of State taxation is 60.1 cents. The funded debts of the counties amount to $3,663,400; and their floating debts, with the estimated interest, $116,846. The State has claims against the General Government aggregating more than $4,000,000, for furnishing, equipping, and paying volunteers during the civil war.

Education. The number of children between five and seventeen years of age entitling towns to receive State school money is 347,624; the amount apportioned for the semiannual payment in January was $2,044,029.12; the amount for each child, $5.88. The number of children has increased during the year by 6,672. In July $1,032,443.28 was apportioned, giving $2.97 for each child.

The regents of the university proposed to charge tuition fees in order to avoid the annual deficit of about $50,000, but afterward decided upon a registration tax; but in July it seems to have been finally concluded to do away with the tax altogether. Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler was chosen president in June, and accepted on the condition that the regents should recognize the president's right to make all appointments in the faculty; to be the sole means of communication between the faculty and the regents; to recommend all professors and instructors for promotion; and, especially, his entire power in the matter of salaries; also, that when the regents shall have decided upon any measure by a majority vote the board shall give its entire support to the measure without factional opposition. Dr. Wheeler took charge at the opening of the college year, and was inaugurated Oct. 25. The first prize of $10,000 for plans for the buildings which it is hoped will some time arise on the university grounds was awarded to Architect Benard, of Paris. The other four prizes were won by American architects-Howells, Stokes & Hornbostel, of New York; Desphanelles & Stephen Codman, of Boston; Howard & Cauldwell, of New York; and Lord, Hewlett & Hull, of New York-in the order given. M. Benard's plans show a hall for every art and science, two gymnasiums, and a splendid amphitheater for races and games. Toward the bay, where the grounds are now entered through the botanical garden, are two large open spaces or parks, which give a fine and airy appearance to the design. One of these vast squares is in front of the main educational building, devoted to pedagogy, philosophy, jurispru dence, and half a dozen other departments of intellectual work. Toward the south are the gymnasiums, one for men and one for women, and the tribunes for the athletic sports. These tribunes are so planned that crowds may easily be handled, two streets and an entrance through the gymnasium serving as outlets. The military building and the parade ground are set off above the portion sacred to athletics. On the hill above the general building are placed all the naturalhistory buildings, with an isolated infirmary at the farthest edge of the grounds. The dormitories and clubhouses are near the gymnasium, while the public parts of the university, the

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museums, lecture rooms, and the two auditoriums, are placed where they will be conveniently accessible to the public. The portions of the university with which the general public has little to do are placed behind these other portions farther up the hill, while on the highest ground of all, crowning the entire scheme, stands the observatory. A thing that won special favor in Benard's plan was the fact that the French architect made notable use of all the natural advantages of the site, which he never has seen. He has preserved in a remarkable degree the creeks and forests of the grounds. This was one of the things specially desired, and in the Benard plan the oaks, the creeks, and the hills are left almost unchanged.”

Stanford University received from Mrs. Stanford, in May, personal property in stocks and bonds to the market value of $10,000,000, and real estate in different parts of California amounting in value to $317,000. At the meeting of the trustees at which the deeds were given Mrs. Stanford made an address, in which she expressed her wishes as to the future management of the university. She wished the number of women allowed to attend to be limited to 500. The percentage of woman students has been steadily increasing. In 1891-'92 there were 559 students, of whom 25.4 per cent. were women; in 1898-'99 the total was 1,153, and the percentage of women was 41. This provision caused great surprise, and the president of the university gave the following explanation:

"This action of Mrs. Stanford simply follows the original plans of the construction of the university, and is in no sense a criticism of the scholarship or character of the young women attending here. The presence of young women has never kept away any young man whose attendance was desired. It was Mrs. Stanford's idea before the university opened that about one fourth of the students would be women. This was the percentage during the first years of college, but the number has gradually increased, showing that Mrs. Stanford did not foresee how popular the university would become with women students.

"I have no sympathy with the view that the presence of women lessens college spirit. College spirit that will not show itself before girls is not a desirable additional feature of college life. There is no foundation for the statement that any legitimate activity in athletics is checked by the presence of women.

"In all probability, there will be no occasion for taking any action in this matter for a year or so. There are now about 460 women in the university, and the number who have just gone out will about balance the number entering next September. The probable solution of the matter will be that women will be admitted to the upper classes only.

"I wish to emphasize again the fact that this action is in no way meant as a criticism of the women students, but is simply the carrying out of Mrs. Stanford's wish-that the university be, primarily, for men."

Charities and Corrections.-The Reform School for Boys, at Preston, provides for 141 inmates, at a yearly cost for each of $338.

The managers of the Stockton Asylum for the Insane have leased 324 acres of reclaimed land for a farm to be worked by such of the patients as are strong enough and are not dangerous.

Serious scandals have arisen in regard to the management of some of the State institutions, in reference to which the Governor was reported,

Aug. 1, to have said: "I have received a partial report of past conditions of affairs at some of these State institutions, and the facts have shocked me. It is frightful that servants of the people, paid out of the public treasury to maintain decency, to say the least, have shown such utter disregard of the importance of their duties. I intend to investigate the conduct of every public institution in the State. Several have already been inspected and privately overhauled by my orders without the knowledge of those in charge, and something will drop as soon as I return to Sacramento. It makes my blood boil when I think of some of these things." As a consequence of the investigation at the Agnews Asylum, the superintendent was dismissed on charges of immorality and two of the doctors for incompetency.

The Legislature was asked to make more stringent laws in order to stop the trade in opium at San Quentin prison. Guards were accused of smuggling in the drug for the use of convicts.

From a confession by one of the prisoners in March it was learned that a conspiracy had been formed to kill the guards and effect a wholesale delivery of prisoners, and on investigation the directors were convinced that the matter had not been exaggerated. Later, in May, a murderous assault was made upon one of the guards by a life prisoner. In view of these and instances of assaults by convicts upon their fellow-prisoners, the directors ruled that hereafter when a convict is found with a deadly weapon in his possession he shall be kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his term, even though that term be for his natural life. This went into operation, and in July seven men were undergoing this awful punishment-the man who assaulted the guard and the leaders of the conspiracy above mentioned. Four of them are life prisoners.

Railroads. The right of the Railroad Commissioners to regulate the fares and freight charges of the Southern Pacific road has been the subject of litigation since 1895, in which year the board sought to establish a reduction of 8 per cent. in grain rates. The suit was dismissed on motion of the railroad company in May, the commissioners of this year having rescinded the action of their predecessors. A new schedule made by the commissioners, June 12, was resisted by the company, and threatened to bring on further litigation. The reductions were estimated to amount on the average to about 2 per cent.

The fruit growers of the State, having failed to get what they deemed fair and just rates from the owners of lines of refrigerator cars, formed an organization and determined to establish an independent line owned or controlled by the orchardists of the State.

A San Francisco newspaper makes the following comparison between the assessed value of railroad and other property: In 1884, when the mileage of the State was 2,721, the assessed value of railroad property was $50,746,500. Last year, when the number of miles operated exceeded 4,400, the Board of Equalization assessed the railroads of the State at $44,457,473. In the first-named year (1884) the assessed value of all other than railroad property was $770,364,265. In 1898 it had increased to $1,086,426,224. It is impossible that the value of other property than that belonging to the railroads should have increased 28 per cent., while that of the corporations declined 14 per cent. The value of the railroads was placed in 1899 for assessment at $46,394.375. VOL. XXXIX.-7 A

Banks. According to the report of the Bank Commissioners, the bank deposits in the State have increased during the past two years by the sum of $50,000,000. The increase is not confined to any one locality, but has been distributed in almost equal proportions among commercial, national, and savings banks in city and country alike. The deposits in the savings banks of San Francisco amounted to $113,294,213 at the date of the report, a gain of $6,961,372.35 over the previous year; the deposits of interior savings banks aggregated $37,648,949.60, an increase of $2,862,565.33 for the year. The showing of the commercial banks incorporated under State laws is equally good, those of San Francisco exhibiting a gain of $6,195,663.91 in deposits over those of the preceding year, and totaling $40,677,836.57. The interior commercial banks had deposits to the amount of $36,946,850.63, this being $4,204,627.06 in excess of the preceding year. In addition to the above the national banks held deposits amounting to $31,858,489.22, the increase in the past year being $4,010,150.67. These figures, when aggregated, present a grand total of $258,864,395.47, and an increase in one year of $24,155,111.31.

The Union Savings Bank of San José was closed Jan. 30, and was declared insolvent. The County Bank at San Luis Obispo, the Commercial Bank of the same place, and the Bank of Paso Robles closed in March. The latter two were permitted later to resume. The Bank of Mendocino, at Ukiah, was closed in May.

Water Supply.-The Los Angeles Times published in August the results of an exhaustive inquiry into the recent development of a water supply in southern California. The Times prints reports from all the irrigated districts there, by which it appears that since the drought began a systematic search for water has been made, with a result that during twelve months past 30 inches have been added to the previous total. Of this, 10.797 inches are credited to Los Angeles County, 3.77 to San Bernardino County, 3.175 to Riverside County, 12 to Orange County, and 5 to San Diego County. In the case of the latter county the Times says that about 2 inches have been developed from wells, but that the permanent output is one fourth that. The estimates are the result of personal inspection by a member of the Times's staff, who traveled thousands of miles on his zigzag rounds of inquiry.

A convention for the conservation of the flood waters of the State was held in November. Resolutions were adopted, which were summarized in the statement that the convention favors the storage of flood waters by the National Government to the extent that such aid can be had by the State when national aid fails, and by private enterprise if both fail; the leasing of the public grazing lands is favored, and the inclusion in forest reserves of all public timber land lying about the head waters of our streams. The convention concluded its labors with the creation of a water and forest association, which is to be provided with an adequate income and is to labor for the measures which have received the approval of the convention.

Products.-The State's output of gold in 1898 was somewhat larger than that of 1897, and the yield of silver somewhat smaller. The estimate of gold produced was about $14,833,721; of silver, $414,055. The copper industry is growing, especially in Shasta and Siskiyou Counties. Shasta's copper product amounted to $2,465,830. The value of the oil produced is placed at more than $7,000,000 a year. The entire mineral product of

the State in 1898 was valued at $27,289,079, more than $2,000,000 above that of 1897.

The yield of oranges was about 12,000 car loads of 12 tons each, and that of lemons 2,500 car loads. These sold at wholesale and in auction rooms for $11,018,125. About 25,000 tons of beet sugar were made. The fruit pack was approximately 2,000,000 cases, or about 50,000,000 cans. The dairy product was estimated at 23,391,128 pounds of butter and 5,148,372 of cheese. The estimated quantity of dry wines was 12,000,000 gallons; of sweet wines, 7,000,000; and of brandy for ten months, 1,050,000 gallons. The raisin crop was about 70,000,000 pounds. The prune crop was much smaller than usual, amounting to about 55,000,000 pounds by the lowest estimate. Only about one third of the usual wheat crop was raised-9,666,666 bushels.

San Francisco. The number of manufactories in the city during the year ending March 1 was 1,846; employees, 32,104; and the value of the product, $77,189,116. The total transactions of the Clearing House in 1899 were estimated at $985,000,000. The largest amount of clearings heretofore was that of 1891-$892,426,713. The imports in 1899 to the port amounted to $35,747,535.

Coulterville. This mining town, in Mariposa County, was destroyed by fire in July-the third time it has suffered in this way.

San Pedro Harbor.-The beginning of work on the breakwater designed to make San Pedro a harbor of commerce and refuge was celebrated, April 26, by a jubilee, attended by about 20,000 people. The first load of rock was dumped by electric agency set in motion by the President at Washington.

Randsburg. This mining district was organized Dec. 20, 1895. In 1896 it produced gold amounting to between $200,000 and $300,000; in 1897, $500,000; in 1898, $1,125,000. Recent developments are said to warrant expectation that when the account is made for 1899 it will show $3,000,000. This was one of the most desolate regions in the West four years ago. A recent observer reports that the ore chamber of the Yellow Aster mine is already 40 feet high, and as many broad, without finding the outside terminus of the ledge in any direction. The excavation is too large to be timbered, and the owners are to put the mill in the mine, in the heart of the mountain. It is the intention to begin on top of the mountain and remove the whole mountain down to the ore bed.

Legislative Session.-The Legislature was in session from Jan. 2 till March 19. Thomas Flint was chosen President pro tem. of the Senate, and Frank L. Brandon secretary. Howard E. Wright was elected Speaker of the House, Alden Anderson Speaker pro tem., and C. W. Kyle chief clerk.

A successor was to be chosen to United States Senator Stephen M. White. After a prolonged and bitter contest adjournment was had with out an election, 104 ballots having been taken. The Republicans had 85 votes on joint ballot, the Democrats about 32. Republican candidates were Ulysses S. Grant, Daniel M. Burns, W. H. L. Barnes, Irving M. Scott, Robert N. Bulla, George A. Knight, Thomas R. Bard, and others; there was no caucus candidate. Democrats voted for Senator White, John Rosenfeldt, and others. D. M. Burns, to whom there was strong opposition on the ground that he was understood to be the candidate of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, held about 30 votes only, but the opposition was not united. The final ballot stood: Grant, 30; Burns, 30; Barnes, 18; Scott, 4; Pat

terson, 4; Estee, 1; White, 24; Phelan, 6; Rosenfeldt, 2; De Vries, 1. Charges of corruption having been made in connection with the vote for Senator, an investigation was ordered by a committee of the Assembly, whose report was filed Jan. 27. The findings of the committee were that the Speaker of the Assembly, Howard E. Wright, had received aid in his election to the Legislature or to the speakership from the friends of at least three of the candidates for the senatorship on the expressed or implied promise of his vote and support, and that he had secured the support of the San Francisco Call by leading the owner and the manager to believe that he was wholly unpledged. In regard to the charge that money was unlawfully expended for the election of Ulysses S. Grant, the report declared that Milton J. Green had spent a large amount of money to secure the election of Republicans to the Legislature, presumably to aid in the election of U. S. Grant to the senatorship. The report concluded:

That, in view of the above findings of fact, your committee recommends: That the conduct of Howard E. Wright, Speaker of the Assembly, as above set forth, be held to be reprehensible in an extreme degree, and that no mere censure on the part of the Assembly can meet the requirements of justice.

"That the expenditure of large sums of money in aid of the candidacy of a United States Senator in the manner above set forth is wrong and reprehensible, in that it is calculated to corrupt morals, to debauch the political system, to deter poor men of ability from entering upon a senatorial campaign, and to give to the rich an unwarranted and unjustifiable advantage over men of equal ability and qualifications, but of limited means; that the receiving of money by legislative candidates from probable senatorial candidates, either directly or indirectly, in aid of their own candidacy, is reprehensible for the same reasons.' In consequence of this report the Speaker resigned, Jan. 30. Alden Anderson, Speaker pro tem., was elected to the vacancy, and F. E. Dunlap to Mr. Anderson's place. A resolution to expel the ex-Speaker was defeated by a vote of 60 to 10. The affair was ended, March 9, by the dismissal of the contempt proceedings against M. J. Green. A bill was passed prohibiting candidates for the United States Senate from assisting directly or indirectly with money or property in the election of candidates for the State Legislature, on the expressed or implied promise that their votes shall be given to the senatorial candidate, and making the acceptance as well as the giving of such money or property a felony.

The bills introduced in the Assembly numbered 1,015; in the Senate, 750.

Several measures changing the regulations for election were carried. The form of the Australian ballot was altered by one of these, the chief provision of which requires that the names of the nominees of the different parties shall be printed in parallel columns, each column to be headed in display type by the name of the party whose candidates are listed therein. It does not follow the plan of permitting the voter to affix a mark under the party designation, and thus vote the straight ticket, but requires a mark to be placed opposite the name of each candidate voted for. The order in which the party names are to go on the ballot shall be directed by the Secretary of State, precedence to be given to the party which polled the highest vote at the previous State election. The purpose of the bill is to get the names of the candidates of each party together

as they used to be before the Australian ballot system went into effect.

Another of these measures states that a general primary election for all parties under the Australian ballot system is to be held in each county on a specified day previous to the conventions. It makes the primary mandatory, permitting nominations to be made only by conventions made up of delegates chosen under its provisions.

Provision was made for the punishment of offenses against the primary-election law. Other election enactments provided that, instead of printed registers, the signed affidavits that citizens make when registering shall be used by the precinct boards at the polls; ordered the posting outside the polling place of the result of the count there by the precinct election board before adjournment; and directed that the count of votes be continued each day, Sundays and holidays excepted, and for not less than six hours each day, until completed. Provision was made for the holding of municipal elections in oddnumbered years, as prescribed by the new San Francisco charter, and for special elections to choose boards of freeholders or to vote on charters or charter amendments.

An act was passed intended to repeal the State mining law relating to locations, and leave the United States law alone in force. The act has been supposed to have missed its design because by its wording it did not repeal the law of 1897, which was clearly its intent.

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By the terms of the "anticartoon law" it is made unlawful to publish in any newspaper, handbill, poster, book, or serial publication or supplement thereto the portrait of any living person, a resident of California, other than that of a person holding a public office in this State, without his written consent. The only exception is the portrait of a person convicted of a crime. The act also prohibits the caricaturing of resi dents of California. In its sweep it includes of fenses of publications made outside of California. The so-called signature bill" provides that "every article, statement, or editorial contained in any newspaper or other printed publication printed or published in this State, which by writing or printing tends to blacken the memory of one who is dead, or to impeach the honesty, integrity, virtue, or reputation, or publish the natural or alleged defects of one who is alive, and thereby expose him or her to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, must be supplemented by the true name of the writer of such article, statement, or editorial, signed or printed at the end thereof." Owners or publishers of newspapers are made liable to a forfeit of $1,000 for every such article published unsigned, half of which is to go to the State treasury and half to the plaintiff in the action. If the libel is in a book, it is sufficient if the author's name is on the title page. If it is in telegraphic news not furnished by the newspaper's own correspondent, but by a news agency, it is enough to have the name of the agency printed in connection with the dispatch.

A railroad consolidation act was passed, providing that " any railroad corporation owning any railroad in this State may sell, convey, and transfer its property and franchises, or any part thereof, to any other railroad corporation, whether organized under the laws of this State or of any other State or Territory, or under any act of Congress; and any such railroad corporation receiving such conveyance may hold and operate extensions and branches thereof, and do

any other business in connection therewith, as fully and effectually to all intents and purposes as if such corporation were organized under the laws of this State." This measure will have the effect of permitting the Santa Fé to operate its system as a whole and purchase the line from Mohave to the Colorado river, as it could not under former laws. Opposition was made to the bill on the ground that it would permit the Southern Pacific of Kentucky to carry out its scheme of combining the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific for the purpose of reorganizing the same and making a foreign corporation of them, and remove the Southern and Central Pacific beyond the pale of the State's authority and enable the Southern Pacific to reorganize the roads on such a basis that their overcapitalization will result in heavily taxing the commerce of the State. City and town authorities were authorized to grant franchises to railroad corporations for construction of piers and wharves for terminal facilities, without offering the franchise for sale.

The new charter of San Francisco, which was adopted by popular vote at the spring election of 1898, was approved by the Legislature. It was afterward attacked in the courts on the ground that the elections were not conducted strictly according to law. Decision in the Superior Court was in favor of the charter, and appeal was taken to the Supreme Court.

By another act it was provided that no action against the State or its officers for percentages to the counties for collecting taxes can be maintained. This does away with threatened suits by which the State was in danger of being compelled to pay the counties an amount estimated at $1,500,000. More than 40 of the counties had agreed to pay the law firms proposing to bring the suits from 25 to 50 per cent. of the amounts recovered. The claim made was, that an act of 1893, which was supposed to repeal a law of 1871-'72 providing for commissions to be paid to the auditors and assessors of the counties for collecting the State's portion of the taxes, was invalid because it received only 20 out of 40 votes in the Senate not a majority, as appeared from the journal of that date. The Governor said in his message that he had examined the original roll call, and was satisfied that 21 Senators had voted in the affirmative, but one name was omitted by mistake in the printing.

A section of the political code was amended so as to provide for assessment for taxation of stock in national banks, though other bank stock is not taxed; but other banks are taxed for personal property, while national banks are exempt from such taxation under United States laws. A suit was brought in July to test the validity of the act.

A stringent law was made for protection of trade marks. Measures in the interest of farmers and horticulturists provide for prevention of the sale of process or renovated butter, for inspection of dairies and dairy stock, for a horticultural quarantine officer and a quarantine of diseased trees, cuttings, and fruit, and for the destruction of diseased shipments. It was provided that every commission merchant, agent, factor, or broker who deals in farm produce, poultry, grain, seeds, fruit, honey, or dairy products shall give a $10,000 bond to the people of the State of California to insure the fulfillment of his contracts with consignors.

The office of State veterinarian was created. His salary is limited to $2,000 and his expenses to $500 a year, and he is to have an assistant