Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/705

 TEXAS 675 eral elections are held biennially on the Tues- day next after the first Monday of November in even years (commencing with 1878). Amend- ments to the constitution must be proposed by two thirds of each house of the legislature, and approved by a majority of the people. Texas is entitled to six representatives and two senators in congress, and therefore has eight votes in the electoral college. The valu- ation of property, according to the United States censuses, has been as follows : KR ASSESSED VALUE. Real estate. Personal estate. $112,476,013 97,186,568 $155.316,322 52,546,361 $267,792,335 149,782,929 True value of real and personal estate. $52,740,473 365,200,614 159,052,542 The decrease from 1860 to 1870 was due to the jivil war, and particularly to the emancipation )f the slaves. The assessed value of property in 1874 was $241,841,860 ; in 1875 it was be- lieved that with a proper system of assessment it would amount to $300,000,000. The taxa- tion of 1873 amounted to $2,517.394, of which $1,286,188 ($168,254 on polls and $1,117,934 on property) was state and $1,231,206 coun- ty. The estimated receipts during the year iding Aug. 31, 1876, available for the gen- eral expenses of the state, are $1,289,348; available for school purposes, $715,129 70; total, $2,004,477 70, of which $1,400,130 are from taxes on property, $279,000 from occu- pation tax, $170,347 70 from poll taxes, $125,- 000 from interest on permanent school fund, and $30,000 from office fees. The appropria- tions for the same period are as follows : for executive departments, $182,230 ; judicial de- partment, $256,625 ; school department, $505,- 400, including $500,000 for teachers' wages; blind asylum, $16,120 ; deaf and dumb asylum, $14,000; lunatic asylum, $38,300; peniten- tiary, $40,000; interest, $480,000; frontier defence, $150,000; other purposes, $5,610; total, $1,688,285. The bonded debt on Aug. 31, 1875, amounted to $4,107,588; floating debt, $614,326 36 ; total, $4,721,914 36. Be- sides this there was a debt of doubtful valid- ity, amounting to $829,687 66, and consisting of bonds issued by the state to the school and university funds, with accrued interest thereon. The state institutions are the peni- tentiary, at Ijjuntsville, and the institution for the deaf and dumb (opened in 1857), the institute for the blind (1856), and the lunatic asylum (1861), at Austin. The labor of the convicts is leased to contractors. The num- ber registered at the penitentiary in November, 1875, was 1,686, of whom 452 were employed at the penitentiary and the rest elsewhere. The institution for the deaf and dumb in 1874 had 46 pupils (31 males and 15 females) ; the blind institute, 40 (16 males and 24 females) ; and the lunatic asylum, 127 inmates (68 males and 59 females). In 1875 an act was passed providing for the erection of two additional penitentiaries, one N. E. of the Trinity river and the other W. of the Colorado river. The governor, comptroller, and secretary of state constitute a board of education. The public schools are regulated by an act of 1873, with amendments. In each county a board of five school directors is elected for four years; these choose one of their number president, who is ex officio county superintendent of pub- lic instruction. In each school district three trustees are elected annually. Cities may as- sume control of the schools within their lim- its, subject to the general school law. The schools for white and colored children are sepa- rate. Under the provisions of the constitution one fourth of the revenue from general taxa- tion and a poll tax of $1 on males between 21 and 60 years of age, together with the interest on the permanent school fund, are annually set apart for the support of public schools ; there is also a landed endowment, consisting of 60,- 314,000 acres of the public domain. In 1874 there were 2,129 public schools, with 98,308 pupils enrolled, out of a school population (6 to 18 years) of 313,061 ; private schools, 132, with 4,381 pupils; public school houses, 1,007; amount of state school fund apportioned, $499,- 930 50 ; teachers' wages, $612,878 67. ^ Only 77 counties reported the number of pupils en- rolled in the public schools; the number en- rolled in the entire state was estimated by the superintendent of public instruction at 161,670. The permanent school fund on Aug. 31, 1875, amounted to $2,637,673 31. Under acts of congress of 1862 and 1866, the state received a donation of 180,000 acres of land scrip for the establishment of an agricultural and me- chanical college. This was sold in 1871, and the proceeds were invested in 7 per cent, gold bonds of the state ($174,000). Buildings have been erected by the state near Bryan. The following table gives particulars of collegiate institutions for 1874-'5 : INSTITUTIONS. Location. Denomination. Date of organization. Number of instructors. Number of students. _ . . ' 1845 7 80 Austin college Presbyterian 1850 4 1854 10 168 Soule university Chappell Hill, Washington co.. Methodist Episcopal, South. Baptist 1856 1857 ii 29i 1869 5 204 Trinity university Henderson college Texas university Tehuacana, Limestone co Henderson, Rusk co Georgetown, Williamson co.. . Cumberland Presbyterian. . . Non-sectarian Methodist Episcopal, South.. 1869 1871 1874 13 6 b 408 200 68