guard in times of peace, and its only defense in times of trouble. But I am asked, How will you contest the election if the ballot is not numbered! Nothing can be easier. When the votes are counted over and turn out ten more than the number on the poll-list, discard ten votes first taken from the box, and the balance take as good. This rule is adopted by several of the States.

The following resolution relative to changing the manner of choosing Presidential Electors was adopted in the Senate:

Whereas, Interference by officers of the United States in popular elections is justly regarded by the people of this State as an evil of great magnitude; and Whereas, The manifest purpose of such interference, in part at least, is to influence and control the action of the State in selecting Electors for President and Vice-President of the United States; therefore

Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Relations be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the selection of President and VicePresident by the General Assembly until the acts of Congress authorizing interference by Federal authority are rescinded.

The division of the State into judicial districts was accomplished by making the Congressional districts constitute the circuits, except as to the following counties: Randolph, instead of being in the seventh, is put into the fifth; Clay, instead of being in the fifth, is put into the seventh; Marion and Winston, instead of being in the sixth, are put into the eighth.

The act to organize and regulate the system of public instruction sets apart for the support of the schools and appropriates the following sums, which thus compose the school revenue: The annual interest at 6 per cent. upon all sums of money which have heretofore been received or which may hereafter be received by the State as the proceeds of sales of lands granted or intrusted by the United States to the State, or to the several townships thereof, for school purposes; the annual interest at 4 per cent. on that part of the surplus revenue of the United States deposited with the State under the act of Congress approved June 23, 1836; all the annual rents, incomes, profits, or interests arising from the proceeds of sales of all such lands as may hereafter be given by the United States, or by the State, or by individuals, for the support of the public schools; all such sums as may accrue to the State as escheats, which are to be applied to the support of the public schools during the scholastic year next succeeding their receipt in the State Treasury; also all rents, incomes, and profits received into the State Treasury during the scholastic year, from all lands remaining unsold, which have heretofore been donated by the Congress of the United States for the support of the public schools; all licenses which are by law required to be paid into the school fund of any county, the same to be expended for the benefit of the public schools in such county, and all such license-tax shall be promptly paid by the probate judge, or such person collecting such tax, to the County Superintendent of Education; also the

further sum of $130,000 from any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. The poll-tax of each county shall be retained in the county for the schools thereof. Such poll-tax is fixed at $1.50 on each male inhabitant over twenty-one and less than forty-five years of age. In 1877-'78 it amounted to $109,762.

The public school officers are a State Superintendent of Education, a county and one township superintendent.

The following three sections of this act relate to the schools and the children:

SEO. 48. Be it further enacted, That every township and fraction of a township which is divided by a State or county line, or any other insuperable barrier, such as rivers, creeks, or mountains, and every incorporated city or town having three thousand inhabitants, shall constitute separate school districts, and each shall be under the township superintendent of public schools, as to all matters connected with public schools. Each township or other school district, in its corporate capacity as created by law, may hold real and personal property; and the business of such corporations, in relation to public schools and school fands, shall be managed by the township or district superintendents.

SEO. 49. Be it further enacted, That every child be entitled to admission into, and instructed in any between the ages of seven and twenty-one years shall public school of its own race or color in the township in which he or she resides, or to any public school of its own race or color, in the State of Alabama, as herein provided.

year shall begin on the first day of October of cach SEC. 50. Be it further enacted, That the scholastic year, and end on the thirtieth day of September of the following year. Twenty days shall constitute a school month. A school day shall comprise not less than

six hours.

According to the report of the Superintendent of Education, the number of school districts in the State in the year 1877-'78 was 1,700; number of schools taught, white 2,696, colored 1,404; number of teachers employed, white 2,722, colored 1,423; grades of schools taught, primary 1,590, intermediate 1,370, grammar 973, high 167; school population, white 214,279, colored 155,168; number enrolled in schools, white 86,485, colored 54,745; average attendance in schools, white 61,584, colored 40,092.

There is a normal school at Florence, upon the most approved plan, for the education of white teachers, male and female. Another, at Marion, is for the education of colored teachers; and a university, connected therewith, for the education of colored students in the higher departments of learning. Another is located at Huntsville in the northern part of the State for the professional education of colored teachers, controlled by a board of three commissioners. Pupils are admitted free of charge, but must bind themselves to teach two years in the public schools of the State. This institution is in successful operation.

In the University of Alabama for the year 1878 there were 38 degrees conferred. The number of students was 178. At the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the same year there were 238 students. The number of stu

dents enrolled at the beginning of 1879 was 217, which exceeds the number at the same date the year previous by 46. The advanced classes are larger this year than ever before. Of the 238 students last year, there were in the first class 8, in the second 16, in the third 53, in the fourth 66, in the fifth 95. Of the 217 students in the present year there are in the first class 13, in the second 30, in the third 47, in the fourth 60, in the fifth 65. In college classes proper there were last year, out of 238 students, 143; this year, out of 217 students, there are 150. During the past year improvements were made upon the college building, which give ample accommodations for 300 students. The income of the college is derived mainly from the endowment fund, which consists of $253,500, invested, by act of the General Assembly of the State, in Alabama bonds. These bonds are deposited with the Treasurer of the State. The annual income from this endowment is $20,280.

Two acts were passed by the Legislature which related to the financial affairs of the city of Mobile. The first act repealed the charter of the city, and made provision for the application of the assets of the old corporation in discharge of its debts. Three commissioners were to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to collect and disburse these assets. Their manner of discharging the duty is to be directed and controlled by the Chancery Court for Mobile. The commissioners are authorized to compromise, compound, and adjust all debts, claims, and demands, including past-due taxes, of every kind which at the date of the passage of the act existed in favor of the city, on such terms and in such manner as, having in view the speedy collection of such outstanding claims and the largest possible reduction of the debt heretofore due from or now asserted against the city, may seem to them best; and for the purpose of so realizing the assets and paying the debt, the commissioners and receivers, with the leave of the Court of Chancery, are authorized and empowered to sell, on the best terms they can obtain, all the real and personal property which may come to their hands as commissioners under the act, and not by existing laws exempt from sale, and so much and such parts or portions of the claims and demands with the collection of which they are charged, as they may be authorized by the order of the Court of Chancery to sell. The commissioners are charged with the duty of opening communication with the holders of the funded debt of the city in relation to the same, with a view to the adjustment thereof, and its settlement; and for that purpose are to conduct negotiations with the creditors to the end that proper legislation may be enacted to secure at the same time and consistently with each other the protection of the life, property, security, and peace of the citizens of the territory of late governed by the municipal organ

ization of the city of Mobile, and the payment to the utmost extent practicable of the just debt of the city. They are to make report to the Governor of the State, to be laid before the General Assembly at its next term, of the result of their negotiations, together with the draft of such act for their consideration, as in the judgment of said commissioners may be required to carry into effect any scheme of adjustment they may recommend, and secure the objects of the act; and upon the passage of such act they shall apply to the Court of Chancery for such proper orders and decrees as may be necessary to secure the application of the assets under its jurisdiction and control to the uses and purposes which may be agreed upon, and be declared by the act to carry such agreement into operation and effect.

The second act contemplated and provided for the creation of a simple and economical as well as efficient form of local government, to exist provisionally until the next session of the General Assembly, January, 1881. This government, being only for a limited period, is to be intrusted simply with police powers- that is, with power to preserve the public peace, protect the public health, to provide against fires, take care of the streets, and perform such other municipal duties as are necessary for the well-being of the city. This provisional government, however, is to have nothing to do with the settlement of the debt. Eight commissioners are to be elected by the people, one from each ward, to manage the port. There are to be a president of the board, a clerk, and a tax-collector, and such police officers as may be necessary. To defray the expenses of police management, the board is authorized and empowered to lay and collect for each year of its existence, upon all real and personal property and all subjects of State taxation within said port of Mobile, a tax not exceeding six tenths of one per centum of the value of such property or subject of taxation assessed for State taxation during the year preceding that for which said police board may assess and lay the tax above provided for; provided, that where the personal property of any person does not exceed $150, and his real estate does not exceed $200, such property shall be exempt from taxation. The two acts thus passed were first brought forward and approved by the city authorities. The Board of Aldermen considered the bill to repeal the charter first, and recommended it for legislative action by a vote of thirteen to seven. After some debate they adopted the second bill creating a new corporation by a viva voce vote, which represented the same majority obtained in favor of the first. The Common Council was unanimous in favor of both bills. These measures were the result of two years of agitation. The objects were to secure an effective adjustment of the debt, to get rid of an expensive system of city government, and to place the property of the citizens beyond the

reach of the mandamus writ of the Federal courts.

Among other sources of authority to sustain the action of the Legislature in thus repealing the charter of a public corporation that was in debt, was a reference to the following cases: But this whole subject, both as to the power of the State and as to the right of the creditors of public corporations, has lately been so clearly defined and settled by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Barkeley vs. Levee Commissioners et. al., III Otto, p. 258, that there is now no room for doubt upon the subject. We will set out the head notes of this deci

sion:

"1. A public corporation, charged with specific duties, such as building and repairing levees within a certain district, being superseded in its functions by a law dividing the district, and creating a new corporation for one portion, and placing the other under charge of the local authorities, ceases to exist except so far as its existence is expressly continued for special objects, such as settling up its indebtedness and the like.

"2. If, within such limited existence, no provision is made for the continuance or new election of the officers of such corporation, the functions of the existing officers will cease when their respective terms expire, and the corporation will be de facto extinct.

"3. In such case, if there be a judgment against the corporation, mandamus will not lie to enforce the assessment of taxes for its payment, there being no officers to whom the writ can be directed.

4. The Court can not by mandamus compel the new corporations to perform the duties of the extinct corporation in the levy of taxes for the payment of its debts, especially where their territorial jurisdiction is not the same, and the law has not authorized them to make such levy.

"5. Nor can the Court order the Marshal to levy taxes in such a case; nor in any case, except where a specific law authorizes such a proceeding.

"6. Under these circumstances, the judgment creditor is, in fact, without remedy, and can only apply to the Legislature for relief."

This opinion was delivered in 1876. It speaks in no uncertain terms; it is the deliberate judgment of an undivided Court, and its authority can not be questioned by any power in this land. It decides that a State has the power to abolish a public corporation, even when it owes debts, and that new corporations may be created over the same territory which are not responsible for the debts of the defunct corporation; and further, that the creditor has no remedy in the courts whatever, but can only apply to the Legislature

for relief.

Then, under this decision, the legal right of the creditor only extends to the assets of which the corporation dies possessed, but the creditor has no lien or charge upon the private property of the individuals who resided within the limits of the defunct corporation. (Heine vs. Levee Commissioners, 19 Wall; Barkeley vs. Levee Commissioners, supra.) These

cases overrule and repudiate the extreme doctrines as to the powers of the Federal courts which Judge Dillon attempted to establish in the cases of Ste. Genevieve vs. Welsh, and Lansing vs. County Treasurer. (Dillon C. C. Reports, 1871, pp. 130, 525.)

The misfortunes of Mobile were ascribed to the decline of its prosperity. For proof of its decline, it is stated that on January 7, 1860, there were in Mobile Bay 74 ships and barks. On that day the cotton receipts for the year had been 490,761 bales, and of this number there had been shipped to New Orleans 17,797 bales. On January 7, 1871, there were in the port only 19 ships and barks, and the receipts

of cotton to that date had been 207,699 bales, of which there had been shipped to New Orleans 37,453 bales. On January 4, 1879, there were in port only 13 ships and barks. The receipts of cotton were 215,521 bales, but of this number there had been shipped to New Orleans for sale and export the enormous sum of 91,005 bales. Nearly half of the receipts have gone to New Orleans. At the time of the passage of the acts the Mayor of the city stated that its bonded indebtedness was $2,497,856. He was in favor of a refunding of the debt at the rate of 60 cents on the dollar, bearing 5 per cent. interest for ten years, and then 6 per cent. until maturity-running for a period of thirty years. He thought that if this was done the city could pay the interest promptly; he was satisfied that with judicious inanagement the expenses of the city could be reduced to $160,000 per annum. To meet this there was

Three fourths of 1 per cent. on $15,000,-
000 taxable valuables
Licenses, wharves, etc..

Total city expenses..

Surplus over $160,000.........

$112,500 00 70,000 00 $182,500 00

$22,500 00

the whole tax of the city would be 14 per cent. If the city debt were refunded as suggested, on taxable values. In the opinion of its chief officer, by the lengthy period during which a quarantine was kept in force in 1878, heavy expenses were incurred; but for this the city would have met all its obligations. The statistics of the trade of the city for 1879 have not yet been made up; but, according to the report of the Board of Trade, the business of Mobile for the year ending September 30, 1878, shows a considerable increase. The receipts of cotton were larger than during the previous year, while the value of exports aggregated over $19,000,000, an increase of more than $6,000,000, and the imports ran up from $648,404 to $1,148,442. The value of the lumber exports increased $50,000, and the importation of all staple articles of merchandise was largely in excess of the previous year. The receipts of cotton advanced from 27,000 bags in 1877 to 51,400 bags in 1878. A second cotton-mill year. This mill began work with 1,344 spinwas put in operation in Mobile during the past dles, and produced from 900 to 1,000 pounds of yarn, rope, twine, carpet-warp, etc., per day, using from 10 to 12 bales of cotton per week, and employing about 35 operatives. With its present capacity it can use 600 bales annually.

The three commissioners were appointed by the Governor, and they at once proceeded to take the required oath and file their bonds. On February 15th they presented and filed in the Chancery Court their petition to take charge of the city property and assets as provided by the act of the Legislature. This action prevented the appointment of a receiver by a Federal court. The case of Memphis (see

TENNESSEE) was different. A bill was filed in the Federal court and the funds of the city attached under it before the corporation of Memphis was dissolved by act of the Legislature. The corporation of the Port of Mobile was soon organized, and its administration of affairs commenced.

The following resolution relative to the election of Presidential Electors was adopted in the Senate:

Whereas, The interference by officers of the United States in popular elections is justly regarded by the people of this State as an evil of great magnitude; and Whereas, Such interference, in part at least, is to

influence and control the action of this State in the selection of Electors for President and Vice-President of the United States; therefore,

Resolved, That the Committee on Federal Relations be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing for a law for the selection of Electors for President and Vice-President by the General Assembly until the acts of Congress authorizing interference by Federal authority are repealed.

The sum of $3,000 was appropriated to carry into effect the health laws of the State.

An act was passed which provided for the settlement of delinquent taxes. Under its provisions, where lands or real estate of any kind have been sold for taxes and purchased by the State, between the 1st of January, 1866, and 1st of January, 1878, the owner may now redeem the same by paying 50 per cent. of the amount of taxes for which it was sold, together with 50 per cent. of all taxes which have since accrued. When no assessment of taxes has been made of lands or real estate after the first sale thereof for taxes, and purchase thereof by the State, the Judge of Probate of the county in which such land or real estate may be situated shall assess the same for each subsequent year when proposed to be redeemed.

Another act was passed to secure a better payment of taxes in future. It requires the collector to docket the cases of all delinquencies in a book, and hand the book to the Probate Judge by the first day of March. The Probate Judge is to hold court in April, and thirty days thereafter, say about the 1st of May, is to issue to the owner, or his agent or representative, of each parcel of real estate entered in said book, a notice setting forth the parcels of property on which he is reported a delinquent, and notifying him to appear on a given day and show cause why a decree of sale should not be made for the amount due to the State and county. If no defense is made within ten days thereafter, the Judge enters up a decree ordering a sale of the land. At the end of the term of the court the collector advertises the lands for sale, giving thirty days' notice. The Probate Judge attends the sale and makes a record of the result. An appeal lies from the decree of the Probate Judge to the Circuit Court upon giving bonds in twice the amount of the decree. The land thus sold may be redeemed by the owner, his agent or representative, mortgagee or other person hav

ing a beneficial interest in such land, at any time before the expiration of two years from the date of sale, by depositing with the Probate Judge of the county in which such real property was sold, the amount of purchasemoney, and a penalty of 10 per cent. thereon, damages on the taxes and the costs, and interest on the taxes and costs, at the rate of 8 per cent. per annum from the date of sale, and the costs of the certificates of purchase, all taxes on such land which have accrued subsequently to the sale, unless such taxes have been paid to the collector, as may be shown by his receipt, and also paying the sum of one dollar to the Judge. The tax-collector is compelled by this law to seize any personal property he can find for the collection of taxes; but, before he enters upon his docket any lands of delinquents, he must swear that he has searched diligently for personal property upon which to make the levy, and has not been able to find any.

The Legislature authorized a new loan for the purpose of taking up a million of interestbearing notes outstanding. The notes were issued at 8 per cent. interest, and were a burden upon the revenue of the State to the amount of $80,000. It was believed that bonds might be sold at par bearing 6 per cent. interest, the proceeds of which could be used to retire the notes. An offer for the whole loan was made to the Governor from Boston at 6 per cent., with a premium of one half of one per cent. This was declined, as another offer had been received, principally from citizens of Alabama, with a premium of 2 per cent. This indication of the healthy condition of the State credit induced the Governor to determine to offer the loan at 5 per cent.

The report of the Auditor in the last of October showed that for the past fiscal year the disbursements of the Treasury were the lowest, all things considered, for any year since the war. The receipts for taxes were $564,722.17; total from licenses and all sources $122,307.58; making a total of $687,029.75. The total disbursements were $685,026.47. The total collections, including school money, amount to $942,998.61; disbursements, including school money, $872,867.48. The receipts are less than last year, but this is mainly due, as the Auditor maintains, to the reduction of the rate of taxation from 74 to 7 mills. The report shows remarkable diminutions in the amount of assessments in nearly all the counties. Of the 62 counties tabulated in the report, 50 show a decrease as compared with Inst year's assessment. The Auditor puts it down as the general opinion that, so far from there being depreciation in the value of property throughout the State, there has been just the reverse. He, however, helps the situation somewhat by adding, "Supplemental and collectors' assessments may bring up these counties considerably," though he does not believe the assessment will reach the "total of the