RAILROADS GRANTING TEXAS MIDLAND RAILROAD RIGHT TO CONSTRUCT SWITCH TO THE NORTH

H. B. No. 499.]

TEXAS INSANE ASYLUM.

CHAPTER CLXXVI.

An Act to grant a right of way to the Texas Midland Railroad, and to authorize it to construct and operate a railroad switch or spur, track or tracks from a point on the main line of the said Texas Midland Railroad at or near Eula Station to a point or points near the power house at the North Texas Insane Asylum, and across and upon lands belonging to the State of Texas and used in connection with said asylum, and to authorize the acquisition of a right of way for such switch or spur track or tracks across and upon other intervening lands belonging to others, and to authorize the purchase and erection of railroad scales near said asylum, and to authorize the board of managers of the North Texas Insane Asylum to enter into a contract with the Texas Midland Railroad for the construction and operation of said switch or spur track or tracks and to appropriate the necessary funds to procure said right of way and scales, and carry out said contract.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: ·

SECTION 1. That the said Texas Midland Railroad be and is hereby granted a right of way for and is hereby authorized and empowered to erect and construct a railroad switch or spur track or tracks from a point on its main track, at or near Eula Station to one or more points near the power house at the North Texas Insane Asylum and across and upon lands belonging to the State of Texas and used in connection with said Asylum, and to operate thereon its engines, cars and trains and other equipment.

SEC. 2. That the board of managers of the North Texas Insane Asylum be and is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to secure by purchase or otherwise a right of way for such switch or spur track or tracks, not less than forty feet in width, across and upon any and all lands which intervenes between the lands belonging to the State of Texas and the Texas Midland Railroad, and to take the title thereto in the State of Texas, and that the said Texas Midland be and it is hereby granted a right of way for, and is hereby authorized and empowered to construct and operate such switch or spur track or tracks on and over the right of way which may be acquired by the said board of managers, under the provisions of this bill.

SEC. 3. That the board of managers of the North Texas Insane Asylum be and is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to purchase railroad scales and to erect same on said switch or spur track or tracks near said power house, and to be used for weighing cars and freight and supplies purchased for the said North Texas Insane Asylum.

SEC. 4. That the board of managers of the North Texas Insane Asylum be and is hereby authorized and empowered to enter into a contract with the Texas Midland Railroad for the construction and operation and removal of such switch, track or spur track or tracks. The contract so to be entered into shall fix the route and the width of the right of way to be granted to and used by the said Texas Midland Railroad, and shall provide for the time and manner of the operation of said switch or spur track or tracks, and shall contain such

other terms and provisions as may be agreed upon between the said board of managers of the North Texas Insane Asylum, upon which full power is hereby conferred, and the Texas Midland Railroad.

SEC. 5. That the sum of three thousand dollars, or so much thereof as is necessary, be and the same is hereby appropriated out of any money in the State Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of acquiring said right of way, and for the purpose of erecting said railroad scales for the purpose of carrying out and complying with the terms and provisions of such contract as may be entered into between the said board of managers of the North Texas Insane Asylum and the said Texas Midland Railroad, and the Comptroller of the State is hereby authorized and directed to issue his warrant upon the State Treasury for the payment of expenses incurred in carrying out the provisions of this act upon vouchers approved by the president of the board of managers of the North Texas Insane Asylum.

SEC. 6. The large number of bills now upon the calendars of the House and Senate and the urgent necessity for such switch or spur or track or tracks, and the importance of this act, create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended, and that this act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.

Approved April 30, 1907.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

ELECTIONS-MANNER OF HOLDING.

H. B. No. 20.] ·

CHAPTER CLXXVII.

An Act to amend Section No. 114, and add Section 114a, which prescribes for a uniform test, an act passed by the First Called Session of the Twenty-ninth Legislature, entitled "An Act to regulate elections and to provide penalties for its violation and to repeal the Acts of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of 1903, regulating elections, general, special and primary, and pontical conventions, approved April 1, 1903"; and also to amend Section 120 of said act as amended by the Second Called Session of the said Twenty-ninth Legislature; also to amend Section 141 of said act passed at the First Called Session of the Twentyninth Legislature, also to amend Section 106 of said act passed at the First Called Session of the Twenty-ninth Legislature.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas:

SECTION 1. That Section 114, of the Acts of the First Called Session of the Twenty-ninth Legislature entitled "An Act to regulate elections and to provide penalties for its violation and to repeal the Acts of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of 1903, regulating elections general, special and primary, and political conventions, approved April 1, 1903," be amended so as to hereafter read as follows: and add Section 114a, thereto, which provides for uniform tests:

Sec. 114. On the fourth Saturday in August succeeding each general primary there shall be held in each district within the State in

which any candidate or candidates for any district office are to be elected at the succeeding regular election a district convention which shall be composed of delegates from the county or counties composing such district, selected in the manner herein provided, notice of the time and place of holding such convention shall be given by the executive committee of such district at least ten days prior to such meeting. Before such convention assembles the Executive Committee of such district shall meet and elect one of its number chairman of such committee, shall prepare a list of delegates from the various counties composing such district which have been certified to the district committee by the chairman of the various county committees, shall tabulate the vote cast in the various counties for each candidate for district office, which has been certified to such committee as provided in this act, and shall also prepare a statement, showing the number of convention votes which each county in such district is entitled to cast in said convention upon the basis set forth in Section 120, of this act, and shall present such list of delegates, tabulated vote and convention vote to the convention when it assembles. The district convention shall then canvass the returns of the votes cast in all of the counties of the district for each candidate as presented to them by the district committee, and shall declare the person found to have received the largest number of votes at the primary in the district for such office the nominee of the party for such office, and the chairman and secretary of the convention shall forthwith certify such nomination to the Secretary of State. But in the event there is only one name on the ballot for a District office without an opponent the district chairman shall as soon as practicable after the primary election certify that the person on the ballot is the nominee of the party and that there shall be no convention held for the purpose of declaring the result.

am a

Section 114a. No official ballot for primary election shall have on it any symbol or device or any printed matter except a primary test, to be uniform throughout the State, which shall read as follows: "I (inserting name of the political party or organization of which the voter is a member) and pledge myself to support the nominees of this primary," and any ballot which shall not contain such test printed above the names of the candidates thereon shall be void and shall not be counted. Such ballot shall also contain the names and residences of the candidates.

SEC. 2. That Section 120 of said act referred to in Section 1 as amended by the Second Called Session of the Twenty-ninth Legislature be amended so as to hereafter read as follows:

Section 120. The State convention shall canvass the vote cast in the entire State for each candidate for each State office as shown by the statement thereof presented to it by the State committee, and shall declare the candidate for each State office who has received the largest number of votes in the primary election for such State office the nominee of the party for such office and the chairman and secretary of the State convention shall forthwith certify all such nominations to the Secretary of State. Each county in the State or district convention shall be entitled to one vote for each five hundred votes or major

fraction thereof cast for the candidates for Governor of the political party holding the convention at the last preceding primary election. In case at such primary election there were cast for such candidate for Governor less than five hundred votes in any county, then all such counties shall have one vote; provided any political party in this State in convention assembled shall never place in the platform or resolutions of the party they represent any demand for specific legislation on any subject, unless the demand for such specific legislation shall have been submitted to a direct vote of the people, and shall have been endorsed by a majority vote of all the votes cast in the primary election of such party. Provided further, that all laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed; provided that the State Executive Committee shall on petition of ten per cent of the voters of any party, as shown by the last primary election vote, submit any such question or questions to the voters at the general primary next preceding the State convention.

SEC. 3. That Section 141 of Chapter 11 of the General Laws of Texas, First Called Session of the Twenty-ninth Legislature, 1905, be and the same is hereby amended so as to hereafter read as follows:

Section 141. All contests for a primary election or nomination of a convention, based on charges of fraud or illegality in the method of conducting the election, or fraud or illegality in selecting the delegates to the convention, or in certifying to the convention, or in nominating candidates in State, district, county or municipal conventions, or in issuing certificates of nominations from such conventions the same shall be decided by the executive committee of the State, district, county or municipal as the nature of the office may require, each executive committee having control in its own jurisdiction. The complaining candidate shall within five days after the result has been declared by the committee of the convention cause a notice to be served on the chairman or some member of the executive committee in which he shall state specifically the grounds of his contest; also shall serve or cause to be served on the opposing candidate a copy of such notice, at least five days prior to the date set for hearing by the committee. If special charges of fraud or illegality in the conduct of the election or in the manner of holding the convention, or in the manner of making nominations are made and not otherwise, the chairman, or in case he fails or refuses, any member of the committee shall within ten days after the primary election, or the convention, convene the executive committee, who shall then examine the charges, hear evidence and decide in favor of the party who, in their opinion, was nominated in the primary election or in the convention, provided that before any advantage can be taken of the disregard or violation of any directory provision of the law, it must appear that but for such disregard or violation the result would have been different. In all contests between candidates for State office, the committee shall hold its hearing in the city of Austin, Travis county, unless some other place is agreed upon by the parties, and in all contests between candidates for any district, county or municipal or precinct office the committee may hold its hearing at its election, either in the county of the residence of the contestee, or in any county where

the fraud or illegality complained of is alleged to have occurred, or at such other place as the parties may agree upon. When the committee has decided the contest, the executive chairman shall immediately certify their finding to the officers charged with the duty of providing the official ballot, and the name of the candidate in whose favor the executive committee shall find, shall be printed on the official ballot for the general election. The Executive committee may, if, in their opinion, the ends of justice require it, unlock and unseal the ballot boxes used in the precinct where fraud or illegality is charged to have been used, and examine their contents, after which they shall be sealed and delivered to the county clerk.

The certificate of nomination issued by the president or chairman of the nominating convention shall be subject to review upon allegations of fraud or illegality mentioned in this section and other provisions of the Act of 1905, both by the courts and executive committees, and the courts and such executive committees are hereby given concurrent jurisdiction.

SEC. 4. That Section 106 of Chapter 11 of the General Laws of Texas, First Called Session of the Twenty-ninth Legislature, 1905, be and the same is hereby amended so as to hereafter read as follows:

Section 106. There shall be for each political party required by this law to hold primary elections for nomination of its candidates a county executive committee to be composed of one member from each voting or justice precinct in such county, as the party executive committee may direct, the members of which county executive committee as well as the county chairman and a precinct chairman for each voting or justice precinct, as the case may be, shall be elected by the qualified voters of the county on primary election day; provided that in case of a vacancy occurring in the office of chairman, county or precinct, or any member of such committee, such vacancy shall be filled by a majority vote of said executive committee.

SEC. 5. All laws and parts of laws in conflict herewith be, and the same are hereby repealed.

Approved April 30, 1907.

Takes effect ninety days after adjournment.

MINES-CREATING STATE MINING BOARD, MINING INSPECTOR AND PRESCRIBING THEIR DUTIES.

An Act providing for the health and safety of persons in and around mines and for creating a State Mining Board and the office of State Mining Inspector and defining the duties of such inspector.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas: (a) Any shaft in process of sinking and any opening projected for the purpose of mining coal of all kinds shall be subjected to the provisions of this Act.

(b) At the bottom of every shaft and every caging place therein,