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sale, 1862, 525). W. Muller, "Encampment in the Desert," 1,600. Rosa Bonheur, "Landscape with Cattle," 1,500. Troyon, "Heights of Suresnes," 1,700 (Secrétan sale, 1889, 2,900). J. Phillip's "Gypsy Toilet." 1,700 (Knowles sale, 1865, 525); "Baptism in Scotland," 1,400 (Eden sale, 1874, 1,755). Ary Scheffer, "Paolo and Francesca," 320 (Ellesmere sale, 1870, 1,830). Sir D. Wilkie, "Cotter's Saturday Night," 1,250 (1872, 590). W. Collins, Buying Fish," 1,100 (Bicknell sale, 960). The single day's sale realized £75,916.

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At the sale of the pictures of Sir John Millais 7 canvases by the late president were disposed of at the following prices, in guineas: "The Empty Chair." 700; "The Naturalist," exhibited in 1885 as "The Ruling Passion," 1,700; "The Girlhood of St. Theresa," 650; "The Forerunner," 480; "Time," 420; "Sweet Emma Moreland," 390; "The Moon is up, and yet it is not Night," 1,050. A fine portrait by Holbein, bought by Millais for 70 guineas, was sold for 3,000 guineas to the Berlin Museum. Vandyke, "Time clipping the Wings of Love," 1,050 (Blenheim sale, 1886, 230). The entire properties realized £10,968.

Some important early British pictures from the collections of Earl Sondes, the Marquis of Normandy, and William Sharpe, a nephew of the poet Rogers, were sold on May 8. Among them were: Gainsborough," Mrs. Puget," 4,800 guineas; "Lady Mulgrave," 1,020 (Price sale, 1895, 3,500); "Charles Frederick Abel," 1,200 (Egremont sale, 1892, 1,400); Romney, "Mrs. Tickell," 2,000; "Mrs. Grove," 3,500 Anne Henshaw," 2,300. Reynolds, "Lady Waldegrave," 800 (1896, 1,050); "Alexander Wedderburn," 1,200; "Lady Anne Fitzpatrick as Sylvia," 1,800 (Montrose sale, 1895, 1,500). Hoppner, "Young Lady," 1,460.

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The Unthank collection of old masters brought a total of £16,500. The principal prices were: Hondekoeter, "Two Cocks fighting," 2,180 guineas; Hobbema, "Village Scene," 1,900; Giorgione," Italian Nobleman," 900.

The Cholmondeley sale included several noteworthy pictures, among them Sir Thomas Lawrence's Miss Farren," 2,250 guineas. A picture attributed to Velasquez sold for 1,340.

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In the sale of the late Baron Hirsch's collection a Vandyke, "Portrait of a Boy," brought 1,600 guineas, and a Gainsborough, "Second Baron Mulgrave," 700.

Romney's portraits of "Two Children in a Garden." from the Carleton Hall collection, Penrith, sold on June 16, realized the large sum of £9,100, a price exceeded only by the Clifden Romney "Viscountess Clifden and Lady Spencer," which brought in 1896 10,500 guineas.

Several notable pictures were sold at Christie's on July 10, among them Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of "Benjamin Gott," which brought 1,650 guineas, and his "Sisters Hamond," 1,400. Romney's "Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante" attained 1,900, and his "John Walter Tempest " 1.200.

Copenhagen. The International Exhibition of the Fine Arts, May 1 to Oct. 31, held in the new Ny Carlsberg Glyptotheca in commemoration of the transmission to its future home of the splendid collection of sculpture, the gift to the city of Mr. Carl Jacobsen, was one of the most successful of the Continental exhibitions. This collection, begun by Mr. Jacobsen in 1882, is probably the best of the modern French school to be found outside of Paris, it containing good examples of all the great names. Here are Dubois's "Florentine Singer" and "Connétable de Montmorency," Barrias's "Les Premières Funérailles," Chapu's "Jeanne d'Arc," Delaplanches' "La Musique," Gautherin's "Le Travail," Falguière's Diane," Lord Leighton's Athlete with a Ser

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pent," Baily's "Eva," McDowell's "Day Dream," and many other equally known works from Germany, Italy, and other countries. The building to contain this collection and other art treasures, with commodious halls for exhibitions, was finished this spring. Of the 924 canvases shown, the United States contributed 41, Great Britain 99, France 114, Germany 148, etc. Among the American painters represented were Stewart, Harrison, and Pearce.

Dresden.-The international art exhibition (May 1 to Sept. 30) was in commemoration of the twentyfifth anniversary of the reign of King Albert of Saxony. Of the total number of 718 paintings exhibited, 370 were contributed by foreigners, and of the 267 sculptures, 191 were the work of foreigners. Munich. The international exhibition held in the Crystal Palace (June 1 to Oct. 31) was organized by the two rival societies, the so-called "Secession" having agreed to unite for the occasion with the Artists' Society.

Venice. The second international art exhibition, one of a series held every three years, was opened in April. The sections were: Italian, French, Spanish, Belgian, Dutch, Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian, Anglo-Saxon (England, Scotland. America), Scandinavian (Denmark, Sweden, Norway), and Japanese. Prizes were awarded as follow: For best work by an Italian artist, 10,000 lire, divided between Ettore Titto and Alessandro Milesi: best work by a foreign artist, 10.000 lire, divided between Ludwig Dettmann, Otto Sinding, and Fritz Thaulow; Italian Government prize, 5,000 lire, divided between E. Marsili and A. Zorn; province of Venice prize, 5,000 lire, divided between P. S. Kroyer and J. Sorolla Bastida.

New York: National Academy of Design.The Academy decided on Feb. 6 to remove to a new site on 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The new galleries to be erected there, after the designs

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GENERAL GRANT'S TOMB IN RIVERSIDE PARK, NEW YORK.

of Messrs. Carrière and Hastings, the architects of the new Public Library, will be of white marble. The council for 1897-'98 consists of the following: President, Thomas W. Wood; Vice-President, James M. Hart; Corresponding Secretary, J. Carroll Beckwith; Recording Secretary, George H. Smillie; Treasurer, James D. Smillie; Harry W. Watrous, J. G. Brown, Robert Blum, F. S. Church, Frederick Dielman, H. Bolton Jones. The Academy now has 92 academicians and 52 associates.

At the seventy-second annual exhibition (April 5 to May 15) 405 canvases were exhibited. The prizes were awarded as follow: The Thomas B. Clarke

prize ($300), for the best American figure composition, to Robert Reid, of New York, for "Moonrise," a decorative panel; the Norman W. Dodge prize ($300), for the best picture painted by a woman, to M. L. Macomber, of Waverly, Mass., for "St. Catherine"; the first Julius Hallgarten prize ($300), to Wilbur F. Reaser, of New York, for "Mother and Child"; second Julius Hallgarten prize ($200), to Leo Moeller, of South Sandifield, Mass., for "Patriot at Valley Forge"; third Julius Hallgarten prize ($100), to Charles E. Proctor, of New York, for "Grandpa."

Among the noteworthy pictures was "Cleopatra on the Terraces of Philæ," by F. A. Bridgman, a clever reproduction of part of the architectural splendors of the island with the opposite bank of the Nile in the background, and the river enlivened with boats. The queen stands in the foreground looking dreamily off on the scene while a maid throws a shawl over her shoulders. Another attendant is leaning over the stone parapet, looking at the boats below.

Another large canvas, by Daniel Huntington, represents the "American Projectors of the Atlantic Cable." Cyrus W. Field is standing at the right, as if speaking, holding a roll in his left hand and pointing with his right to a map on the table. At the other side sits Peter Cooper beside a globe, and grouped behind the table are Marshall O. Roberts, Moses Taylor, and others. The picture belongs to the New York Chamber of Commerce.

"Vesuvius from near Sorrento," by James D. Smillie, is a striking composition, the foreground showing the walls and towers of Sorrento on the right, and a rugged hill on the left with a solitary traveler coming down the steep descent, while the mountain is in the misty background across the bay.

"To Decide the Question" is a characteristic group by J. G. Brown, exhibiting three old men, seated, apparently in a carriage house, engaged in earnest discussion.

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Edmund C. Tarbell's "Josephine and her Mother," a child standing beside her mother, seated, in the almost shadowless light of a summer day, on the seashore, is a well-balanced, dignified composition, painted with great breadth and unity of effect. Robert Reid's Moonrise" and "Evening Song," too, are in an equally high key and broadly treated. The former, to which was awarded the Clarke prize for the best American figure composition, is a decorative panel representing a nude female figure floating upward amid lilies from the surface of a lake. E. A. Bell's "Spring Flowers," Henry Prellwitz's "Ferdinand and Ariel," and Miss D. L. Murdock's "My Neighbors" are also noteworthy among the figure compositions.

The sixteenth annual autumn exhibition contained 431 numbers, including portrait busts and medallions. Conspicuous among the portraits were John S. Sargent's head of Claude Monet, the now recognized chief of the impressionists, and Carroll Beckwith's "Portrait Study," a clever painting of a beautiful woman. Gilbert Gaul sent his "Exchange of Prisoners," a story of frontier warfare, Theodore Wores two of his characteristic Japanese scenes, and Thomas Moran "Santa Maria and the Ducal Palace. Venice."

New York: Society of American Artists.The nineteenth annual exhibition opened on Monday, March 29. The Webb prize ($300) was awarded to Bruce Crane's "Signs of Spring." a picture exhibiting great technical skill as well as careful observation of Nature. Winslow Homer's contribution, "The Lookout," representing a sailor's head by moonlight, with a background of dark rigging, is one of the best figure pieces. Birge Harrison sent an exquisite snow scene entitled "Winter," Joe VOL. XXXVII.-21 A

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and delicacy of touch, and Edwin Abbey a decora tive panel, called "A Pavane," illustrating one of the early stately dances, but suggestive rather of the theatrical stage than of the ballroom. W. M. Chase was represented by a charming little interior "In the Studio."

New York: Metropolitan Museum.-The autumn reopening, Nov. 1, was interesting as offering to the public the first view of Mr. McMonnies's "Bacchante" in her new home. This much-abused young woman, repudiated by Boston, has been given a prominent place opposite the principal entrance, where all can admire her unveiled beauties. John S. Sargent's portrait of Mr. Henry G. Marquand, the president of the museum, is, after the "Bacchante," the principal acquisition. It is in the painter's characteristic style, excelling in cleverness of handling and harmony of color, and placing the sitter's personality before the spectator without the appearance of posing. Three paintings of the English school were presented by Mr. Hearn-a "Coast Scene" by Bonington, "The Bridge on the Stour by Constable, and a "Portrait of Lord Temple " by Sir Peter Lely. Among other acquisitions by the museum during the year is a life-sized portrait of Washington, painted in 1779 by C. W. Peale, presented by Mr. C. P. Huntington. It was obtained from a family in Surrey, England. where it had been for several generations. An altarpiece in silver repoussé and enamel, a copy from Perugino, representing the Madonna enthroned, was presented by J. Pierpont Morgan. Another gift is a colossal group of statuary, by George Grey Barnard, entitled "There are Two Natures struggling within me," presented by Mrs. Elizabeth S. Clark, in memory of her husband, Alfred Corning Clark.

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New York: Architectural League. The twelfth annual exhibition was held in the American Fine Arts Building in February. Among the interesting exhibits were designs for the decoration of the new Library of Congress, in Washington, es

pecially those by Kenyon Cox and E. H. Blashfield. Sketches in color for painted friezes were shown by Mrs. M. Lesley Bush-Brown and by Dudley Carpenter. A notable part of the exhibition was a collection of portrait busts, medallions, and other works by the late Olin Warner. Another interesting design was the model for the proposed memorial of the late Richard M. Hunt, to be set into the wall of Central Park in Fifth Avenue, near the entrance to the Metropolitan Museum, which was erected by Mr. Hunt. The memorial is in the form of an exedra, surmounted by a colonnade supported by Ionic columns, with a bust of Mr. Hunt on a pedestal in the center and draped figures at the extremities representing Painting and Architecture. The work is by Bruce Price and Daniel C. French.

The gold medal of the League was awarded to William C. Ayres for his design of "The Principal Entrance of a Terminal Railway Station," and the silver medal to Raymond Bossange. The Avery prize was given to J. F. Harper for a design for an electric-light pole for a public square.

The Fine Arts Federation, organized in 1895, filed its certificate of corporation in June of this year. It now includes the National Academy of Design, the Society of American Artists, the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the American Water-Color Society, the Architectural League of New York, the Municipal Arts Society, the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, the National Sculpture Society, and the National Society of Mural Painters.

Boston.-The Museum of Fine Arts has acquired two late pictures by Whistler, "The Master Smith of Lyme Regis" and "The Little Rose of Lyme Regis," both half-lengths, evidently portraits.

The Longfellow traveling scholarship of $600 a year for three years, offered by the museum, was won by William Homer Haskell, of Merrimac, Mass. The recipient must spend it in art schools in Europe under the supervision of American painters.

Philadelphia.-The sixty-sixth annual exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, held in March, was very successful, having been visited by more than 50,000 persons.

Pittsburg: Carnegie Institute.-The second annual art exhibition, opened on Founder's Day, Nov. 3, was signalized by the presence of the President of the United States, who delivered an address. The exhibition was a most satisfactory one, including many examples from London, Paris, and Munich, selected by advisory committees of painters resident in those cities. The honorary awards were: J. J. Shannon, London, first-class medal (gold) carrying with it a prize of $1,500; Fritz Thaulow, Dieppe, France, second-class medal (silver), with prize of $1,000; J. Alden Weir, New York, thirdclass medal (bronze), with prize of $500. Wilton Lockwood, Boston, Mass., and Louis Paul Dessar, Paris, France, received honorable mention.

Monuments, etc.-New York's grandest memorial, the Grant monument, was formally dedicated on April 27. Its site is unrivaled, upon the highest part of Manhattan island, at the present termination of the Riverside Drive, where it overlooks the Hudson and the Highlands for many miles. The monument, of white granite, consists, in its general design, of a huge, nearly cubical base, surmounted by a cylindrical structure terminating in a cone, to be capped eventually with a colossal statue in bronze. The front of the base, on the south, where the entrance is, has a hexastyle Doric portico, rising about two thirds of its height, with a flat entablature intended for statuary. On each of the other three sides the portico is replaced by columns in antis against a blank wall. At the an

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which consists of a series of receding steps capped by a circular pedestal for the statue. The interior shows an open crypt, surrounded by a parapet within which the sarcophagus rests on a pedestal, like that of Napoleon in the Invalides, and surmounted by a well-proportioned hemispherical dome. The construction of the monument, which still needs statuary and other sculpture before it can be called completed, is chiefly due to the efforts of Gen. Horace Porter. The architect was John H. Duncan, and the sculptor J. Massey Rhind.

A Washington memorial, erected in Philadelphia by the Society of the Cincinnati, was dedicated May 15, in the presence of the President and VicePresident of the United States, members of the Cabinet, and other distinguished visitors. The monument, the work of Prof. Rudolph Siemering, of Berlin, is about 40 feet high, the equestrian statue of Washington rising 20 feet above the pedestal. The four corners of the platform are decorated with fountains with figures of Indians and guarded by American animals. At the front and

rear are allegorical figures of America, and on the sides are bas-reliefs, representing the American army on the march and a westward-bound emigrant train.

A statue of Peter Cooper, by Augustus St. Gaudens, was unveiled, May 29, in the small park facing the south front of the Cooper Union Building, New York. It represents the philanthropist seated, cane in hand, in a massive armchair. The commemorative address was made by John E. Parsons. The Shaw Memorial, in memory of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who was killed while leading the Fiftyfourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry in the assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina, July 18, 1863, was unveiled in Boston on Decoration Day. The monument, the work of Augustus St. Gaudens, which stands directly in front of the Statehouse, consists of a terrace 70 feet long, with a balustrade and seat of pink granite on three sides. In the center, flanked by bronze Ionic pilasters, is a granite panel bearing a bronze in high relief, representing Col. Shaw on horseback followed by the colored soldiers of his regiment. On the side toward the Common the balustrade is supported by a wall relieved by three large lions' heads, from whose mouths streams of water flow into a massive granite basin.

A colossal bronze bust of the late Dr. Abraham Coles, of Newark, N. J., was unveiled in Washington Park, in that city, on July 6. Dr. Coles, prominent as a physician and active in labors for the promotion of physical, religious, educational, and scientific development, found time also for literary effort, and was well known as the author of "The Evangel in Verse" and translations of the "Dies Ira." The bust, the work of J. Q. A. Ward, is mounted upon a pedestal of selected stones from Palestine, the base being a bowlder weighing seven tons, from Plymouth, Mass. In it is inserted part of a stone from the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. The base represents two large folio volumes, bearing the titles of the published works of Dr. Coles. The monument was presented to the city by his son, Dr. J. Ackerman Coles.

The Robert Louis Stevenson monument, in the old Plaza, San Francisco, erected by the Guild of Arts and Crafts, has been crowned by a bronze representation of a ship under full sail, a "thirty-gunner" of the sixteenth century, speeding westward, with a figure of Pallas looking toward the setting sun on the bow. The sculptor of the ship, which is about 5 feet high and is named the "Bonaventure," is George Pipers, and it was cast in San Francisco.

FLORIDA, a Southern State, admitted to the Union March 3, 1845; area, 58,680 square miles; population, according to each decennial census since admission, 87,445 in 1850; 140,424 in 1860; 187,748 in 1870; 269,493 in 1880; and 391,422 in 1890. By the State census of 1895 it was 464,639. Capital, Tallahassee.

Government.-The following were the State officers during the year: Governor, William D. Bloxham; Secretary of State, John L. Crawford; Comptroller, William H. Reynolds; Treasurer, Clarence B. Collins, succeeded in June by James B. Whitfield; Attorney-General, William B. Lamar; Superintendent of Public Instruction, William N. Sheats; Adjutant General, Patrick Houstoun; Commissioner of Agriculture, Lucius B. Wombwell; State Examiner, W. V. Knott; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, R. F. Taylor; Associate Justices, Milton H. Mabry and Francis B. Carter.

Finances.-The Governor, in his message, said: "Florida's financial condition, notwithstanding the panics and other destructive forces from which she has suffered, is most gratifying. Her Comptroller's warrants pass current in the banking institutions

and moneyed marts of the country; the small amount of bonds she has outstanding in the hands of individuals are at a premium, although they have but a few years to run; she has no floating debt, and has cash in the treasury to meet all legitimate expenses. Her entire debt is not over $2.50 per capita, being less than any State in the Union, and her State tax proper is smaller than any Southern State."

The total amount of warrants issued in 1895 was $714,013.36, and in 1896 it was $647,864.85. This does not include interest on the bonded debt.

The State's entire debt for all purposes is $1,232,500. Of this sum the State holds in her educational funds and under her control $850.800, and her internal-improvement fund holds $25,000.

The rate of taxation for 1897 for all purposes is 5 mills, divided as follows: General revenue, 3 mills; pensions, mill; general school tax, 1 mill; State Board of Health tax, rate fixed by the Governor, mill.

Florida has 728 pensioners, at a cost of $58,870.49 a year.

The direct-tax fund, amounting to $38,486.08, was all paid out before Jan. 1, except $8,093.88; but claims were on file amounting to $1,173.43.

WILLIAM D. BLOXHAM, GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA.

Valuations.-The report of the Comptroller gives the following items for 1896: Aggregate value of real estate, $61,363,219; personal property, $16.066,322; railroads, rolling stock, etc., $17,728,982.63; total value of real estate, personal property, railroads, and telegraphs, $95,389,966.38. Taxes levied for State purposes, $358,076.82; for county purposes, $1,089,090.86; State license tax, $153,635,16; auction tax, $282.03. Value of real estate, except town or city lots, $36,377,524; value of town or city lots, $24,985,695; cash value of all animals, $11,456,519. The eleven telegraph lines are assessed at $227,439.50, on 2,995 74 miles of wires, poles, etc.

Education. The number of schools in operation in June, 1896, was 2,350, and the number of pupils enrolled was 100,373, of whom 36,787 were colored.

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The aggregate salaries paid teachers were as follow: White, $383,809.35; negro, $90,704.87; total. $474,514.22. The total amount received for school purposes was $732,926, and the amount expended $660,249. The total cost of negro schools for 1896 was $156,292.44; cost per pupil based on population, $2.35; on enrollment, $4.25; on average attendance, $6.47. Per capita cost of schools, count ing both races, based on population of 1895, $1.45; on youth of school age, $4.33; on enrollment in schools, $6.58; on daily attendance, $9.95.

The report of the summer training schools in 1897 shows that the number maintained was 12-8 for whites, 3 for negroes, and 1 for both races in separate departments. The total enrollment was 717, being 28 per cent. of the whole number of teachers employed in 1896.

Charities. The report of the superintendent of the asylum for the insane at Chattahoochee shows that during 1895 there were in the institution 216 males and 149 females. Counting every item of expense, these were maintained at a per capita cost of $105.06. At the close of 1895 the patients numbered 288-males, 159; females, 129. The number of admissions for 1896 was 171. The deaths were 35, the discharges 86. The year closed with 373 patients. The aggregate cost of the institution for 1896 made the per capita expense $95.58.

The disbursements on account of the institution were $49,263.72 for 1895, and in 1896 they aggregated $63,515.56. The products of the asylum farm for 1895 were valued at $5,177.50, and at $8,750.50 for 1896. The Legislature of 1895 abolished that section of the lunacy law which permitted private parties to care for lunatics, and required that they be re-examined and admitted to the asylum. Improvements have been made in the sanitation of the buildings, and the Legislature made appropriation for an electric-light plant.

Militia. The Adjutant General's report gives the following data: Infantry, 80 officers, 90 noncommissioned staff and bands, and 1,220 men; artillery, 4 officers and 80 men; total, 84 officers, 90 noncommissioned staff and bands, and 1,300 men. Naval militia, 25 officers and 262 men, making the aggregate of land and naval forces 1,761 officers and men. State appropriations, $16,000-for annual camps of instruction, $8,000; transporting troops, $4,000; other expenses, $4,000. National appropriation, $3,486.48. At home stations most of the companies have recitations in tactics and guard duty; in camp, battalion commanders have officers' schools.

Insurance. During 1896 there was paid for insurance $1,239,028.43. The losses during the same period were $249,795.45. This does not include the sums paid to building and loan and investment companies outside the State, or to insurance companies not authorized to do business there. The receipts of life insurance companies alone from the State for 1896 were $587,741.38, while the losses amounted to $65,063.79.

Banks. The Merchants' National Bank of Ocala failed Jan. 14. It was regarded as being in danger as early as 1894, but the State Treasurer did not withdraw the State's money; on the contrary, he continued to loan public funds to the bank. In June the receiver found evidence against the president of the bank, and his arrest was ordered; but when the officer appeared to arrest him he shot himself, and died almost instantly.

Water Ways.-The annual report of the chief of engineers shows the following amounts expended during the year ending June 30, 1897, on Florida rivers and harbors: St. John's river, $500.000; Indian river, $29,000; Key West harbor, $225.000; Charlotte harbor and Pease creek, $25,000; Sara

sota Bay, $42,500; Manatee river, $29,000; Appalachicola Bay, $50,000; Pensacola harbor, $50,000.

It was announced in July that a company had been organized to build a ship canal across the peninsula of Florida from a point near St. Augustine to one near Cedar key. The estimated cost of a 200-foot canal is $75,000,000. The length will be 114 miles. It would save about 600 miles to vessels trading between Gulf ports and the Atlantic coast.

Products.-In an article on the resources of Florida, in the "Manufacturers' Record," the Governor says: "Twenty-five years ago the total value of her entire export trade-foreign, coastwise, river, and overland-was less than $9,000,000; to-day the value of her forest products exported to foreign and domestic ports, not counting overland shipments, alone exceeds that sum. The value of her phosphates exported by water and transported by rail aggregates $5,500,000, while the value of tobacco, in bales and manufactured, is upward of $17,000,000.

The annual report of the cotton crop credits the State with 60,000 bales.

The total investment for fishing in salt waters is $1,329,937, with an annual production valued at $1,209,725. These figures are from the report of a recent investigation by the United States Fish Commission, which gives the nine leading items as follows: Sponge, $363,107; mullet (fresh and salted), $284,773; snappers, $155,346; oysters, $61,723; pompano, $37,893; turtles, $28,503; trout, $27,170; mullet roe, $25,961; Spanish mackerel, $21,455.

Lawlessness.-Among the recommendations in the Governor's message to the Legislature was one for an amendment to the Constitution, allowing a circuit judge to be appointed for the State who could hold court in any county where immediate necessity called for it; and that, for the interval before the time such amendment could go into effect, the Governor might have the power to assign any of the circuit judges to hold a special term in an emergency, for the purpose of preventing lynchings; two, he said, had occurred this year before the assembling of the Legislature. In June another lynching was attempted at Key West; but a mob of negroes collected and prevented the prisoner from being taken. They tried to lynch the white man who led in the attempt, but he escaped. A white man was shot by negroes during the excitement, and the result was another attempt to lynch the prisoner. The militia was ordered to be in readiness, and the assistance of Government troops was called for, but the anticipated race war did not take place.

Court Decisions.-Formerly the State Supreme Court, in order to give its judgments effect, was compelled to file a written opinion in every case decided by it, in which the reasons for its decision on every question or point presented were required to be set forth at length, and this whether it affirmed, reversed, or modified the judgment of the lower court. This provision was amended at the election of 1896, and the court is no longer obliged to file written opinions and give authority to its decisions.

A decision was rendered in the United States Court at Jacksonville in March sustaining the separate-coach law.

The Legislature of 1893 imposed a graduated license tax upon express companies. The Southern Express Company resisted the payment of this tax. on the ground that the statute was unconstitutional and infringed that clause of the Federal Constitution which reserved to Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce. The Supreme Court of

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