year following; Tennessee (of voters only), in 1871, and each tenth year thereafter; Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada and South Carolina, ["if deemed necessary"] in 1875, and each tenth year thereafter; Colorado, in 1885, and every tenth year thereafter; Louisiana, in 1890, and every tenth year thereafter; Maine and Mississippi, once in ten years, to be fixed by the legislature. The constitutions of New Jersey and Rhode Island permit the taking of a census by act of the legislature, and this was last done in 1875. No constitutional provision on the subject exists in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The constitutions of Maryland, Ohio and Vermont, permit the taking of a census, but no legislative provision has been made for it. It thus appears that in less than half the states is there any provision for a general enumeration of the people which might serve at once as a check upon the national census, and a supplement to its statistics, of incalculable economic value for purposes of comparison. In several states whose constitutions formerly provided for a census, this requirement has been dropped out in new constitutions adopted within the last decade. The failure on the part of state legislatures to take an interest in a proper periodical census of their state resources, is to be attributed mainly to a spirit of false economy. Such great commonwealths as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois, while providing for certain classes of statistical reports through state officers, have no provision whatever for the record or publication of vital statistics, or of a complete periodical census of their populations. An attempt has been made by congressional legislation to encourage the state governments in the work of taking account of their population and resources by providing (act of March 3, 1879), that any state or territory which shall complete a census in 1885, 1895, etc., according to the forms used in the census of the United States, shall be paid from the treasury 50 per cent. of the expenses of actual enumeration in such state at the United States census, increased by one-half the percentage of gain in population in such state or territory between the two United States censuses next preceding. CITIZENSHIP. (See Suffrage.)- CONSTITUTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS. All the state constitutions have certain common characteristics, while there are great diversities as to political regulations and the distribution and details of legislative, executive and judicial powers. The great cardinal features found in all embody (in some form) a declaration of rights; an assertion of the sovereignty of the people through a representative system; the crea tion of three co-ordinate departments of government, divided into legislative, executive and judicial; a prescription of the qualifications for the right of suffrage; and a recognition of local selfgovernment. The latter, however, is usually implied rather than formally declared. Constitutions | | are not the source but the result of personal and political liberty; they grant no rights to the people, but define the rights which they already possess, and provide a systematic organization of governmental powers for their protection. A written constitution is to be viewed in the light of a limitation upon the powers of government in the hands of agents delegated by the people. — How far state constitutions shall enter into the details of government is a matter determined by the public opinion of the time, as reflected in the popularly elected conventions which frame them. While the earlier constitutions, adopted at the period of the American revolution and later, were more general in the scope of their provisions, many of the more recent ones descend into the particulars of governmental control in each department. The tendency has been to restrain the legislature from passing special acts, and all measures conferring corporate rights or special privileges. It may be said, in general, that, with the fewest exceptions, the states of the Union revise their constitutions in from ten to thirty years, each new constitution growing more democratic than the preceding. The southern states have had much more frequent adoption of new constitutions, since the civil war, growing out of the temporary ascendency of influences and opinions fully treated elsewhere. It is of course a cardinal principle in the making of a constitution that it must be ratified by the people, who alone possess the power of sovereignty. The only exception is in Delaware, whose constitution may be amended by the act of two successive legislatures. The long-established usage, when a constitution is revised or superseded by a new one, is for the legislative branch of the government to submit to the qual ified voters the question of calling or refusing to call a constitutional convention. The method of doing this is prescribed by the constitution itself, which is to be made the subject of revision. The provisions in the constitutions of the various states differ widely as to the proportion of the legislative body required to submit to the people the question of amendment or revision; as to the time fixed for deliberation upon the proposed changes; and, finally, as to the majority of the popular vote required to call a constitutional convention, or to amend the constitution directly. The following analysis exhibits the requirements as to the recommendation and adoption of constitutional amendments in each of the thirty-eight states. Twothirds of both houses of the legislature must concur in order to propose amendments to the constitution to the popular vote in the following states: Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia. In Florida and South Carolina a two-thirds vote of two successive legislatures is required to submit amendments. In Massachusetts a majority of the senate and twothirds of the house of two successive legislatures are required, and in Vermont two-thirds of the senate and a majority of the house, confirmed by a majority of the next legislature. In Vermont, | ratification a majority of the voters qualified, also, constitutional amendments are adopted by a majority of the votes of the citizens voting thereon. In Delaware the constitution may be amended by vote of two-thirds of each house of the general assembly if the proposed amendment shall be ratified by three-fourths of the next succeeding legislature. This is without direct reference to the people, although the legislature must "duly publish in print" the proposed amendments, "for the consideration of the people," before the election of the legislature which is to pass upon them. Three-fifths of the legislature are required in Maryland, Nebraska, North Carolina and Ohio to propose constitutional amendments. A majority of the members of both houses is sufficient to propose constitutional amendments in Arkansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Rhode Island. A majority of two successive legislatures is required in Indiana, Iowa, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. In Connecticut a majority of the house of representatives may take the initial step of referring proposed amendments to the next succeeding legislature, and two-thirds of each house must concur in recommending them to the popular vote. In New Hampshire the constitution provides for no legislative action, but requires the selectmen of towns to take a vote in town meeting every seven years whether a convention shall be called to revise the constitution. A majority of voters can order a convention, but two-thirds of the popular vote are required to adopt a constitutional revision or amendment. There is no submission of amendments without a convention. In Kentucky there is no provision for direct amendment, but a majority of the legislature may submit to the people the question of calling a convention; and this requires a majority of legal voters to be carried. - The provisions as to the majority of the popular vote requisite to ratify amendments to the state constitution also vary in different states. Thus, a majority of the whole number of qualified voters is required in Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Oregon. Rhode Island requires a majority of three-fifths of the votes cast to ratify constitutional amendments. Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee require a majority of the votes cast for the general assembly to ratify. In South Carolina alone, of all the states, amendments of the constitution require in order to their adoption not only a majority of the qualified voters of the state, but they must afterward be ratified by two-thirds of each house of the general assembly next succeeding. In the remaining states, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, constitutional amendments are ratified by a majority of the votes cast on the question of amending the constitution. It very frequently happens in states requiring for instead of those actually voting, that the amendments proposed are lost from sheer lack of interest in them. Popular indifference to constitutional questions is very general, and a majority of all the voters has frequently elected candidates for office, while at the same poll constitutional amendments have been lost because failing to receive the required majority of the qualified voters. In the following states a convention to frame a new or revised constitution may be ordered by a vote of a majority of the votes cast: Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. In Maryland, New York and Ohio the question of calling a constitutional convention must be submitted to the people once in every twenty years, and a majority of those voting thereon legalizes it. In Michigan the question must be submitted every sixteen years, and in New Hampshire every seven years. In the latter state the town meetings act directly on the question, without intervention of the legislature. In Rhode Island three-fifths of the qualified electors must vote to call a convention. In Delaware, Indiana and Kentucky a majority of the legal voters is required to call such a body. In Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan and Mississippi a majority of those voting at the same election for members of the legislature is required to call a constitutional convention. CORPORATIONS. Most of the more recent state constitutions restrict the power of the legislature to create private corporations by special act, but permit their organization under general laws. The aim is to prohibit or curtail special privileges. Stockholders are generally made liable to creditors for the full amount of their respective interest in the stock. COURTS. The court of highest powers or final jurisdiction, called in a few states the court of appeals, is designated in nearly all as the supreme court. The mode of appointment, the tenure of office, the number of judges constituting the supreme court, and their compensation, differ greatly in various states. In all, the constitution fixes the mode of appointment and the jurisdiction, both original and appellate, with power usually given to the legislature to modify the latter; in a few states the number of judges, and in most states their salaries, are left to be fixed by the legislature. The table on page 804 exhibits these variations in a succinct view. It will be seen that only four states provide a life tenure for the judges of the highest judicial tribunal; and in these the incumbents are removable by the legislature for cause or by impeachment. In the remaining thirty-four states the terms for judicial office vary from two years in Vermont, which is the shortest, up to twenty-one years in Pennsylvania, which is the longest, elective term prescribed; although in New Hampshire the judges must retire upon reaching seventy years of age. In all the states judges are re-eligible to This that high office. The people elect the judges in twenty-four states; in six states they are chosen by the legislature; while in eight states the governor appoints the supreme court, subject to confirmation by the senate or the council. - DIVORCE. (See Marriage and Divorce.) - DUELING. barbarous practice can not claim to be in any popular favor in the United States, since the mark of reprobation has been placed upon it by the constitutions of twenty-five states. The giving or accepting a challenge to fight a duel, or engaging therein either as principal or accessory, is made a disqualification for office by the constitutions of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. The constitutions of nine states go further, and declare that a duelist (actual or intended) shall forfeit the privilege of voting at elections, viz., Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Several state constitutions further require that the legislature shall make laws to enforce these disabilities, and to visit other punishments upon offenders. In most of the remaining states special statutes have assigned to dueling a place in the rank of infamous crimes. - EDUCATION. The constitutions of all the states, except that Legislature. People. People. Legislature. Legislature. People. People. t And $2,000 expenses. 3 4,000 3,500 4,000 3,500 2,500 3,000 2,250 5,000 $ Hereafter $5,000. of Delaware, contain provisions designed to favor the increase of knowledge and the creation of intelligent citizenship through the education of the young. While any system of compulsory education or of training in the higher branches of learning is much controverted, it is generally conceded that the state has the right to require that every child should receive some degree of elementary education. This is directly recognized in all the later and in most of the earlier constitutions, and the general assembly is required to legislate for the establishment and maintenance of a public school system. State school funds are created and invested in most states for educational objects, and the lands granted by congress to the states for school purposes, with their proceeds or income, constitute in many the basis of this fund. Various other funds are pledged to educational purposes in some states. The supervision of common schools is intrusted to a state officer, variously known as superintendent of public instruction, commissioner of common schools, or the secretary of the state board of education, who is usually elected for two years (sometimes four) by the people of the state. Several states devote the entire proceeds of the capitation tax to the school fund, e. g., Alabama, Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Many states devote Kansas, New Jersey and New York. The New York law (unlike the others) specifies the studies in which the child is to be instructed; namely, spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and English grammar. Laws enacting some degree of compulsion to attend school also exist in Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin; though in some of these states they are generally disregarded. In no other states, so far as known, are compulsory education laws enforced.- ELECTIONS. The time of holding elections for state officers is fixed in some states by the constitution, while in others it may be prescribed or altered by the legislature. By act of congress (March 3, 1875) elections of representatives in congress are required to be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November every second year, in 1876 and following years. The states which had different seasons for election of state officers have by degrees assimilated their laws so as to hold all state elections on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, the only exceptions being Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia. Annual elections formerly prevailed in most states; but the tendency has been steadily toward electing state officers and legislatures biennially, and the former even once in every four years only, as in California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon and West Virginia. The only states now holding annual elections are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. ELECTORS. (See Suffrage.) - EXEMPTION. (See HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION Laws, 2 Cyc., p. 464.)— GOVERNORS. The following table gives the variations as to length of terms of office and salaries of governors of the various states: a specific quota of every dollar of tax raised to the Alabama. Arkansas. California Maryland 4,500 Massachusetts 4,000 1,000 3,800 4,000 5,000 2,500 5,000 1,000 5,000 10,000 3,000 4,000 1,500 10,000 1,000 8,500 4,000 Term. Salary. Years. 2 2 4 2 4,000 5,000 2,700 jority of his creditors in number and amount. In New York an insolvent debtor is discharged on the concurrence of two-thirds in amount and value of his creditors. In Maine, creditors represent1,000 ing three-fourths of the indebtedness must agree in writing to accept a certain percentage, before the debtor can have his discharge. In Massachu setts, voluntary insolvency is provided for, on giving up all property not exempted by law. Involuntary proceedings against a debtor may be instituted by any creditor, on proof of insolvency or fraud. If the assets pay 50 per cent. the debtor is entitled to his discharge; if not, he must obtain the written consent of a majority in number and value of his creditors. In Vermont, the provisions of the insolvent law are similar. In the following states a discharge from indebtedness is granted to the debtor upon surrender of his entire estate for the equal benefit of creditors: Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, West Virginia and Wisconsin. — INTEREST AND USURY. The legislatures of all the states in the Union have fixed what shall be the legal rate of interest on money. In thirteen states, however, any rate of interest that may be agreed upon between borrower and lender is legalized; in twenty-four states, there are two interest rates legalized, the lower one to prevail in all cases in the absence of contract, the higher rate to be legalized upon express agreement in writing. Usury is punished by various forfeitures, in thirty-two states and territories. The following table exhibits the various interest rates and penalties for usury in the thirty-eight states, the eight territories, and the district of Columbia : See Pardoning Power, Succession, Veto Power. HOMESTEADS. (See HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION LAWS, 2 Cyc., p. 464.) — INSOLVENCY. The gen eral subject of bankruptcy has been treated in vol. I., p. 223. In the absence of any general law of the United States, most of the states have provided acts regulating insolvency and assignments for the benefit of creditors. The states which have no laws for insolvent debtors are Alabama, Colorado and North Carolina. In California the act of 1880 provides for both voluntary and involuntary bankruptcy through the courts. In the following states assignments of property for the benefit of creditors do not discharge the debtor, except upon the amounts paid, the balance of liabilities standing against him: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia. In Connecticut the debtor can procure a discharge from liabilities to creditors when his estate pays 70 per cent., but not otherwise. In the following states, debtors making assignments can be released only upon the consent of all the creditors: Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas. Louisiana provides for a discharge of the debtor upon the consent of a ma |