officers $5) and $3 for every 20 miles of travel, but it is provided that the per diem of no member shall exceed $120. The power of special legislation is restricted. It is provided that the legislative assembly shall not create any debt or liabilities to an amount exceeding $50,000, except in case of war, or to repel invasion or suppress insurrection, and that no county shall create any debt or liabilities exceeding $5,000, with the like exceptions; that the state shall never assume the debts of any county, town, or other corporation, except such as have been created to suppress insurrection, &c.; that the state shall not subscribe to or be interested in the stock of any company, association, or corporation, nor shall any county or municipal corporation become a stockholder therein, raise money therefor, or loan its credit thereto; that no money shall be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of any religious or theological institution; and that no bank or moneyed institution shall be incorporated, nor shall any such exist with power to circulate paper money. The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, circuit courts, county courts, and justices of the peace. The supreme court, which has appellate jurisdiction only of final decisions of the circuit courts, and holds one session annually at Salem, consists of five justices elected by districts for a term of six years, one or more retiring every two years. The number of justices and districts may be increased, but cannot exceed seven. A circuit court is held in each county at least twice a year by a justice of the supreme court. These courts have general original jurisdiction, civil and criminal, and appellate jurisdiction and supervisory control over the county courts and other inferior tribunals. A county judge is elected in each county by the qualified voters for four years, who holds a county court with probate jurisdiction and jurisdiction of inferior crimes and of civil cases not involving more than $500. Justices of the peace have jurisdiction of civil cases not involving more than $250. Public officers cannot be impeached, but in a criminal proceeding for incompetency, corruption, &c., judgment of dismissal from office may be given; and judges of the supreme court may be removed from office by the governor upon the joint resolution of two thirds of each house of the legislature, alleging cause. The right of suffrage is conferred by the constitution upon every white male citizen of the United States, of sound mind and not a convict, who has attained the age of 21 years and has resided in the United States one year, and in the state during the six months immediately preceding the election, and under the like circumstances upon every white alien who has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States one year preceding the election. Colored citizens have the right to vote under the federal constitution. Voting is by ballot, and electors may vote in any county of the state for state officers. General elections occur biennially on the first Monday of June of even years. Amendments to the constitution must be proposed by two successive legislatures and ratified by a vote of the people. The rate of interest in the absence of special agreement is 10 per cent., but as high as 12 per cent. may lawfully be agreed upon. Oregon, having one representative and two senators in congress, has therefore three votes in the electoral college.—The valuation of property, according to the United States censuses, has been as follows:
| YEARS. | ASSESSED VALUE. | True value of real and personal. | ||
| Real. | Personal. | Total. | ||
| 1850 | .......... | .......... | .......... | $5,063,474 |
| 1860 | $6,279,602 | $12,745,313 | $19,024,915 | 28,930,637 |
| 1870 | 17,674,202 | 14,124,308 | 31,798,510 | 51,558,932 |
The total taxation in 1870 amounted to $580,956, of which $177,653 was state, $362,753 county, and $40,550 town, city, &c.; total public debt, $218,486, of which $106,583 was state, $105,903 county, and $6,000 town, city, &c. The balance in the state treasury on Sept. 1, 1872, was $172,597 41; receipts during the following two years, $628,775 01; expenditures, $663,193 45; balance, Sept. 1, 1874, $138,178 97 ($73,014 23 in coin and $65,164 74 in currency). The current expenses for the two years ending Sept. 1, 1876, were estimated at $453,350, viz.: legislative expenses, $30,000; salaries of executive officers, $15,000; salaries of judges, &c., $36,600; salaries, &c., of various officers, $40,000; penitentiary, $80,000; insane asylum, $120,000; conveyance of convicts and insane, $15,000 each; public printing and binding, $25,000; agricultural college, $10,000; keeping and tuition of mutes, $10,000; support of poor, $5,000; blind school, $5,000; orphans' aid society, $3,000; miscellaneous, $48,750. The total amount of taxes levied in 1873 for state purposes was $238,482 57, of which $222,701 57 (55 cents on $100) was on property and $15,781 on polls. The equalized value of property for purposes of taxation in 1874 was $45,688,924 94, including land (3,489,394 acres), $22,220,381 40; live stock, $8,116,841; property of corporations, $2,283,296 49. The actual value is estimated by the secretary of state at from $100,000,000 to $150,000,000. The total debt on Sept. 1, 1874, was $596,256, of which $247,247 was in bonds bearing interest at 7 per cent., and $349,009 in warrants bearing interest at 10 per cent. The state institutions are the penitentiary (established in 1854), deaf-mute school (1870), and institute for the blind (1872), at Salem, and the hospital for the insane (1862), at East Portland. The penitentiary has a farm connected with it; a new building of brick has recently been erected. The convicts are employed chiefly in brick making, but also on the farm, in the construction of public
