Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-03-15
TALLAHASSEE TOPICS.
THE CITY RESUMING ITS WON'T
ED QUIET.

Ferdicts of the Press on the Solons'
Works-Statistics of the Legislature
The Railroad to ThomasvilIe-Bene-
nts of the New Route TO PensaeoIa-The
| ChattahoOchee Bridge.
TALLAHASSEE, March Is. s.2.since the ad-
lournment of the Legislature our city has re-
lapsed into the usual quiet incident TO the
exodus OF such large number of visitors.
The hotels and boarding houses are no longer
crowded; our planters and truckers are on
their plantations basy with their crops, and
the cotton season being about over and vege-
tables for the Northern market not vet com
ing mall these eonspire to give a
uull appearance to our streets. Talla-
| hassee, though, is by no means deserted
! BY all of its visitors. Indeed, there
are more strangers here now than have ever
before known at this season. Some are spend
ing the winter here, while others are riding
aDout through our magnificent country with
view 10 purchase. OF the latter few in
tend going into the trucking business, while
others contemplate having stock farms
Nearly all of them have previously visited
East and South Florida, and express them
selves as delighted with this section. its soil.
scenery ana climate. When these buy, others
VIII be sure to follow. and Piedmont Florida
tas this section has been felioitously ealled9.
VIII soon be what it ought TO be--the most
thriving ana prosperous part Of the State
Since our Solons have departed 10 their.
homes, II IS amusing TO read the comments OF
the press as to their doings. Where some pet
scheme has become q law, the plaudit is
well done, ye good and faithful seryantsS
On the other hand, there are some who are bv
no means spariGg in their denunciations. /
belong to neither of these classes, and can,
therefore, review their acts with an unpreju-
diced eye. For more than thirty DAYS past 1
have been in the city at nearly every meeting
OF the Legislature. and never saw n more
sober set of law makers assembled
in our capitol, than those who have recently
lett us. Composed rs the late Legislature
was mostly of tyros in the art OF law-mak-
ing, they did their work TO a great extent
conscientlously and to the best of their ability
= say to great extent, for there are excep-
tlons 10 every rule. In one respect they were
greatly IN advance of any previous I.egisla-
ture lin the cause of temperance. Though
the selling of liquors is licensed by a heavy
tax, yet the provisions of the act are OF the
most stringent nature, as your readers are al
ready aware. Some important changes too were
made in the revenue law. Heretofore the
old law was re-enacted with but very few
changes. But the present one differs from all
Its predecessors in the matter of license
heretofore license for every calling was
taken out for twelve months Now, all Ii
censes expire on the LIST day of October, and
parties pay proportional rate, collecting
from the first of the month when a license Is
taken out-that is a party pays for two, six
or twelve months, according to the times,
from the lst OF October in every
year. Again party who sells out, if the sale
Is bona iide. can, with the permission of the
Comptroller transfer his licenses. LAWYERS
and doctors are no longer taxed. AS the peo-
pie are so sensitive about taxation, there is
no law passed by the last Legislature that
will be more acceptable than the present one
in regard to licenses. Taxes too were some-
what reduced. Much time was consumed at
the late session in the passage of bills of pri-
vate nature. There were probably some
twenty acts for the adoption of as many chill
dren. Had there been a general law to
cover such cases, much valuable time
and expense would have been saved. One
very salutary law must not omit. The car
ryng of arms secretly, though prohibited by
"a fRrFal fnlr TOO
practced by our young boOds and ''brothers
in black" who. in default OF a pistol, would
arm themselves with a razor. Now, a mer-
chant who proposes to sell pistols, dirks and
bowie knives is required, in addition
to his license as a merchant, to take
out another license to sell such deadly
weapons, the amount, ! think, being $56
Oi course there were q number OF
acts passed in the interest Of various rail-
roads wlthslt lthe stereotyped clause, COM
mencing: "And for the purpose OF aiding
said railroad Tor canal, as the case might bel
the State of Florida hereby grants,' etc
Florida has been lavish with the magnificent
domain given her by the United States Gov
ernment, but there are bounds to her liber-
ality, for, she has no more lands for such
purposes 1t is possible that the above familiar
clause will hereafter seldom if ever appear
in future acts. These swamps and over
flowed lands, abont which there has
been so much contention have aided no
little In fostering the great works OF internal
Improvement now going on in our State, and
though it has been urged that they were di-
yerted from the uses originally intended,
their alienation as grants TO aid the bu ildinR
of railroads has been worth millions TO our
State. Hundreds Of miles of railroad have
thus been built where possibly none might
have heen constructed.
Mr.. L. V. Drake, of Mississippi, who spends
his winters in Florida, has recently issued q
very credItable pamphlet, entitled 'sThe
Florida Legislature Twelfth SESSION.; an 0fi-
cial Directory OF the State Government"
1t is gotten up in the same way as the Con-
gresslonal Directory. and, like that, has bio
graphical sketches of the legislators. While
these sketches may be very gratifying to the
pride OF some of the members, who doubtless
have subscribed for large numbers of copies
for distribution among their constituents, yet
this little pamphlet is interesting TO the pub
lie in the statistical information il possesses.
l ma th2t IN religion, the late Leg
islature was classed as follows: Metho-
dists, 81; Baptists, %; EpiseOpalians, 10;
Presbyterian, 8; Universalists 5; Roman
Catholics, g; Primitive Baptists, g Congre-
gationalists, ?; unknown, II. In the profess
sicians, Z; ministers of the gospel, Z; farmers,
43; stock raisers, Z; mechanics 81; mill men, 8:
merchants, ID; teachers, !; bankers, l. Mar
rled men largely predominate, there being
but 10 bachelors. For the first time Florida
had more natives in her legislative
halls than at any other time in hes.
history, there being "a native FloTidjans
Georgia has the next highest number, %:
then comes South Carolina, H. Alabama, 5s
Tennessee, 4; North Carolina, 4; Virginia, 3,
Maine, 3; Illinois, ?: Maryland, 2; New y ork.
?; Ohio, 2; Pennsylvania, 2; Delaware, X
Massachusetts ]; Connecticut, /; Vermont. L
New Providence, 2: Ireland, j: England, /.
From which it will be seen that of the 100
members Including the Lieutenant Governor,
who is President Of the Senatc), 90 were ma
tives OF the southern States. The Oldest mem
Der was "A years of &c, the youngest %.
The recent cold spell OF weather, now last
ing for over week, Is by no means welcome
to the travellers. This morning il eliminated
in Il heavy frost, and it is feared that the ten
der plants Will be materially injured. Ven
nor was surely right in his guessing Qf may
so term it, for this month, for his predictions
as to the time and duration Of the unusual
cold have so far been verified.
The Tallahassee, Thomasvile and Cara
belle x. X. Company, having received lib
mle) from the late Legislature, are about to
commence work in earnest. The surveys
heretofore made nave heen experimental only,
but to-day the officers of the company Went
to Thomasyille, where they will meet the en-
gineers, who viii proceed to locate the line at
once, There are three routes which have
been spoken Of-one BY way Of Bradfordville
and CentreyIlle, which is the most direct;
another by way of MiccOsuki. which is a little
longer; and third on the south side Of Lake
lamonla, which is some ten miles longer. 1t is
the opinion of many that the last route will
be chosen. For the present the directory is
non -committal as 10 the route, but as the fine
will soon be located, the suspense Of the rival
neighbOrhoods who each hope that the loco
motive whistle may be heard near it, viii soon
be at an end.
Already our city is beginning to feel the
good effects of the completion OF the
road to Pensacola. Both travel and
trade are increasing. More than one
tourist who, in former years, would
have to go from the latter place to Jackson
vile by round about route now takes Tai
lahassee in his route and spends a few days
here. And when in the course of a year or
two the road to Thomasvile shall be COM
pleted, our garden city win be more in the
line OF travel than ever, and visitors more
numerous.
The railroad bridge across the ChattahOo-
ehee is progressing steadily and ii is thought
that trains will be running over it in six
weeks. LEON.
BaGgiitg potuDPr.