BIENNIAL REPORT

OF THE

SECRETARY OF STATE.

To His Excellency, Governor James P. Clarke, Little Rock, Ark.

SIR-As required by law, the report of this office for the last two years is herewith presented.

The Secretary of State is ex officio a member of the following State Boards, viz.: State Debt Board, Board of Commissioners for the Common School Fund, State Board of Election Commissioners, State Board of Election Canvassers, Penitentiary Board, Board of Pensions, Board of Railroad Commissioners, Board of Municipal Corporations, Board of Education, Board of Review of Donation Contests, Burning Board, Board of Trustees for the Confederate Home. My long experience on these boards warrants me in believing that certain suggestions included in this report will be of value to my successors in office, and contribute somewhat to the efficiency of the public service, and the same are respectfully submitted.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

The financial statement herewith submitted, giving the receipts of the office, shows a marked falling off in fees from former years. This is due entirely to the scarcity of money and to continued and ever increasing business depression. Our people are gener. ally poor, and growing poorer and poorer every year. They are unable to buy books, or enter into new business corporations, and the receipts of the office must continue to decline until there is a revival of business prosperity.

198103

STATE HOUSE AND GROUNDS.

The Secretary has been unable for lack of funds to make any permanent improvement in the State House, or to ornament or adorn the grounds. The entire appropriation has been consumed in patching and repairing the building, and as far as possible rendering it habitable and comfortable. The boilers used in generating steam for heating the building are worn out and valueless, and there being no money to buy new ones, it was necessary to put stoves in all the rooms of the State House, which have proven unsatisfactory. It is hoped the next General Assembly will provide for the purchase of new boilers, and the building of a boiler house, so that the capitol can be again heated by steam or hot air.

The House of Representatives is sadly in need of repairs. The carpet has been in use for ten or twelve years, and is worn and soiled, and no longer fit for use. The desks and chairs and other furniture are all worn and antiquated, and should give place to new and more comfortable articles.

THE LIBRARY.

The rooms used for library purposes are wholly inadequate to hold and properly protect the many valuable books and records belonging to the State. There are over 50,000 volumes in the library at present, and the number is constantly increasing. The northwest room is crowded to such an extent as to render access to many valuable books and records there stored well nigh impracticable, and the weight on the floor and walls is so enormous that the safety of the Governor and other officials occupying the rooms above is endangered. It is absolutely necessary the library should be enlarged, if the books and records there stored are to be preserved. It is utterly impossible to do this in the present damp' and contracted quarters assigned to the library.

GEOLOGICAL REPORTS.

I have endeavored, as directed by the General Assembly of 1893, to place the Geological Reports in the hands of scientists and capitalists and others inter

ested in the development of the mineral resources of our State. There are a large number of these books still in the library, and applications for them are continually being received. I suggest that the remaining reports, except two hundred of each volume, be placed in the hands of the Commissioner of Mines, Manufactures and Agriculture, to be by him distributed to the best interest of the State. There are three other volumes of Prof. Branner's report, namely, Reports on Coal, Clays and Bauxite, that are still in manuscript. They have not been published for want of funds. There are many inquiries for these volumes, and great disappointment because they are not to be had. The Legislature, it is hoped, will have these valuable reports published.

COMMITTEE ROOMS.

There is but one small room for the use of the committees of the General Assembly, and these committees are often subjected to great inconvenience and serious loss of time in a search of some place in which to hold their meetings. At an outlay of a sum not exceeding $5,000 the library building could be extended north fifty feet. The lower story of this extension would afford all the room required for the library for years to come, and the upper story could be divided into three or four convenient and comfortable committee rooms. The labor required for this improvement can be largely done by the State convicts, so that nearly all the actual outlay would be for the material required for the addition.

The law makes no provision for the disposition of old and worn out carpets and furniture that accumulate from time to time about the State House and are replaced with new articles. During my term of office I have sent such articles as were of real value to the Confederate Home, believing this the best disposition that could be made of them. It should be made the duty of some State officer to take charge of this property and dispose of it to the best advantage.

CONFEDERATE HOME.

On July 4, 1889, there assembled in Little Rock a convention of ex-Confederates from all points of the