“ If three-fifths of the members of each House approve a proposed amendment, it is submitted to a vote of the people, and if approved by a majority of the electors voting, it becomes a part of the Constitution. ”

“ The lack of cheap fuel has been a serious handicap, but the development of coal fields in adjoining States is helping to overcome this obstacle. The advantages of cheap transportation are afforded by the Missouri River, and Omaha in particular has unusual railroad facilities. As yet the industries are limited mainly to those manufactures that are based upon agricultural and stock-raising products. Thus four industries—viz. slaughtering and meat-packing, and the manufacture of malt liquors, flour and grist-mill products, and cheese, butter, and condensed milk—yielded 89.6 per cent. ”

“ The alluvial lands of the river valleys also afford excellent soil, though scarcely exceeding the loess in quality, and as the State was anciently a lacustrine bed, and later a region of peat bogs, large areas are covered with a very black vegetable mold which in some places becomes true peat, and which has given the dark color to the rivers, whence the popular name of the State is derived. ”

“ The climate of the western third of the State is, however, quite arid, and differs considerably from that of the eastern third, where agriculture is wholly successful. The annual rainfall is 23 inches, but this is very unevenly distributed. In the east it is sufficient to support agriculture, ranging from 30 inches on the average to a local maximum as high as 50 inches. In the western half it is below 20, and in the extreme west as low as 12 inches, so that here agriculture cannot be carried on successfully without irrigation. ”

“ The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court, district courts, county courts, justices of the peace, police magistrates, and inferior courts created by law for cities and incorporated towns. The three Supreme Court judges are elected by the State at large for six years. ”

“ The Indians, who foresaw the inevitable extension of white settlement, wished for a Territorial government in order to sell lands to better advantage. The Wyandots, led by their half and quarter bloods, in 1851-52 petitioned Congress to establish a Territory, with no success. A Territorial Delegate, Abelard Guthrie, was chosen in October, 1852. A bill to organize Nebraska Territory passed the House February 2, 1853, but did not reach a vote in the Senate. ”

“ The rapid growth of the industry began in 1884, and South Omaha, as a slaughtering centre, is surpassed only by Kansas City and Chicago. The factory production of butter has developed wholly since 1881. Other leading industries are printing and publishing, and car and other railroad shop construction, the manufacture of saddlery and harness, brick and tile, and lumber and planing mill products. ”

“ More than half of the State is covered with glacial drift and loess, the drift being confined to the eastern counties. The loess forms a soil of inexhaustible fertility. Its deposits range in thickness from 5 to 150 and even 200 feet, and though soft and easily excavated, it is very compact and able to withstand moisture and exposure. ”

“ In some regions there are supplies of underground water, which can be utilized by means of windmills and small reservoirs—a system which promises to be of some importance in the agricultural development of the arid regions. Since 1880 the average acreage of farms increased from 156.9 acres to 246.1 acres. This is due to the establishment of extensive live-stock ranches in the western part of the State and the cultivation of large corn-producing areas, and is in spite of the tendency to divide farm holdings which has characterized the same period in the eastern part of the State. ”

“ The greatest amount of rain falls in May and June, and more than three-fourths of the annual rain falls during the six months of the growing season, April to September. The prevailing winds are from the northwest, and these generally temper the summer heat, but occasionally the heat is aggravated by the hot winds from the southwest. ”

“ It is reported that only about 5.5 per cent. of the teachers of the State are graduates of a college or a university, about 40 per cent. have a high-school education or its equivalent, 29 per cent. are without high-school training, and less than 16 per cent. ”