Kansas

Climate.

The climate of Kansas is exceptionally salubrious. Extremes of heat and cold occur, but as a rule the winters are dry and mild, while the summer heats are tempered by the per petual prairie breezes, and the summer nights are usually cool and refreshing. The average annual temperature of the State for a period of years was the warmest mean being the coldest mean 52.6°. The absolute extremes were 116° and The dryness of the air tempers exceedingly to the senses the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The temperature over the State is much more uniform than is the precipitation, which diminishes somewhat regularly westward. In the above period of years the yearly means in the west part of the State va ried from 11•93 to 29.21in. (ay. 19.21), in the middle from 18.58 to 34.3oin. (ay. 26.68), in the east from 26.00 to 45.71in. (ay. 34.78) ; the mean for the State ranging from 20•12 to 35.5o (ay. 27.12). The precipitation in the west is not sufficient for confident agriculture in any series of years, since agriculture is practically dependent upon the mean fall; a fact that has been and is of pro f ound importance in the history of the State. The line of 2oin. fall (about the limit of certain agriculture) approximately bi sects the State in dry years. The precipitation is very largely in the growing season. Freshets and droughts at times work havoc. Freshets signalized the years 1844 and 1858, and droughts 1860, 1874 and 1894. Tornadoes are also a not infrequent infliction, least common in the west. There are 15o to 175 "growing days" for crops between the frosts of spring and autumn, and eight in ten days are bright with sunshine—half of them without a cloud.

Government.

Kansas, in 1936, was still governed by her original constitution, which was adopted at Wyandotte in July 1859, was ratified by the people on Oct. 4, 1859, and came into effect on Jan. 29, 1861. More than 3o amendments have been added since that time. An amendment may be proposed by either branch of the legislature, and, if approved by two-thirds of the members elected to each house, as well as by a majority of the electors voting on it at a general election, it is adopted. A constitutional convention to revise or amend the constitution may be called in the same manner. Kansas was the first State to grant women municipal suffrage as well as the right to hold municipal offices (1887). Full suffrage was extended to women in 1912, and under pressure of the World War the suffrage was limited in 1918 to citizens of the United States. General elec tions to State, county and township offices are biennial, in even numbered years, and take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The State executive officers are a governor, lieutenant:governor, secretary of State, auditor, treas urer, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, super intendent of insurance, and State printer, all elected for a term of two years. The governor appoints, with the approval of the senate, certain administrative boards ; he may veto any bill from the legislature, and the bill cannot thereafter become a law un less approved by two-thirds of the members of each house.

The legislature, consisting of a senate and a house of repre sentatives, meets in regular session at Topeka, the capital, on the second Tuesday of January in odd-numbered years. The mem bership of the senate is limited to 40, and that of the house of representatives to 125. Senators are elected for four years, and representatives for two years. The judicial power is vested in one supreme court, 39 district courts, one probate court and a juvenile court for each county and two or more justices of the peace for each township. All justices are elected : those of the supreme court, seven in number, for six years, two or three of them every two years ; those of the district courts for f our years; and those of the probate courts and the justices of the peace for two years. An act of 1913 provides for the nomination and elec tion of judges by separate ballots without party designation.

The more important affairs of each county,are managed by a board of three commissioners, who are elected by districts for four years, lAtt each county elects also a clerk, a treasurer, a pro bate judge, a register of deeds, a sheriff, a superintendent of pub lic instruction, an assessor, a coroner, an attorney, a clerk of the district court and a surveyor, for terms of two years. A county

auditor is appointed by the district court for each county having a population in excess of 45,00o. The township officers, all elected for two years, are a trustee, a clerk, a treasurer, two or more justices of the peace, two constables and one road overseer for each road district. Cities are divided into three classes according to size, and the government is different for each class. Those hav ing a population of more than 15,000 constitute the first class; those having a population of more than 2,000 but not more than 15,000 constitute the second class; and those having a population not exceeding 2,000 constitute the third class. Municipal elec tions are far removed from those of the State, being held in odd numbered years in April. A great number of municipalities have abandoned the old city-council form of government. An act passed in 1907 and amended in 1909 and 1913 authorized the adoption of a commission form of government in cities of the first and second class. Until 1917 54 cities reorganized under this law. In 1917 the legislature authorized the city-manager plan. All cities that have reorganized since then have adopted this plan. In 1908 a direct primary law was passed, applicable to all nomi nations except for presidential electors, school district officers, and officers in cities of fewer than 5,000 inhabitants; like public elections, the primaries are made a public charge; nomination is by petition, signed by a certain percentage of the party vote. Since 1910 the administration of the State has become centralized to a high degree. The first step was taken in 1913 in reference to the various educational institutions. In 1916, during the adminis tration of Governor Capper, all of the State educational, charita ble and penal institutions were brought under a single board called the board of administration, and in 1925 all the higher ed ucational institutions were put under the control of a single board called a board of regents, consisting of nine members ap pointed by the governor for terms of four years and electing their own chairman. A provision that part of the board retire annually is intended to give it permanence and remove it from political control. An attempt, made by Governor Capper in 1917 and renewed by Governor Allen in 1921, to consolidate on a similar plan the various bureaux that composed the State board of agri culture, did not succeed. In 1911 the State board of railroad com missioners was superseded by a public utilities commission, modelled on the commissions already established in New York and Wisconsin, to which was given supervision of all public utilities in the State. The legislature in 192o created a court of industrial relations, consisting of three members. The act de clared the manufacture of food and clothing, the mining of fuel and transport to be essential industries and "affected with a public interest" to such a degree as to justify public control. The right of collective bargaining was recognized, but strikes were prohibited, and the court was given authority, either on its own initiative or on complaint, to investigate and to issue orders regulating limita tion of production, hours and conditions of labour and rates of wages. Originally the public utilities commission was merged in the industrial court, but in 1921 the public utilities commission was re-established as a separate body, and the labour bureau and the industrial commission were merged in the industrial commis sion. Finally, in 1924, the tax commission, the public utilities commission and court of industrial relations, including the depart ment of labour, were consolidated in a single board of five mem bers called the public service commission. The power of the court to fix wages was annulled by the courts, but in other respects the court was allowed to function satisfactorily, operating with the bureau of labour as a department of the public service com mission. In 1929 there was created a commission on labour and industry, and in 1933 a legislative council to examine existing laws and recommend amendments thereto.