CHAPTER 42.-INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND.

SECTION 1. [Establishment-Location.]-That there shall be maintained at Nebraska City, in the county of Otoe, an institution for the blind, and there is hereby appropriated for that purpose the sum of ten thousand dollars, for the erection of a building and the furnishing of the same; Provided, That the citizens of Nebraska City shall raise the sum of three thousand dollars, and when the said sum of three thousand dollars is raised and paid over to the board of trustees, either in money or in property, to the satisfaction of such board, then the board of trustees of said institution for the blind shall proceed to locate said institution on not less than ten acres of land, and not to exceed one mile in distance from the court house in said Nebraska City. [1875, § 1, 149.]

SEC. 2. [Supervision-Powers of trustees.]-The trustees shall have the general supervision of the institution, adopt rules for the government thereof, provide teachers, servants, and necessaries for the institution, and perform all other acts necessary to render the institution efficient, and to carry out the purposes of the establishment. [Id. § 4.]

SEC. 3. [Compensation of officers and employees.]—The board of trustees shall fix the compensation of all the officers and employees of said institution at such a rate as shall by them be deemed just and equitable; Provided, That in no event shall the total amount of expenses of the institution exceed the total amount of the appropriation for the same. [Id. § 7.]

SEC. 4. [Assistants.]-The assistant officers shall receive their appointment from the board, upon the nomination of the principal, for the faithful performance of their duties, and the principal shall be held responsible to the board for the performance of his duties. [Id. § 8.]

SEC. 5. [Non-resident inmates.]-Persons not resident of the state shall be entitled to the benefits of this institution on paying to the treasurer thereof the sum of fifty dollars quarterly in advance; Provided, That no such person shall be so received to the exclusion of any resident of this state. [Id. § 9.]

SEC. 6. [Indebtedness-Limitation.]-The board of trustees shall not create any indebtedness against the institution exceeding the amount appropriated by the legislature for the support thereof. [Id. § 11.]

SEC. 7. [Appropriation-Ordinary expenses.]-To meet the ordinary expenses of the institution, including furniture, books, and maps, the compensation of principal, matrons, teachers, and employees, and to provide for contingencies, there is hereby appropriated the sum of two thousand dollars annually, or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be drawn quarterly, and then only as necessary to meet the wants of the institution. [Id. § 12.]

SEC. 8. [Appropriation-Current expenses.]-For the purpose of meeting current expenses, there is appropriated out of the state treasury or so much as necessary, not to exceed forty dollars per quarter to each pupil in said institution; Provided, That such amounts shall be drawn by warrants upon the temporary school fund of the state. [Id. § 13.]

SEC. 9. [Report to governor.]—The principal of said institution shall report to the governor, on or before the fifteenth day of December preceding each regular ses sion of the legislature, the number of pupils in attendance, with the name, age, sex, residence, place of nativity, and also the cause of blindness of each pupil. He shall also make a report of the studies pursued and trades taught in said institution, together with CHAP. 42.-"An act to erect and maintain an institution for the blind." Passed and took effect February

23, 1875.

a complete statement of the expenditure, and also the number, kind, and value of articles manufactured and sold. [Id. § 14.]

SEC. 10. [Clothing for pupils.]-When the pupils of such institution are not otherwise supplied with clothing, they shall be furnished by the principal, who shall make out an account of the cost thereof in each case against the parent or guardian, if the pupil be a minor, and against the pupil, if he or she have no parent or guardian, or have attained the age of majority, which account shall be certified to be correct by said principal, and when so certified, such an account shall be presumed correct in all courts. The principal shall thereupon remit said accounts by mail to the treasurer of the county from which the pupil so supplied shall have come to said institution. Such treasurer shall proceed at once to collect the same by suit, in the name of his county, if necessary, and pay the same into the state treasury. The principal shall at the same time remit a duplicate of such account to the auditor of state, who shall credit the same to the account of the institution, and charge it to the proper county; Provided, If it shall appear by the affidavit of three disinterested citizens of the county, not of kin to the pupil, that the said pupil, or his or her parents would be unreasonably oppressed by such suit, then such treasurer shall not commence said suit, but shall credit the same to the state on his books and report the amount of such account to the board of county commissioners of his county, and the said board shall levy sufficient tax to pay the same to the state, and to cause the same to be paid into the state treasury. [Id. § 15.]

SEC. 11. [Appropriations, how drawn.]—The above appropriations, including account of clothing furnished pupils, shall be drawn monthly in advance, upon orders of the president and treasurer of said board of trustees, made on the auditor of the state, which said order shall recite the amount of funds then in the hands of the treasurer of said board, and the amount necessary to defray the expenses of the ensuing month, and thereupon the auditor shall draw his warrant on the state treasurer in favor of the treasurer of said board for the amount so shown to be necessary for the said monthly expenses of said institution. [Id. § 16.]

SEC. 12. [Who admitted-Report of county superintendent.]— All blind persons resident of this state, of suitable age and capacity, shall be entitled to an education in this institution, at the expense of the state. Each county superintendent of common schools shall report to the principal of the institution for the blind, on the first day of April of each year, the name, age, residence, and postoffice address of every blind person, and every person blind to such an extent as to be unable to acquire an education in the common schools, and who reside in the county in which he is superintendent. [Id. § 17.]

CHAPTER 43.-INSURANCE COMPANIES.

SECTION 1. [How formed.]-That hereafter, when any number of persons associate themselves together for the purpose of forming an insurance company, for any other purpose than life insurance, under the provisions of chapter twenty-five of the Revision of 1866, and all acts amendatory and supplementary thereto, they shall publish a notice of such intention once in each week, for four weeks, in some public newspaper in the county in which such insurance company is proposed to be located; and they shall also make a certificate under their hand, specifying the name assumed by such company and by which it shall be known, the object for which said company shall be formed, the amount of its capital stock, and the place where the principal office of said company shall be located, which certificate shall be acknowledged before and certified by some notary public, or clerk of court of record, and forwarded to the auditor of state, who shall submit the same to the attorney-general of state for examination, and if it shall be found by the attorney-general of state to be in accordance with the provisions of this act, and not in conflict with the constitution and laws of the United States and this state, he shall make certificate of the facts and return it to the auditor of state, who shall reject the name or title applied for by any company when he shall deem the same too similar to any one already appropriated by any other company, or likely to mislead the public. [G. S. 429.]

SEC. 2. [When organized.]-When the said certificate of the said company shall have received the approval of the attorney of state and auditor of state, the said company shall cause the same to be recorded as now required by law for recording articles of incorporation; and said persons, when incorporated, and having in all respects complied with the provisions of this act, are hereby authorized to carry on the business of insurance, as named in such certificate of incorporation, and by the name and style provided therein, and shall be deemed a body corporate with succession, they and their associates, successors, and assigns, to have the same general corporate powers, and be subject to all the obligations and restrictions of said chapter twenty-five of the Revision of 1866, and of such as may be amendatory or supplementary, except as may be herein otherwise provided.

SEC. 3. [Capital required.]-No joint-stock company shall be incorporated under the provision of this act with a smaller capital than one hundred thousand dollars, nor more than one million dollars, as may be specified in the certificate of incorporation, which stock shall be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, of which capital at least fifty per cent. shall be fully paid up in cash, and that for the remainder of its capital there are in its possession notes of its stockholders, secured by at least one surety or by mortgages on unincumbered real estate, within this state, worth at least twice the amount of such notes, which notes or other security shall be approved by the state auditor; nor shall any company on the plan of mutual insurance commence business in this state until agreements have been entered into for insurance with at least two hundred applicants, the premiums upon which shall amount to not less than twenty-five thousand dollars, of which at least five thousand dollars shall have been paid in actual cash, and for the remainder of which notes of solvent parties, founded upon actual and bona fide applications for insurance, shall have been received; no one of the notes received as aforesaid shall amount to more than five hundred dollars, and no two thereof shall be given for the same risk or made by the same person or firm, except where the whole amount of such notes does not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars; nor shall any note be regarded or represented as capital stock, unless a policy

ante.

CHAP. 43. "An act regulating insurance companies." G.8. 429. See 16 Neb. 552. 18 Id. 277. See chap. 16

be issued upon the same within thirty days after the organization of the company taking the same, upon a risk which shall be for no shorter period than twelve months; each of said notes shall be payable, in whole or in part, at any time when the directors shall deem the same requisite for the payment of losses by fire or inland navigation, and such incidental expenses as may be necessary for transacting the business of said company; and no notes shall be accepted as part of such capital stock unless the same shall be accompanied by a certificate of a justice of the peace, notary public, or clerk of the district court of the county in which the person executing such note shall reside, that the person making the same is, in his opinion, pecuniarily good and responsible for the same, in property not exempt from execution by the laws of their state; and no such note shall be surrendered while the policy for which it was given continues in force.

SEC. 4. [Subscription books.]-Having published the notice and filed the publisher's affidavit of the publication thereof with the auditor of state, together with the certificate, as required by the first section of this act, the persons named in the certificate of incorporation, or a majority of them, shall be commissioned to open books for the subscription of stock to the company, at such times and places as to them may seem convenient and proper, and shall keep the same open until the full amount specified in the certificate is subscribed; or in case the business of such company is proposed to be conducted on the plan of mutual insurance, then to open books to receive propositions and enter into agreement in the manner and to the extent specified in the third section of this act.

SEC. 5. [Directors.]-The affairs of any company organized under the provisions of this act shall be managed by not more than twenty-one nor fewer than five directors, all of whom shall be stockholders; within thirty days after the subscription books shall have been filled, a majority of the subscribers shall hold a meeting for the election of directors, each share entitling the holder thereof to one vote; and the directors then elected shall continue in office until their successors have been duly chosen and have accepted the trust.

SEC. 6. [Capital-Investment.]-It shall be lawful for any insurance company organized under the act, or incorporated under any law of this state, to invest its capital and the funds accumulated in the course of its business, or any part thereof, in bonds and mortgages on unincumbered real estate, within the state of Nebraska, worth double the sum loaned thereon, exclusive of buildings, unless such buildings are insured in some responsible company or companies and the policy or policies transferred to said company, and also in stocks of this state or stocks or treasury notes of the United States, in the stocks and bonds of any county or incorporated city in this state, which may have been therefore authorized to be issued by the legislature of this state, and to lend the same, or any part thereof, on the security of such stock, or lands, or treasury notes, or upon the bonds and mortgages as aforesaid, and not otherwise; and to change and reinvest the same in like securities, as occasion may from time to time require; but any surplus money over and above the paid up capital stock of any such company organized under this act or incorporated under any law of this state may be invested in or loaned upon the pledge of public stocks of the United States or any of thes tock, or stocks, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness of any solvent, dividend-paying institution incorporated under the laws of this state, or the United States, except their own stock; Provided, always, That the current market value of such stock, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness shall be at all times, during the continuance of such laws, at least twenty per cent. more than the sum loaned thereon.

SEC. 7. [Certificate of organization.]-Upon receiving notification that the requirements of the preceding sections have been complied with, the auditor of state shall make an examination, or cause one to be made by some disinterested person officially appointed by him for that purpose, and if it shall be found (if the examination.

SEC. 7. Cited 18 Neb. 82.

shall be made other than [by] the auditor, then the finding shall be certified under oath) that the capital herein required by the company named, according to the nature of the business proposed to be transacted by such company, has been paid in and possessed by it in money, or in such stocks, notes, bonds, or mortgages as are required by the third and sixth sections of this act, then he shall so certify; and if the examination be made by other than the auditor, then the finding shall be certified under oath; or, if it is proposed to be a mutual insurance company, that it has received and is in actual possession of the capital, premiums, or bona-fide engagements of insurance, or the securities, as the case may be, to the extent and value required by the third and sixth sections of this act, the name and residence of the maker of each premium note forming part of the capital of any such proposed insurance company, and the amount of such note shall be returned to the auditor. The corporators or officers of any such company or proposed mutual company contemplated by this act shall be required to certify under oath, to the auditor of state, that the capital exhibited to the person making the examination directed in this section was bona-fide property of the company so examined; the certificates above contemplated shall be filed in the office of said auditor, who shall thereupon deliver to such company a certified copy of the same, with his written permission for them to commence business as proposed in their written certificate of incorporation, which, on being placed on record in the office of the recorder of the county in which the company is to be located, by the recorder, in a book prepared by him for that purpose, shall be their authority to commence business and issue policies; and such certified copy of said certificate may be used in evidence for or against said company with the same effect as the originals.

SEC. 8. [Objects insurable.]-It shall be lawful for any company organized under this act, or doing business in this state: First-To insure houses, buildings, and all other kinds of property against loss or damage by fire or other casualty, and to make all kinds of insurance on goods, merchandise, or other property in the course of transportation, whether on land or water, or any vessel afloat, wherever the same may

be.

Second-To make insurance on the health of individuals, and against the personal injury, disablement, or death, resulting from traveling or general accidents by land or water. Third-To insure the fidelity of persons holding places of public or private trust. Fourth-To receive on deposit and insure the safe keeping of books, papers, moneys, stocks, bonds, and all kinds of personal property. Fifth-To insure horses, cattle, and other stock against loss or damage by accident, theft, or any unknown or contingent event whatever which may be the subject of legal insurance; to lend money on bottomry or respondentia, and to cause itself to be insured against any loss or risk it may have incurred in the course of its business and upon the interest which it may have in any property by means of any loan or loans which it may have made on mortgage, bottomry, or respondentia; and generally to do and perform all other matters and things proper to promote these objects; Provided, That no companies shall be organized to issue policies of insurance for more than one of the above five mentioned purposes; and no company that shall have been organized for either one of said purposes shall issue policies of insurance for any other; and no company organized under this act, or transacting business in this state, shall expose itself to loss on any one risk or hazard to an amount exceeding ten per cent. on its paid-up capital, unless the excess shall be re-insured by the same in some other good and reliable company; And Provided, That the restriction as to the amount of risk any company shall assume shall not apply to companies organized to guarantee the fidelity of persons in places of public or private trust, nor to companies that receive on deposit and guarantee the safe keeping of books, papers, moneys, and other property.

SEC. 9. Directors-Election.]-The annual meeting for the election of directors shall be holden during the month of January, as the by-laws of the company may direct; Provided, however, That if for any cause the stockholders shall fail to elect

SEC. 8. Cited 18 Neb. 82.