MINING AND MANUFACTURING CORPORATIONS IN MICHIGAN. AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE FORMATION OF CORPORATIONS FOR MINING, SMELTING, OR MANUFACTURING IRON, COPPER, MINERAL COAL, SILVER, OR OTHER ORES OR MINERALS, AND FOR OTHER MANUFACTURING PURPOSES. SECTION 1. The people of the State of Michigan enact. All corporations organized and established under the provisions of this act, shall be capable of suing and being sued, in any court in this State, and may have a common seal, and alter or amend the same at pleasure; may elect, in such a manner as they shall determine, all neces sary officers; may fix their compensation and determine their duties, and make from time to time, such by-laws, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this State, as a majority of the stockholders shall direct. SEC. 2. Any number of persons, not less than three, who shall, by articles of agreement, in writing, associate according to the provisions of this act, under any name assumed by them for the purpose of engaging in and carrying on any kind of mining or manufacturing business, or who shall comply with the provisions of this act, shall, with their successors and assigns, constitute a body politic or corporate, in fact, and under any name assumed by them in their articles of association, provided no two companies shall assume the saine name. SEC. 3. Before any corporation formed under this act shall commence business, the president and directors shall cause their articles of association to be filled with the Secretary of State of this State, and with the county clerk of the county or counties in which any such corporation shall conduct its mining or manufacturing business; which said articles shall be recorded in said office at length, in books prepared for that purpose at the expense of said corporation. SEC. 4. The articles of every such association shall be signed by the persons associating in the first instance, and acknowledged before some person authorized by the laws of this State to take acknowledgments of deeds, and shall state: 1. Distinctly and definitely the purpose for which the same is formed. 2. The amount of their capital stock and the number of shares. 3. The amount of capital stock actually paid in. 4. The name of the stockholders, their respective residences, and the number of shares held by each person. 5. The place in this State where their office for the transaction of business is located, and the county or counties in which their business is to be carried on. 6. The term of its existence not to exceed thirty years. SEO. 5. Every such corporation shall annually in the month of July, make a report, signed by a majority of the board of directors, coutaining: 1. The amount of capital actually paid in. 2. The amount invested in real estate. 3. The amount of personal estate. 4. The amount of their debts and credits as near as may be. 5. The name of each stockholder and the number of shares held by him at the date of such report; and every such report shall be verified on oath, by the officers signing the same; and if any person shall, as to any material facts, knowingly swear or affirm falsely, he shall be deemed guilty of perjury, and be punished accordingly. SEC. 6. The amount of the capital stock in every such corporation shall be fixed and limited by the stockholders in their articles of association, and shall, in no case, be less than ten thousand dollars, nor more than five hundred thousand dollars, and shall be divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each. The capital stock may be increased, and the number of shares, at any meeting of the stockholders called for that purpose; provided, that the amount so increased shall not, with the existing capital, exceed five hundred thousand dollars. SEC. 7. The purposes for which every such corporation shall be established shall be distinctly and definitely specified in the articles of association; and it shall not be lawful for said corporation to appropriate its funds to any other purpose. SEC. 8. When any corporation shall be formed under this act, any two of those associated may call the first meeting of the corporation at such time and place as they may appoint, by giving notice thereof, by publishing the same in a newspaper, at least fifteen days before the time appointed for such meeting. SEC. 9. The stock, property, and affairs of such corporation, shall be managed by not less than three, nor more than nine directors, as the article shall determine, one of whom shall be a resident of this State. They shall hold their office one year, and until their successors shall be duly chosen. VOL. XXIX.-NO. III. 25 SEC. 10. The directors of every such corporation shall choose one of their number president, and such other officers as their articles of association and by-laws may require, who shall hold their offices one year, or until a majority of the stockholders choose others in their stead. The directors for the time being shall have power to fill any vacancy which may happen in their board by death, resignation, or otherwise, for the current year. SEC. 11. The directors may call in the subscription to the capital stock of such corporation by installments, in such portion, and at such times and places as they shall think proper, by giving notice thereof as the by-laws shall prescribe, and in case any stockholder shall neglect or refuse payment of any such installment for the space of sixty days after the same shall have become due and payable, and after he shall have been notified thereof, the stock of such delinquent stockholders may be sold by the directors at public auction, at the office of the secretary of the corporation, giving at least thirty days notice in some newspaper published in the county: Provided. That if said stockholder shall reside in this State, the stock shall be sold at the business office of said corporation, in the county in which they are doing business, giving at least thirty days notice thereof in some newspaper published in the county; if no newspaper be published in said county, in which such corporation transact their business, then it shall be published in some newspaper in the city of Detroit; and the proceeds of such sale shall be first applied in payment of the installment called for, and the expenses on the same, and the residue shall be refunded to the owner thereof; and such sale shall entitle the purchaser to all the rights of a stockholder to the extent of the shares so bought. SEC. 12. A majority of the directors of every such corporation, convened according to the by-laws, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; and those holding a majority of the stock, at any meeting of the stockholders, shall be capable of transacting the business of the meeting; and at all meetings of such stockholders, each share shall be entitled to one vote. Stockholders may appear and vote in person, or by proxy, duly filed. SEC. 13. If it shall so happen that an election of directors shall not take place at the annual meeting, such corporation shall not be dissolved, but the election may be held at any time thereafter, by giving thirty days notice of the time and place of such election, in the manner provided in the eleventh section. SEC. 14. The books of every such corporation containing the accounts shall, at all reasonable times, be open for the inspection of any of the stockholders, and so often as once in each year a statement of the accounts of such corporation shall be made by order of the directors and laid before the stockholders. SEC. 15. Every such corporation shall by their name have power to acquire and hold all such real and personal estate as shall be necessary for the purposes of carrying on the business of such corporation: Provided, That their real estate shall not exceed three thousand acres. SEC. 16. The stock of every such corporation shall be deemed personal property, and shall be transferred only on the books of such company in such form as the directors shall prescribe; and such corporation shall at all times have a lien upon the stock or property of its members, invested therein, for all the debts due from them to such corporation, which may be enforced by advertisement and sale, in the manner herein provided for selling delinquent stock; and all purchasers at such sale shall be entitled to the rights of stockholders. SEC. 17. The stockholders of all corporations founded upon this act, shall be individually liable for all labor performed for such corporation or associations, which said liability may be enforced against any stockholders founded on this statute at any time after an execution shall be returned not satisfied against said company, Provided always, That if any stockholder shall be compelled by any such action to pay the debts of any creditor, or any part thereof, he shall have the right to call upon all the stockholders to contribute their part of the sum so paid by him as aforesaid, and may sue them jointly or severally, or any number of them, and recover in such action the ratable amount due from the person or persons so sued. SEC. 18. Every such corporation formed for mining purposes, shall annually, in the month of July in each year, make a report, which shall state the amount of copper, iron, or other mineral which such company may have mined within the year past, which report shall be signed by the president and a majority of the directors, and shall be verified by the oath of the secretary or other officer making the same, and be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the business of any such corporation is carried on, and a duplicate thereof in the office of the Auditor General, SEC. 19. Every corporation formed under the provisions of this act, for the purposes of carrying on manufacturing business, shall annually in the month of July, in each year, make a report, which shall state the amount of capital actually paid in, and the amount borrowed by such company and remaining unpaid in whole or in part; which report shall be signed by a majority of the directors, and verified by the oath of the secretary or other officers making the same, and be filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the business of any such corporation is carried on, and a duplicate thereof in the office of the Auditor General. SEC. 20. All corporations formed under the provisions of this act for the purpose of mining, shall pay into the State treasury specific taxes, as follows, that is to say: every such corporation engaged in copper mining, shall pay a tax of one dollar for each ton of copper of mineral obtained, every such corporation engaged in iron mining, shell pay a tax of ten cents for each ton of iron obtained, and every such corporation engaged in coal mining, shall pay a tax of one-half cent for each ton of coal obtained by such corporation in such mining business; which taxes shall be paid annually, in the month of July, at the office of the State Treasurer, or such place in the city of Detroit as he may designate; and the same shall be in lieu of all State taxes to be paid by such corporations respectively: Provided, Nothing herein shall exempt from State taxation, any property of said corporation not invested in the said mining or manufacturing business, contemplated in this act. SEC. 21. All corporations formed under the provisions of this act for manufacturing purposes, shall pay to the State a specific tax of one-half of one per cent on the amount of their capital stock paid in, and also money borrowed, which for this purpose shall be considered as capital stock of such corporations. The said tax shall be paid on the first day of September, at the office of the State Treasurer, or such place in the city of Detroit as he may designate, and the same shall be in lieu of all State taxes to be paid by such corporations respectively. SEC. 22. Service of any legal process against any corporation formed under this act, may be made on the president, secretary, or agent, or if neither of them can be found in the county in which by their articles of association they are to do their business, then such service may be made by posting a true copy thereof on some conspicuous place at the business office of the company in said county. SEC. 23. If the directors of any such company shall intentionally neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions and to perform the duties required of them by sections three, five, eighteen, and nineteen of this act, they shall be jointly and severally liable in an action founded on this statute for all the debts of such corporation contracted during the period of such neglect or refusal; and such of them as were present and acting as such directors at any time during such neglect or refusal, shall be guilty. of a misdemeanor, and may, on conviction thereof, be fined a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the court. SEC. 24. If any such corporation, organized and established under this act, shall wilfully violate any of its provisions, and shall thereby become insolvent, the direc tors ordering or assenting to such violation shall jointly and severally be liable in an action founded on this statute for all debts contracted after such violation. SEC. 25. The Legislature may at any time, for just cause, rescind the powers of any corporation created pursuant to the provisions of this act, and prescribe such mode as may be necessary or expedient for the settlement of its affairs. The Legis lature may repeal, alter, or amend this act. SEC. 26. That this act shall be subject to the provisions of chapter fifty five, title ten, of the revised statutes of 1846, so far as applicable to companies formed under this act. SEC. 27. This act shall take effect immediately. COTTON AND OTHER MANUFACTURES OF PRUSSIA, From a statistical return, just published by the Prussian Government, it appears, that there now exist in that country, 2,207 spining mills; 5,188 manufactories, dyeworks, and cotton priuting establishments; 89,253 mills of different kinds; 12,960 large metal works; 17,165 breweries; and 4,535 other manufactories of different kinds; making a total of 81,308 establishments, occupying 515,551 workmen. FRENCH GELATINE. How to get a penny worth of beauty out of old bones and bits of skin, says Dickens, in his Household Words, is a problem which the French gelatine-makers have solved very prettily. Does the reader remember some gorgeous sheets of colored gelatine in the French department of the Great Exhibition? We owed them to the slaughterhouses of Paris. Those establishments are so well organized and conducted, that all the refuse is carefully preserved, to be applied to any purposes for which it may be deemed fitting. Very pure gelatine is made from the waste fragments of skin, bone, tendon, ligature, and gelatinous tissue of the animals slaughtered in the Parisian abattoirs; and thin sheets of this gelatine are made to receive very rich and beautiful colors. As a gelatinous liquid, when melted, it is used in the dressing of woven stuffs, and in the clarification of wine; and, as a solid, it is cut into threads for the ornamental uses of the confectioner, or made into thin, white, and transparent sheets of papier glace for copying drawings, or applied in the making of artificial flowers, or used as a substitute for paper on which gold printing may be executed. In good sooth, when an ox has given us our beef, and our leather, and our tallow, his career of usefulness is by no means ended: we can get a penny out of him as long as there is a scrap of his substance above ground. STATISTICS OF POPULATION, &c. THE CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES. The Washington Union says that this work is being rapidly printed. That it will be a volume similar to those of the Congressional Globe, but of about 1,600 pages. The type, paper, binding, etc., are superior, and the volume very convenient for reference and for the shelves of the library, in this respect differing from previous census reports. The appendix includes brief and condensed notes necessary to the understanding or explanation of the text, or to account for any of its deficiencies; and the introduc tory chapter comprises the aggregate for the United States, their comparison with other census returns, and with the returns of foreign countries. Some remarks upon the plan of the census, in the preparation of which circulars have been freely sent out by Mr. De Bow to members of Congress and to others, to guard, as far as possible, against the chances of error, or to furnish, if possible, the means of its detection. The arrangement of the census is such that the States and Territories can be detached, if desired, from the volume, their statistical results being developed in every instance separately, in the following tabular form: 1. Population by counties, classification of ages, and color-aggregate. 2. Population by subdivisions of counties. 3. Nativities of the population. 4. Births, marriages, deaths, dwellings, and families. 5. Progress of population from 1790 to 1850. 6. Deaf and dumb, blind, idiotic, and insane. 7. Colleges, academies, schools, &c. 8. Attending school during the year, as returned by families. 9. Adults in the State who cannot read and write. 10. Professions, occupations, and trades, of the male population. 11. Agriculture, farms, and implements, stock, products, home manufactures, &c. 12. Newspapers and periodicals. 13. Libraries, other than private. 14. Churches, church property, &c. THE PAUPER POPULATION OF IRELAND AND ENGLAND. The following facts and figures," which we find in the London Examiner, will be read with interest by political economists and philanthropists: The sixth annual report of the poor law commissioners for Ireland, informs us the persons now requiring out-door relief in Ireland-who were heretofore many hundred thousands-and whose sad condition erewhile excited universal commiseration, though it has now almost passed out of remembrance-does not exceed 4,000 weekly, including heads of families and their dependents. In one week only, during the 20 months that have "elapsed since September, 1851, has the number exceeded 4,000." At the same time, the number of able-bodied poor in the work-houses had decreased from 60,759 in May, 1852, to 48,626 in April 23, 1853; and the total number of persons in the work houses had decreased from 186,879 to 146,141, or about 22 per cent in the year. The expenditure, too, had decreased from £1,141,647, in 1851, to £883,267 in 1852, or also at the rate of 22 per cent. The following are the figures in a tabular form: EXPENDITURE AND NUMBER RELIEVED IN YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 29. The reduction in 1853 is, therefore, a great reduction on a previously large reduc tion both of the number of paupers and of their cost; and we may suppose that the greatest change that has occurred in any population in modern times, accompanied by great misery and great loss of life, is now terminated, and that a new prosperity dawns on the Irish, both in their own country and abroad. At present rather contrary to what happened in former years, when the greatest amount of destitution was experienced in the summer as the potatoes came to an end, the maximum of claimants for relief occurs in the early part of the year. The number, therefore, is now declining week after week, and has been since February; so that by October next it is probable the total number of persons receiving relief in Ireland will not exceed 80,000, or more than 1 in 80 of the population-a very small proportion compared to the pauperism of England, even it its present reduced state. The gradual reduction in the number of the juvenile inmates of work-houses is the consequence of the young persons having the means of subsistence provided for them outside by their parents and friends, or the means being provided for the inmates to join their relations in America, or in England or Scotland. In the last year there was remitted £2,158 to enable 877 inmates of work-houses to join their friends in America, £136 to send 489 to England and Scotland, £221 to help 31 out to Australia. The remittances are increasing and are expected to increase. A sum of £14,041 also was applied by the poor law guardians to the same objects in the year ending September last; and from that time to March they have assisted 3,825 persons to emigrate. A more beneficial change than from the work-house to a brisk demand for labor and good wages, can scarcely be conceived; and it gives a true picture of the regeneration of the Irish from idleness, disease, and destitution, to industry, comfort, and independence. The most effectual cause, however, for the depletion of the work-houses, is the growing demand for labor, while emigration has reduced the number of hands. As yet, the rate of wages has not risen much, and is only in a few cases higher in 1853 than in 1845; but there is more general and continuous employment for the people. They are able to earn more money, if the rate be not much advanced. Those who remain in Ireland are better off, as well as those who remove, and the improvement, as, perhaps, might be expected, is the greatest in the districts that were most necessitous. The actual reduction of pauperism in Connaught since 1851, say the commissioners, has been beyond all expectation. Since April, 1851, the inmates of the work-houses in that province have fallen off from 42,286 to 17,389, or 60 per cent, |