In 1907 a state mining board was established and provision was made for the inspection of mines by a state inspector for the purpose of securing the safety of those engaged in the mining occupation.4 In 1909 the bureau of labor statistics was created, and the commissioner of the same was empowered to ascertain violations of those laws which are intended to safeguard the health and safety of employees, and to collect statistics ."relating to all departments of labor in Texas', and especially as affecting or bearing upon the commercial, social, educational, and sanitary conditions of the employees and their families, the means of escape from dangers incident to their employment, the protection of life and health in factories and other places of employment, the labor of children and of women and the number of hours of labor exacted of them."5 In 1903 a small appropriation introduced the study of manual training into the state normals, and in 1909 and 1911 aid was extended to aid the introduction of the study into the common schools.6 In 1913 an employers' liability law was passed. This law provided for an industrial accident board, whose salaries are paid by the state and whose duty it is to carry out the terms of the law.

1 Laws of 1907, p. 62. Laws of 1911, p. 76.

2 Laws of 1911, p. 136. Laws of 1913, Reg. Sess., p. 120.

3 Laws of 1913, First Called Sess., p. 191.

4 Laws of 1907, p. 331. Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, title 93, chap. 2.

5 Laws of 1909, Reg. Sess., p. 59. Laws of 1911, p. 17. Laws of 1913, Reg. Sess., p. 237.

6 Laws of 1903, p. 66. Laws of 1909, Reg. Sess., p. 221. Laws of 1911, p. 34.

Upon the passage of the law authorizing the incorporation of state banks and upon the establishment of the department of agriculture, the old department of agriculture, insurance, and banking was reorganized; resulting in the department of agriculture and the department of insurance and banking. In 1909 the control of the state library was taken from the department of insurance and banking and given to a state library and historical commission.1

The state fire rating board of 1909 was succeeded by the state insurance board of 1910 which in turn was succeeded in 1913 by the stats fire insurance commission.2 The commission has among its other duties that of fixing the rates of premiums charged by the fire insurance companies.

In the field of financial administration the only new agencies established since 1880 are the state revenue agent whose place was created in 1891, the state purchasing agent for the eleemosynary institutions whose appointment and duties were defined in 1900, and the state tax board which dates from 1905.3

The above described boards, bureaus, commissions, departments, etc., represent mainly new activities of the state, and they are, with a few exceptions, merely beginnings in their respective lines. They have not caused any very great addition to the expenditures of the state, and they are more significant in potentialities than they are in accomplishments. The poor showing in the way of results of some of them is due partly to lack of adequate financial support by the legislature and partly to the incompetence of those charged with the performance of the services.

Social expenditures are those for education, including the disbursements of the available school fund, those for the asylums, the orphans' home, the reformatories and penitentiaries, and those for pensions and for the Confederate veterans' and Confederate woman's homes. This group of expenditures is especially significant, because it measures the solicitude of the state for its future citizens, its old soldiers, and its unfortunate wards. Expenditures for education increased from $828,192 in 1881 to $9,446,222 in 1915, and whereas in 1881 they constituted 29.5 per cent of the state's total expenditures, in 1910 they were 66.9 per cent and in 1915 56 per cent. Expenditures for the asylums and the correctional institutions increased from $147,969 in 1881 to $2,861,876 in 1915, or from 6 per cent of the state's total expenditures to 17 per cent. Expenditures for pensions and for the homes of the veterans and their wives increased from $1,837 in 1881 to $1,558,171 in 1915. This was an increase of from seven-tenths of one per cent of the state's total expenditures to 9.2 per cent. This group of social expenditures made up over 82 per cent of the state's total expenditures in 1915 as compared with about 36 per cent in 1881.

1 Laws of 1907, p. 127. Laws of 1909, Reg. Sess., p. 122. Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, title 85, chap. 1.

2 Laws of 1909, First Called Sess., p. 311. Laws of 1910, p. 125. Laws of 1913, Reg. Sess., p. 195.

3 Laws of 1891, p. 87. Laws of 1899, p. 138. Laws of 1905, p. 351. Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, arts. 7366, 7392, 7325-7338, 7407-7426. Laws of 1915, Reg. Sess., p. 193.

The act establishing the main branch of the University was passed in 1881, and provision for the establishment of the medical branch at Galveston was made in 1890.1 The school of mines at El Paso was authorized in 1913.2 In 1899 the North and the Southwest Texas normals were established, in 1901 the College of Industrial Arts and in 1909 the West Texas Normal.3 In 1915 three new state normals were authorized, $500,000 per year for the two years 1916 and 1917 was appropriated out of the general treasury to aid the country schools, and the appropriations for the higher educational institutions were generously increased.4 In 1884 the office of superintedent of public instruction was created, but it was not until 1893 there was established a department of education with the superintendent at its head and supported out of the general revenue fund instead of out of the available school fund.5 Notable provision was made in 1915 for the blind and for the feeble minded wards of the state. An appropriation of $300,000 was made for a site and fire-proof buildings for the care of the blind, and an appropriation of $100,000 was made for the establishment of a farm colony for the feeble minded.1

1 Laws of 1881, p. 79. Laws of 1889, p. 74.

2 Laws of 1913, Reg. Sess., p. 427.

3 Laws of 1899, pp. 74, 175. Laws of 1901, Reg. Sess., p. 306. Laws of 1909, Reg. Sess., p. 235.

4 Laws of 1915, Reg. Sess., p. 116. Laws of 1915, First Called Sess., pp. 22, 113-114.

5 Laws of 1893, p. 182.