WYOMING
726
WYOMING
special law two or more districts are enabled to
unite in the formation of a high school district by
an affirmative vote of qualified electors on the ques-
tion, and thereby maintain a high school. This
plan makes it possible for a number of districts in
sparsely settled counties to combine their resources
in the establishment of a high school which is sup-
ported by a special tax. School attendance by
children between the ages of six and fourteen years
is compulsory, and penalties are prescribed for
truancy or parental neglect in the matter of school
attendance. In 1910 there were 1109 teachers em-
ployed in the state, and the total enrolment of
pupils was 24,584. The district tax revenues for
that year were $739,668.88 and the earnings and
income from 3,4.56,999 acres of school land was
$1.50,212.91. Other public school revenues are
derived from a percentage of the receipts from
government land sales and the income from forest
reserves paid to the state by direction of Congress.
The state university is situated at Laramie, and
includes a graduate school, colleges of hberal arts,
agriculture, and engineering. A normal school and
departments of music, commerce, home economies,
and university extension are also maintained. The
number of professors employed is 45, and 307 stu-
dents were reported in attendance in 1910. The
institution is supported by state tax, a land income
fund, and certain annual donations made by the
Government pursuant to Acts of Congress for the
promotion of instruction in agriculture and the
mechanic arts. A convent (boarding, and parochial
school), was established at Clieyenne in 1886 by the
Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus "at a cost of $50,000.
This institution lias passed through the vicissitudes
of early pioneering and grown to a prosperous con-
dition, the average attendance being about 200.
Jesuit Fathers established a mission school for Indian
boys at St. Stephens on or about the same date, and
Catholic sisters also conduct a mission school for
Indian girls on the Shoshoni Reservation.
V. St.\tb Institutions. — Indigent poor are cared for and supported by the counties of their residence. The State maintains: a hospital for the insane at Evanston; a home for feeble-minded and epileptic persons at Lander; an institution for blind, deaf, and dumb at Cheyenne; a soldiers' and sailors' home at Buffalo; and general state hospitals at Rock Springs, Sheridan, and Casper. A state sanitariiim is pro- vided at Thermopolis, where a square mile of land surrounding mineral springs of great medicinal value has been granted to the state by the United States Government. The state penitentiary is situated at Rawlins, and an appropriation has been made for a reformatory to be located hereafter by a vote of the people. There are laws providing for the incorporation of charitable, educational, and religious societies, including cemetery associations; and chari- table bequests are not forbidden by statute.
VI. Gbner.\l Legisl.\tion. — Freedom in the ex- ercises and enjoyment of religious profession and worship is guaranteed to every person by the con- stitution, with the sole quahfication that the liberty of conscience thus secured shall not excuse Ucen- tiousncss, nor justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state. This qualification was undoubtedly inserted to prevent the practice of polygamy as a possible incident to Mormon settlement in the state. Tlie disturbance of religious worship is made punishable as a misdemeanour. Sunday observance prevails generally throughout the state, and places of business with a few exceptions are required to be closed on Sundaj'. The first day of January, twelfth and twenty-second days of February, thirtieth day of May", fourth of July, the date ap])ointed by the jiresident as the annual Thanksgiving Day, twenty-fifth of December, dates
upon which general elections are held, and Arbor
Day are declared holidays by statute; and if a legal
holiday falls on Sunday the following day shall be
the hoUday. The use of profane or obscene lan-
guage is pimishable as a misdemeanour. A statutory
form of oath is prescribed, concluding with the words
"So help me God", and persons having conscientious
scruples against taking an oath may affirm under
the pains and penalties of perjury. The seal of
confession is privileged. Church bodies may incor-
porate for purposes of administration. Property
used exclusively for religious worship, church par-
sonages, and all denominational school property
are exempt from taxation. Ministers of the Gospel
of all denominations are exempt from jury service.
The marriage ceremony ma}' be performed by any
judge, district court commissioner, justice of the
peace, or licensed or ordained minister of the Gospel.
No particular form of ceremony is required other
than an express declaration in the presence of an
ordained minister or magistrate and witnesses.
Desertion of wife and children is a felony. Causes
for divorce are: adultery; incompetency; conviction
of a felony, and sentence to imprisonment therefor
after marriage; conviction of felony or infamous
crime before marriage, provided it was unknown
to the other party; habitual drunkenness; extreme
cruelty; intolerable indignities; neglect to provide
common necessities; vagrancy of the husband; and
pregnancy of the wife before marriage if without
knowledge of the husband. The plaintiff must
reside in the state for one year immediately preceding
his or her apphcation for divorce, unless the parties
were married in the state and the applicant has
resided there since the marriage. Neither party is
permitted to remarry within one year after a decree
of divorce.
A married woman can hold, acquire, manage, and convey property, and carry on business independent of her husband. When a husband or wife dies intestate one half of the property of the deceased goes to the survivor if there be children and one half to the children collectively. If there be no children, nor descendants of any child, three-fourthe of the estate goes to the siu-vivor. If there be no children nor descendants of any child, and the estate does not exceed SI 0,000, the whole of it goes to the survivor. Except as above, the estate of an intes- tate descends to his children surviving and the descendants of his children who are dead. If there be no children nor their descendants, then to his father, mother, brothers, and sisters, and to the descendants of brothers and sisters who are dead. If there be no children nor their descendants, nor father, mother, brothers, sisters, nor descendants of them, then to the grandfather, grandmother, uncles, aunts, and their descendants. The home- stead of a householder who is the head of a family, or any resident of the state who has attained the age of sixty years, is exempt to the value of S1500 from execution or attachment arising from any debt contracted or civil obhgation incurred other than taxes, purchase money, or improvements so long as it is occupied by the owner or his or her family. And the exemption imu-es for the benefit of the widow or minor diildren. If the on-ner be married the homestead can be aUenated only by the joint consent of the husband and wife. The family Bible, a burial lot, and $500 worth of personal prop- erty are likewise exempt to any person entitled to a homestead exemption. One half of the earnings of a debtor for his personal services, rendered at. any time within sixty days next preceding a levy of execution or attachment, is exempt when it is made to appear that such earnings are necessary for the support of debtor's family residing within the slate and supported in whole or in part by his
