THE STATES

CONNECTICUT: The lower house of the Legislature defeated a bill to legalize Sunday football and baseball by 139 to 86. The vote was nonpartisan.

FLORIDA: The investigation of the Florida peonage system whereby convict laborers are flogged by " whipping-bosses " has revealed incidents fully as brutal and gruesome as any of the tortures employed during the Middle Ages. The press is unanimous in its agreement that it is one of the darkest blots on civilization in America. This system, whereby convicts are delivered under contract to turpentine camps at $20 a head profit to the sheriff sending them there, whereby flogging of prisoners to death is a common occurrence, has been speedily condemned by the Florida legislature, which voted 31 to 1 to abolish convict labor contracts with private concerns.

State Senator Wicker was the only man voting against the measure. Said he: " There are lots of things I don't know anything about, but there are two things I do know about. They are mules and Niggers. You want to abolish the flogging of convicts, but I tell you corporal punishment is the only way a convict Nigger can be controlled!"

ILLINOIS: A bill passed the state Senate to make the " American " language the official language of Illinois. Said Senator Barbour of Chicago, one of three men who voted against the bill: "I, for my part, do not know what is meant by 'the American language.'" It was argued that H. L. Mencken, stormy petrel of American criticism, has written a learned book on the subject. " The American nation should have a language of its own and have it so designated! "

MICHIGAN: Governor Alex J. Groesbeck vetoed a bill imposing a tax of two cents on every gallon of gasoline sold within the state.

MISSISSIPPI: Theodore Gilmore Bilbo, ex-governor, was fined $100 and sent to jail for 30 days because he failed to answer a subpoena to appear as a witness in a sensational breach of promise case against the present governor. His sentence was later reduced to ten days and the fine remitted, but meanwhile he announced from jail his candidacy in the next gubernatorial election.

NEW JERSEY: Governor Silzer is a lone Democrat faced by a Legislature of Republicans. He is called the "veto-governor" because of the large number of bills which he vetoed during the last session of the Legislature. Now a collection of his vetoes has been published. They are marked by plain speaking and a clear legal mind, and Democrats claim that, although 27 bills became law despite his objection, this collection of vetoes shows that he won a " moral victory."

SOUTH CAROLINA: For the first time in 100 years the population of this state is more white than black. Negroes are migrating north.

VERMONT: Redfield Proctor is Governor of the state and General Superintendent of the Vermont Marble Co. of Proctor. A fire broke out in the plant, and he led the volunteer fire department in putting it out.

WEST VIRGINIA: The House of Delegates passed a bill reducing the Governor's salary from $10,000 to $8,000. The $5,000 salaries of other state officials will be reduced to $4,000.