MISSOURI. 



537 



MISSOURI. The message of Governor 

 Phelps, delivered to the Legislature before re- 

 tiring from office, presents more cheerful and 

 hopeful views of the prosperity and prospects 

 of the State than any similar document ever 

 issued. The Governor recommends the reduc- 

 tion of the legal rate of interest to six per cent. 

 That has been the prevailing rate in St. Louis 

 during 1880, though eight per cent, was some- 

 times obtained, and money was loaned also at 

 as low a rate as three per cent. It is proposed 

 to have the census law amended, so that the 

 census may be taken in 1885, and thereafter at 

 decennial periods. An enlargement of the ju- 

 diciary is demanded, and some additional re- 

 forms in criminal administration. The com- 

 mon schools are being improved at a gratifying 

 rate. The population of the State is estimated 

 to have increased in the last four years at the 

 rate of 60,000 a year. Governor Crittenden, 

 in his inaugural address, recommended a gen- 

 eral registration law, and a revision of the rev- 

 enue law. 



The entire receipts into the State revenue 

 fund for the two years 1879 and 1880 were 

 $3,145,664, including a balance on hand, Jan- 

 uary 1, 1879, of $120,224. Of these receipts, 

 $2,766,189 was from revenue sources, and 

 $256,875 from the sale of revenue bonds. The 

 disbursements have been $2,861,638, leaving a 

 balance on hand of $284,026. Of the expen- 

 ditures, $327,057 was for eleemosynary insti- 

 tutions for the two years, including the cost of 

 erecting the new Asylum for the Insane at St. 

 Joseph. The expenditures for education have 

 been $1,145,381, of which $363,720 was inter- 

 est on bonds and certificates of indebtedness 

 held in trust for the schools. The total tax- 

 able wealth of the State has increased from 

 $555,240,555 in 1878, to $558,361,443 in 1879. 

 The entire receipts into the State interest fund 

 for the two years were $2,329,039, which, to- 

 gether with a balance of $156,039, makes a 

 total of $2,585,080. The disbursements were 

 $2,511,451, leaving a balance on hand of $73,- 

 629. The indebtedness of the State, not in- 

 cluding $3,000,000 Hannibal and St. Joseph 

 Railroad bonds, is $16,259,000. 



The bulk of receipts into the State Treasury 

 is divided into two funds, the revenue fund 

 and the interest fund, each mainly made up of 

 the proceeds of a tax of twenty cents on the 

 $100 on all taxable property in the State, 

 which, by the assessment of 1878, is $558,- 

 361,000. One fourth the proceeds of the 

 twenty cents tax paid into the revenue fund is 

 set apart every year for the support of the 

 public-school system, and the remaining three 

 fourths suffices for all the expenses of the State 

 government, including the eleemosynary, pe- 

 nal, and other public institutions, the Legis- 

 lature, the judiciary, and the cost of criminal 

 prosecutions; $1,115,000 sufficed for all these 

 objects in 1879, and about $983,000 in 1880. 

 The interest fund is set apart for interest and 

 other payments on the State debt, and is com- 



posed of the proceeds of a tax of twenty cents 

 on the $100. These proceeds yielded in 1879- 

 '80 $2,429,041. The disbursements for the 

 two years were $2,512,451. The balance on 

 hand January 1, 1881, was $73,629. The an- 

 nual proceeds of the interest tax are about $1,- 

 100,000, and the annual interest on the State 

 debt is about $975,000 ; so that there is always 

 a small surplus to devote to the reduction of 

 the debt. The fact that the debt is not sub- 

 ject to the discretion of the Legislature, but is 

 permanently provided for by this constitutional 

 interest fund, which the Legislature can not 

 impair, and a constitutional tax which the 

 Legislature can not reduce below a sufficiency, 

 amply guarantees the annual payment of the 

 interest, and the ultimate payment of the debt. 

 The debt is now $16,259,000. This does not 

 include $3,000,000 bonds issued to the Hanni- 

 bal and St. Joseph Railroad, because these 

 bonds are provided for by the road to which 

 they were loaned. The railroad company has 

 made a proposition to pay this debt off in 

 cash. The loan made was in bonds of the 

 State of the par value of $3,000,000, which 

 bear a higher interest than the current rates, 

 and were therefore worth about $700,000 more 

 than their face value in the market. Of 

 the debt, $3,031,000 consists of non - nego- 

 tiable bonds held in trust for the public- 

 school system, the interest only on which is 

 annually expended. These bonds will prob- 

 ably never be paid, as there is no reason why 

 they should be, since, in that case, it would 

 be necessary for the money to be invested in 

 something else for the schools. The State 

 debt is being gradually reduced by the pay- 

 ment of at least $250,000 a year. It might 

 be reduced more rapidly, but the last Consti- 

 tutional Convention thought it wiser to reduce 

 the taxes on the people from fifty to forty 

 cents on the $100, and leave the debt to be 

 steadily diminished by a tax on a steadily in- 

 creasing valuation. A plan is proposed for re- 

 funding the State debt, which now bears six 

 per cent, interest, in non-taxable bonds bearing 

 interest at 4 or 4 per cent. The feasibility of 

 the project depends upon the question of the 

 constitutionality of making State bonds exempt 

 from taxation. The amount of the State debt 

 which is convertible at present is limited to 

 the renewal funding bonds, known as the 

 5-20s, $4,350,000 in all, the larger portion of 

 which are held by the school fund. The large 

 issue of railway bonds also is supposed by many 

 to be redeemable at the option of the State, 

 although the Auditor is of the opinion that 

 they can not be discharged before maturity. 

 A clause in one of the authorizing acts makes 

 them redeemable ten years before maturing; 

 but the acts are so conflicting and confused in 

 their terms, that the holders of the bonds are 

 generally ignorant of such a provision, which, 

 therefore, could not be carried out, it is 

 thought, without violating the good faith of 

 the State. 



