NEBRASKA. 



549 



all cooperating stations, and on July 1, 1878, 

 this was supplemented by a daily international 

 chart, both publications being the natural out- 

 growth of his Vienna proposition. In 1879 

 General Myer was a delegate to the Meteoro- 

 logical Congress at Rome, and arranged for an 

 additional daily international observation, the 

 details of which were completed but a few days 

 before his death. On June 16, 1880, he was 

 promoted to the full grade of brigadier-gen- 

 eral, as a special reward by Congress for his 

 distinguished services in the line of his profes- 

 sion. General Myer's success in taking an ab- 

 stract science like meteorology and in ten years 

 making it one of the most important bureaus 

 of the Government, was due to his practical 

 knowledge of human nature and to the indomi- 

 table will and courage with which he met and 

 overcame obstacles that would have crushed 

 weaker or less resolute men. To collect and 

 distribute these reports by telegraph daily, re- 

 quired a perfection of work not attainable by 

 any method then in use. This he overcame 

 by insisting upon a system of telegraphic cir- 

 cuits, by which unity of action was assured 

 at certain fixed hours daily. The amount of 

 telegraphing was enormous, and at usual rates 

 much in excess of the whole appropriation 

 made for the service. He met this difficulty 

 by securing the application to the telegraph 

 companies of an old and forgotten law, by 

 which the cost of telegraphing was materially 

 reduced, and this action soon forced a general 



reduction of telegraphic rates throughout the 

 United States, a result directly traceable to the 

 early work of the Signal-Office. General My- 

 er was the first person in the United States, or 

 in the world, to make or have made a series of 

 simultaneous reports by which alone it is pos- 

 sible to ascertain the atmospheric condition of 

 an extent of territory at a given moment of 

 time. Under his administration as Chief Sig- 

 nal-Officer a line of telegraph was constructed 

 along several hundred miles of the worst sea- 

 coast of the United States, and interior lines, 

 aggregating a total length of more than five 

 thousand miles, were built, and the settle- 

 ment of a vast area of unimproved country 

 greatly hastened and facilitated. He estab- 

 lished a system of cautionary day and night 

 signals for the benefit of lake and ocean com- 

 merce and navigation, a system of reliable river 

 reports for the benefit of interior commerce, 

 special series of reports for farmers, and for cot- 

 ton and sugar planters. Scarcely an industry 

 escaped his watchful care, and it was the 

 knowledge of this vigilance that made Con- 

 gress support him with liberal annual appro- 

 priations. As a writer General Myer was 

 methodical, painstaking, and accurate. His 

 manual of signals is used as a text-book at the 

 Military and Naval Academies in the United 

 States and in similar institutions abroad. His 

 annual reports contain a vast fund of special 

 information of value to the student of mete- 

 orology and kindred sciences. 



N 



NEBRASKA. The State of Nebraska is 

 growing rapidly in population and wealth. 

 The fertility of its soil and the extent of the 

 unoccupied lands attract a large immigration. 

 The crops of 1880 were generally good, not- 

 withstanding unfavorable meteorological con- 

 ditions in the beginning of the season. Rail- 

 roads have been rapidly extended into the new 

 settlements. Companies have been formed for 

 the development of the coal-fields, which are 

 believed to be very rich. The abundant water- 

 power of the streams and rivers is being util- 

 ized for manufacturing purposes. Wild lands 

 are being brought under cultivation with rapid- 

 ity. After the next Congressional apportion- 

 ment, based on the census of 1880, the State 

 will send three Representatives to Congress 

 instead of one as at present. 



The Treasury statement for the two years 

 ending November 30, 1880, of the total re- 

 ceipts and expenditures, is as follows : 



Balance in the Treasury December 1, 18T8 $460,181 99 



Receipts from all sources during- the two years 

 ending November 30, 1880, including transfers 1,451,817 52 



Total amount $1,911,999 51 



Disbursed during the same period, including 

 transfers 1,568,930 90 



Balance in hand November 30, 1S80 $343,018 61 



The last General Assembly limited the rate 

 of taxation for the general revenue to two 

 mills on the dollar. This rate is reckoned to 

 be inadequate to support the general expenses 

 of the government. There was to the credit 

 of this fund, at the beginning of the biennial 

 fiscal term, the sum of $162,577. The re- 

 ceipts have amounted to $560,014, and the ex- 

 penditures to $669,435 ; leaving a balance of 

 $53,156, and showing an excess of expendi- 

 tures over receipts of $109,421. This unfa- 

 vorable result was obtained from a tax-levy of 

 four mills on the dollar. With a two-mill tax 

 the levy is estimated to amount to $180,999 

 for the year 1881, while the usual expenses of 

 the government amount to $350,000 at least a 

 year. To avert a deficit of over $300,000 at 

 the close of the next fiscal term, and serious 

 embarrassment in the administration of the 

 finances, the Legislature is expected to estab- 

 lish a different rate of taxation. 



F. W. Liedtke, the Auditor of Public Ac- 

 counts, from the beginning of his term of 

 office, deposited the fees received from in- 

 surance companies for examining their state- 

 ments in the capacity of insurance commis- 

 sioner, in the banks as his private funds, and 

 drew against them for his own use. The Con- 



