550 



NEBRASKA. 



stitution adopted in 1875 abolished all official 

 perquisites, and requires every species of office 

 tees to be turned over to the Treasury. The 

 salary of the Auditor was consequently raised 

 from $800 to $2,500 a year. The duties of 

 Land Commissioner, which had been united to 

 those of the Auditor, and for which that of- 

 ficer had drawn an additional salary of $1,000, 

 were by the same instrument intrusted to a 

 separate officer. The salary attached to the 

 new office of Commissioner of Public Lands 

 was fixed at $2,000. The Auditor before Liedt- 

 ke, J. B. Weston, had administered the duties 

 of the Land Commissioner until the expiration 

 of his term of office and the election of the 

 special officer for that service, and the Su- 

 preme Court had decided that he was entitled 

 to the salary belonging to that office in addi- 

 tion to his salary as Auditor. The Govern- 

 or, upon learning of the practice of Auditor 

 Liedtke of appropriating the insurance fees, 

 called upon him, July 28, 1880, for an account- 

 ing, demanding a sworn statement of the fees 

 of all kinds paid into the Auditor's office. 

 The Auditor reported $1,165.37 office fees and 

 $7,498 insurance fees received. Treasurer 

 Bartlett reported the amount of fees paid 

 over by the Auditor as $1,103. The Auditor 

 based his claim for the insurance fees as his 

 official perquisites upon two dicta of the Su- 

 preme Court, one deciding that the Secretary 

 of State was entitled, when acting as adjutant- 

 general, to the perquisites appertaining to 

 that office, by virtue of which decision the 

 State pays to the Secretary of State $500 in 

 addition to the salary of his office for this 

 extra service, and the other ruling that a 

 public officer may perform extra labor, that is, 

 labor not required of him by the law estab- 

 lishing his office. The Auditor claimed that 

 the fees collected as Insurance Commissioner 

 were his personal perquisites because that 

 was a separate office, for which no pay was 

 assigned. Attorney- General Dilworth com- 

 menced proceedings by mandamus against 

 him in the Supreme Court, and obtained judg- 

 ment. The Auditor failed to satisfy the judg- 

 ment, and proceedings were instituted against 

 his bondsmen. He subsequently vacated his 

 office and left the State. The Governor ap- 

 pointed as temporary Auditor John Wallichs, 

 who was nominated for the office and elected 

 at the general election to be Auditor for the 

 next term. 



The collections of taxes in Nebraska are ex- 

 cessively lax. Governor Nance, in his bienni- 

 al message, calls upon the Legislature to enact 

 laws which will remedy the " evident neglect 

 of official duty," declaringthat ** underthe loose 

 practice that has prevailed, many property- 

 holders have escaped taxation, while others 

 have been compelled to bear increased bur- 

 dens." The Auditor's books on the 30th of 

 November showed uncollected revenues of the 

 enormous amount of $861,213, the delinquent 

 taxes due to the several funds bein<? as follows : 



General fund $392,119 69 



Sinking fund 118.29s 84 



School fund 287,448 07 



University fund 88.930 40 



Penitentiary fund 20,978 58 



Normal Building fund 2,'2 ( ,iL' 0:3 



State Board fund 1,14595 



Total $861,213 56 



The aggregate amount of taxable property 

 in the State, as shown by the assessment of 

 1879, was $75,359,798. The taxes levied by 

 the State for all purposes were six mills on the 

 dollar. The returns to the various funds 

 that levy were as follows : 



General fund. . . (4 mills). . . . $301,439 17 



Sinking fund (1 mill) 49,133 90 



Temporary school fund (f mill) 75,359 75 



University fund (f mill) 28,259 86 



Total $454,19268 



The property valuation of 1880 was $15,- 

 139,820, or nearly 25 per cent., greater; and 

 the amounts which will accrue to the various 

 funds, with the rate for the general fund re- 

 duced to two mills, will be as follows for the 

 year 1881 : 



Generalfund (2 mills) $180,99918 



Sinkingfund (1 mill) 51,05492 



Temporary school fund (f mill) 90,499 66 



University fund (f mill) 83,937 29 



Total $356,490 95 



The bonded indebtedness of the State at 

 the close of 1880 was as follows : 



Ten per cent, ten years 1 relief bonds of 1875. . . . $50,000 00 

 Eight per cent, funding bonds issued in 1877.. . 449,267 35 



Total $499,267 85 



The debt has been reduced by $100,000 in 

 accordance with the scheme of gradual liqui- 

 dation adopted by the General Assembly in 

 1879. The surplus funds of the Treasury were 

 directed by the Legislature in 1879 to be in- 

 vested in interest-bearing securities, and in 

 pursuance of that act they have been placed 

 to the amount of $50,000 in United States four 

 per cent, bonds. State funding bonds to tho 

 amount of $100,000 held by the permanent 

 school fund have been redeemed and canceled, 

 and the money reinvested for the school fund 

 in registered county bonds. 



The total assessed valuation of property in 

 Nebraska for 1880 was $90,499,618. The value 

 of real estate was assessed in the aggregate at 

 $43,694,375. The acreage taxed was 13,267,281 

 acres, of which 3,498,906 acres were improved, 

 and 9,768,375 acres unimproved lands. Of 

 the quantity on the assessment-rolls, about 

 28 per cent, of the total area of the State, 

 which aggregates 46,636,800 acres, a large pro- 

 portion belongs to railroad companies or is 

 the property of private speculators. The 

 valuation of the improved lands taxed was 

 assessed at $16,325,483 ; of the unimproved, 

 $27,368,892. The statistical reports of ar- 

 boriculture show that 57,739,894 forest-trees, 

 465,636 grape-vines, and 2,009,627 fruit-trees 

 have been planted in the settled parts of 

 the State. The acreage reported as planted to 



