558 



MINNESOTA. 



Soldiers' Hornet The last Legislature made 

 provision for the establishment of a home for 

 honorably discharged soldiers and sailors, and 

 appropriated $50,000 for that purpose. The 

 city of Minneapolis gave a site therefor, con- 

 sisting of fifty-one acres of land at Minnehaha 

 Falls, to be eventually connected with the park 

 system of that city. Temporary quarters were 

 rented on grounds adjacent, and in November, 

 18S7, the home was opened. The full capacity 

 of these quarters was soon reached, and at the 

 date of the annual report of the trustees (Au- 

 gust 12), 81 soldiers had been admitted, and 65 

 others had applied. During the present winter 

 fully 200 will have to be provided for. The 

 appropriation of $50,000 for purchasing a site 

 and erecting new buildings did not become 

 available until 1888. This appropriation has 

 been expended in the erection of two commo- 

 dious and comfortable dwellings and it is ex- 

 pected that with these buildings and the tem- 

 porary quarters all applicants now entitled to 

 admission will be accommodated. But this 

 number is constantly increasing. 



State Prison. The last Legislature abolished 

 the contract-labor system, and appropriated 

 $25,000 to put in motion the public-account 

 system. This amount was considered by the 

 prison inspectors too small to warrant them 

 in undertaking the work, and nothing has been 



Aid to Settlers.-- -The Legislature of 1887 ap- 

 propriated $40,000 for the relief of farmers 

 whose crops had been destroyed by hail in 

 1886. The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis 

 were repaid $10,000 advanced by them for 

 distribution in Marshall County. Of the bal- 

 ance, $20,315.59 was distributed, more than 

 half of which went to Marshall County where 

 the greatest loss occurred. The sum of $25,- 

 177.60 was also loaned to these farmers, to 

 purchase seed-grain. Under the first appro- 

 priation much actual want was relieved and 

 suffering averted, and when the season of 1887 

 opened, farmers who had lost their all by hail 

 the previous year, and but for the aid extended 

 by the State would have been in absolute want, 

 were ready with their teams for work. Good 

 crops were raised where, but for the means 

 furnished by the State to purchase seed, noth- 

 ing could have been planted. The benefits con- 

 ferred under this law are well illustrated in 

 the case of Marshall County, which, although 

 the most impoverished by the losses inflicted, 

 has already paid back $5,534.91 of the $11,625 

 apportioned it, besides providing comfort and 

 plenty in the homes of a desolated portion of 

 the State. 



Valuation. The following table shows the 

 increase in value of the taxable property of the 

 State in 1888 : 



* Decrease. 



done. The prisoners have been idle, and the 

 inspectors recommend the repeal of the law. 



High License. Gov. McGill says in his mes- 

 sage to the Legislature: 



While no official data have been gathered, infor- 

 mation of a character to be relied upon shows a de- 

 crease of fully one third in the number of saloons, and 

 an increase of one quarter in the revenue derived 

 from licenses. The consumption of liquor has been 

 lessened, and the cause of temperance materially pro- 

 moted. There is not so much intoxication as existed 

 before the law was enacted ; the saloon is no longer a 

 dominant power in the politics of the State ; public 

 opinion for a thorough control of the liquor traffic has 

 strengthened, and in many ways, directly and indi- 

 rectly, good has resulted to our State and its people 

 from the high-license law of 1887. 



From unofficial statistics gathered by a State 

 journal in August, at the beginning of the sec- 

 ond year of the law, the reduction in the total 

 number of saloons appears to be from 2,806 

 under the old, to 1,597 under the new system. 

 In Hennepin County the reduction is from 346 

 to 242 ; in Ramsey County, from 688 to 352 ; 

 in Winona County, from 165 to 40; in St. 

 Louis County, from 113 to 72; and in Stearns 

 County, from 109 to 51. 



Agriculture. The Commissioner of Statistics 

 reports for 1887 a total product of 39,070,159 

 bushels of wheat, raised on 3,053,887 acres ; 

 37,659,199 bushels of oats, on 1,325,810 acres; 

 17,234,422 bushels of corn, on 642,477 acres ; 

 5,216,391 bushels of barley, on 322,612 acres; 

 and 1,318,121 bushels of flax, on 167,264 acres. 

 The amount of wheat for 1888 is estimated at 

 3,019,919 acres; oats, 1,538,134 acres; corn, 

 687,069 acres ; - barley, 370,075 acres ; flax, 

 166,206 acres. 



Decisions. On November 22 the State Su- 

 preme Court rendered an important decision, 

 annulling the mechanics' lien law of the last 

 Legislature, on the ground that many of its 

 provisions were unconstitutional. The act 

 aimed to give labor a first lien upon property 

 created by it, and the furnisher of materials a 

 second lien ; but its provisions were so unskill- 

 fully drawn that procedure under it was im- 

 possible. As a result, men could not appeal to 

 the old law, for that was presumptively super- 

 seded, nor could they appeal to the new, for 

 the ablest lawyer whom they might employ 

 could make nothing of it. The only effect of 



