INDIANA. 



437 



14th. It entered elaborately into the subject 

 of providing for the payment or renewal of the 

 State debt; recommended the establishment of 

 a home for disabled Indiana soldiers and seamen, 

 a bureau of emigration, separate schools for col- 

 ored children, and the repeal of the statute ex- 

 cluding negro testimony. Jle also urged an 

 amendment of the Constitution, basing repre- 

 sentation on the number of voters, and sustained 

 the reconstruction policy of President Johnson. 

 The amount of the public debt of the State at 

 this time, consisting of two and a half and five 

 per cent, registered stocks, was $7,418,960.50, 

 divided as follows : . 



Five per cent. Stock $5,842,500.00 



Two and a half per cent. Stock $2,076,460.50 



Total $7,418,960.50 



In the hands of the Commissioners of the Sink- 

 ing Fund, and in the State Debt Sinking Fund, 

 the State held $1,382,880.17 of this amount, 

 leaving outstanding in the hands of the creditors 

 of the State the amount of $6,036,080.33, of 

 which $4,107,792.33 were five per cents, and 

 $1,928,288 two and a half per cents. The face 

 of the stock or the certificates of indebtedness 

 provide that " this stock is redeemable at any 

 time after twenty years from the 19th day of 

 January, 1846, at the pleasure of the State, and 

 until redeemed is transferable upon surrender 

 in the city of New York, in books provided for 

 that purpose by the agent of the State there 

 resident, by endorsement thereon, and accord- 

 ing to such other rules and forms as are and 

 may be prescribed for that purpose. And for 

 the payment of the interest and redemption of 

 the principal aforesaid the faith of the State of 

 Indiana is irrevocably pledged." As the twenty 

 years referred to would expire on January 19th, 

 1866, the question arose as to the interpretation 

 of the words " at the pleasure of the State." 

 The Governor was of the opinion that while 

 the State is not bound to pay the principal of 

 this debt on the 19th day of January, 1866, or 

 be considered in default, yet that she is not at 

 liberty to postpone the payment of it indefinitely, 

 but is bound to make provision to pay the debt 

 within such reasonable time after the twenty 

 years as may comport with the original under- 

 standing of the parties, the ability and condition 

 of the State, as left by the war, the faithful 

 performance of her contracts, and the preserva- 

 tion of her good name. 



The Governor also showed that by the 1st of 

 May, 1866, enough money could be accumulated 

 in the hands of the Commissioners of the Sink- 

 ing Fund, and- in the State Debt Sinking Fund, 

 to purchase State stocks of the value of $2,650,- 

 000, which would reduce the amount in the 

 hands of the State creditors to $3,386,080.33. 

 The public debt of Indiana would then stand as 

 follows : 



Two and a balf and five per cent, stock 



War Loan Bonds 438.000.00 



Vincennes University Bonds . 66,685.00 



Floating Debt, estimated at 100,000.00 



Total Debt....: $3,990,765.88 



The Legislature passed an act issuing in place 

 of the public stocks then in existence, four mill- 

 ions of six per cent. State bonds, and absorbing 

 the balance by means of the funds in the hands 

 of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and 

 in the State Debt Sinking Fund. The board of 

 Sinking Fund Commissioners was abolished, and 

 its business transferred to the Auditor and Treas- 

 urer of State, and the State Debt Sinking Fund 

 was established with authority to pay the prin- 

 cipal and interest of the two and a half and five 

 per cent, bonds. Another act provided for the 

 distribution of the interest of the Sinking Fund 

 for the support of the common schools, which 

 would add from two hundred and fifty to tlwee 

 hundred thousand dollars annually to the funds 

 previously .provided for maintaining the public 

 schools. 



Although the Constitution prescribes that an 

 enumeration of the white inhabitants of the 

 State over twenty-one years of age, shall be 

 made every six years, no such enumeration has 

 been made since 1853 ; and, consequently, no 

 new apportionment, which is also required to 

 be made periodically, has been possible. The 

 result is that many counties which have in- 

 creased rapidly in population during the last ten 

 or twelve years, are now very inadequately rep- 

 resented. To provide a remedy for this, an act 

 was passed requiring such enumeration to be 

 made in the year 1866, and thereafter at each 

 recurring period prescribed by the Constitution. 

 The law enacted at the last regular session, by 

 which a State tax of thirty cents on each $100 

 of taxable property was levied for the support 

 of soldiers' families, for the years 1865 and 1866, 

 was repealed as to the latter year. The pro- 

 ceeds of the tax of 1865, less five per cent, 

 thereof, are to be retained in the treasuries of 

 the counties where collected, and after the first 

 day of March, 1866, become a part of the gen- 

 eral county funds. The law under which the 

 tax was levied, set apart $100,000, to be ex- 

 pended, under the direction of the Governor, 

 for the relief of sick and wounded Indiana sol- 

 diers in hospitals. This would amount to about 

 seven per cent, of the amount likely to be real- 

 ized from the three-mill tax ; and in anticipa- 

 tion of its collection, the Governor borrowed 

 considerable sums for that purpose. These 

 loans are to be refunded out of the five per cent, 

 reserve fund, and the residue is authorized to 

 be expended by the Governor, in his discretion, 

 for the relief of destitute, disabled, wounded, or 

 sick Indiana soldiers who may need such relief, 

 and he is required to report the amount and 

 manner of such expenditure to the next General 

 Assembly. 



Although no attempt was made at this ses- 

 sion of the Legislature to repeal that clause of 

 the organic law of Indiana which prevents ne- 

 groes from entering or residing in the State, an 

 important modification was made in the law 

 disqualifying them from testifying as witnesses 

 on account of their color. The House of Rep- 

 resentatives passed a bill utterly repealing all 





