NEBRASKA. 



milk and the excellence of their butter. _ They are 

 often kept for family use, and many American butter- 

 producers keep them in considerable- herds. Their 

 peculiar excellence is often transmitted to their grade 

 offspring, which frequently excel their mothers in the 

 quantity of their milk. The bulls of this race are 

 often singularly fierce and treacherous. For the sham- 

 bles, the Channel Island cattle have little to recom- 

 mend them. Man}' Dutch, North Holland, and Hol- 

 stfln cattle are now bred in this country. Practically, 

 they may be considered as all of one breed. They 

 produce enormous quantities of milk and are every 

 year increasing in favor with dairyineu. They are of 

 large size, and when past the age of service make good 

 beef. For producing butchers' steers, it is believed 

 that this breed mid its grades will not rank far below the 

 Short-horns. The hornless Scotch breeds (the Aber- 

 deen, polled Angus, and Galloway) are very thrifty 

 and hardy animals, producing a good flow of rich milk. 

 They afford excellent beef steers, and are of late attract- 

 ing much attention in this country. The nations of 

 Continental Europe have a great many well-marked 

 breeds of cattle. Several of these are worthy of trial 

 in this country. A few breeders have turned their 

 attention to Swiss cows, of which there are several 

 pretty distinct stocks. Some strains of Swiss cows 

 BftTe proved extremely profitable as milk-producers, 

 while for hardiness and activity they are not surpassed. 

 These latter qualities ought to fit them well for ranch 

 life. On the plains an active, independent animal 

 that can shift for itself, and does not fear wolves or 

 wild dogs, and has the courage to graze far away from 

 water-holes, is highly valued^ and is set down as "a 

 good rustler," the highest title of commendation that 

 a beast or a man can receive on the plains. 



The subject of lr<inxii'n-t<it!i> of cattle has received 

 great attention in this country, and the trunk-lines of 

 railway have invested large sums of money in cattle- 

 cars and the other appliances needed in the business. 

 Near most of the large cities of the country extensive 

 stock-ynrds have been established for the reception and 

 marketing of cattle. Much capital has been employed 

 in the shipment of live-stock to European markets, but 

 the recent invention of cheap systems of refrigeration, 

 by means of which dressed beefau be shipped in per- 

 fect condition from New Zealand or Australia to Lon- 

 don, has interfered with American shipments of living 

 cattle and made capitali-ts very cautious in their ven- 

 tures in such enterprises. 



For an account of the cattle-ranch business in its palmi- 

 est days see Gen. J. S. Brisbiu's The Beef Bonanza (1880). 

 The U. S. Census Report of Mr. Clarence Gordon on Meat 

 (1880, published in 1883) is a very elaborate 

 and careful one, but its statistics have already gone out of 

 date, so rapidly has the business been developed since that 

 report was made. (See MEATS.) (c. w. G.) 



NEBRASKA. Since 18S3 the following changes 

 v wrr ' lave ' t)ee '. 1 mat ' c >" tne counties of this 

 306 ( <u- ? tate - Sioux county has been divided 

 AmRepj * nto ^ ree i tne most western retaining 

 the original name ; the middle is Dawes 

 county, with county-seat at Chadron ; the eastern is 

 Sheridan, with county-seat 

 at Rushville. Keya Paha 

 county has been formed 

 from that part of Brown 

 north of the Niobrara river, 

 and has Springview as its 

 county-seat. From the part 

 formerly unorganized have 

 formed the counties 

 of Blaine, with county-seat 

 ut Brewster, and Logan, 

 with county-seat at Gandy. 

 There still remain 1 12 townships unorganized. 



The population of the State is estimated, in 1888, at 

 750,000. At the State election in November, 1886, 

 the total vote was 138,239. There are many uunatur- 



alized foreigners domiciled here. The total area is 

 about 52, 000, 000 acres. Much still belongs to the public 

 domain, and is subject to entry under the U. S. 

 land laws at the government land offices at Beatrice, 

 Lincoln, Niobrara, Grand Island, North Platte, and 

 Neligh. Investigation is being carried on in regard to 

 entries in the western half of the State, and finalaction 

 on these is deferred until their character is proved. 



Of the 12,370,497 acres of land granted by Congress 

 to the Union Pacific Railroad, and of the 2,315,864 

 acres to the Burlington and Missouri Railroad, to which 

 the State also gave an additional 50,000 acres, much 

 remains as yet unsold within the State, and can be had 

 at reasonable prices and on easy terms ; while the State 

 still owns 2,786,527 acres, subject to sale at not less 

 than $7 per acre, or to lease for terms of 20 years, at 

 an annual rental of 6 per cent, on an average valuation 

 of $2. 50 per acre, with the privilege to purchase at any 

 time for not less than $7 per acre, ana subject to for- 

 feiture of rents paid and improvements made on the 

 land if the terms of the lease are not strictly complied 

 with. 



The total valuation of taxable property within the 

 State as assessed for 1886-87 was $133,418,699, of 

 which $18,534,789 was represented by 2,765 miles of 

 railway, and the remainder by real estate and personal 

 property in the hands of private owners. But for such 

 property there is no standard of value fixed by law, 

 and the biennial assessments for tax levies are no index 

 whatever to its market value, which depends wholly 

 upon the caprice or necessity of the private owner, the 

 supply of and demand for money, and is purely a 

 matter of speculation. 



Within a few years Omaha was transformed from a 

 provincial town of muddy streets and rickety frame 

 buildings into a beautiful city of magnificent dimen- 

 sions, with miles upon miles of excellent pavement 

 lined on each side with grand structures of brick, iron, 

 and stone in the latest styles of noble architecture, 

 heated by steam and lighted by electricity and provided 

 with all modern improvements. 



Nebraska has been struggling with the problem of 

 taxation and of just equalization of land values. As 

 yet taxes on real estate are much lighter there than in 

 other States ; her tax laws do not essentially differ from 

 those of other Western States. The Legislature in 

 1887 commenced the work of revenue and land tenure 

 reform in good earnest. A law was passed looking 

 toward the abolition of alien ownership of land, the 

 limitation of private land ownership in general to ac- 

 tual use and occupation, and the raising of revenue by 

 taxation of products rather than of the means of pro- 

 duction. 



The act of May 30, 1854, creating the Territory of 

 Nebraska, abrogated the Missouri Compromise, mak- 

 ing the line of 36 30' N. lat. a boundary to the exten- 

 sion of African slavery on this continent, and while it 

 was declared to be the true intent and meaning of that 

 act "not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, 

 nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people 

 thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their do- 

 mestic institutions in their own way, etc., the real 

 design of the promoters of that act was to open all the 

 western country to the introduction of negro slavery 

 wherever profitable. The long and bloody struggle 

 that ensued ought to be a warning to both sides in the 

 present conflict between capital and labor over the 

 means of existence. Otherwise Nebraska has profited 

 by the experience of her elder sisters, and has shown 

 greater wisdom in the prudent management of her 

 munificent endowments by the national government 

 for educational purposes and public buildings. 



The new State capitol at Lincoln, in process of con- 

 struction, is to be completed in December, 1889, at_a 

 cost of $439,187, according to the contract made_ in 

 1883, and when completed it will be of more imposing 

 appearance and better adapted to its uses than other 

 more costly buildings of the kind. 



