506 



MINNESOTA. 



assistant, and became his warm friend. In 

 1839 he carried off the "Warneford (geological) 

 medal while successfully pursuing his scientific 

 education, passed some time in Liebig's labo- 

 ratory at Giessen, and became demonstrator 

 of chemistry in King's College in 1840. About 

 this time he took his degree of M. D., in the 

 University of London, and continued to assist 

 Dr. Daniel till his death in 1845, when he was 

 appointed to the vacant chair of chemistry. 

 In 1851 he was one of the Government com- 

 missioners to report on the water supply of 

 the metropolis. He held the office of Vice- 

 President of the Chemical Society, was Treas- 

 urer and Vice-President of the Royal Society, 

 Honorary Fellow of King's College, and of the 

 Pharmaceutical Society, and Assayer to the 

 Mint and Bank of England. Dr. Miller pub- 

 lished various papers in the Philosophical 

 Transactions and the British Association Re- 

 ports. His chief work is "Elements of Chem- 

 istry, Theoretical and Practical," of which a 

 third edition appeared in 1866. 



MINNESOTA. Public affairs have been 

 very quiet throughout the State during the 

 year. No State officers, except members of 

 the Legislature, were chosen, but there was 

 a political cauvass for the election of members 

 of Congress. For this purpose conventions 

 were held by both parties in the congressional 

 districts, and candidates nominated. The fol- 

 lowing platform, adopted by the Democratic 

 Convention for the First Congressional Dis- 

 trict, held at Owatonna, may be taken as rep- 

 resenting the views of the Democracy through- 

 out the State : 



Resolved, That the power granted by the Federal 

 Constitution to the General Government to levy im- 

 post duties is limited to a tariff for the purpose of 

 revenue only ; and that we denounce the present 

 tariff, or any other involving the idea of protection, 

 as unjust and oppressive to the fanner and the labor- 

 ing classes, and therefore demand its immediate re- 

 duction to a strictly revenue standard ; and then only 

 so much as will be necessary under an economical 

 administration of the Government. 



Resolved, That, as taxation is a pecuniary burden, 

 imposed by public authority on the property of the 

 people for the maintenance of the Government, the 

 payment of its debts, and the promotion of the gen- 

 eral welfare. Congress ought not to tax the substance 

 of the earnings of the citizen for any other purpose 

 than above indicated ; and that it is wrongful and 

 oppressive to enact revenue laws for the special ad- 

 vantage of one branch of business at the expense of 

 another. 



Resolved, That, as the United States bonds consti- 

 tute a large proportion of the wealth of the country, 

 .they ought to be taxed for Federal purposes. 



Resolved, That the adoption of the present series 

 of school-books, without protecting the people 

 against the exorbitant charges of the publishers, 

 created an odious monopoly, and imposed a grievous 

 burden upon the public ; and that we denounce the 

 authors of this iniquity, and call upon the Legislature 

 to relieve the people therefrom. 



Resolved, That the Democracy of Minnesota con- 

 demn and denounce the recent attempt of the radi- 

 cals in Congress to change the naturalization laws, so 

 as to compel our foreign-born brethren to be natural- 

 ized in the United States courts only, which would 

 greatly harass and hinder poor immigrants from be- 



coming citizens of the United States, by being com- 

 pelled to travel from remote sections of the State to 

 the city of St. Paul or "Winona to take out their nat- 

 uralization papers, in order to avail themselves of the 

 blessings and privileges of citizenship, and to acquire 

 the benefits of the "nomestead laws." 



The position of the Republican party on the 

 tariff question, which was the most important 

 issue between the two opposing parties, is 

 shown in the following resolution, adopted 

 by the Republican Congressional Convention, 

 held at Owatonna: 



Resolved, That, in accordance with this wholesome 

 change of financial policy, we call upon Congress for 

 a thorough reform of our whole revenue system, and 

 for a reduction of the tariff to a revenue standard, 

 prohibiting duties imposed to the detriment of the 

 people and for the benefit of private interests and 

 monopolies, and demand that as far as possible the 

 necessaries of life and industry be placed upon the 

 free list. 



In the First Congressional District Mark H. 

 Dunnell, Republican, was elected to Congress 

 by a majority of 4,702 over 0. F. Buck, Dem- 

 ocrat; and, in the Second District, John T. 

 Averill, Republican, was chosen by a majority 

 of 2,642, over Ignatius Donnelly. The Repub- 

 lican majority on the congressional vote in 

 1870 was 7,344, and in 1868, 4,167. The po- 

 litical complexion of the Legislature for 1871 

 is as follows : 



Senate. House. Joint Ballot. 



Eepublicans... 13 32 45 



Democrats 9 15 24 



Eep. majority 4 



21 



The Legislature assembled on the 4th of 

 January, and continued in session till the 4th 

 of March, during which time much important 

 business was transacted. The fifteenth amend- 

 ment to the Federal Constitution was ratified. 

 An amendment to the State constitution was 

 proposed, changing section three of article ten, 

 which reads: "Each stockholder in any cor- 

 poration shall be liable to the amount of stock 

 held or owned by him," so that it shall read, 

 "Each stockholder in any corporation (rail- 

 road corporation excepted) shall be liable to 

 the amount of stock held by him." This pro- 

 posed amendment was submitted to the popu- 

 lar vote at the November election, when it 

 was rejected. By " an act to promote immi- 

 gration," a Board of Immigration was consti- 

 tuted, consisting of five members, including 

 the Governor, Secretary of State, and State 

 Treasurer, as ex-officio members. 



The general liquor law of the State was so 

 amended that towns can decide for themselves 

 upon the question of license. It is provided 

 that, if ten or more legal voters, at any time 

 not less than three days before any regular 

 election, petition therefor, the question of li- 

 cense shall be submitted by ballot at such elec- 

 tion, and, if a majority of the votes cast are 

 against license, the Board of County Commis- 

 sioners shall grant no license in such township. 

 Under the act providing for the enrolment 

 and organization of the militia, it is made the 



