MINNESOTA. 



507 



duty of all assessors of personal property in 

 tli/ yoar 1870, and every second year there- 

 n tin ir rt'spt'ctivo districts, to enroll all 

 rm liable to do military duty. The Gov- 

 i-ninr, ns Commander-in-Chief, appoints his 

 stall officers, to consist in time of peace of at 

 least one aide-de-camp, and one adjutant-gen- 

 eral, each of the rank of brigadier-general, and 

 one military store-keeper, to rank as non-com- 

 missioned officer. All able-bodied male per- 

 sons of sound mind between the ages of eigh- 

 teen and forty-fire, residing in the State, ex- 

 cept Indians not taxed, constitute the militia. 

 An act in relation to the formation of cooper- 

 ative associations was passed, the substance of 

 which is contained in the following sections : 



SECTION 1. Seven or more persons of lawful age, 

 inhabitants of this State, may, by written articles or 

 agreement, associate themselves together for the pur- 

 pose of trade, or for carrying on any lawful mechan- 

 ical, manufacturing, or agricultural business within 

 this State, and, when such articles of association shall 

 have been executed and recorded in the office of the 

 olerk of the city or town in which the business is to 

 bo carried on, such persons shall bo and become a 

 corporation, and eni'oy all the powers and privileges, 

 ana be subject to all the duties, restrictions, and lia- 

 bilities, set forth in all general laws in relation to 

 similar corporations, except so far as the some may 

 be limited or enlarged by this act. 



SEC. 11. There shall be such distribution of the 

 profits or earnings of such association among the 

 workmen, purchasers, and stockholders, as shall be 

 prescribed by the by-laws, at such times as therein 

 prescribed, and as often, at least, as once in twelve 

 months ; provided, that no distribution shall be de- 

 clared and pnid until a sum equal at least to ten per 

 cent, of the net profits shall be appropriated for a 

 contingent or sinking fund, until there shall have ac- 

 cumulated a sum equal to thirty per cent, in excess 

 of such capital stock. 



It is provided that the capital stock of each 

 of these associations shall be fixed and limited 

 in its articles of association, and may be any 

 sum not exceeding $50,000. An act was passed 

 providing for the sale of the 600,000 acres of 

 lands known as the "internal improvement 

 lands," for the purpose of paying the State 

 railroad bonds. The minimum price was fixed 

 at $8.75 per acre, and it was provided that the 

 act should be submitted to the vote of the 

 people for ratification. At a special election 

 held for this purpose on the last Tuesday in 

 May, a majority of the votes cast were in favor 

 of the act, and, on the 7th of August, the 

 lands were offered for sale by the State Audi- 

 tor. The lands are exempted from taxation for 

 ten years after their sale. Two amendments 

 to the State constitution were proposed at this 

 session, which were returned without the ap- 

 proval of the Governor. The first provided 

 that the Legislature might make provision for 

 the imprisonment or holding to bail of persons 

 charged with fraud in contracting debts. The 

 Governor objected to this amendment, on the 

 ground that it would make the law on the sub- 

 ject of arrest too fluctuating. The second ex- 

 tended the privilege of voting to women. It 

 was provided that it should be submitted to 

 the people of the State, without regard to sex, 



for ratification or rejection. The Governor 

 states his objections to this amendment as fol- 

 lows: 



Section one of article seven of the State constitu- 

 tion provides who shall be voters in this State ; and 

 section one of article fourteen provides that no 

 amendment proposed by the Legislature shall be 

 adopted unless a majority of " voters " present and 

 voting shall have ratified the same. The " voters," 

 as used in the section last cited, means a " voter " as 

 defined in the first section referred to. This bill pro- 

 poses to test the question in a manner not within the 

 constitution. 



There is yet but little or no evidence or manifesta- 

 tion of any public sentiment among the people at 

 large in this State in favor of the proposed change, 

 and it is attempted by this act to force a question 

 upon the people, and inaugurate a campaign upon an 

 issue which they have not made, and m which they 

 have manifested no interest. 



The receipts into the Treasury for the fiscal 

 year ending December 1, 1870, were $782,- 

 069.01; the disbursements for the same period 

 5,905.01, and the balance in the 



Treasury at the end of the year, $136,164. 

 This balance, which is over forty-four thousand 

 dollars greater than that of last year, is divided 

 among the several funds. 



At the commencement of the year there was 

 in the Treasury, belonging to the sinking fund, 

 the sum of $2,224.68 in money, and $27,- 

 281.25 in interest-bearing bonds; during the 

 year there accumulated $34,990.93, making a 

 total of $64,496.86. The State debt was re- 

 duced by this amount, and at the end of the 

 year was $285,503.14. Taxes were levied for 

 the fiscal year, 1870, to the amount of $391,- 

 214.11. From these levies and the delinquent 

 taxes of former years, the sum of $336,460.83 

 was realized, while delinquent taxes amount- 

 ing to $351,166.40 still remain due the State. 

 The revenues for 1871 from assessed and de- 

 linquent taxes, and all other sources, includ- 

 ing the balance in the Treasury, are estimated 

 at $487,687.76, while the estimated current 

 expenses for the same period are $899,676.48. 

 The several public institutions of the State 

 make demands upon the Legislature of 1871 

 for funds for building purposes. The total 

 valuation of all taxable property in the State, 

 as returned for the year, was $85,406,377, an 

 increase of $7,163,461 over that of the pre- 

 vious year, and of $9,611,459 over the last 

 general valuation of 1868. No State in the 

 Union has shown a more rapid progress in 

 agricultural pursuits than Minnesota. In 1859 

 there were but 345,000 acres under cultiva- 

 tion, while in 1869 there were 1,612,000, show- 

 ing an increase of 1,277,000 acres, or nearly 

 890 per cent. The number of improved farms 

 in 1864 was 28,787, and in 1869, 45,740, an in- 

 crease of 92 per cent, for the five years. In 

 1859 there were only 124,969 acres devoted to 

 the culture of wheat, yielding 2,874,415 bushels, 

 and occupying only 84 per cent, of the culti- 

 vated area of the State, while, in 1869, 858,- 

 816 acres were devoted to the same grain, con- 

 stituting nearly 62 per cent, of the cultivated 



