494 



MISSOURI. 



tion, John R. Kirk ; Commissioner of Labor, Henry 

 Blackmore ; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 Theodore Brace ; Associate Justices. Thomas A. 

 Sherwood, Shepard Barclay, James B. Yantt, Gavin 

 D. Burgess, George B. Macfarlane, Walter M. Rob- 

 inson. All are Democrats except J. R. Kirk and 

 \V. M. Robinson, Republicans. 



Finances. The Board of Fund Commissioners 

 met June 19, and ordered warrants drawn for $99,- 

 445 to pay the interest due July 1 on the outstand- 

 ing bonded debt of the State, and $26,923.95 to pay 

 the interest on the school and seminary certificates 

 of the State. 



The board also ordered a warrant drawn for 

 $337,000 to pay off and retire 337 of the old Hanni- 

 bal and St. Joe bonds, maturing July 1. With this 

 payment there will remain but 11 of the 6-per-cent. 

 bonds outstanding against the State. They mature 

 in July, 1897, but there is money in the treasury to 

 pay them. All the bonds of the State then out- 

 standing will be 3 per cent., and the public debt 

 will amount to only $5,086,000. It is estimated 

 that the indebtedness can be cleared off by the end 

 of the next administration without any increase of 

 taxation. 



The tax levy for State purposes is 25 cents on the 

 $100 valuation ; 10 cents of this is for bond and in- 

 terest fund to pay the interest and principal upon 

 the debt, and 5 for public schools. 



Education. The school funds of the State 

 amount to $12,283.491. The schoolhouses are val- 

 ued at as much more. 



At the commencement of the State University, 

 June 3, 3 students received the degree of M. I)., 3 

 that of B. S. in electrical engineering, 5 that of B. S. 

 in civil engineering, and in the law department the 

 degree of LL. B. was conferred upon 41, while 2 re- 

 ceived the degree of Bachelor of Agriculture. There 

 were 5 graduates in the normal department, and in 

 the academic 11 received the degree of A. B., 14 that 

 of B. L., and 2 that of B. S. 



A new main building for the Lincoln Institute at 

 the capital, a school for colored youth, was dedi- 

 cated Sept. 12. It takes the place of one destroyed 

 by fire in August, 1894. Lincoln Institute was es- 

 tablished in 1865 by the Sixty-second and Sixty- 

 fifth Regiments, United States Colored Infantry. 

 They gave for this purpose, from their pay the sum 

 of $6,379. There is a dormitory for the young 

 women and one for the young men. An industrial 

 department was established some years ago, and for 

 this purpose alone the Legislature appropriated 

 $25,000, $10,000 of which was used for the erection 

 of the building, $9,000 for machinery, and the re- 

 mainder for the purchase of land for a farm. Every 

 person who visits the institute and sees the engines, 

 dynamos, furniture, and other articles that have 

 been made by the students is convinced that this is 

 one of the most useful departments of the school. 

 All the young men, unless excused by the faculty, 

 are expected to take a course in this department. 



The Missouri Military Academy, a mile south- 

 west of Mexico, was burned to the ground Sept. 24, 

 causing a loss of over $75,000, with insurance of 

 only $37,000. 



The Second District Normal School sent out a 

 class of 92 in the two-year course. The school has 

 graduated 1,277 in this course during the twenty- 

 five years of its existence. The Southeast Normal 

 School at Cape Girardeau, graduated 30, June 9. in 

 the two-year course. The Normal School at War- 

 rensburg had an enrollment during the year of 

 1,094. A class of 42 was graduated June 11. 



Banks. In a statement of the Secretary of State 

 on the condition of the banks, Aug. 10, the follow- 

 ing items appear : United States bonds on hand, 

 $183,431.25; other bonds and stocks, $6,026,648.86; 



real estate, $3,524,346.42; checks and other cash 

 items. $1,817,353.33; national bank notes, legal 

 tender United States notes, and gold and silver cer- 

 tificates, $7,136,292.75 ; gold coin, $3,270,501.33 ; sil- 

 ver coin, $577,380.26; surplus funds on hand, 

 $8,497,356.56; deposits subject to draft at sight, 

 $59,153,120.42; deposits subject to draft at given 

 date. $16,318,074.74 ; bills payable and bills redis- 

 counted, $715,943.94. 



The Missouri National Bank, in Kansas City, 

 closed its doors Nov. 30. 



Internal Revenue. The report of the Internal 

 Revenue Commissioner, Dec. 12, shows the collec- 

 tions for the past fiscal year in Missouri to have 

 been .$G.95!),915.32. Spirits valued at $1,564.24 were 

 seized, 4 illicit stills were destroyed, and 9 persons 

 were arrested. 



The number of retail liquor dealers in Missouri 

 paying license to the Government is 7,641 ; the 

 number of wholesale dealers, 189 ; rectifiers, 100 ; 

 manufacturers of oleomargarine. 1 ; retail dealers 

 in oleomargarine, 111. The number of fruit distil- 

 leries operated in Missouri is G3. The amounts of 

 spirits gauged in 1896 were : For the First District, 

 5,823,846; and for the Sixth District, 1,079,108. 



The Mississippi. The report of Major Thomas 

 Ilanbury, in charge of the work on the Mississippi 

 between the mouth of the Missouri and the mouth 

 of the Ohio, was published in July. During the 

 year the wreck of the sunken steamer " Hudson " 

 was taken from the river and 2,979 snags; 19,648 

 leaning trees were cut away and 11 drift piles re- 

 moved. The amount expended on this work during 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, was $80,395. 



On the subject of the improvement of the chan- 

 nel between St. Louis and Cairo, Major Hanbury 

 says : " The object of the improvement is to obtain 

 a minimum depth at standard low water of 6 feet 

 from the mouth of the Missouri river to St. Louis, 

 16 miles, and of 8 feet from St. Louis to the mouth 

 of the Ohio, 178 miles, the natural depth being in 

 many places from 3| to 4 feet.'' 



The Missouri. The annual report of the Mis- 

 souri River Commission shows that the snagboat of 

 the commission during the last fiscal year has de- 

 stroyed 1,758 snags, cut 182 trees, and removed 7 

 drift piles. 



On the reach of the river undergoing systematic 

 improvement, from a point 5 miles above Jefferson 

 City to the rnouth of Gasconade river, 45 miles, 

 there is now a navigable channel at low water hav- 

 ing a depth of 6 feet. Previous to the improve- 

 ment the ruling depth was 24- feet. Congress has 

 provided for an annual expenditure of $300,000 on 

 the Missouri river below Sioux City for the next 

 four years. 



Court Decision. The Supreme Court decided in 

 December that the ordinance in Kansas City im- 

 posing a fine of $2.50 on a voter who casts no ballot 

 at a general election is invalid, as it associates the 

 franchise with a money value. 



Political. A call was issued to Democrats op- 

 posed to the free coinage of silver to meet in St. 

 Louis Feb. 29. and about 300 were present. An ad- 

 dress to the Democrats of the State was adopted 

 unanimously. It declared that " the unprecedented 

 action of calling the State convention to meet in 

 Sedalia on April 15, to elect delegates to the na- 

 tional convention, was done with the avowed pur- 

 pose of influencing the party in other States and 

 committing the national Democracy to the free 

 and unlimited coinage of silver at a ratio of 16 to 1 

 of gold, regardless of the relative commercial value 

 of the two metals and regardless of the action of 

 the other commercial nations of the world," and 

 galled upon the voters of the party in the State " to 

 make on open, active, and organized opposition to 



