IOWA. 



439 



and a fraud upon the honest public servants, by 

 depreciating and debasing the currency. 



4. It enables the Government to make, by 

 indirection, forced loans, as actual, if not as op- 

 pressive, as those of Charles the First, as they 

 are made -without interest against his will, with- 

 out repayment of but a part of the principal. 



5. It takes from the citizen his property against 

 his consent, and without just compensation. 



After an elaborate discussion of some twenty- 

 two pages, he concludes that the section of the 

 act alluded to is unconstitutional, and, there- 

 fore, void. He then proceeds to another view 

 of the case, as follows: It is contended that 

 we might decide this cause on the ground that 

 the suit is on a note payable in a specific article. 

 Such the contract sued on must be taken to be. 

 Gold is used as an article of merchandise, of 

 manufacture, etc.. as well as for currency, and 

 a standard of value, and if the defendants can 

 by virtue of the legal tender paper law dis- 

 charge their promise to pay gold, by paying 

 raper at its face, which is less in value by more 

 than half than the gold, then the obligation of 

 the contract has been impaired, and the plain- 

 tiff deprived of more than half his property 

 without compensation. Is it possible that 

 rourts are powerless to redress such wrongs? 

 He cites Story to show that courts of equity 

 may, upon principles of natural justice, insist 

 upon decreeing a specific performance of all 

 lona fide contracts ; that the court below might 

 have done so in this case, as law and equity are 

 both administered under the Indiana code in 

 one form of proceeding. "While holding the 

 views above expressed, the Court, however, as 

 a matter of form, affirms the judgment below, 

 on the ground that the question is now pending 

 in the Supreme Court of the United States, and 

 that the latter tribunal is the proper place for 

 the decision of the question involved. 



IOWA. At the Presidential election in Xo- 

 vember, the vote of this State was as follows : 



Lincoln. McCl-llan. 



Home vote 71.765 47.675 



Soldiers' vote 17.810 l.t'il 



Total 63.U75 49,596 



Majority 30,479 



A Secretary of State and Members of Con- 

 gress were chosen 'at the same time. The vote 

 for Secretary of State was as follows : 



Republican. Democrat 

 \\ RIGHT. HENDEESUOTT. 



Home vote 7-.517 



Soldiers' vote 17/254 



Total &9,771 



Majority 



The entire list of members of Congress on 

 the Republican tickets were elected. 



To the Legislature the Democrats elected less 

 than fifteen members, although the whole num- 

 ber is nearly one hundred and forty. 



The quota of the State under the two calls 

 of the President for TOO, 000 men at the close 

 of 1863 and beginning of 1864 wa~. 22..":;.j 

 men. At the same tune there was a credit due 

 of 7,881 men. The balance was filled up by 



April 1st by new recruits and the reC-nlistment 

 of veterans, and a surplus obtained. Indeed, 

 so ready were the people to enter the army, 

 that when the call for 300,000 men -was made 

 in December 1864, the Governor found upon a 

 settlement with the War Department that all 

 previous demands had not only been filled, but 

 the State was placed beyond the liability of a 

 draft under that last call. Probably Iowa is 

 the only State which has always been ready 

 with her quota, and every one of her soldiers a 

 volunteer. The number of men which the State 

 has contributed exceeds seventy thousand. 



The sessions of the Legislature are biennial. 

 At the one held at the beginning of the year, a 

 bill was passed requiring the several counties 

 to levy a two mill tax for the benefit of the 

 families of persons in the military service. A 

 general bill was also passed enabling the in- 

 habitants of any county to change its name. 

 The object of the bill was to give the people of 

 Buchanan County an opportunity to change the 

 name of their county. It was urged as an ob- 

 jection to the bill, that only one county in the 

 State could take the name of "Lincoln," and 

 hence the danger that every county in the 

 State would vote at the same time, and all 

 select the same name, and that " Lincoln." 

 The Senatorial and Representative districts 

 were so changed as to make the number of 

 members of the Senate forty-nine, and that of 

 the House ninety-eight. 



The population of the State in 1863 was 

 '702.374; the number of acres of land assessed 

 28,336,345. Value of the land, with improve- 

 ments, $111,036,569; value of town lots and 

 improvenu i 3,964; value of personal 



property, $32,463,106 ; Total, $167,113,639. 

 The valuation of the U. S. census for 1860 is 

 higher than this State valuation for 1863. 



Within the limits of Iowa is in part located 

 the most important lead region of the coun- 

 try, excepting the Missouri lead mines. This 

 region embraces a district of country about 

 sixty miles in diameter, of which about one- 

 half is in Wisconsin, and the remainder is 

 equally distributed in Iowa and Illinois. The 

 Mississippi River cuts through the southwestern 

 portion of the region. The Dubuqne district 

 in Iowa is about sixty miles in length, by seven 

 to ten miles in width. The richest deposits 

 are within the corporate limits of Dubuque, 

 and they decrease in value toward the borders 

 of the district. In 1833, the Indian title in 

 Iowa was extinguished and mining subse- 

 quently began. From the surface of the river 

 to the top of the bluffs there are four distinct 

 strata. On the surface a clay soil varying in 

 depth from eight to twenty feet; below the 

 clay, shale, of which the thickness is five to 

 twenty feet; next galena limestone the lead 

 bearing rock, and the blue or Trenton lime- 

 stone. An obstacle to success has been the 

 water which appears to be equally diffused over 

 the mining regions. The Dumps driven by 

 machinery have produced only a temporary 



