Missorui. 



Tin- imam-, -s i.t' the State arc in rather a 

 complicated condition, l)iit the prospect is en- 

 cnura^inu', and a stoa<!y improvement to notion 

 trait-actions of the past year. 



,ool t'liml <>f tin- State at ; 

 to $1,686,071, yielding an aiinnal 

 in.- -me of $103,000, to which in to bo added 



urth of the whole revenue of the State 



iiuiriit. In addition to these lilieral pro- 

 visions, tlio several counties have received a 

 irrant of one section of land in each township, 



desotcd to the benefit of public schools. 

 A remarkable increase in the number of schools 

 has taken place within one year past. The 

 whole number of teachers employed iu the 



at this time is 6,262 3,558 more than 

 were reported for 1866; and 1,500 new school- 

 JioiNes have been built in the course of twelve 

 months. The act of Congress of July 2, 1862, 

 irranting land to the several States and Territo- 

 ri. > for the benefit of agricultural colleges, re- 

 quires that any State, to be entitled to the bene- 

 fit of that act, shall provide at least one such 

 college within five years. The State of Mis- 

 souri has not yet complied with this require- 

 ment, and as the act of the Legislature, assent- 

 ing to thd conditions of the congressional 

 enactment and claiming its benefits, was passed 

 on the 17th of March, 1863, but a short time 

 remains to fulfil the requirement of the law. 

 1'nder these circumstances the Governor rec- 

 ommends the establishment at once of a De- 

 partment of Agriculture in the State Univer- 

 Mty. The matter is in the hands of the Legis- 

 lature of 1868, now in session. 



The Legislature of Missouri, in February, 

 1866, passed an act providing for the sale of 

 certain railroads held by the State as mort- 

 gagee. The law required that the purchaser 

 should expend $500,000 a year toward com- 

 pleting the roads, their completion being the 

 main object in view in making the proposed 

 sale. The roads held by the State were the 

 Platte County, the Southwest Pacific, and the 

 Iron Mountain. The commissioners who were 

 intrusted with negotiating the sale of these 

 lines of railway found parties to take the place 

 of the mortgagors of the Platte County Rail- 

 road, and redeem it from sale. The Southwest 

 1'acilic was disposed of to General John 0. 

 Fremont, in June, 1866. At the expiration of 

 one year, the Governor, being satisfied that the 

 conditions of the contract were not fulfilled, 

 took possession of the road, and appointed 

 rul Clinton B. Fisk to operate it for the 

 State. lie reports the net profits accruing from 

 the working of the road from June 21, 1867, 

 to January 1, 1868, to amount to the sum of 

 $6,964.45. The Iron Mountain Railroad was 

 operated, by the commissioners appointed for its 

 s do, from September 27, 1866, to January 12, 



iiinn^ which time $37,936.54 was paid 

 to the State Treasury as the net profits of the 

 mad. On the 12th of January this railroad 

 was also sold by the commissioners, and it, too, 

 has been seized by the Governor during the 



present month (January, 1868) for non-fulfil- 

 ment of the conditions of the contr 

 requires the annual outlay of $600,000 i 

 "gradation, masonry, and nupcrstructure of tlio 

 extension of the road." The MN-.ouri i'acitic. 

 Railroad is also mortgaged to the State, to 

 which it is a debtor in the HUM of $10,569,493, 

 independent of unpaid taxes, which amount to 

 $253,644.64. These taxes were levied in ac- 

 cordance with an ordinance of the State con- 

 vention of April 8, 1865, providing for an an- 

 nual levy for two years, ending October 1, 1867, 

 and October, 1868, of ten per cent, on the gross 

 receipts of all railroads which are in default in 

 the payment of interest on bonds loaned them 

 by the State. The North Missouri Railroad 

 also lies under a lien of the State for an in- 

 debtedness of above $6,000,000, and is in de- 

 fault for interest due, for which a tax has been 

 levied of $66,257.41, not yet paid. These and 

 other railroad lines are in process of construc- 

 tion, and will ultimately connect together the 

 leading cities of the State, and unite with the 

 great routes leading to other parts of the coun- 

 try. 



On the 2*1 st of February last, the Legislature 

 of Illinois incorporated the Illinois and St. Louis 

 Bridge Company, for the purpose of construct- 

 ing a bridge across the Mississippi River at the 

 city of St. Louis. Simultaneous with this ac- 

 tion in Illinois, a similar organization was formed 

 at St. Louis, which named the same persons for 

 directors who had been appointed by the act 

 of incorporation of the Illinois company. Af- 

 ter some disagreement as to the plan of their 

 joint operations, these two corporations have 

 made an amicable adjustment of their mutual 

 claims, and immediate action is expected of 

 them upon the great work which they have 

 undertaken. 



As there was no State election during the 

 year, the political parties have been compara- 

 tively quiescent. There was a meeting of the 

 Democrats, however, at St. Louis, to reorgan- 

 ize their party in the State, on the 22d of Feb- 

 ruary. A long series of resolutions was adopt- 

 ed, the most prominent principles embodied in 

 them being: 



That any attempt on the part of the subordi- 

 nate branch of the Federal Government to 

 usurp or exercise the powers belonging to an- 

 other, is subversive of the principles of consti- 

 tutional liberty; 



That the Government is a mere agent of the 

 States, and any attempt on the part of the Gov- 

 ernment to impair or abridge the authority of 

 the States should be met and defeated ; 



That the Constitution provides for the ad- 

 mission of new States, but not for the expul- 

 sion or destruction of any; therefore, the law 

 lately passed by Congress to reduce ten States 

 to Territories, and govern them by military 

 power, is a flagrant violation of the Constitu- 

 tion, and a practical dissolution of the Union ; 



That the decision of the Supreme Court of 

 the United Spates in regard to the test oath is 



