MICHIGAN. 



493 



safely anticipated. The receipts of specific 

 taxes for the year were : 



Prom railroad and railway companies $173,681 30 



" Statebank 90000 



" National banks 34,381 47 



" Telegraph companies 126 13 



" Express companies 1,938 11 



" Insurance companies 67,26756 



" Mining companies 5,25388 



Total $283,547 44 



From this should be deducted portion of 

 mining tax to be refunded to counties in 

 the Upper Peninsula 2,595 37 



Leaving revenue from this source for the year, $280,952 07 

 which is an increase of $30,526.65 over that 

 for 1867. Some of the national banks refused 

 to pay the tax assessed upon them, and, pro- 

 ceedings being taken for its enforcement, the 

 Supreme Court declared the statute for their 

 taxation not to be in accord with the act of 

 Congress permitting it, and therefore void. 



From direct taxation the receipts were 

 $865,084.43. The following is a statement of 

 the direct taxes levied and collected by the 

 State for eighteen years. The collections in- 

 cluded interest and office charges : 



For 1869, including money already in the 

 treasury, the Auditor-General estimates the 

 receipts at $2,378,674".99, and the expenditures 

 at $1,779,598.08. 



The State received from the General Gov- 

 ernment a large domain in the grant of the 

 land designated in the United States Surveys 

 as swamp-lands, a large portion of which were 

 valuable for agricultural purposes, even in 

 their natural condition. The conveyance was 

 made subject to a trust, which required the 

 proceeds to be used for draining the lands. 

 The system adopted by the State for this pur- 

 pose is, to construct good wagon-roads, with 

 ditches at the sides, in such a manner as to 

 accomplish the double purpose of draining the 

 land if necessary and opening it up to set- 

 tlement by means of roads. The commis- 

 .sioner of State roads, in his report at the end 

 of the year, states that not less than 3,830,810 

 acres of the lands have already been appro- 

 priated to these roads, besides the necessary 



expenses of surveys, commissioners' fees, etc. 

 which will increase the amount, ho thinks, to 

 about 4,213,891 acres. Many very valuable 

 roads, penetrating the unsettled portions of tho 

 State, have thus been constructed, and others 

 are still under contract. The whole amount 

 of the grant was 5,891,598^ acres, of which, 

 453,999 acres have been reserved from entry, 

 1,721,3463^ acres have been patented to in- 

 dividuals, and 3,716,252 T Y75- acres are vacant, 

 subject to entry. To a considerable portion 

 of this the contractors for the construction of 

 State roads are entitled under their contracts. 



State lands were sold, during the year, to the 

 amount of 38,580^ acres, for the aggregate 

 sum of $133,957.12. Of the whole, 28,848-^ 

 acres, producing $115,393.12, were primary- 

 school lands. 



The Republican State Convention, to choose 

 delegates to the National Convention, was 

 held at Detroit, March 18th, and adopted the 

 following resolutions : 



Resolved^ That the right in the people to participate 

 in the Legislature is the best security of liberty, and 

 the foundation of all free government. For this pur- 

 pose elections ought to be free and frequent, and 

 every man, having property in, a common interest 

 with, and an attachment to the community, ought to 

 have the right of suffrage ; that no man or set of 

 men are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments 

 or privileges, except in consideration of public ser- 

 vices. 



Resolved, That the Eepublicans of Michigan owe it 

 to themselves, to the memory of the framers of the 

 Declaration of Independence, to the interests of free 

 government everywhere, to secure by a triumphant 

 majority the ratification of the proposed constitution, 

 with its broad platform of equal and exact justice to 

 all men, impartial suffrage, and equality before the 

 law. 



Resolved, That this constitution, in the opinion of 

 this convention, is far better adapted to develop the 

 resources of Michigan, and advance the real interests 

 of thepeople, than our present constitution^ and, inde- 

 pendent of the great principles of liberty involved in 

 the question of its adoption, it ought to receive the 

 zealous effort of all our citizens. 



Resolved, That the policy of granting the public 

 lands to private corporations, or to individuals, for 

 the mere purposes of speculation, is baneful in its 

 effects to the interests of the country, and ought to 

 be discontinued, and the lands should be disposed of 

 on no other condition than for actual settlement or 

 immediate use. 



Resolved, That since Andrew Johnson, as appears 

 by his own most solemn declaration, found the ten 

 rebel States without civil government, their govern- 

 ments having been destroyed by the rebellion, and 

 since the Constitution makes it the duty or the 

 United States to guarantee to each State in this 

 Union a republican form of government, and by ne- 

 cessary implication limiting the power of the United 

 States alone, and since the United States can act 

 only through the Government of the United States, 

 and since the Government can only act by its laws 

 duly enacted, by the Legislature, expounded by its 

 judiciary, and enforced by its executive, it follows 

 irresistibly that his boasted policy is nothing less 

 than a wicked usurpation of all the powers of the 

 Government, in utter contempt of the Constitution 

 and laws of the land. 



Resolved, That by boldly announcing this shameless 

 usurpation as his "policy," by wickedly prostituting 

 his office and its immense patronage,. to force it upon 

 the country ; persistently doing this for nearly three 



