MISSOUEI. 



517 



immigration and the influx of capital into that 

 section of the country, A scheme for the 

 organization of these companies was formed, 

 and a plan of action laid down. 



The freedmen employed as laborers during 

 the year in most cases received a share of the 

 crops as compensation. A fair crop of cotton 

 and the other staples of the State was ob- 

 tained. 



MISSOURI. The increase of population in 

 Missouri, during the last four years, has been 

 very rapid. On the 1st of January, 1865, the 

 State had less than one million inhabitants, and, 

 at the close of the year 1868, the best estimates 

 placed the number above one million and a 

 half. This result has been due in a great meas- 

 ure to the labor of the State Board of Immigra- 

 tion,' organized under an act of the Legislature 

 of 1865. It has been the business of this Board 

 to make known abroad the resources of the 

 State, and induce immigrants from Europe to 

 make their home there. The undeveloped 

 resources of Missouri, which call only for 

 laborers, are very great ; coal is found in thir- 

 ty-six counties, iron in thirty-five, lead in thir- 

 ty-six, copper in twenty-two, zinc in five, 

 nickel and kaolin in two, and platina, emery, 

 alabaster, and tin, in seven counties, while the 

 best of lands for farming purposes are lying 

 fallow for want of cultivators. The laboring 

 population amounts to about 400,000, of whom 

 272,000 are employed in agricultural pursuits, 

 leaving only 118,000 for all other occupations, 

 and of these less than 60,000 are engaged 

 in mining and manufacturing operations, al- 

 though the State presents great natural fa- 

 cilities for the development of these valuable 

 interests. 



The .assessed value of all real and personal 

 property in the State of Missouri in 1860 was 

 $317,928,404.30, including slaves, valued at 

 $44,181,912. The losses of the war and the 

 emancipation of slaves reduced the wealth of 

 the State to $200,000 on the 1st of January, 

 1865. Since that time there has been a steady 

 increase, and the taxable property of the Com- 

 monwealth on the 31st of December, 1868, was 

 stated at $474,000,000. On this property, a 

 tax of one-fourth of one per cent, is levied for 

 the payment of the public debt. The total 

 bonded debt of the State is $18,654,000, the 

 semi-annual interest on which amounts to 

 $567,565. The surplus of the interest fund is 

 invested each year in bonds of the United 

 States, to form a sinking fund : $48,000 of the 

 war debt still remain to be disposed of, but 

 there was on the 1st of October a balance of 

 $464,637.89 in the Union military fund, which, 

 after liquidating the remnant of the debt, will 

 be transferred to the credit of the interest 

 fund. The claims of the State against the Fed- 

 eral Government for reimbursement for mili- 

 tary expenses, incurred during the war, have 

 all been settled, and the Treasury has received 

 therefrom $6,472,289.35, which has been ap- 

 plied as follows : 



To a permanent school fund created by 



act of llth of March, 1867 $1,500,000 00 



To reimburse the seminary fund 108,864 4ft 



To redemption of Union military bonds . 1,683,232 27 



To payment of overdue coupons 8,070,682 68 



To payment of overdue bonds and cou- 

 pons of the State held by the United 

 States 110,010 00 



Total $6,472,289 35 



More than $13,000,000 of the present State 

 debt was incurred by issuing bonds to aid in 

 the construction of railroads, the payment of 

 which was secured by a lien on the property. 

 The process of transferring the property ac- 

 quired in railroads by the State to private 

 capitalists, on such terms as shall secure the 

 speedy completion of the lines, has been con- 

 tinued through the year, and a considerable 

 share of attention was given by the last Legis- 

 lature to an adjustment of railroad affairs. 

 There are now 1,394 miles of finished road in 

 the State, and 569 miles in process of construc- 

 tion. 



The North Missouri Eailroad has been com- 

 pleted. It embraces 374 miles of road, and, 

 with its various branches, connects St. Louis 

 with the great agricultural region of the north 

 and northwest. Work on the bridge across 

 the Missouri River, at St. Charles, has made 

 rapid progress, and will be finished without 

 delay. The State claim on this railroad has 

 been sold in accordance with an act of the last 

 General Assembly, the whole amount paid in 

 money and secured by bond being $800,000. 

 A deed of release has also been executed to 

 the Pacific Railroad Company, under an act of 

 March 31, 1868, whereby a clear title has been 

 given to the Pacific Railroad of Missouri for 

 the sum of $5,000,000. Provision was also 

 made for the disposal of the South Pacific 

 Railroad, and in the hands of enterprising 

 private capitalists it is making rapid progress, 

 and promises soon to connect the Territories 

 to the southwest with the great metropolis of 

 the Mississippi Valley, and, through that, put 

 that region in communication with the Eastern 

 part of the country. Its value in the develop- 

 ment of NQW Mexico and Texas will be very 

 great. By an act of the last Legislature, it 

 was provided that the Missouri Valley Rail- 

 road Company should pay off its indebtedness 

 to the State by extending the road, at the rate 

 ef $120,000 for every mile of road constructed. 

 An act was also passed directing the St. Louis 

 and Iron Mountain Railroad to pay its debt to 

 the State by building a road from Pilot Knob 

 to the State line of Arkansas, and this arrange- 

 ment was promptly accepted by the company. 

 The St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad has 

 been completed, and passes for 80 miles 

 through one of the most fertile districts of the 

 State. The Osage Valley and Southern Kansas 

 Railroad has been built from Boonville to 

 Tipton, a distance of 25 miles. Among the 

 projected lines is one from the Mississippi to 

 the Missouri River via Macon. The great 



