518 



MISSOUKI. 



interest of this, as well as several other West- 

 ern States, at present seems to be the building 

 of railroads as an agency in the development 

 of the country. It is with this view that 

 liberal aid has been granted to it by the Legis- 

 lature during a period when it would be 

 wholly unremunerative if undertaken by pri- 

 vate individuals alone. 



The public elemosynary institutions of Mis- 

 souri are under very efficient management, 

 but the growing wants of the State demand 

 more ample provisions for the unfortunate and 

 the vicious. The State Penitentiary contains 

 seven hundred and thirty-five convicts, and the 

 accommodations afforded by the present build- 

 ings are quite inadequate, and new structures 

 are already in progress. Under the provisions 

 of the act of December, 1865, two hundred and 

 twenty convicts have been pardoned, and a 

 similar leniency has been shown in one hun- 

 dred and ninety-seven cases not falling under 

 the provisions of that law. The State Insane 

 Asylum is overcrowded, but a new institution 

 of the kind, in course of construction by the 

 city and county of St. Louis, will aiford ample 

 additional accommodations. The Institution 

 for the Blind is in a prosperous condition, and 

 seems to be all that is required for the wants 

 of the unfortunate persons committed to its 

 care. The Deaf and Dumb Asylum is full, and 

 requires enlargement. 



The public schools of the State are in a prom- 

 ising condition. The whole number of chil- 

 dren in the State between the ages of five and 

 twenty-one is 544,664, of whom 510,183 are 

 white and 34,481 colored. For the instruction 

 of these, 6,040 school-houses with 7,100 teach- 

 ers are supplied by the State. The permanent 

 school fund now amounts to $1,689,760, from 

 the income of which $92,793 were distributed 

 to the counties during the year to aid in the 

 support of schools. The portion of revenue tax 

 set apart for the same purpose amounted to 

 $217,011.60. The State has no system of nor- 

 mal schools, but for two years past a series of 

 " teachers' institutes " has been organized in 

 nearly all the counties, and does a very useful 

 work in the way of training teachers for their 

 peculiar duties. The State University provided 

 for by the constitution has been put in pros- 

 perous operation with a full corps of instruc- 

 tors. A normal department was added by an 

 act of the last Legislature, and is already work- 

 ing successfully. A military department has 

 been organized, where civil engineering and 

 military tactics are taught under the direction 

 of a distinguished army officer, assigned to that 

 duty under a law of the United States ; and it 

 is proposed to establish a department for teach- 

 ing the branches of learning which pertain to 

 agriculture and the mechanic arts, so as to en- 

 able the university to avail itself of the dona- 

 tion of land made to the State under act of 

 Congress of July 2, 1862, for the purpose of 

 founding an Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 

 lege. The present endowment of the State Uni- 



versity amounts to $123,707.50, yielding an in- 

 come for the past year of $10,677.50, which 

 was increased by direct appropriations to 

 $22,065.50. 



Before giving an account of the action of the 

 two political parties in the excited campaign of 

 the year, it may be well to present a synopsis 

 of the registration act passed by the last Legis- 

 lature, which contains some provisions intended 

 to guard the privilege of voting even more 

 rigidly than had been done hitherto in the 

 State of Missouri. The law makes it the duty 

 of the Governor, by and with the advice and 

 consent of the Senate, to appoint a super- 

 intendent of registration in each senatorial 

 district every year in which a general election 

 takes place. The Board of Registration in each 

 county is to be appointed by the superintend- 

 ent, and all the registry officers are to qualify 

 .by taking the " oath of loyalty and oath of of- 

 fice, prescribed in the sixth and thirteenth sec- 

 tions of the second article of the constitution." 

 After prescribing some of the general duties of 

 the officers having charge of the registration of 

 voters, the act lays down the following : 



SECTION 8. In the books furnished to the Board of 

 Eegistration as aforesaid, there shall be printed or 

 written the oath of loyalty aforesaid, followed by space 

 sufficient for every voter to subscribe his name and 

 place of residence thereunder, and, in cities having 

 streets and houses numbered, the street and number 

 of each voter's residence shall be placed opposite his 

 name ; and no person shall be registered as a qualified 

 voter unless he appear before the said Board, and take 

 and subscribe said oath, except in the cases provided 

 for in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth sections of 

 the second article of the constitution; for persons re- 

 lieved from disqualifications under the said twenty- 

 third section, a separate oath shall be written or 

 printed in said book, in conformity with the consti- 

 tution, to be taken and subscribed by them. If any 

 person subscribe either of said oaths by making his 

 mark, his signature shall be witnessed by a member 

 of the Board of ^Registration, by signing his name op- 

 posite thereto. Every person so registering shall 

 write his first Christian name in full, and if his signa- 

 ture is so illegible as to be difficult to read or copy, 

 a registering officer shall immediately in his presence, 

 write the name legibly in a side column or space on 

 the register ; provided that if any person entitled to 

 registration under the provisions of this act shall, 

 from any cause, not appear before the Board of Ee- 

 gistration of his respective district, he may trans- 

 mit to said Board, or to the Board of Eeview, a writ- 

 ten orprinted copy of the oath of loyalty, signed by 

 writing his name thereunder, and sworn to before an 

 officer properly authorized to administer oaths. And 

 the oath so signed and sworn to shall be preserved 

 and filed in the office of the Clerk of the County Court, 

 with the books of registration. 



SEC. 9. The Board of Eegistration shall have pow- 

 er to examine, under oath, any person applying for. 

 registration, as to his qualifications as a voter ; and 

 they shall, before entering the name of any person 

 on the registry of qualified voters, diligently inquire 

 and ascertain that he has not done any of the acts 

 specified in the constitution as causes of disqualifica- 

 tion, and if, from their own knowledge or evidence 

 brought before them, they shall^ be satisfied that any 

 person seeking registration is disqualified under any 

 provision of the constitution, they shall not enter his 

 name on the list of qualified voters, though he may 

 have taken and subscribed before them the oath of 

 loyalty aforesaid ; but shall, if he has taken and sub- 



