KANSAS. 



375 



United States, as incorporated in the resolution 

 of ratification passed by the Legislature at the 

 previous session; and the Governor recom- 

 mended to the Legislature that the mistake 

 should be rectified, forming as it did an im- 

 portant part of the fundamental law of the 

 nation. The Governor, in his remarks, also 

 proceeds to state that the present seems a 

 fitting time for the removal of restrictions 

 upon the privileges (political or otherwise) 

 placed by the State upon citizens for partici- 

 pation in the late war. He said : " Probably 

 these restrictions were justifiable, as .long as 

 the public safety demanded. The theory of 

 the Government is to regard each citizen as 

 an equal member of the State, vested with 

 important and active rights, and nothing less 

 than a consideration for public safety can 

 justify the State in depriving any well-con- 

 ducted citizen of such rights." He alludes 

 also to the subject of assessments, and pro- 

 ceeds to remark that the propriety of making 

 the assessed value of property approximate to 

 its cash value ought to receive due attention. 

 It is evident that a return of $100,000,000 of 

 taxable property, with a levy of eight mills, 

 would make a better margin for the State 

 than a return of $80,000,000 with a levy of 

 ten mills ; the actual amount of property in 

 each case being equal, the amount of revenue 

 raised would be the same, and the taxes of each 

 individual the same. Equitable distribution 

 of taxation, provision for prompt collection, 

 and rigid but wise economy in appropriations, 

 will soon make the financial condition all that 

 could be desired. Much has been accom- 

 plished in the construction and projection of 

 railroads, and far exceeded the most sanguine 

 expectations. A number of lines are now 

 in progress, and the construction rapid, and 

 the miles now in use must at least be nine 

 hundred. The Governor says also that no other 

 agency tends so much to the development of 

 unsettled regions and the protection of distant 

 frontiers, as the building of railroads. It is to 

 be hoped the Government, in their land-grants 

 to the State, for further railroad constructions 

 through the undeveloped portions, may pursue 

 a policy that will protect the poineer settlers, 

 and yet enlist capital. The advantages already 

 derived from those portions of the State par- 

 tially developed are daily becoming more ap- 

 parent, as they promote the discovery and 

 availability of new sources of wealth like 

 quarries of building-stone of extraordinary quan- 

 tity and quality ; marbles of intrinsic beauty ; 

 mines of coal and mineral pigments of excellent 

 quality, salt, gypsum, and numerous other com- 

 modities, the presence of which was before 

 unknown, or but little regarded or cared for. 



At Leavenworth City a railroad bridge over 

 the Missouri River is rapidly progressing to 

 completion. It is built in consonance with 

 the richness and beauty of its surroundings, 

 and of a sufficient capacity to equal the de- 

 mands if the route should become one of the 



prominent highways of the continent, and 

 Leavenworth the commercial emporium of the 

 Missouri Valley. 



The Governor calls the attention of the Legis- 

 lature to the importance of a direct route from 

 the interior to the sea, which will not tax the la- 

 bor of the working-man seventy-five per cent., 

 simply to furnish transportation for his products. 

 He deems it eminently fit and proper that Con- 

 gress should be memorialized on this question, 

 asking that, as a national enterprise, the James 

 River and Kanawha Canal, in Virginia, be en- 

 larged and completed in such a manner as to 

 connect the navigable waters of the Ohio and 

 James Rivers, thus affording means of transit 

 by water from the navigable streams of the 

 interior to the Atlantic Ocean, without the 

 necessity of transshipment, and without risk 

 from climate, tempest, or an alien enemy, and 

 at a cost for transportation vastly less than that 

 of the present lines of communication. 



The selection of public lands due the State, 

 under the act of Congress, September 4, 1841, 

 was made by commissioners appointed by the 

 Executive of the State, and was approved by 

 the Secretary of the Interior, to the amount of 

 495,552 acres. 



Except the passage of the fifteenth amend- 

 ment to the Federal Constitution, the action 

 of the Legislature was confined to matters of 

 local interest. 



The fifth article of the treaty of 1867 with 

 the Indian Sac and Fox tribe states, "their land 

 should be opened to entry and settlement, but 

 subject to all the laws and regulations of the 

 General Land-office." The amount of land 

 ceded, in the treaty referred to, is 150,000 

 acres. 



A diversity of opinion exists as to the pro- 

 duction and planting of grapes. This branch 

 of horticultural wealth has caused considerable 

 discussion, forming, as it does, an important 

 item in the products of the State. A well- 

 known Western authority submitted that the 

 planting should receive plenty of room, say, 

 eight feet by eight feet, on elevated ground, and 

 adds, " the Catawba grape can be successfully 

 grown." A member of the State Horticultural 

 Society, indorsed by several -leading growers, 

 advised the planting of those known to the 

 initiated as "Ires," "Concord," "Crerelling," 

 "Isabella Nortons," " Virginia," and, lastly, 

 not to forget the " mottled." A warm, light 

 soil is needful, well underlaid with limestone 

 or shale. 



Salt is abundantly found in every section of 

 the State, and will form an important and 

 staple article. Its analysis has been made by 

 Dr. Kindell, and resulted as follows : 



Chloride of sodium 98.86 



Sulphate of lime 76 



Chloride of magnesium .25 



" of calcium 13 



100.00 



As a wheat-growing country, Kansas ranks 

 prominently. The average yield last year was 



