448 



MINNESOTA. 



1869, and held their eleventh annual session, 

 which continued for about two months, both 

 Houses having adjourned on the 5th of March. 

 During this period a great multitude of acts 

 were passed and resolutions concurred in, 

 affecting directly the common interests of the 

 State, or the local ones of the counties, cities, 

 and towns. The general enactments refer to 

 important matters of various kinds ; but, for 

 the most part, they have in view to provide 

 for internal improvements, or what seems cal- 

 culated to promote them, as well as for the 

 maintenance and beneficial management of 

 public institutions penitentiary, charitable, 

 and educational, especially the last named. 



A new law, which is likely to prove of great 

 service to the State, was enacted, providing 

 for the compilation of annual statistics pertain- 

 ing to its agriculture, manufactures, and popu- 

 lation, including all useful facts bearing upon 

 the material and social interests of the State, 

 and tending to afford at home and abroad a 

 correct knowledge of its resources and prog- 

 ress. 



One of the most important acts passed, 

 though not signed by the Governor, was that 

 ordaining the liquidation and payment of the 

 public debt known as the "Minnesota State 

 Bailroad bonds." These were issued in 1858 

 to parties who undertook the construction of 

 certain railways within the State, but have, 

 till now, been left unpaid, as it were ignored. . 

 Bankers and private persons who hold them 

 in amounts more or less great, and chiefly those 

 who actually expended their means in the 

 works of the roads before the late war, re- 

 peatedly urged upon the Governor the final 

 settlement of their claims. He transmitted 

 these documents to the Legislature, with a 

 special message requesting them, for the good 

 name of the State, as well as for justice' sake, 

 to defer no longer the adjustment of those 

 claims, and he strongly recommended to set 

 apart and assign for this transaction the 

 500,000 acres of land formerly granted by 

 the Federal Government to the State for 

 internal improvements, as the use of this 

 means would obviate the otherwise indispen- 

 sable necessity of levying a special tax for the 

 same end. An appropriate bill was hereupon 

 introduced, ordaining that three special com- 

 missioners, to be appointed by the Governor, 

 should divide the said lands into parcels of 

 forty acres, and appraise each parcel separately 

 according to its quality, but so that the aggre- 

 gate value of the 500,000 acres thus appraised 

 should be exactly equal to the whole amount 

 of the State indebtedness on account of the 

 bonds for principal and interest, computed up 

 to the 1st of January, 1870. It prescribed 

 also the manner as well as the times and 

 amounts in which the said lands, with all the 

 rights of the State upon them, should be ceded 

 to the creditor, namely, on his surrendering at 

 fixed periods a corresponding amount of bonds 

 to the State for cancellation, so that the whole 



of them should be cancelled within the course 

 of thirteen years. This bill passed both 

 Houses, but failed to become a law, because 

 the Governor did not sign it. 



A similar fate was experienced by another 

 act considered to be scarcely less important 

 than the one just referred to, as it intended to 

 revive and amend a previously approved act 

 purporting to "incorporate the St. Paul and 

 St. Anthony Railroad Company." The bill 

 was favorably voted for in each House of the 

 Legislature, but not sanctioned by the Gov- 

 ernor. 



Considerable excitement was created in the 

 community by the introduction and subse- 

 quent passage of a bill designed for the re- 

 moval of the seat of government from St. 

 Paul, in "Ramsey County, to a place in the 

 county of Kandiyohi. But, though this bill 

 passed both Houses, by large majorities, the 

 Governor vetoed it as premature, inexpedient, 

 and, in the present condition of the State, un- 

 desirable, on account of the great outlay to be 

 necessarily incurred for the erection of suit- 

 able buildings, and other heavy expenses, 

 indispensable to carry such a removal into ex- 

 ecution. As soon as the Governor's message 

 had been read in the lower House, where the 

 measure had originated, a motion was made 

 and carried to pass the bill over the veto. On 

 its being put to the vote, however, the veto 

 was sustained by a comparatively large ma- 

 jority, as appears from the fact that, while in 

 its first passage the bill had been voted against 

 by only seven members of the House, now the 

 votes against it were twenty-one. 



The city of St. Paul, however, on account 

 of her position, which affords uncommon facili- 

 ties of intercourse with other portions of the 

 State, and with the neighboring States, by land 

 and water, is likely to continue to attract 

 people and become greater every day, even 

 though the seat of State government were 

 moved away. The city limits embrace a sur- 

 face of 2,700 acres, well dotted with fair and 

 commodious residences, she having been stead- 

 ily increasing in wealth and population (which 

 is reckoned as high as 25,000 already) ; and 

 this growth seems progressing at the present 

 time in a greater ratio than before. A large 

 proportion of the State imports and exports 

 takes place in her port. During the past 

 season of navigation, 216 days (the Mississippi 

 having been closed with ice on the 4th of De- 

 cember last, some days earlier than usual), 

 "the number of different steamers reaching 

 St. Paul was 45, with a tonnage of 13,484 tons. 

 The whole number of steamboat arrivals was 

 792, with a tonnage of 188,253 tons. The cus- 

 tom-house enrolment of steamers registered 

 at her port is 11,247, and of barges 8,956." 

 The aggregate amount expended for the erec- 

 tion of new buildings, in the city, during the 

 year 1868, was $1,005,050; in 1869 it was 

 $1,395,727. 



The population of the State at the close of 



