464 



MISSOUKI. 



The entire debt of the State, at the beginning 

 of 1869, was $18,654,000, over $18,000,000 of 

 which consisted of bonds given in aid of rail- 

 roads, and maturing in 1872 and 1887, and the 

 intermediate years. The sum of $61,000 was 

 paid on the principal during 1869, for which 

 reason the debt, at the end of that year, was 

 $18,593,000; without including $3,000,000 of 

 bonds of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, 

 on which that road punctually pays the interest. 



From the State Treasurer's statement, it 

 appears that the receipts during the last fiscal 

 year were, in the aggregate, $2,837,002.51 ; and 

 the cash disbursements for the same period 

 were $2,702,021.92. The State Auditor's re- 

 port shows that the current expenses of the 

 government, including $92,000, certificates of 

 indebtedness last year, amounted to $1,024,- 

 467.23 ; while the total of warrants drawn on 

 all funds amounted to $2,712,517.97, which 

 includes the payment of interest of the State 

 debt. 



The principal of the railroad bonds mentioned 

 above is to be paid at maturity, " in gold or 

 silver," since the State in issuing them prom- 

 ised to do so in express terms. Concerning 

 their interest, which is accruing in the mean 

 time, and the payment of which falls due semi- 

 annually on the first day of January and July, 

 whether this also must be paid in coin, or not, 

 the following letters were exchanged last year 

 between the State Treasurer and Auditor, as 

 State-Interest-Fund Commissioners, and the 

 Attorney-General. ' ' 



TREASURER'S OFFICE, STATE OF MISSOURI, ) 

 CITY OF JEFFERSON, May 25, 1869. ) 

 Hon. Horace B. Johiison, Attorney- General of Mis- 

 souri. 



DEAR SIR : In view of the recent decision of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States in regard to the 

 effect of contracts made prior to the passage of what 

 is popularly called the Legal-tender Act, and in view 

 of the fact that the six per cent, bonds of the State 

 issued to aid in the construction of the Pacific Kail- 

 road, the southwest branch of the Pacific Eailroad, 

 the Iron Mountain Eailroad, the Cairo and Fulton 

 Eailroad, the Platte County Eailroad, and the North 

 Missouri Eailroad, promise to pay the principal of 

 said bonds in gold or silver to the undersigned Fund 

 Commissioners of the State Interest Fund, we have 

 the honor to request your opinion, whether or not the 

 State is legally bound to pay the interest, due semi- 

 annually on the first days of January and July of each 

 year, in gold coin. 



An early reply will much oblige your obedient ser- 

 vants, 



WM. Q. DALLMEYEE, State Treasurer, 

 DANIEL M. DEAPEE, State Auditor, 



And ex-officio Fund Commissioners. 



EEPLT. 



STATE OF MISSOURI, OFFICE OF THE ATT'Y-GENERAL, ) 



JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., June 1, 1869. f 



Hon. W. Q. Dallmeyer, and Honorable Daniel M. 



Draper : 



< Your letter of the 25th instant, asking my opinion 

 in regard to the legal obligation of the State to pay 

 the principal and interest in gold coin on bonds issued 

 by the State, has been received. After carefully ex- 

 amining the decision of the Supreme Court of the 

 United States, and the various laws under which 

 bonds were issued by the State of Missouri to the 

 Pacific Eailroad, southwest branch of the Pacific 



Eailroad, Iron Mountain Eailroad, North Missouri 

 Eailroad, the Cairo and Fulton Eailroad Company, 

 and the Platte County Eailroad Company, I have 

 concluded that the State having sold all of said roads 

 under the lien the State held on them for security of 

 principal and. interest in said bonds, and the State 

 having by said sales assumed all the obligations of 

 said railroad companies, is legally obligated to pay 

 both the principal and interest of said bonds in coin 

 as they become due. Very respectfully, 



,- T , H. B. JOHNSON, 



Attorney-General of Missouri. 



These letters, it is affirmed, were published 

 directly in New York papers before their exist- 

 ence and purport had been made known in 

 Missouri ; whereupon the value of the Missouri 

 State bonds suddenly rose in the New York 

 stock-market, on the persuasion that the pay- 

 ment of their semi-annual interest, falling due 

 after a few weeks then ensuing, would be 

 made in gold. Missouri papers regarded this 

 as a contrivance of speculators to enhance 

 the value of the State bonds for the occasion. 

 In his recent message of January 4, 1870, 

 Governor McClurg declares to the General As- 

 sembly: "I am permitted by the Fund Com- 

 missioners to state that, from the records in 

 their office, they unhesitatingly say there can- 

 not be State bonds to the amount of more than 

 $60,000 on which the holders are expecting 

 interest in gold. But it is not known in whose 

 hands they are, as the coupons have not been 

 presented since the State resumed the payment 

 of interest in 1867. No demand for interest 

 in gold has been made of the financial agent 

 of the State in New York." 



Eailway communication in Missouri is quite 

 extensive, numerous lines crossing the State in 

 all directions, and connecting her distant por- 

 tions with each other as well as with the neigh- 

 boring States. To her railroads, previously in 

 operation, there was an addition made during 

 1869 of not less than 360 miles, begun and 

 completed within the year. At the close of 

 this period, 1,035 more miles were in course of 

 construction. A number of new lines had also 

 been projected, and their actual construction 

 was looked upon as near at hand. 



It is expected that the State will reap great 

 advantages from the Illinois and St. Louis 

 Bridge, when finished, as a means of commu- 

 nication. The plan of this vast enterprise has 

 been long maturing, and the 27th day of Octo- 

 ber, 1869, witnessed the beginning of its con- 

 struction ; the foundation of the eastern pier 

 having been laid on that day, when 12 huge 

 blocks, weighing 3 tons each, were, by ap- 

 propriate machinery, placed in their permanent 

 position at the bottom of the river. The bridge 

 is to consist of three arches, besides the abut- 

 ments and approaches ; the middle arch meas- 

 uring 515 feet in length, the side ones 491 feet 

 each. The materials, whereof the bridge will 

 be composed, are wrought and cast iron and 

 steel for the arches and other accessory parts of 

 various description of work; while the piers 

 will be of masonry-work, with facings of quarry- 

 granite from Virginia. The bridge will be con- 



