420 



KANSAS. 



of inhabitants was in the new counties open 

 to actual settlers, and not to the speculators in 

 real estate. 



The Kansas Legislature, whose regular an- 

 nual sessions last fifty days, adjourned on the 

 2d day of March, 1872. Numerous acts, re- 

 lating to general and local interests, were 

 passed during this session, and considerable 

 sums appropriated for public buildings and the 

 support of State institutions, and white and 

 colored schools. The appropriation of $50,000 

 to complete the building of the State Univer- 

 sity at Lawrence was regarded as particularly 

 praiseworthy, and likely to be largely beneficial 

 to education in the higher branches of stud- 

 ies, and to enhance the reputation of the 

 State. A bill for this appropriation had been 

 laid before the Legislature of 1871, when it 

 was rejected. Having been introduced again 

 at the session of 1872, it was passed by both 

 Houses, and unanimously by the Senate, where 

 the measure had met considerable opposition 

 in the preceding year. 



The State law concerning usury was 

 amended, so that, in cases where the payment 

 of interest on money is expressly agreed to 

 by the contracting parties at a higher rate 

 than twelve per cent, per annum, the lender 

 may legally collect it from the borrower up to 

 that rate, and not forfeit the whole, as the 

 previous law provided. 



A herd law was also passed, to prevent cat- 

 tle from destroying or injuring farm-crops. 

 This interest is paramount in Kansas, where 

 the industry of the people is exerted chiefly 

 in agricultural pursuits. The bill was intro- 

 duced in the Lower House, and conferred 

 power on the county commissioners to pro- 

 vide such a law in particular townships belong- 

 ing to their respective counties as they saw 

 fit, considering the condition and circumstances 

 of the several localities. The Senate passed 

 the bill after making several amendments, the 

 most important one taking from the county 

 commissioners the power of providing a law 

 for a township, and extending it to the whole 

 county, if at all. The Senate amendments 

 were discussed at length in the House, and 

 finally concurred in by a very large majority. 

 Under the provisions of the act, the county 

 commissioners have power to declare a herd 

 law in force in the county at their pleasure, 

 without any vote of the people. 



In the House of Representatives a number 

 of members advocated the passage of the bill 

 as originally proposed, while not a few were 

 for the enactment of a general law operating 

 uniformly in the whole State. Even these 

 disagreed in their views ; some of them advo- 

 cating the necessity of fencing the farms, 

 others maintaining that the owners of cattle 

 should be made by law responsible for all 

 damages done by them, and then compelled 

 to restrain their animals, either by putting 

 them undor proper guard, or even by fencing 

 the ground on which they were kept. It was 



shown by comparative calculations that the 

 expense of putting up and annually repairing 

 the fences to restrain cattle would be by many 

 hundred thousand dollars less than to fence 

 the lands under culture. 



The Texas cattle law was amended by the 

 Senate, and the amendment concurred in by 

 the House on the 27th. It forbids the driving 

 of Texas cattle between the months of March 

 and November. 



Several matters of public interest, socially 

 as well as politically, were proposed and 

 warmly debated during this session, though 

 finally defeated, or left undecided. Among 

 these was the bill introduced in the House of 

 Representatives, " to confer the right of suf- 

 frage on female persons." It was the subject 

 of a protracted and animated debate, a large 

 number of the members taking part in the 

 discussion, but was finally defeated, or rather 

 indefinitely postponed, by a vote of 42 yeas 

 to 33 nays. 



The Apportionment Bill, distributing the 

 State into three congressional districts, was 

 the occasion of very great excitement among 

 the members of the legislative body in both 

 Houses, though each of these appear to have 

 arrived at a different conclusion. The plan of 

 apportionment proposed and insisted upon by 

 a vast majority in the House of Representatives 

 was loudly denounced by many within and out- 

 side of the legislative halls, as giving represen- 

 tation to the land and not to the people. They 

 characterized it as the effect of a conspiracy, 

 entered into by the southern and northern por- 

 tions of the State against the remaining por- 

 tion, for the purpose of depriving the inhabit- 

 ants of the latter of the full representation 

 which they were entitled to in proportion to 

 their number. The residents of this portion, 

 which was commonly called, on that account, 

 " The Pocket District," are represented as be- 

 ing unanimous in their opposition to the said 

 apportionment. The House of Representatives 

 firmly adhered to its plan, and steadily refused 

 to agree to that proposed and passed in the 

 Senate. The Senate offered a conference on 

 the subject, to be held by a special joint com- 

 mittee, which the Lower House, after some 

 hesitation, assented to ; but when the confer- 

 ence had been held, -and its result reported by 

 the joint committee, the House refused to 

 agree to it. A motion having then been made 

 to ask for a new committee of conference, the 

 motion was tabled by a large vote. 



The most important business transacted by 

 the Kansas Legislature at the session of 1872, 

 was the investigation of the facts relating to 

 the corrnpt practices alleged to have been em- 

 ployed in the election of the United States Sen- 

 ator from Kansas in 1871. Explicit and spe- 

 cific statements of such practices having been 

 published in a newspaper shortly after the be- 

 ginning of the year, implicating several mem- 

 bers of the present Legislature, as well as of 

 that of 1871, a demand for an official investi- 



