550 



MISSOURI. 



in currency. The remote and consequential 

 damage he thinks cannot be estimated, and 

 says: "Had the State not felt itself prepared 

 to" assume the initiation of specie payment on 

 promises unequivocal in their language, it 

 would certainly have been wiser to have offered 

 sufficient inducement to fond early-maturing 

 bonds, rather than repudiate their face." 



The receipts of the Treasury for the year, 

 including a surplus of $742,626 from the pre- 

 ceding twelve months, amounted to $3,638,- 

 T49.55. The disbursements were, $3,044,219.- 

 98, leaving a surplus at the end of the year of 

 $594,529.57. 



According to the assessment returns from 

 the several counties for the year, there are in 

 the State of Missouri 36,092,023 acres of land, 

 valued at $427,533,142; 553,378 horses, val- 

 ued at $24,718,878 ; 119,077 mules and asses, 

 valued at $6,535,447; 1,248,632 neat-cattle, 

 valued at $15,998,589 ; 1,097,294 sheep, valued 

 at $1,291,815 ; 2,964,520 liogs, valued at $5,- 

 915,168; money, bonds, and notes, valued at 

 $14,565,368, and other personal property to 

 the amount of $67,039,415; total personal 

 property, $140,622,360; entire taxable wealth, 

 $568,155,502. These are the figures of the as- 

 sessors ; but the Governor in his message to 

 the Legislature of 1873 declared that the re- 

 turn was very " unequal as well as inaccurate, "- 

 and that there was within the limits of the 

 State "more than $1,000,000,000 of property 

 that should rightly share in the support of the 

 government." " The deficit," he added, "rep- 

 resents evasion, neglects of duty, transfers 

 elsewhere of securities owned here, and a gen- 

 eral inadequacy of the revenue law to the pur- 

 pose it is intended to effect." The principal 

 railroads making reports put the aggregate of 

 their taxable property as follows : 



Hannibal & St. Joseph . . . . .$5,627,061 42 



Missouri Pacific 2,819,498 65 



Atlantic & Pacific 2,819,498 00 



North Missouri 2,948,551 25 



St. Louis & Iron Mountain 2,071,435 00 



Missouri, Kansas & Texas 642,390 05 



St. Louis & Santa Fe 191.595 81 



Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs 1,269,094 17 



Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska (41 miles, road- 

 bed not included) 27.650 00 



Missouri Eiver, Fort Scott & Gulf. 87,140 00 



Mississippi Valley & Western 29,500 00 



Quiucy, Missouri & Pacific 456,540 00 



Total $20,514,654 35 



The session of the Missouri Legislature 

 which began in January continued until the 

 19th of April. The resolution mentioned above, 

 providing for the payment of State bonds in 

 currency, excited considerable discussion, but 

 was passed by a strong vote of both branches, 

 74 to 45 in the House, and 21 to 11 in the Sen- 

 ate, after the veto of the Governor. In his 

 , veto-message the Governor used the following 

 language, after expressing his reasons for re- 

 garding the proposed action as invalid, on the 

 ground that it impaired the obligation of a 

 contract : 



But while these considerations sufficiently answer 

 any objections to the validity and sufficiency of the 



obligation to pay in coin, tire sovereignty of the 

 State places the whole question on a different and 

 higher ground. The credit of the State must r 

 upon an abundant good faith. Its contracts arc n.)t 

 subject to the technicalities of the law, or the ruling 

 of courts ; it is an axiom of political science, thai 

 the strictest public faith is the wisest public policy. 

 No State can afford to answer her creditors with 

 quibbles, or to challenge them in the^name of tri- 

 bunals before whom she herself can never be sum- 

 moned. And in Missouri especially every con- 

 sideration of public policy demands that we cherish 

 the public faith above the least suspicion of dis- 

 honor. We are now, and must for long years to 

 come continue to be, a borrowing people, dependent 

 largely upon the money-markets of the world for 

 the development of our resources. A heavy local 

 indebtedness is in the market, in many cases nego- 

 tiated only by a large discount. Counties, munici- 

 palities, and all the forms of corporate and private 

 enterprise, will find the surest guarantee of their 

 credit when the credit of their State is above 

 picion. At such a time, if only for such consi> 

 tions, Missouri cannot afford to allow the slightest 

 question of her good faith. 



The policy of the resolution is disastrous to the 

 finances of the State. It involves the continued de- 

 preciation of the very means in the Treasury pro- 

 vided by law for this payment. The statutes regu- 

 lating the sinking fund require that its accumulating 

 surplus shall be invested in bonds, which are to be 

 sold in the market, when means are needed to pay 

 the maturing debt. This is illustrated by the fact 

 that the provision for the debt, falling due this year, 

 consists in a large part of bonds thus purchased, 

 which must be sold at their market value. Thus 

 what this repudiation of the contract would save to 

 us in the redemption would be lost in the sale of the 

 bonds provided for the payment. The resolution 

 also necessitates a heavy increase in the burdens 

 upon our people in the terms of the new loan, which 

 we should be obliged to negotiate with depreciated 

 credit within the next five years. It also involves 

 the continued handling of our securities in the inter- 

 est of rings, for they cannot be rescued from specu- 

 lative control until by their appreciation in value they 

 pass into the hands of permanent investors. No rings 

 control the securities of the gold-paying States. 



A new revenue bill was passed, which made 

 very few changes in the law. It exempted from 

 taxation $300 of personal, household furni- 

 ture, or other property, and provides "that all 

 property personal, by the laws of this S 



situate in any county other than the one 

 which the owner resides, shall be assessed in 

 the county where such owner resides." The 

 State Board of Equalization,- composed of the 

 State Senate as before, is retained. The County 

 Board of Equalization is also retained, and 

 county assessors, instead of township assess- 

 ors, are provided for. 



A proposition to aid in the construction of 

 railroads by loaning to them the bonds of tho 

 State to the amount of $18,000,000, after occu- 

 pying considerable time and attention, \vas 

 defeated, and the following resolution was 

 adopted by the Senate : 



Resolved, That, in the judgment of the Senate, it is 

 alike unconstitutional and inexpedient for the Legis- 

 lature of Missouri to increase the present State deb 

 and thereby impose additional burdens of taxation 

 upon the people, by either directly or indirect!) giv- 

 ing or loaning the credit of the State or its^bonds ( 

 money to any railroad company or other private cor- 

 poration or association. 



