KANSAS. 



481 



ho net indebtedness $687,950. The re- 



t' tin- 'lr-ii.-iiry 1'roin all sources during 



tii>- last fiscal year amounted to $995,102.89, 



ami tin- expenditures to $978,805.82. Tlio 



iiiiiitunt !' the receipts derived directly from 



.11 was $690,258.59, of which $461,095.- 



is for general revenue purposes, $22,988.- 

 s;i tor tho sinking-fund, $91,715.79 for the pay- 

 ment of interest on the public debt, and $114,- 



-t for the annual school-fund. Of the dis- 

 bursements, $488,21 7.20 was from the general 

 rovi-iuie- t'unil, $255,520.86 from the annual 

 school-fund, $90,939.76 was invested for the 

 l>i.Tmam -nr school-fund, $81,788.50 was for the 

 payment of interest on the public debt, and 

 $52,094.15 was invested in State bonds for the 

 sinking-fund. Tho balance in the Treasury at 

 the beginning of the year was $207,834.99 ; at 

 the end of the year, $222,880.05. The per- 

 manent school-fund on the 80th of November 

 amounted to $1,125,309.32, an increase of 

 $117,168.78 during the year. 



The whole number of acres of land now 

 contained within the organized counties of 

 this State is 35,750,400. The number of acres 

 subject to taxation in 1874 was 16,996,746, of 

 which 8,669,769 acres were under cultivation. 

 The aggregate value of the land subject to 

 taxation, as fixed by the State Board of Equali- 

 zation, is $72,554,065.90 ; the number of town 

 lots was 290,628, with an aggregate value of 

 $19,238,406.22. The valuation of personal 

 property was $22,402,769.76; valuation of 

 railroad property, $14,721,277.92 ; total valua- 

 tion of property, $128,906,519.80. The tax 

 K-vv for general revenue purposes was four 

 mills to the dollar, making a total tax of $515,- 

 625.23; for the sinking-fund one-fifth of a 

 mill, raising $25,781.85; for the interest-fund 

 four-fifths of a mill, making $103,908.28 ; total 

 levy, six mills on a dollar, or $778,438.72. 

 The number of miles of railroad in the State 

 is 1,839, including the whole or portions of the 

 Atchison, Topeka & Santa F6 ; the Atlantic & 

 Pacific ; the Atchison & Nebraska ; central 

 branch of the Union Pacific ; Kansas Central ; 

 Kansas Pacific ; Kansas City & Santa Fe ; 

 Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston; South- 

 ern Kansas; Leavenworth, Atchison & North- 

 western ; Missouri River ; Fort Scott & Gal- 

 veston ; Missouri, Kansas & Texas ; Memphis, 

 Carthage & Northwestern ; Missouri River ; 

 St. Joseph & Denver City; and St. Louis, 

 Lawrence & Washington. The value of the 

 roads is $11,233,109.65, of the rolling-stock, 

 $2,458,482.42 ; other railroad property, $1,019,- 

 585.81. 



There are 4,895 school districts in the State, 

 of which 391 were organized during the year. 

 Over 5,000 teachers were employed, and there 

 was an increase of 18,000 in the number of 

 pupils attending the common schools. The State 

 University is flourishing, and had 173 students 

 representing twenty-three different counties of 

 the State. The Agricultural College is sus- 

 tained from the income of its endowment, which 



is now about $20,000 a year. There are 84,- 

 425 acres of the endowment land* still u 

 Imving a value of over $218,000. That v. Inch 

 has been disposed of brought $218,907. '1 In- 

 industrial departments of the institution yield 

 some revenue, $1,000 having been cleared from 

 the farm this year. In addition to the nor- 

 mal schools at Einporia and Leavenworth, a 

 new one baa been opened at Concordia. 



The average number of patients in the In- 

 sane Asylum during the year was 115, and the 

 trustees report that 800 more in the State re- 

 quire accommodation and treatment, for which 

 no facilities are provided. The penitentiary 

 contained at the end of the year 425 convicts, 

 having received 245 and discharged 160 dur- 

 ing the year. More than two-thirds of the 

 convicts were single men, less than one-fourth 

 were mechanics, 48 could not read or write, 

 and three were females. 



The opposition to the Republican party in 

 this State took the name of the Independent 

 Reform party this year, and held its nominat- 

 ing convention at Topeka, on the 5th of Au- 

 gust. The candidates nominated for State 

 offices were: Governor, J. C. Cusey; Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, Eldred Harrington; Secretary 

 of State, Nelson Abbott ; Treasurer of State, 

 Charles F. Koester ; Auditor of State, George 

 P. Smith ; Attorney-General, J. R. Hollowell ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, H. B. 

 Norton; Associate Justice of .Supreme Court, 

 William P. Douthitt. The principles and claims 

 of the party were set forth in the following 

 platform : 



fiesolved, That we, the delegates and representa- 

 tives of the people of Kansas favorable to the organi- 

 zation of an independent political party, laying aside 

 past differences of opinion and earnestly uniting in 

 a common purpose to secure needed reforms in the 

 administration of public affairs, cordially unite in 

 submitting these declarations : 



1. That all political power is inherent in the peo- 

 ple ; that no government is worthy of preservation, 

 or should be upheld, which does not derive its pow- 

 ers from the consent of the governed ; and by equal 

 and just laws, the rights of life, liberty, and the pur- 

 suit of happiness, shall be assured to all men. with- 

 out distinction of race, color ; or nationality ; that the 

 maintenance of these principles is essential to the 

 perpetuity of our republican institutions, and that to 

 this end the Federal Constitution, with all its amend- 

 ments, the rights of the States, and the union of the 

 States, must be preserved. 



2. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of 

 the States, and especially of the right of each State 

 to order and control its own domestic institutions 

 according to its own judgment exclusively, is indis- 

 pensable to that balance of power on which the per- 

 fection and endurance of our political fabric depends. 



8. That the conduct of the present Administration 

 in its bold defiance of public good ; in its prodigal- 

 ity and wasteful extravagance ; in the innumerable 

 frauds perpetrated under its authority ; in its dis- 



?raceful partiality for, and reward of unworthy fn- 

 orites : in its reckless and unstable financial policy : 

 and in its incapacity to meet the vital questions of 

 the day, and provide for the general welfare, stands 

 without a parallel in our national history : and the 

 highest considerations of duty require the American 

 people, in the exercise of their inherent sovereignty, 

 to correct the accumulation of evil, and bring tho 



