414 



KANSAS. 



the following Republicans : Governor, Thomas 

 A. Osborne ; Lieutenant-Governor, M. J. Sal- 

 ter ; Secretary of State, Thomas Cavanaugh ; 

 Auditor, D. W. Wilder ; Treasurer, John Fran- 

 cis; Attorney-General, A. M. F. Randolph. 

 The Legislature is composed as follows : 



The State is represented in Congress by Sen- 

 ators John James Ingalls and James M. Har- 

 vey, the term of the former expiring March 3, 

 1879, and of the latter, March 3, 1877 ; and by 

 Representatives William A. Phillips, John R. 

 Goodin, and William R. Brown. 



During the year it was discovered that the 

 school-fund had been defrauded of a large 

 amount of money, through the purchase of 

 fraudulent bonds of school districts. On this 

 subject the Governor, in his message to the 

 Legislature of 1876, says: 



Upon different occasions, in September, October, 

 and November last, the School-Fund Commissioners 

 purchased the bonds of various school districts, in 

 Mitchell, Jewell, and Republic Counties, amounting 

 in the aggregate to $19,050, paying therefor the ac- 

 customed rate of ninety cents on the dollar, and the 

 accrued interest. These bonds were, in the month 

 of December, discovered to be forgeries, and meas- 

 ures were at once instituted having in view the de- 

 tection and punishment of the criminals, and the 

 restoration of the money wrongfully taken from the 

 school-fund. The general circumstances attending 

 this entire transaction will be understood from a 

 perusal of the official correspondence, a copy of which 

 is herewith transmitted, and which has been com- 

 municated to the public through, the press. Special 

 facts and circumstances, which it has not been 

 deemed prudent to publish iu detail, seemed to de- 

 mand an immediate change in the Treasury, and, im- 

 pelled by that necessity, but without specific author- 

 ity of law, I suggested to Mr. Lappin that his resig- 

 nation would be acceptable, and it was promptly 

 tendered. For the second time, during my incum- 

 bency of the Executive office, Hon. John Francis was 

 invited to assume the arduous and responsible duties 

 of State Treasurer, and his acceptance is a sufficient 

 guarantee to the people that those duties will be hon- 

 orably discharged. 



_ Suits have been brought against Mr. Lappin and 

 his sureties for the recovery of the money of which 

 the school-fund has been defrauded, through the 

 purchase of these forged bonds. Criminal proceed- 

 ings have also been instituted against him for par- 

 ticipation in the forgeries, and he has been held to 

 answer at the next term of the District Court for 

 Shawnee County. It would not become me to enter 

 UDon a discussion of the facts which impelled the 

 initiation of legal proceedings ; the impropriety of 

 such a course will be obvious. The cases are to be 

 judicially determined, and while I intend to insist 

 upon a vigorous prosecution, it is far from my pur- 

 pose to say or dp anything which might have' a ten- 

 dency to prejudice the rights of the accused, or to 

 lessen the chances of a fair and impartial trial. It 

 is proper to add, however, that the public interest 

 demands that the person or persons guilty of this 

 crime should be punished, and that, too, without 

 unnecessary delay. The government is strong in 

 proportion as it shows itself entitled to the confidence 

 of the people. The prompt, faithful, and fearless 



KASHGAR. 



discharge of duty by all public officers, and a vigor- 

 ous execution of the law, are the only means by 

 which that confidence can be preserved. It will be 

 the duty of the Legislature to provide the proper 

 department of the government with the funds re- 

 quisite to the energetic prosecution of these cases. 



A full investigation, by the Legislature, of the 

 management of the school-fund, is desired by the 

 Commissioners, and would seem to be proper. 



The repeal of the law of 1872, authorizing the in- 

 vestment of "this fund in school-district bonds, is 

 earnestly recommended, together with an amend- 

 ment requiring that all securities purchased by the 

 Commissioners shall be inspected and approved by 

 the Auditor, and a record thereof kept in his office. 



KASHGAR, also called East Toorkistan, a 

 Mohammedan empire in Central Asia, former- 

 ly a part of the Chinese Empire ; area in 1874, 

 574,000 square miles ; population, about 1,000,- 

 000 ; ruler, Mohammed Yakub Beg. 



The report that the Chinese Government in 

 1874 sent out an army for reconquering Kash- 

 gar was confirmed. The progress of the Chi- 

 nese troops appears, however, to be very slow, 

 and up to February, 1876, no accounts of any 

 encounter between the two hostile armies had 

 been received. The Russian Invalide stated 

 that Yakub Khan kept a garrison of 10,000 

 men at his capital, and had dispatched 12,000 

 others to guard his eastern frontier against the 

 Chinese. All his troops were armed with 

 breech-loaders, and drilled according to Eu- 

 ropean tactics. 



The feeling of the Russian Government, as 

 well as the Russian press, toward Yakub Beg 

 appeared to be unfriendly. He was openly 

 charged with having instigated the rising of 

 the tribes in Khokan against Russia. It was 

 also believed that the awakening of Moham- 

 medan fanaticism in Central Asia was largely 

 due to his instigation, as he hoped to find in it 

 an element of strength in his conflict with 

 China. 



The hopes which the conclusion of a treaty 

 between England and Kashgar awakened in 

 British India were not realized. A Central 

 Asiatic Trading Company was formed in the 

 Punjab, to develop the commercial relations 

 with Kashgar, and on June 30, 1874, sent the 

 first caravan (500 beasts of burden) to Kash- 

 gar; but the result was not satisfactory, and 

 no caravan was sent off in 1875. Indian pa- 

 pers, which are known to be influenced by the 

 Government, gave very little encouragement 

 to the schemes of Yakub Beg. Thus the Al- 

 lahabad Gazette, of Simla, stated, on July 9, 

 1875, that in November, 1874, an embassador 

 of Yakub Beg had arrived in India, and had 

 proposed to the Government of British India 

 an offensive and defensive alliance between 

 Kashgar, the Mohammedan states of Central 

 Asia, and Great Britain; that the Govern- 

 ment of India, however, had advised Yakub 

 Beg to keep on good terms with Russia. 



Sir H. Rawlinson, in his work, "England 

 and Russia in the East " (London, 1875), speaks 

 thus of the relations of Kashgar to England 

 and Russia : 



