558 



MINNESOTA. 



The question of recognizing the obligation 

 Of the State to pay what are known as the 

 " railroad bonds " has not ceased to occupy 

 the attention of the people, though the last 

 Legislature refused to take any action. A com- 

 mittee of each branch made a labored report 

 undertaking to show that the State was under no 

 moral or legal obligation to provide for them, 

 but this view evidently has not the support of 

 public opinion. The matter was made the 

 subject of a special report by the State Baptist 

 Convention in October. The committee, which 

 was appointed at the previous convention to 

 consider the matter, after going into the his- 

 tory of legislation and judicial action affecting 

 the bonds, submitted the following resolutions, 

 which were unanimously adopted : 



1. That the Minnesota State Kailroad bonds are 

 legal and moral obligations against the State. 



2. That until such time as the State shall provide 

 for the payment of the interest on said bonds, the 

 charge of practical repudiation is sustained. 



3. That it is the religious duty of every Christian 

 member of the Commonwealth to do all in his power, 

 by his voice, vote, and pen, to arouse the public mind 

 and conscience to the legal and moral obligations of 

 the State to provide for the honorable settlement of 

 our suspended State indebtedness. 



The Governor, in his message to the Legis- 

 lature of 1877, renewed his recommendation 

 that some action be taken to fulfill the long- 

 neglected duty of the State in regard to these 

 bonds. After reviewing the history of the 

 case once more, he said : 



It is difficult to see why these decisions do not 

 effectually dispel the clouds and mists which have 

 so long enveloped the subject, leaving the golden 

 line of duty stretching out clear and distinct before 

 the representatives of the people, and the State of 

 Minnesota must hereafter stand dumb when ques- 

 tioned as to why she does not walk by it. 



With such unmistakable and imperative com- 

 mands from the voice of law, equity, and honor, is 

 tlie question not reduced to the simple one of our 

 willingness to pay an honest debt? And can our 

 young State with so fair a future as a member of the 

 sisterhood in this triumphant era of the nation's 

 centenary afford to rest under so damaging an im- 

 putation? 



The law which gives to juries the sole power 

 to inflict capital punishment for the crime of 

 murder is said to work unsatisfactorily, as a 

 plea of guilty will prevent even the worst 

 cases from going to a jury at all, and render 

 the extreme penalty impossible. The Governor 

 recommends the abolition or amendment of 

 the law. 



The grasshopper or locust plague has been 

 a subject of serious consideration in this State. 

 For three successive seasons it has inflicted 

 very great injury upon the growing crops. The 

 insects come in vast swarms from the Rocky 

 Mountains, and settling upon thriving fields de- 

 vour every vestige of vegetation in a few hours. 

 Thus far the farmers have been almost helpless 

 in striving to check its devastation. Official re- 

 ports show that the destruction of the most im- 

 portant products in 1875 reached the following 

 aggregates in the several counties mentioned : 



Other counties suffered severely, from which 

 no official reports were received. The devas- 

 tation in 1874 is indicated in the following 

 statement : 



The bounties paid for the destruction of 

 grasshoppers in seven counties in 1875 amount- 

 ed to $78,505.81, the whole amount destroyed, 

 for which bounties were paid, being 56,336J 

 bushels of the insects. Governor Pillsbury 

 has devoted much attention to the subject, and 

 secured a conference of Governors of several 

 States at Omaha, Neb., on the 25th and 26th 

 of October, to consider the means for averting 

 or mitigating this destructive plague. His 

 conclusions are, that it is entirely practicable 

 to prevent ravages by insects hatched upon 

 the soil of the State, but against the full- 

 fledged swarms that come from distant places 

 " man, with all his resources, can but stand 

 helpless and aghast." He thinks that by co- 

 operation among all the States liable to the 

 ravages of the pest, to exterminate it from their 

 own soil, its power for destruction will be 

 greatly reduced. 



JOHN S. PILLSBTTRY, Governor of Minnesota 

 for the terra of two years, ending in January, 

 1878, was born in Sutton, N. H., July, 1827. 

 At the age of sixteen he entered the store ot 

 his brother, at Warner, N. H., as a clerk, and 

 subsequently went into business in that town 

 with ex-Governor Walter Harriman. At a 

 later period he was in business in Concord, N". 

 H., but went West in 1854, and finally settled 

 at St. Anthony's Falls, Minn., where he engaged 

 in the hardware business. He has been active, 

 energetic, and successful, and has taken a lively 

 interest in the public affairs of the State. He 

 served in the Senate ten or twelve years, and 





