MINNESOTA. 



565 



Section 7 of the act supplementary to the 

 act passed in 1877, to provide uniform and 

 cheap text-books for the public schools of the 

 State, provides that a majority of the electors 

 of any school district may, at the annual school 

 meeting, designate for the ensuing year an 

 agent to sell the books furnished for the dis- 

 trict pursuant to the statute, and this agent is 

 authorized to add to the price of such books 

 fixed by the State Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction a commission to be determined by 

 the electors at the annual meeting. It is fur- 

 ther provided that " whenever any district 

 clerk shall have ordered a less number of 

 books than is actually needed by the pupils in 

 said district, the said clerk or any citizen of 

 said district shall have/the right to order the 

 books so needed directly from the contractor, 

 at the State list prices ; and the said contractor 

 shall designate at least one person in each or- 

 ganized county in this State, the county com- 

 missioners of which shall, by a vote of the 

 majority of all the members thereof, demand 

 the same ; and said person so designated shall 

 act as a depositary, to whom the said con- 

 tractor shall furnish a supply of text-books at 

 the State list prices ; and said depositaries 

 shall be entitled to charge a commission not 

 to exceed 10 per cent, for handling the same." 

 Keferring to the operation of the text-book 

 law, the Governor in his message to the Legis- 

 lature of 1879 says : " About one third of the 

 districts had ordered books of the contractor 

 to the 18th of November last. The demand 

 for them increases as districts come to replace 

 worn-out books in prior use. The introduc- 

 tion of the new books is thus gradual, and it 

 is estimated that in about forty -four districts 

 in one hundred they have been more or less 

 introduced. They give general satisfaction, 

 and there is reason to believe they will come 

 into general use within the time prescribed 

 by law. Their average cost per district has 

 thus far been $27.61." 



The act for the encouragement of higher 

 education establishes " the High School Board " 

 of commissioners on preparatory schools, con- 

 sisting of the Superintendent of Public In- 

 struction, the President of the University of 

 Minnesota, and one other person to be ap- 

 pointed by the Governor. Provision is made 

 for giving State aid to "any public graded 

 school in any incorporated village, or in any 

 township which has or may hereafter adopt 

 the township system of schools giving prepara- 

 tory instruction according to the terms and 

 provisions of this act, and admitting thereto 

 students of both sexes from any part of the 

 State, without charge for tuition in the same." 

 As a prerequisite to receiving aid, every school 

 applying must comply with the following con- 

 ditions : "First, that there be regular and 

 orderly courses of study, embracing all the 

 branches prescribed as prerequisite for admis- 

 sion to the collegiate department of the Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota, not lower than the third 



or sub-freshman class. Second, that the said 

 school receiving pecuniary aid under this act 

 shall at all times permit the said Board of 

 Commissioners, or any of them, to visit and 

 examine the classes pursuing the said prepara- 

 tory courses." 



A law was passed creating the office of Pub- 

 lic Examiner, who is to be appointed by the 

 Governor with the consent of the Senate, and 

 receive a salary of $3,500 a year. His duties 

 are "to assume and exercise a constant super- 

 vision over the books and financial accounts of 

 the several public, educational, charitable, pe- 

 nal, and reformatory institutions belonging to 

 the State. He shall prescribe and enforce cor- 

 rect methods for keeping the financial accounts 

 of said institutions, and instruct the proper 

 officers thereof in the due performance of their 

 duties concerning the same. It shall be his 

 duty to visit each of said institutions at ir- 

 regular periods, without previous notice to the 

 officers thereof, at least twice each year, and 

 make an exhaustive examination of the books 

 and accounts thereof, including a thorough 

 inspection of the purposes and detailed items 

 of expenditures and of the vouchers therefor." 

 He is further required to make to the Govern- 

 or an annual report of his proceedings. Ee- 

 ferring to the wisdom of creating this office, 

 the Governor says : "It is scarcely too much 

 to say that the information imparted and the 

 correctives applied by the Public Examiner 

 have already been the means of strangling a 

 number of incipient embezzlements, while the 

 more matured abuses exhibited by the conduct 

 of a displaced county auditor and by the re- 

 cent examination of the accounts of the Hos- 

 pital for the Insane, whether resulting from 

 unconscious or intentional misconduct, illus- 

 trate the wisdom of the Legislature in the 

 timely creation of this office." 



The ''act to promote immigration " created 

 a State Board of Immigration, to consist of 

 the Governor and two persons from each Con- 

 gressional district to be appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor and confirmed by the Senate. The chief 

 duty of the Board is to disseminate informa- 

 tion regarding the advantages offered by the 

 State to immigrants. For this purpose an ap- 

 propriation of $5,000 was made. Pursuant to 

 this act, two commissioners were appointed 

 by the Governor. A pamphlet showing the 

 resources of the State was at once prepared, 

 and about 70,000 copies of it were circulated. 



Among other acts passed by the Legislature 

 were those providing for the establishment of 

 a second asylum for the insane ; for the revi- 

 sion and compilation of the State statutes ; and 

 for the distribution of seed-grain to sufferers 

 from locust ravages, $150,000 being appropri- 

 ated for this purpose. 



The impeachment proceedings which were 

 begun against Sherman Page, Judge of the 

 Tenth Judicial District, for certain alleged cor- 

 rupt conduct, crimes, and misdemeanors in 

 office, resulted in his acquittal by the Senate. 



