MINNESOTA. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



569 



In December an important Commercial Con- 

 vention was held at St. Paul, at which the fol- 

 lowing resolutions were adopted : 



Whereas, The rapid settlement and fertile charac- 

 ter of the vast region of country north and west of 

 the head of Lake Superior, and its inexaustible min- 

 eral and timber resources, call for such improvement 

 of our northern waterway as will give the largest 

 sized vessels free and uninterrupted navigation 

 through the great lakes, and thus secure to the 

 producer the cheapest and most direct route and to 

 the consumer the products of tho region at the 

 smallest cost ; and 



Whereas, The greatest obstruction to the waterway 

 is in the St. Mary's River, between Lake Supperior 

 and Lake Huron, the present condition of which 

 permits vessels of but 12 feet draught to pass, and 

 although the Government has made large expendi- 

 tures in the construction of a ship-canal for vessels 

 drawing 16 feet of water, it can not be available for 

 the purposes designed until such further improve- 

 ments are made to the river below as will give the 

 required depth of water, and thus save the present 

 loss of 30 per cent, in the carrying capacity of modern 

 lake vessels and the annually recurring loss of so 

 much of the public wealth: therefore, 



Resolved, That we respectfully urge upon Congress 

 the immediate acceptance by the United States of 

 St. Mary's Canal in accordance with the offer of the 

 State of Michigan of April 3,1869, its establishment 

 as a free canal, and the speedy completion of the 

 new lock and its approaches. 



_ Resolved, That we ask of Congress an appropria- 

 tion for the further survey of the channels between 

 Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and so much for the 

 improvement of the present channel and the St. Clair 

 flats and Detroit River as in the opinion of the War 

 Department can be judiciously expended the coming 

 season. 



Resolved, That we further petition Congress for an 

 appropriation to complete the survey of the harbor 

 at the head of Lake Superior and its early improve- 

 ment, so as to meet the present increasing demands 

 ot commerce. 



Resolved, That it is of the utmost importance that 

 the necessary harbors on the northern waterway be 

 suitably improved. 



Resolved, That a committee of nine be appointed 

 by the president of this Convention to draft and pre- 

 sent to Congress a memorial embodying the requests 



of this Commercial Convention and our reasons 

 therefor. 



The commercial growth of St. Paul has been 

 steady and rapid in recent years. In 1877 its 

 wholesale trade was estimated at more than 

 $25,000,000, which was considerably greater 

 than that of any previous year. During 1878 

 there was an increase of nearly $5,000,000 in 

 this trade. This increase is shown to be still 

 greater and more remarkable by the fact that 

 prices were from 15 to 20 per cent, lower in 

 the latter than in the former year. 



MISSISSIPPI. The Legislature of the State 

 assembled on January 7th, and after a session of 

 fifty days adjourned on March 6th. Some im- 

 portant general laws were enacted, among which 

 was an act to establish and maintain in the State 

 a system of public free schools. It provides 

 that the system shall be administered by a board 

 of education, a superintendent of public educa- 

 tion, county superintendents of public educa- 

 tion, and local boards of school trustees. Any 

 town of one thousand or more inhabitants may 

 constitute a school district. White and col- 

 ored youth are not to be taught in the same 

 school-house, nor in school-houses nearer to 

 each other than two and a half miles. Twenty 

 days of actual teaching constitute a school 

 month. The Bible shall not be excluded from 

 the public free schools. The amount paid out 

 of the school fund shall not exceed seven and 

 one half cents per day for each pupil of the 

 whole number in the monthly average atten- 

 dance. To support the schools there are set 

 apart the proceeds of lands sold for taxes, from 

 fines, forfeitures, breaches of penal laws, li- 

 censes, poll-taxes, etc. ; and whenever the 

 amount is less than $200,000 for any year, it 

 is to be made up out of the general fund. 



Another act constituted the Alcorn Univer- 

 sity as an agricultural college for the educa- 

 tion of the colored youth of the State, to be 

 hereafter known as the Alcorn Agricultural 

 and Mechanical College of the State of Missis- 

 sippi. An agricultural college for the educa- 

 tion of the white youth of the State was also 

 established, and designated as the Agricultural 

 and Mechanical College of the State of Missis- 

 sippi. The donation of 210,000 acres of land 

 made by Congress was appropriated to the 

 support of these institutions. Each college is 

 placed under the charge of a distinct board of 

 trustees. 



An act was also passed making provision for 

 a system of high schools and colleges furnish- 

 ing a course of instruction intermediate between 

 the common-school course and the university 

 course. The first section provides that where 

 suitable school buildings and a library of 200 

 bound volumes of well-selected miscellaneous 

 literature are furnished without expense to 

 the State, and where a faculty of one or more 

 teachers of good moral and educational standing 

 in the State shall have associated themselves 

 as a faculty in such school, students attending 

 such school from any county in the State shall 



