Missori:i. 



641 



Legislature, and the measures of relief abovo 

 mentioned failed of a final passage. 



There were, however, modifications mado in 

 some of the tax -laws. Thus the revised reve- 

 nue law of the State as agreed upon by the 

 Legislature, while leaving the general text of 

 the old law undisturbed, made a few changes. 

 In the first place, it extended the exemption 

 from State taxes which certain kinds of prop- 

 erty enjoyed to all other taxes, and made such 

 property free from county, city, and school 

 taxes also. The now provision concerning the 

 return of notes and bonds is very rigorous. 

 The old law merely required the tax-payer to 

 return the gross amount of such notes and 

 bonds owned by him or her, and this require- 

 ment was easily evaded. To make it more 

 effective, the new provision requires the re- 

 turn to give a detailed statement of all notes 

 and bonds owned the amount and date of 

 each separate note and bond, and the name of 

 the maker. The tax-payer is to make oath to 

 this list, and to state the value of the notes and 

 bonds so returned; but his valuation is not 

 final, as it is subject to review by the County 

 Board of Equalization. It was thought this 

 provision would secure the return of a large 

 amount of notas and bonds held in the State 

 which the owners have habitually refused to 

 give in for taxation. Another law was also 

 passed which more explicitly regulated the as- 

 sessment and taxation of railroads. 



The matter of the late State Treasurer Gates 

 (see " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1878, MISSOURI) 

 was before the Legislature during the entiro 

 session. A committee of the House reported 

 on the subject. Resolutions were adopted to 

 appoint a committee to propose articles of im- 

 paachment, which were reported, and in the 

 end failed to pass. The whole case is summed 

 up in the following statement : 



There is no one in the State who wants to wreak 

 vengeance on the State Treasurer. On the contrary, 

 there is among those who believe he ought to be im- 

 peached an almost universal sympathy for his mis- 

 fortunes, and a keen rejret that the scheming authors 

 and beneficiaries of his misconduct can not be reached, 

 instead of himself. It is known that ho was en- 

 trapped into the official malfeasance that constitutes 

 the ground of complaint by others, who sought to per- 

 vert him and his public trust to their own advantage, 

 and it would be a relief to the public if these could bo 

 punished and he permitted to escape. It is because he 

 is the official a^ent of the wrong done, and the only 

 figure that disciplinary measures must take hold of, 

 that the demand for proceeding lurninst him is made. 

 It is absurd to deny that the State Treasurer has done 

 anything wrong. He has admitted the very wrongs 

 charged : first, that he refused to obey the constitu- 

 tional requirement about depositing the State moneys, 

 because tliore was no penalty for the offense though 

 this absence of penalty did not prevent him from obey- 

 ing the requirement after the moneys had been lost ; 

 second, that he took $5,000 out of the Treasury and 

 gave it to persons in Jackson County as indemnity 

 a/iiinst loss in going bail for him in his individual 

 lawsuit : third, thatne deposited $300,000 in the Mas- 

 tin B:mk, after the owners thereof had virtually con- 

 i to him that it was insolvent thus using the 

 State's money to keep up a failing bank. There is no 

 disputing these facts. They stand admitted ; and 



VOL. xix. 41 A 



though the State may, after a protracted lawsuit, re- 

 cover the $286,000 due from the Mastin Bank, it Is 

 for the people's Representative* and Senators to decide 

 whether they can afford to permit a conspicuous mal- 

 feasance to pass unrebuked. 



Although the Legislature did not make anj 

 special provision for bringing suit against the 

 Treasurer, yet there is a general law regulating 

 official bonds, recently passed, which reaches 

 the caso. It makes it " the duty of the Gov- 

 ernor, whenever, in his judgment, the interest 

 of the State would be promoted thereby, to 

 direct the Attorney-General, in the name of 

 the State, to bring and prosecute any suit or 

 suits, upon any official bond or bonds executed 

 to the State, as to him may seem proper"; 

 and it further empowers the Governor to in- 

 spect the books, minutes, papers, and vouchers, 

 or direct the same to be done by the Attorney- 

 General, in any of the State offices, so that^he 

 may have a thorough understanding of the "af- 

 fairs of the State office inquired into. 



A bill was passed to provide for the estab- 

 lishment of a Bureau of Labor Statistics, ap- 

 propriating $5,000 biennially for its support. 

 The Commissioner, appointed by the Governor 

 every two years, is to be some suitable person 

 identified with the labor interests of the State. 

 His duty will be to collect, assort, classify, and 

 publish in annual reports, statistical details re- 

 lating to all the industries in the State giving 

 the number of persons employed in the various 

 industries, the rate of wages paid, the amount 

 of raw material used, and the value of the fin- 

 ished product. 



A bill was also passed to provide for the estab- 

 lishment of an Immigration Bureau, with three 

 Commissioners. It makes an annual appropria- 

 tion of $5,000 for the object, and assigns to the 

 Bureau as a part of its duty to collect and 

 compile, from all available sources, correct sta- 

 tistics and descriptions of the material re- 

 sources and social condition of the State, and 

 from time to time to prepare and publish pam- 

 phlets, with maps of the State, essays, and 

 articles correctly describing its developed and 

 undeveloped agricultural and mineral resources 

 and manufacturing interests, and such other 

 local information as may be of interest to im- 

 migrants. It is urged in favor of the State as 

 a desirable location for immigrants, that the 

 land is very cheap ; that it has a well-arranged 

 and nearly complete system of railroads pene- 

 trating to all sections of the State, while in the 

 newer States the cheap lands lie in regions re- 

 mote from the few railway lines built; that it 

 possesses both timber and prairie lands, its 

 forests yielding valuable woods for which there 

 is a constant market, and at the same time 

 furnishing a protection against the droughts 

 that afflict unwooded regions. To these may be 

 added an abundance of good water, supplied 

 by both flowing springs and running streams. 

 Missouri is a very largo State, more than a 

 third larger than New York, and a considerable 

 proportion of its area has never been brought 



