594 



MINNESOTA. 



The following counties show a slight decrease 

 in wheat-acreage for 1881 : Blue Earth, Brown, 

 Cottonwood, Dakota, Dodge, Faribault, Fill- 

 more, Freeborn, Houston, Jackson, Martin, 

 Mower, Murray, Nobles, Olmsted, Redwood, 

 Rock, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca, Washington, 

 "Watonwan, and Winona. 



The acreage devoted to flaxseed in 1881 is 

 more than double that of the previous year, 

 and the yield per acre nearly ten bushels of 

 seed is greater than it has been for many 

 years previous. The prominent flaxseed-rais- 

 ing counties are as follows : 



Following are the statistics of forest-trees, 

 planted and growing : 



COWS AND DAIEY PRODUCTS IN 1880. 



Number of milch-cows 228,955 



Pounds of butter produced 15,693.283 



Pounds of cheese produced 417,994 



Number of milch-cows, 1 881 222,062 



Number of cheese-fectories, 1881 31 



SHEEP AND WOOL IN 1881. 



Number of sheep 215.453 



Wool produced, pounds 928,170 



The wheat-crop of 1881 was about 34,000,- 

 000 bushels. 



The following statistics of Sunday-schools 

 were reported to the State Sabbath-School 

 Convention : 



The census of 1880 furnishes the following 

 figures: 



Whites, native to the State 299,830 



Colored, native to the State 8,541 



Whites, natives of other States and Territories 212,084 



Colored, natives of other States and Territories 1,188 



Total native population 613,097 



Total foreign population 267,676 



Total population 780,778 



Of the foreign-born population, the Scandi- 

 navian countries contribute the greatest num- 

 ber, showing a total of 107,770: Norway, 

 62,521; Sweden, 39,176; Denmark, 6,071. The 

 next largest portion is from German Europe, 

 whence come 78,460 souls. From the Cana- 

 dian provinces there are 29,789 ; Ireland sends 

 25,942; Great Britain, 12,609; Bohemia, Hun- 

 gary, and Poland, 10,333; France, Spain, and 

 Portugal, 1,388; China, 32; Japan, 1; South 

 Africa and Australia, 63 ; Asia and East India 

 Islands, 82 ; South and Central America, 45 ; 

 and from the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, 46. 



The Republican State Convention, consisting 

 of 308 delegates, met in St. Paul on the 28th 

 of September. The following ticket was nom- 

 inated : For Governor, Lucius F. Hubbard ; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Charles A. Gilman ; State 

 Auditor, W. W. Braden; Secretary of State, 

 Frederick von Baumbach ; Treasurer of State, 

 Charles Kittelson; Attorney-General, W. J. 

 Hahn ; Clerk of Supreme Court, Samuel H. 

 Nichols; Railroad Commissioner, James H. 

 Baker ; Supreme Judges, "William Mitchell, D. 

 A. Dickinson, and Charles E. Vanderburg. 



The platform adopted is as follows: 



The Kepublicans of Minnesota, in convention as- 

 sembled, declare the following as the principles on 

 which the Republican party has hitherto conducted 

 the government wisely and economically, aiid which 

 will continue to distinguish its policy : 



1. The true interests of the people demand the 

 maintenance of the broad constitutional distinction 

 between the duties of the Executive to nominate to 

 official position, uncontrolled by senatorial dictation, 

 and the exercise by the Senate of the right to confirm 

 or reject all appointments uninfluenced by Executive 

 interference ; the continuance of the policy of a me- 

 tallic currency, based on the standard ot the gold 



dollar ; the fostering and encouragement of the com- 

 merce and manufactures of the country by such inci- 

 dental protection as a necessary and discriminating 

 tariff will afford ; the just protection of the agricult- 

 ural interests by such national legislation as will re- 

 duce to the minimum the cost of transportation of the 

 products of the farm to the markets of the world ; the 

 continuance of the high standard of national credit 

 which we as a nation enjoy, by the preservation un- 

 tarnished of the public faith, and the prompt payment 

 of all honest obligations ; the enactment and rigid en- 

 forcement of laws prohibiting the imposition of assess- 

 ments upon clerks and employes ot the Government 

 for the purpose of defraying election expenses, and 

 the establishment of a permanent system of examina- 

 tion which shall secure the highest efficiency in the 

 public service. 



2. That the continuance of a free government un- 

 der republican forms is dependent upon the preser- 

 vation of the fullest and most perfect right to the 

 untrammeled and independent exercise by every elect- 

 or of the right to express his opinions upon men and 

 measures, by means of a free and secret ballot, and to 

 that end we denounce, as a blow aimed at the perma- 

 nency of free institutions, every attempt, whether by 

 force, intimidation, or fraud, to control, coerce, or de- 

 feat the independent action of the electors at any 

 election, whether State or national. 



3. That, recognizing the high importance of pro- 



