560 



MINNESOTA. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



717 bushels of flax-seed produced in 1881, on 

 83,947 acres, an average of a little over six 

 bushels per acre. The acreage planted in 1882 

 was 98,309 acres and the estimated production 

 about seven bushels per acre. Flax is planted 

 not merely for the value of the product ; it is 

 usually sown as a first crop on newly broken 

 ground, as it keeps out weeds and rots the sod, 

 and is the only crop which can be raised the 

 first year. When grown for the seed alone, it is 

 not ordinarily profitable. The cultivation of 

 flax for the fiber is still in the experimental 

 stage. Besides the difficulty of securing a good 

 fiber, it must be handled with great care. Most 

 of the fiber grown in the Northwest is burned 

 after thrashing. 



During 1882 there were constructed within 

 the State 531 miles of new railroad, making the 

 total mileage 3,749 miles. The total cost is 

 returned as $149,312,631, or $43,934 per mile. 

 The value of the subsidies in bonds and lands 

 given to the companies by the State of Min- 

 nesota is stated by the Kailroad Commissioner 

 to be $76,489,790. The earnings of the lines 

 within the States for the year ending June 30th 

 were reported as $4,816,218 from passengers 

 and $13,158,697 from freight; the total earn- 

 ings as $18,805,193 ; the operating expenses as 

 $10,221,783. There were 9,962,393 passengers 

 carried and 5,883,120 tons of freight transport- 

 ed during the year. The amount of taxes paid 

 to the State by railroad companies was $470,- 

 593 in 1882, against $315,482 in 1880, $200,171 

 in 1878, and $145,794 in 1876 ; the aggregate 

 amount of taxes collected from the companies 

 since 1864 was $2,641,334. Two of the rail- 

 road corporations have refused to pay taxes on 

 a part of their incomes, setting up a claim of 

 legal exemption. 



The war of rates between the lines of the 

 Northwest, which arose from a dispute over 

 "territorial rights" between the rival com- 

 panies, called forth a cry of warning from 

 Governor Hubbard. He reminded the com- 

 panies that they were the creatures of the au- 

 thority of the State; that it endowed them 

 with valuable franchises and enormous subsi- 

 dies, and afforded them that protection which 

 gives to all property its greatest value; that 

 their legitimate resources are derived from the 

 patronage of the public, and that their proper 

 and legal relation to the public can only be 

 maintained by dispensing exact justice to ev- 

 ery individual and locality. The Railroad Com- 

 missioner has elaborated a project for the reg- 

 ulation of rates by a Board of Control, based 

 upon a classification of the roads according to 

 income, and a maximum rate for each class. The 

 question of regulating rates was decided in the 

 negative by the Legislature in 1871, but the 

 recent prosperity of the railroads has wrought 

 some change in the public feeling. It is pro- 

 posed to place telegraph companies on the 

 same basis as railroads with respect to inspec- 

 tion and taxation, and to require sleeping-car 

 companies to pay a tax on their income. More 



effective legislation is demanded, to compel 

 railroad companies to perform their duty as 

 common carriers in the shipment of grain. 



The question of public grain inspection is, 

 next to the prohibition question, the most im- 

 portant and pressing subject that engages the 

 attention of the Legislature in the second bi- 

 ennial session. The farmers generally com- 

 plain of frauds and abuses practiced upon them 

 in the warehousing and grading of grain. They 

 are placed so entirely in the power of the buy- 

 ers, whosejudgment they must accept regarding 

 the quality and value of their products, that 

 the wrongs practiced upon them are exagger- 

 ated in their eyes. They consequently de- 

 mand that a system of official grading, and the 

 regulation of elevators and warehouses, such 

 as has been adopted in other States for the 

 protection of dealers from each other, should 

 be adopted in Minnesota, to protect the pro- 

 ducers from the dealers. 



The exploration of large deposits of iron- 

 ore in the Vermilion Lake region has been be- 

 gun on a large scale. The ore is of extraordi- 

 nary value, it being the specular hematite va- 

 riety, which is best adapted for the production 

 of Bessemer steel. Analyses show 65 to 70 

 per cent of iron, with only 0*053 to 0'078 per 

 cent of phosphorus. 



MISSISSIPPI. STATE OFFICEKS. Govern- 

 or, Robert Lowry ; Lieutenant-Governor, G. 

 D. Shands; Secretary of State, Henry C. 

 Myers ; Treasurer, W. L. Hemingway ; Audi- 

 tor, Sylvester Gwin; Attorney-General, T. C. 

 Catchings ; Commissioner of Agriculture and 

 Immigration, E. G. Wall ; Superintendent of 

 Public Education, J. A. Smith. United States 

 Senators, Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar and Hon. J. 

 Z. George. Members-elect of the Forty-eighth 

 Congress H. S. Muldrow, First District; Van 

 H. Manning (seat contested by J. R. Chalmers), 

 Second District; E. Jeffords, Third District; 

 H. D. Money, Fourth District ; O. R. Single- 

 ton, Fifth District ; H. S. Van Eaton, Sixth 

 District, and Ethel Barksdale, Seventh Dis- 

 trict. 



FINANCES. The revenues of the State for 

 1882 and 1883 are computed as follows: 



Taxation on real and personal property, on a 

 total valuation of $115,150,120, at the rate of 

 2f mills, the rate now fixed by law, will pro- 

 duce for two years $575, T50 (JO 



Cash in the Treasury 500,000 00 



Gtaeral tax on privileges 348,612 29 



Collections of 1881 not reported 800,000 00 



Probable revenue from Land-Office 40,000 00 



Probable revenue through revenue agent 25,000 00 



Derived from compromise with Mississippi and 

 Tennessee Kailroad 65,000 01 



Total $1,849,362 89 



Expenditures for the same period : 



Salaries $105,75000 



Appropriations 722,847 71 



Immigration 25,500 00 



Legislature 70,495 00 



University of Mississippi 64,000 00 



Common schools 600,000 00 



Probable expenses not yet ascertained 100,000 0(1 



Total expenditures $1,688,592 Tl 



Deducting this sum from the total revenue, 



