564 



MISSOURI. 



to serve in the Forty-eighth Congress passed 

 off peaceably. A troublesome dispute has 

 arisen in regard to the election in the Second 

 District, in which Hon. Van H. Manning, 

 Democrat, and General Chalmers, Independ- 

 ent, were the opposing candidates. On count- 

 ing the votes in the office of the Secretary of 

 State, it appeared that in Tate County 1,472 

 ballots were cast for J. R. Chalmers, and 1,166 

 for Van H. Manning. These facts were certi- 

 fied by the three Commissioners of Election for 

 Tate County, but the tally-sheet accompanying 

 the certificate read as follows: " For Congress, 

 Van H. Manning, 1,166 ; for J. R. Chambless, 

 1,472." On this showing the Secretary of 

 State felt compelled to issue the certificate 

 of election to Mr. Manning, though there is no 

 doubt that General Chalmers received a large 

 majority of the votes cast. The question is, 

 whether the return of the Commissioners of 

 Election, stating that J. R. Chalmers received 

 1,472 votes, or the tally-sheet showing that 

 J. R. Chambless received 1,472 votes, should 

 properly govern the decision of the Secretary 

 of State. Public opinion is pronounced in 

 favor of Chalmers, although that gentleman 

 has become exceedingly obnoxious to a major- 

 ity of the people of the State, and Mr. Man- 

 ning is universally respected and esteemed. 

 Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar was re-elected to the 

 United States Senate by a large majority of 

 both Houses of the Legislature. 



MISSOURI. STATE OFFICERS. The Gov- 

 ernor of the State was Thomas T. Crittenden, 

 elected in November, 1880 ; Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, Robert A. Campbell ; Secretary of State, 

 M. K. McGrath; State Auditor, John Walker; 

 Attorney-General, Daniel H. Mclntyre ; State 

 Treasurer, Philip E. Chappel; Supreme Court 

 Judge, Robert D. Day; Railroad Commissioner, 

 George C. Pratt ; Register of Lands, Robert 

 McCulloch. 



FINANCES. The finances of the State are in 

 a very satisfactory condition. The obligations 

 of the State are promptly met, and every legal 

 demand made upon the Treasurer is paid as 

 soon as presented. During the present admin- 

 istration not a warrant of the State has been 

 discounted because of non-payment ; nor is 

 there a warrant outstanding. Heretofore war- 

 rants have been issued and sent to the various 

 civil officers and other claimants throughout 

 the State, and, before the warrants were or 

 could be cashed, they were discounted by some 

 person or bank in the locality to which they 

 were sent. Now the warrants are sent by the 

 Auditor to the Treasurer, who issues a draft 

 therefor upon the Bank of Commerce of St. 

 Louis, upon which the money is received with- 

 out delay or discount. The whole indebtedness 

 of the State on January 1, 1883, was $13,979,- 

 000. Of this amount $3,031,000 is in the form 

 of certificates of indebtedness to the school 

 and seminary funds, which will be due in 1911. 

 This part is an amount which the people owe 

 to themselves. The debt will probably never 



be canceled, as the interest on it goes to the 

 common schools and the State University. It 

 is but a medium of collecting a tax for the sup- 

 port of education. The debt proper, therefore, 

 of the State amounts to $10,948,000, and bears 

 6 per cent interest. The assessment of prop- 

 erty for taxation for 1882 was $649,267,242. 

 It will be observed, therefore, that the interest 

 charge on the people is really only about one mill 

 one tenth of one per cent. The last of this 

 debt will fall due in 1895. With the certain 

 increase of property and the constant decrease 

 of the interest charge, the debt will be extin- 

 guished at the period named twelve years 

 from now. The constitutional provision on 

 this subject irrevocably fixes the interest and 

 sinking fund as follows : 



There shall be levied and collected an annual tax 

 of one fifth of one per centum (twenty cents on the 

 hundred dollars) on all real estate and other property 

 and effects subject to taxation, the proceeds of which 

 shall be applied to the payment of the interest on the 

 bonded debt of this State as it matures, and the sur- 

 plus, if any, shall be paid into the sinking fund, and 

 thereafter applied to the payment of such indebtedness 

 and to no other purpose. 



During the two years of the administration 

 of Governor Crittenden, the public debt has 

 been reduced $712,000 ; of which $252,000 was 

 paid in 1881, and $460,000 in 1882. This sum 

 shows the amount of bonds taken up and re- 

 tired since January 10, 1881, with the surplus 

 revenue, proper, of the State, and does not in- 

 clude the $250,000 renewal revenue bonds 

 also paid in 1881 issued under act of May 9, 

 1879, making a total reduction of $962,000 of 

 the liabilities of the State. If other bonds 

 could have been called during this year, or 

 purchased at a reasonable premium, there is 

 now sufficient surplus revenue on hand to retire 

 $300,000 more of the State's indebtedness. At 

 no previous period has the State's indebtedness 

 been so rapidly diminished, or the State grown 

 so rapidly, in those elements which give a 

 State a character at home and abroad, as with- 

 in the last two years. 



LOCAL INDEBTEDNESS. The bonded indel 

 edness of the counties, as shown by the report 

 made by the Auditor under date of January 1st, 

 is $10,840,082, and that of the townships 

 $2,649,331 total, $13,489,414. The interest on 

 much the larger proportion of this is promptly 

 paid and a sinking fund provided for the liqui- 

 dation of the principal. No more county or 

 township debts are created. It is, therefore, 

 safe to say that when the State debt shall 

 be extinguished, in 1895, there will be lit- 

 tle of the county and township indebtedness 

 left. 



The bonded indebtedness of cities and incor- 

 porated towns in Missouri, omitting St. Louis, 

 is small. The amount is set down at $3,938,- 

 970. Of this amount Kansas City and St. 

 Joseph owe about one half. So that, outside 

 of St. Louis, St. Joseph, and Kansas City, the 

 cities and towns of the State owe only about 

 $2,000,000. The debt of St. Louis is nearly 



