MINNESOTA. 



525 



this question in the English courts was tried in 

 the United States Circuit Court held in Phila- 

 delphia in 1842. The American ship William 

 Brown was wrecked on a voyage from Liver- 

 pool to Philadelphia. The crew and some of 

 the passengers escaped in two boats. To light- 

 en one of the boats, several passengers were 

 thrown overboard by the seamen. There was 

 no drawing of lots. Holmes was indicted for 

 manslaughter under a statute of the United 

 States. The defense was justifiable homicide 

 to save life. The Court (Justice Baldwin) 

 explained that the indictment was for man- 

 slaughter instead of murder, because there 

 was no malice, and malice was essential to 

 murder. He held that the necessity alleged in 

 this case was not the necessity that justified 

 homicide. Moreover, there was a distinction 

 between the status of passengers and that of 

 seamen in case of shipwreck. He said : 



The sailor is bound to undergo whatever hazard is 

 necessary to preserve the boat and the passengers. 

 Should the emergency become so extreme as to call 

 for the sacrifice of life, there can be no reason why the 

 law does not still remain the same ; the passenger, not 

 being bound either to labor or incur the risk of life, 

 can not be bound to sacrifice his existence to preserve 

 the sailor's. The captain, indeed, and a sufficient 

 number of seaman to navigate the boat, must be pre- 

 served ; for, except these abide in the ship, all will 

 perish. But if there be more seamen than are neces- 

 sary to manage the boat, the supernumerary sailors 

 have no right, for their safety, to sacrifice the passen- 

 gers. The sailors and passengers, in fact, can not be 

 regarded as in equal positions. The sailor (to use the 

 language of a distinguished writer) owes more benevo- 

 lence to another than to himself; he is bound to set a 

 greater value on the life of others than on his own ; 

 and while we admit that sailor and sailor may law- 

 fully struggle with each other for the plank that can 

 save but one, we think that if the passenger is on the 

 plank, even the law of necessity justifies not the sailor 

 who takes it from him. 



Holmes was convicted and sentenced to six 

 months 1 imprisonment. The case is reported 

 in the first volume of "Wallace, Jr.'s, Reports. 



MINNESOTA. State Government. The follow- 

 ing were the State officers during the year: 

 Governor, Lucius F. Hubbard, Republican; 

 Lieutenant- Governor, Charles A. Gilman ; Sec- 

 retary of State, Frederick von Baumbach; 

 Treasurer, Charles Kittelson ; Auditor, W. "W. 

 Braden ; Attorney-General, W. J. Halm ; Su- 

 perintendent of Public Instruction, D. L. 

 Kiehle ; Public Examiner, H. M. Knox ; Insur- 

 ance Commissioner, A. R. McGill; Commis- 

 sioner of Statistics, Oscar Malmros ; Railroad 

 Commissioner, James H. Baker. Judiciary, Su- 

 preme Court: Chief-Justice, James Gilfillan; 

 Associates, John M. Berry, William Mitchell, 

 D. A. Dickinson, and Charles E. Vanderburg. 



General Condition. The Governor, in his mes- 

 sage to the Legislature of 1885. makes these 

 observations : 



The two years that have elapsed since the Legisla- 

 ture was in session have been marked by a large in- 

 crease in the population of our State, and a correspond- 

 ing accession to the aggregate wealth of our people. 

 The increase in the assessed valuation of real and per- 

 sonal property has been about 25 per cent, within two 

 years and 50 per cent, since 1880. 



During the year just closed, Minnesota has been 

 blessed with harvests of surpassing abundance. Under 

 the conditions ordinarily prevailing, this would assure 

 to our people great prosperity, but the experience of 

 all grain-growing countries of the world has been so 

 like our own in this respect that, as a consequence, 

 the great distributing markets, unable to absorb the 

 rapid accumulations, have now such a plethora of all 

 cereal products that values have declined till they 

 barely return to the grower the cost of production. In 

 the older sections of the State where our agricultural 

 industry has demonstrated the adaptability of our soil 

 and climate to the employment of the most advanced 

 methods of husbandry, there have rapidly developed 

 in recent years large interests in stock-raising and 

 extensive dairy establishments. 



Finances* To conform to the changes in the 

 fiscal year made by the last Legislature, the re- 

 ports of the current period cover the eight 

 months ending July 31, 1883, and the year end- 

 ing July 31, 1884. 



The cash balance Dec. 1, 1882, was $143,- 

 098.58; July 31, 1883, $303,586.44; receipts 

 during the eight months, $1,875,198.99 ; dur- 

 ing the year ending July 31, 1884, $3,362,562.- 

 72; disbursements, $1,714,711.13 and $2,729,- 

 354.12 respectively; balance, July 31, 1884, 

 $936,795.04, including 



State institutions fund $184,868 01 



Permanent school fund 434,803 90 



General school fund 258,576 57 



There had been disbursed during the twenty 

 months covered by these transactions of the 

 treasury, $778,416.55 for the maintenance of 

 State institutions, $612,022.59 in the construc- 

 tion of new buildings for public use, $378,278.- 

 82 for interest on the State debt, and $650,- 

 158.99 for the general expenses of the State 

 government ; all of which has been met by the 

 ordinary revenues of the State, except a part 

 of the interest charge, which is paid from the 

 income of the internal improvement land fund. 

 This interest account, almost wholly due to the 

 railroad adjustment bonds, is a burden recent- 

 ly imposed upon the treasury, and a large part 

 of the expenditure for public buildings has 

 been required to replace structures destroyed 

 by fire. The one-mill tax to which the levy 

 has been reduced, with the other revenues of 

 the State, have, however, been sufficient to pro- 

 vide for this unusual outlay and leave a bal- 

 ance in the treasury. 



In 1872 all receipts for taxes on railroad and 

 telegraph companies were set apart as a special 

 fund for the support of the State institutions. 

 At that time the amount realized from these 

 sources was but $57,087.14. It has now be- 

 come the principal source of revenue the State 

 enjoys, amounting the past year to $651,378.- 

 18, largely in excess of the demands upon it. 



The additions to the permanent trust funds 

 of the State during the twenty months were as 

 follow : 



Permanent school fund $888,306 15 



Permanent university fund 37,663 64 



Internal improvement land fund 189,528 98 



Total $1,110,498 72 



The aggregate accumulations of these funds 

 amount to $8,219,026.39, divided as follows: 



