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MINNESOTA. 



MINNESOTA, a Western State, admitted to the 

 Union May 1 1 , 1858 ; area, 83,865 square miles. The 

 population, according to each decennial census since 

 admission, was 172.023 in 1860; 439.706 in 1870; 

 780,773 in 1880: and 1,301,826 in 1890. By the 

 State census of 1895 it was 1,573,350. Capital, 

 Si. Paul. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during *he year: Governor, David M. 

 Clough; Lieutenant Governor, John L. Gibbs; 

 Secretary of State, Albert Berg; Treasurer, A. T. 

 Koerner; Auditor, R. C. Dunn; Attorney-General, 

 II. U. Childs; Adjutant General, II. Muehlberg; 

 Superintendent of Education, W. W. Prendergast ; 

 Commissioner of Insurance. E. H. Dearth ; Labor 

 Commissioner, L. Y. Powers; Bank Examiner, M. 

 1). Kenyon all Republicans; Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, Charles M. Start, Republican ; Asso- 

 ciate Justices, William Mitchell, Daniel Buck, and 

 Thomas Canty, Democrats, and L. W. Collins, Re- 

 publican ; Clerk, Darius F. Reese. 



Finances. The total in the State treasury by 

 the report to the Legislature of 1899 was $872,- 

 574.69. The Auditor submitted his estimate of 

 revenue receipts for the ensuing biennial period, 

 based on a tax levy of 1| mill. This rate, accord- 

 ing to the estimate, will produce $2,560,000 in the 

 first year, and leave a surplus of $279,000 over and 

 above estimated disbursements ; in the second year, 

 $2,655,000, with a surplus of $110,000. 



Gov. Lind recommended legislation for shifting 

 more of the burden of taxation from the posses- 

 sions of the poor to various forms of wealth that 

 now escape. The law which now requires the pay- 

 ment of a minimum incorporation fee of $50 to ob- 

 tain a corporate charter, and, in addition, one tenth 

 of 1 per cent, on the capitalization in excess of 

 $50.000, should, in his opinion, be extended so as to 

 apply also to foreign corporations doing business 

 in this State. The Governor also recommends the 

 levying of an annual franchise tax upon corpora- 

 tions, foreign and domestic. He says: "The legis- 

 lation now in force for taxing express, telegraph, 

 telephone, and sleeping-car companies in this State 

 is, in my judgment, radically defective, and should 

 be revised. The rate imposed of 3 per cent, on 

 gross earnings computed solely on local business 

 originating and ending within the State is grossly 

 inadequate. Situated as is our State on the high- 

 way of commerce between two oceans, with our 

 large centers of population near the State lines, it 

 is but a small proportion of our business that is 

 strictly local that is to say, business originating and 

 ending within the boundaries of the State. To im- 

 pose a percentage tax, or any tax levied directly on 

 the gross earnings, State and interstate, of these 

 monopolies, would be held a violation of the Federal 

 Constitution. The tax, whether it be a 3-per-cent. 

 or a greater rate, should be computed on a valua- 

 tion of the corporation's property employed in its 

 business in this State." 



The average rate of gross-earnings tax collected in 

 Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin is more than one third 

 higher than the rate imposed in this State. In the 

 pinion of the Governor, this is a state of affairs 

 that neither the Legislature nor the executive can 

 ignore; and he recommends a law by which rail- 

 road companies may have the choice between pay- 

 ment of a higher percentage on gross earnings and 

 pavment of a tax on their franchises and valuation. 



Education. Gov. dough's message to the Legis- 

 lature says: "In all departments the enrollment of 

 students has increased faster than the population. 

 The special schools for the blind, the deaf, and 

 other defectives aro each making improvements in 

 methods of work, and in other ways are coming to 

 deserve as well as to receive the commendation of 



the philanthropic workers throughout the State 

 and nation." 



It is announced that a debt of $3,6,000 on Ham- 

 line University has been paid this year by sub- 

 scription, J. J. Hill leading with $20.000. 



Pillsbury Academy received $250,000 from George 

 A. Pillsbury. 



In a suit for libel brought by the American Book 

 Company against the publishers of a pamphlet by 

 President Gates, of Iowa University, the decision 

 given in March was in favor of the book company, 

 with damages of $7,500. 



Seven years ago a system of free-school libraries 

 was established in Minnesota, and now there are 

 2,800 of such libraries in the State, access to which 

 is had by three fifths of the school children. The 

 number of the libraries is rapidly increasing. The 

 books are in charge of the teachers during the 

 school terms, and are kept in the school buildings. 

 During vacations they are in charge of the clerks 

 of school districts, but the children have access to 

 them. The State pays half the cost of buying now 

 books for the school libraries up to $40 on the first 

 year that they are established, and thereafter up to 

 $20 a year. 



Charities and Corrections. The hospitals for 

 the insane in the State contained, on July 31, 1898, 

 a total of 3,265 patients, of whom 1,895 were men 

 and 1,370 were women. 



The number of convicts in the State Prison at 

 Stillwater, according to the latest report at hand, 

 was 469. The prison is now more than self-sup- 

 porting, the net gain in earnings exceeding the ex- 

 penditures. 



The State Training School had an average num- 

 ber of aboat 367. 



Railroads. Minnesota, it is said, led the other 

 States in railroad construction in 1898. The Rail- 

 road Commission has held hearings during the year 

 in reference to freight rates on iron ore, but appar- 

 ently the decision had not been reached, at the close. 

 Testimony was given, "on the part of iron-ore men 

 and sales agents, to the effect that reductions in 

 freights by the ore roads of Minnesota would have 

 no effect in helping the independent mine owners, 

 who are supposed to have brought the case, but 

 would simply result in giving the Eastern furnace 

 men their ore at a cost less by just the reduction in 

 rates than it had been before." 



Insurance. The commissioner refused to re- 

 issue licenses to several mutual hail insurance com- 

 panies on the ground that the losses are not paid 

 promptly, and in many instances not at all ; t hat 

 the members of the companies are assessed sev- 

 eral times as much as they should be ; and that 

 the officers are drawing enormous salaries and com- 

 missions in comparison with the amount of business 

 done ; and he gave notice to the officials that no 

 officer shall receive more than $2,000 a year salary, 

 nor may he accept commissions of any sort. As tr 

 the assessment of members for losses, he stipulate.- 

 that no assessment shall be more than one half mil! 

 on a dollar above what is needed to pay losses. In 

 one company it appears that two officers drew near- 

 ly $18,000 a year, while only about $4 1,000 in actua 

 cash was paid for losses. 



State Lands. The Auditor reports that several 

 hundred thousand acres of swamp lands in the 

 northern part of the State, within the granted limits 

 of certain land-grant railroads, have been certifies 

 to the roads as inuring under the grant. The Gov- 

 ernor says this is clearly erroneous, as the swamp- 

 land grant antedates the railroad grants. 



Farm Lands. The Commissioner of Labor shows 

 from statistics regarding foreclosures of mortices 

 on farms that there are not so many foreclosures a; 

 there used to be, and that there are fewer when* 



