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MINNESOTA. 



respects as if the Minnesota State railroad bonds had 

 been regularly issued for the same. 



SEC. 7. The faith of the State is hereby irrevo- 

 cably pledged for the payment of interest on the 

 bonds authorized to be issued by this act, at the 

 times and in the manner herein provided, and for 

 the final payment of all of said bonds, and for the 

 faithful performance of all matters relating thereto, 

 beneficial to the holder thereof, as herein pro- 

 vided. 



The act provided that no bonds should be 

 issued, or anything done by the commissioners, 

 until the people, at an election to be held June 

 12th, should ratify an amendment to the Con- 

 stitution, authorizing an appropriation of the 

 proceeds of 500,000 acres of internal improve- 

 ment land for the payment of the bonds au- 

 thorized by the act. At the time appointed the 

 people voted on the proposed amendment, 

 when 17,324 votes were cast in favor of it, and 

 59,176 against. The bond settlement was, 

 therefore, rejected by a majority of 41,852. 

 About 47,500 voters in the State did not vote. 



The prevailing sentiment of the people is 

 manifestly against the repudiation of the dis- 

 puted bonds, and the belief is general that the 

 day of settlement is merely postponed. 



The total receipts into the State Treasury 

 during the year, including a balance of $116,- 

 264 on hand at the beginning of the year, 

 amounted to $1,271,783 ; the disbursements 

 were $1,138,512, leaving in the Treasury, No- 

 vember 30, 1877, a balance of $133,271. The 

 chief sources of income were : State taxes, 

 $432,725 ; taxes from railroad companies, $135,- 

 841 ; taxes from insurance and telegraph com- 

 panies, $27,473; reform school indebtedness, 

 $15,855 ; sale of sinking fund bonds, $99,045 ; 

 interest on sinking fund bonds, $6,900 ; sale 

 of pine on school lands, $24,835 ; interest on 

 permanent school fund, $200.319 ; redemption 

 of $77,800 United States bonds and premium 

 on gold school fund, $80,740 ; sale of school 

 lands in 1877, $17,142 ; sale of school lands in 

 former years, $39,466 ; sale of university lands, 

 $8,451; interest on permanent university funds, 

 $16,744; sale of internal improvement lands, 

 $5,340 ; sale of bonds of inebriate asylum fund, 

 $16,162. The most important items of expen- 

 diture were: legislative, executive, and inci- 

 dental expenses, $166,403; printing, publishing 

 laws in newspapers, paper and stationeiy, 

 $46,759; support of insane hospital, reform 



SAINT PAUL. 



school, deaf, dumb, and blind institute, sol- 

 diers' orphans, normal schools, and university, 

 $248,553; enlarging university grounds, $7,- 

 979; inebriate asylum, $19,150; interest on 

 State debt, $35,000" ; apportioned school fund, 

 $199,981 ; purchase of bonds for invested 

 funds, $318,516. The balance in the Treasury 

 at the end of the year was $133,271. 



The total valuation of the taxable property of 

 the State, as determined by the Board of Equal- 

 ization for 1877, was $221,000,000, an increase 

 of $2,500,000 over that of the previous year. 

 The rate of State tax is two mills, and the rate 

 for all purposes, local and general, throughout 

 the State shows an average of about 17 mills, 

 which is a slight increase over that of the pre- 

 ceding year. There was an increase of about 



450,000 acres to the total taxable property 

 since the last valuation. 



The completion of the report of the commis- 

 sioners of statistics is necessarily delayed for a 

 considerable time after the close of the year. 

 The wheat acreage of the State was 1,800,840, 

 which produced an aggregate variously esti- 

 mated at from 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 bushels. 

 The four leading cereals wheat, oats, rye. and 

 barley produced an estimated total of 75.- 

 000,000 bushels ; while the total value of the 

 products of agriculture was believed to exceed 

 $55,000,000. Although the soil has yielded as 

 generously in some former years, the increased 

 breadth of the several crops, as well as their 

 bountiful product, distinguished the year 1877 

 as the grandest agricultural year of the State. 



