Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1865-01-21


| tion of the land thus granted was sold by the
General Government. The money laTisins
therefFOm has not as yet been paid over e
| the State. have not the data at hand Il
ascertain the amount due the ate from thu
source; but from the examination / have beer
able TO give the subject, am satisfied it vii
| not tall short of fifty thousand dollars.
have presented the claim of the State TO the
| Commissioner of the General Land Office
and hope soon TO be able to place the amount
justly due the State from this source, also, il
the hands of the State Treasurer.
The able report of our worthy Bank Comp
troller, herewith submitted, contains many
valuable and important suggestions and re-
commendations concerning the banking int
rests of the State, to all of which / invite
your attention.
The whole number of banks doing bushes:
under the State banking system at the close
of the last fiscal year was sixty-four (64).
The whole amount of outstanding circula
ton of the State banks at the close Of the last
fiscal year was 81, 500, 673.OO.
The public printer having refused to per
form the work under his contract, and it be-
ing important to the interests of the State
that another printer should be employed tC
do this work at an early day, | would recon
the present public printer be annulled, the
Commissioners of Public Printing be author
lied TO advertise for proposals and re let the
contract for the unexpired term without ad
vertising Tor six weeks, as now provided By
law; and that the Secretary of State be direct
ed To procure all printing he may deem ne
cessary for the interest of the State TO be
done from day to day, until a new contract
shall be made for the unexpred term.
The duty of disposing OF several important
grants of land made by the General Govern
ment TO aid in the construction of railroads,
will devoive upon this Legislature. Many
important questions present themselves in
connection with this subject, but the limits OF
this paper will only admit of my alluding to
a few of them.
Lands heretofore granted for like purposes
have, in some instances, remained in the
hands of the companies to which they were
given for great length of time without be-
ing brought into market, or have been held
at so high price that no one would buy
them, thus. depriving the State of taxes which
would otherwise be paid upon them, making
il difficult for inhabitants living near them to
support schools, and preventing the develop
meut of the country, instead of aiding it as
they were intended to do. In other in
by the grants, have never been built, and
people who purchased lands with the expec-
tatiOn and promise of a road have never en-
jOyed its benefits, nor the State receiv-
ed the revenues to which it should be enti-
tied thereirom. Proper limits should be
prescribed, and guarantees taken TO prevent
these abuses in the future.
On the 9th day OF May last, pursuant to
chapter $40 of the general laws of 1864, a
contract for continuing the work on the State
Capitol was entered into by the Building
Commissioners with William GOodnow, who
is now engaged in the performance of the
work under his contract. Section four OF
the act above referred to, provides, "that the
entire cost of said work, whether included in
the specifications of the architect or not, shall
not exceed the sum of sixty thousand dol
lars, and apprOpriates sum sufficient to de-
fray the cost of the work authorized and pro-
vided for in the first section of the act. Sec
ton nine of the same act provides that the
Commissioners shall not let the contract for
u larger sum than thirty-fve thousand dol
lars. The Commissioners in their action
have necessarily been governed by the last
named section; and consequently no con-
tracts have been made which call for the
payment of a sum of money larger than that
Building Commissioners to continue the
work further, as seems to be contemplated by
said section four, it viii be necessary 10 so
amend the act - TO take off the restrictions
contained ia said section nine.
The attention Of the Legislature has fire.
uuently been called To the militia laws of the
State. To insure faithful execution of the
laws an efficient military force should be or
ganized and placed at the disposal of the
Executive. The amendments of the last two
wears have greatly improved our militia sys-
TEN; vet il is still imperfect, and needs fur
ther amendment to make it effective. Owing
70 the imperiections of the system, want OF
interest among the people, as well as TO the
frequent calls of the general government for
men, who must necessarily be drawn to a
great extent from the State militia, the Or
ganized militia, consisting nominally of four
regiments of infantry, and two batteries OF
artillery. is at present in a very inefficient
state. The enrolled militia, consisting of all
persons subject to military duty, not included
in the organized militia, numbers S2,9Sl
men.
The State has, at the present time, Ord
nance, Arms, Ammunition and Military
Stores, as follows:
Six-poundar :. B. Bronze Field Guns,
. . .
rWelve-pounder, Mountain HowitEer,
With carriage and ammunition cart.
CassOns for six-pOu under guns.......... 9
Muskets, Kified Muskets and Rifles, with
accOutrements and appendages. 5,lS6
Pistols and Holsters. ................... so
SsoFds and Sabers, with scabbsrds and
accOutrements- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 444
Muskets, Rifled Muskets aud Rifles. uns
serViceable. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 665
Canister and round shot for six.pounder
guns, (rOunds) Observation-Disclosures. %
Shot and she'll for tweve-pounder Noun
tain howitzer (rDunds). ............... 100
Ball Cartridge ................... lO3 1920
Pounds of Powder Observation-Disclosures. %
Bars of Lead ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. $50
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 1000
Canteens ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 600
Haversaeks. ........................ 1900
In addition to the above, there is on hand
a large number of extra equipments, aocoutre-
ments and APPENDICES which are not required
to make up the "stands of arms" complete.
For full detailed statements of the condi-
tiOn of the military property of the State,
aud of military operations, l refer you to the
Il s,,Tn q fbn iufa ne