Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-01-12
BIENNIAL MESSAGE
GOV. WIN. NJ. STONE
TO THE
ELEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE
STATE OF IOWA.
STATE OF Iowa, EXECUTIVE OFFICE, |
DEs MONIES, January 9Th, 1896.

TO the requirements or the constitution
to discharge the important duties which
devolve upon the Legislative branch Of
the State Government, and l heartily
congratulate you upon the encouraging
auspices under which we meet. From
condition of disastrous and protracted
war, existing ut the close of your last
session, the country has triumphantly
passed to a period ofrepose which, thro'
ing of Providence, we fondly hope may
become perpetual.
In communicating to you the condi-
ton of the State, as required by the
Constitution, deem it expedient for
your information to present, in connec-
tiuii with the financial statement, an
exhibit of our military expenditures
from the beginning of the war to the
present time. And I may be allowed
to anticipate this exhibit with the re-
mark that, considering the sparseness
of our settlements, the absence of steam
boat and railroad facilities, largely sup
piled by wagon transportation, and that,
in proportion to our population, we
have furnished q larger number of
troops than any other State, promptly
filling all our quotas, our record pre-
sents through the entire period an econ
Omy of expenditure equalled by no 9TH
er State in the Union.
There was expended for military pur-
poses from
May, 1881, 70 Nov. 4. 1861, soss,5ss ~
Nov. l. 1854, to Nov. 2, 1868, $50, l63 IS
Nov, 2 1868, to Nov. 4, 1865. 1885, 3l 90
Nov. 4, 1865, to Jan. l, 1860 l,O7 II
These dates express the periods with
in which the above sums were paid, but
not when they were actually incurred.
The amount incurred from January II,
1864, to Jan. l, 1865, is S44, 93l.32. Total
military expenditures for all purposes
up to Jan. l, 1866, are 81, 046, 1859.
1t will be observed that most of these
expenditures were incurred during the
period beginning with the war and clos
ing with the fiscal year 1863. This was
caused by our being compelled, i'm order
to facilitate the military operations of
the General Government, to defray a
large portion of the expenses incurred
in enlisting, transporting, subsisting,
quartering and paying the volunteer
forces organized in this. State. The
sums thus expended were regarded
merely as money advanced to the Unit
ed States, for which, under the Acts of
Congress approved respectively July II,
and n, 1861, We arc entitled to reim-
bursement. ..a... ILL.,. ..
Although we have filled four several
acquisitions Of the President for troops,
and organized four regiments and one
battalion, buring the last two years, yet
the entire cost to the State will not ex-
coed one thousand dollars. While was
anxious that our State should promptly
discharge its entire duty in contributing
to the national defense, in the way Of
furnishing men, | refused to defray the
expense involved in recruiting and for
warding our quotas from the State
Treasury; and accordingly the expen-
ditures thus made. were paid by dis
bursting officers assigned by the War
Department. The residue Of the expen-
diture OF these two years was incurred
in organizing the State Militia, under
Act Of the General Assembly approved
March 20, 1864, transporting arms and
ammunition, expense of the Adjutant
Generals Office, detail of men for pro-
tecting southern border counties from
threatened raids in the fall of 1864 and
the winter of 1865, and for all other mil
itary purposes except the Sanitary De-
partlneRt.
l desire in this connection, as briefly
rs | can, to present the condition of our
claims against the United States for re-
endorsement under the Acts of Con-
gress above referred to. The sums en-
braced i'm these claims were mostly eX-
pended during the first and second years
of the war from the War and Defense
Fund appropriated by Act of the Spec
ial Session, May, 1861. The history of
cur military transactions during this
period is too yell known to the MEM
bers of your honorable body to require
explanation here. The evidence is per-
fectly clear that these claims are for
money anavoidably expended for legit-
innate military purposes and also that
they were allowed, audited ana paid by
the accounting and disbursing Officers
of the State, in strict conformity with
the laws of the General Assembly. Up
on this point there has never been any
room for controversy, as the accounting
officers of the United States Treasury
freely concede. But the real difficulty
between us arises from the fact, that,
after large share Of these claims had
been paid by the State in the utmost
good faith, the Secretary of the United
States Treasury adopted set of regula-
tons exceedingly technical and unreal
sonable in their character, by which the
accounting officers of that department
were required to be governed i'm exam
lining the military claims of the several
States. In the biennial message of my
predecessor, under whose administra-
ton these transactions occurred, this
conflict is fully explained as follows:
"There is due this State, from the
United States, for expenses incurred by
the State in raising and equipping
troops, and sending them to the field,
and for other purposes growing out of
the rebellion, the estimated amount of
100000. There is much difficulty in
procuring an adjustment Of this claim
at Washington. When these moneys
no law of Congress, or regulation of the
Federal Government, prescribing the
form in which proof of the expenditure
should be taken; and the General AS
sembiy of this State provided, by law,
for such proofs and vouchers as were
deemed sufficient, both for the protec-
ton of the State and the United States.
Upon presentation of these proofs and
vouchers to the proper Department at
Washington, they arc found not to
comply, in form, with regulations since
adopted by that Department; and it is
doubtful whether they will be allowed
without some legislation py Congress.
Some portions of these expenditures,
thus made, are also objected to rs not
coming within the letter of existing
laws of the United States, Among these
are the sums paid by the State for the
subsistence and pay Of the troops that
went from this State to Missouri, at the
request of the United States officers,
under the command OF Colonies Ed
wards and Morledge.
"There is, also, an unsettled claim
against the United States, for expendi-
lures by the State, for the protection of
our people during the two winters fol-
lowing the massacre Oh our north-wes-
tern frontier, by Ink-pa-du-tah and his
band. The United States are also, i'm
my Judgment, justly liable for the
amounts expended by this State in pro-
tecting our people OH the north western
and southern borders since the com
mencement of the rebellion. l recon-
mend the appointment of an agent OF
the State to proceed to Washington to
press the adjustment of these claims,
and to secure, If necessary, additional
legislation by Congress for that pur-