Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-01-19

recommend the appointment Of board
Of commissioners, clothed with authority
10 inspect the several railroads in the
State, their mode of construction, man.
agcment, mode of operating, charges,
&C. and with power to
compel an observance of the laws of the
State concerning railroads.
have before made suggestions as to
the disposition to be made of railroad
taxes. The question as to the mode OIL
raising these taxes has been much dis.
cussed, and that now prevalent in this
State has been more or less severely
criticised ! am however, fthe opinion,
that it is the most practicable method
yet devised for the purpose But, in
order that this sort of property should
bear its just proportion of the. public
burdens, it is only proper that the tax
now levied upon gross earnings, should
be increased. The entire sum collected
from railroads for the year 1870, amount
edto..$l86, 722.04. The property paying
this tax is estimated by the Treasurer Of
State as worth ga, O0O,0 900. To cores
pond with the assessment of other prop
erty, it would probably be valued for
revenue purposes at some $50 ,O00, 600.
The tax obtained from railroads, there
fore, is equal to about six and q quarter
mills on what, under the estimate adop-
ted would be the assessed value Of this
kind Of property. I have elsewhere
given the average tax throughout the
State for the same year at 81 per cent,
or about five times that contributed by
railroad property. 1t may be said that
this calculation is based upon an over
of the property of railroads.
Perhaps it is; yet certainly it cannot be
SO far out Of the way as to obl;tcTate the
fact that very great disparity exists
between the revenue from this class of
porperty and that from other sources
This state of affairs, Isubnit, can readily
be remedied without imposing any
undue burdens upon existing lines. or
crippliDg new enterprises.
CENSUS AND APPORTIONMENT.
The census of 1870, taken by the
federal government, reports . popula-
ton Of I, 191 ,802 in the State. This is
an increase of 150,983 over the figures
given by the State census of the previ-
GUS year-the largest gain yet made by
the State during the same period, viz:
about sixteen months. The. advance
madelsince the census of 1860 is SIG, Ss9.
The rapid strides Iowa has made are
better realized upon comparing her
growth with that of other States. In
1850, she stood twenty seventh of the
States of the Uniou in point of popula-
ton In. 1860, she ranked twentieth {;
and in 1870, eleventh. Among the
duties devolving upon you, at the
present session, will be that Of appor.
tioning the State into seven Congress
sional districts, or, if the bill pending in
the United States Senate passes, into
nine of them. In justice, the represen-
tation in the present Congress, and
consequently in the electoral college
next fall, should be based upon the
census of 1870; but efforts to effect this
result have hitherto failed, and will not
probably now be renewed. An appor-
tionment Of the State into senatorial
districts for four years, and into repre-
sentative districts for two years, will
also be necessary. The judicial dis
tricts may now also be reorganized for
four years would suggest tile crca.
ton of another judicial district, in order
to relieve some of our ovcrburdened
districts, and at the same time, to pro.
vide for the newer but more rapidly
growing counties.
FOX AND WISCONSIN liver IMPROVEMENT.
In my last message called the atten-
ton of the Legislature to the efforts being
put forth for opening up to navigation
the waters of the Fox and Wisconsin
rivers SO as to enable the people of the
State to transport grain and products
from the Mississippi river to the lakes
by water. Iii 1870, Congress appropria-
ted 100000 for this work. The act
making this appropriation provided for
the appointment of a board of arbitra-
tors to estimate the value of the interest
Of the Green Bay 81 Mississippi Canal
Company in the improvement. Hon
William Larrabee, of Iowa, on the part
of the United States, and Hon. james
R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, on the part
of the Company, were selected such
arbitrators. They chose Hon. Paul
Dillingham;, of Vermont, as a third
member Of the board. Upon the 18th,
of November, this board decided upon
the award, which is understood to be as
follows: For value of locks, dams,
franchises, water-powcr, personal pro-
perty, etc, the sum Of $l,047,O70; from
which is to be deducted the sum of $723,
O70 for value Of lands sold; leaving a
balance of $325 900; or, if only the i'm
provement proper be taken, of $145.-
00O The company having previously
agreed to accept the amount, the i'm
provemcnt has become the property of
the Government, and we may now look
for the continued progress of the work.
CODIFICATION OF THE LAWS.
The call for convention having been
decided in the negative, the commits
sioncrs appointed by chapter IS, Of the
acts of the last session, Immediately en-
tered upon the work of revising the
laws. Shortly afterwards, Mr.. John c.
Policy, Of Clinton county, one of the
members of the commission. having
removed from the State, rendered his
resignation. appointed Mr.. William
g. Hammond, of the University Law
School. his successor. The report of the
commission has been printed and trans.
mitted to the members elect Of the
Fourteenth General Assembly. You
have therefore been enabled to examine
the recommendations Of the commits
sioners, with their reasons therefor
To the changes they propose, your ex-
perience will doubtless enable you to
add others. l endorse in the main the
recommendation Of the report, and sin
cerely hope that the code recommended,
with such amendments as the General
Assembly may see fit to make, will soon
become the law of the State.
may remark that the changes pro
posed in the criminal code, are in my
judgement, we'll calculated to render
punishment for crime, if in some cases
less severe, in all more certain and cffec-
tive. The suggestion made by the Com
missioners in favor of the abolition of
the grand jury, if it can be done con-
stitutionally, most heartily endorse;
and am prepared to go further, and to
recommend, as now do, that steps be
taken by you towards an amendment of
the constitution, whereby the control of
this subject may be brought within the
scope of the powers Of the General As
scmbly. My observation satisfies. ME
that the grand jury is costly and USE