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The
and ^Proclamations
(governors
OF THE
STATE of MISSOURI
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
GRACE GILMORE AVERY, A. B.
and
FLOYD C. SHOEMAKER, A. M.
SECRETARY OF THE STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY OF MISSOURI
VOLUME IV
Published by
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI
COLUMBIA, MISSOURI
1924
COPYRIGHT 1924 BY
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETYOF MISSOURI
PREFACE
This volume of the "Messages and Proclamations of
the Governors of the State of Missouri" includes the mes-
sages and proclamations of Governors Willard Preble Hall
(1864-1865), Thomas Clement Fletcher (1865-1869), and
Joseph Washington McClurg (1869-1871).
FLOYD C. SHOEMAKER.
Columbia, 1924.
(iii)
CONTENTS VOLUME IV
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL
PAGE
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, By Henry S. Priest 3
BIENNIAL MESSAGE 8
VETO MESSAGE . 26
SPECIAL MESSAGES
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . 27
To the Senate 28
To the Senate 29
To the Senate 29
To the House of Representatives 30
To the Senate 30
To the Senate 31
To the Senate 31
To the Senate .... 32
To the Senate 32
To the Senate 33
To the House of Representatives 33
PROCLAMATIONS
On Holding an Election 34
Calling for Volunteers 35
On Examining Citizens Between Ages of Twenty and Forty-
five Years 36
To the People of Missouri 38
MEMORANDA OP PROCLAMATIONS AND WRITS OF ELECTION
May 2, 1864 39
July 27, 1864 39
August 26, 1864 40
September 29, 1864 40
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, By John H. Reppy 43
INAUGTTRAL ADDRESS 53
ADJOURNED SESSION MESSAGE 65
FIRST BIENNIAL MESSAGE 80
ADJOURNED SESSION MESSAGE 106
SECOND BIENNIAL MESSAGE 137
VETO MESSAGES
To the Senate 176
To the House of Representatives 176
To the House of Representatives 177
Or)
Vi CONTENTS
PAGE
To the Senate 178
To the House of Representatives 180
To the House of Representatives 182
To the Senate 183
To the House of Representatives 184
SPECIAL MESSAGES
To the Senate 186
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . , . 187
To the Senate 187
To the Senate 188
To the Senate 189
To the Senate 189
To the Senate 190
To the Senate 190
To the Senate 191
To the House of Representatives 191
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . 192
To the Senate 193
To the House of Representatives 194
To the House of Representatives 194
To the House of Representatives 197
To the Senate . 197
To the Senate 198
To the House of Representatives 198
To the House of Representatives 199
To the Senate 200
To the House of Representatives 203
To the House of Representatives 204
To the Senate 211
To the Senate , 212
To the Senate 212
To the Senate 213
To the Senate 213
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . . 214
To the Senate 219
To the Senate 219
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . 220
To the Senate 221
To the Senate 222
To the Senate 222
To the Senate and the House of Representatives , . 222
To the Senate 223
To the Senate 224
To the Senate , 226
To the Senate 227
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . , . 227
To the House of Representatives 228
To the Senate and the House of Representatives , , . 230
CONTENTS Vii
> PAGE
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . 232
To the Senate , . . . 232
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . 233
To the Senate . 234
To the Senate . 234
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . . 235
To the Senate . 238
To the Senate 238
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . 238
To the House of Representatives 249
To the Senate 249
To the Senate .... . . 250
To the Senate .... 250
To the Senate . 251
To the Senate .... 251
To the Senate 252
To the Senate ... 253
To the Senate 254
To the Senate 254
To the Senate 255
To the Senate and the House of Representatives . . 255
PBOCLAMATIONS
On Emancipation 256
On the Restoration of Peace and Order 257
Recommending a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer . 258
On a Day of Thanksgiving 259
On Declaring Certain Commissions Vacated .... 260
Offering a Reward 261
Declaring New Constitution Adopted 262
Making Known the Vote on the Railroad Question . . 264
Offering a Reward 265
Offering a Reward 267
On Thanksgiving 268
Offering a Reward ......... 269
Offering a Reward 270
On the Sale of Railroads 271
Offering a Reward 277
Offering a Reward 278
Offering a Reward 279
Offering a Reward 280
Offering a Reward 281
Recommending a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer , 283
Offering a Reward 284
Offering a Reward 285
Offering a Reward 286
Offering a Reward 287
To the People of Missouri 288
Offering a Reward 291
Vlll CONTENTS
PAGE
Offering a Reward . 292
On Thanksgiving 293
Offering a Reward 294
Offering a Reward ... 295
Offering a Reward 296
Calling for Troops 297
Providing for the Enforcement of Civil Law .... 298
Offering a Reward 299
Offering a Reward 300
Offering a Reward 301
Offering a Reward 301
Offering a Reward 302
Offering a Reward 303
Offering a Reward 304
Removing James C. Moody from Office 305
Offering a Reward 306
Offering a Reward 307
Offering a Reward 308
Offering a Reward ... 309
Offering a Reward 310
Offering a Reward 312
Offering a Reward 313
Offering a Reward 314
Offering a Reward 315
Offering a Reward 316
Offering a Reward 317
Offering a Reward 319
Offering a Reward 320
Offering a Reward 320
Offering a Reward 321
Offering a Reward .... 322
Offering a Reward 323
On Thanksgiving 324
Offering a Reward 325
Offering a Reward 326
On Relinquishment of Land 327
Offering a Reward 329
Offering a Reward 330
Offering a Reward 331
Offering a Reward 332
Offering a Reward 333
Offering a Reward 334
Offering a Reward 335
Offering a Reward 33^
On Relinquishment of Land 337
On the Settlement of Railroad Claims 341
Offering a Reward 342
Offering a Reward 343
CONTENTS ix
PAGE
On Inspection of Cattle 344
Offering a Reward 345
Offering a Reward . 346
Offering a Reward , 347
On Relinquishment of Land ... ... 348
Offering a Reward 350
Offering a Reward 351
On Thanksgiving 352
Offering a Reward ... 353
Offering a Reward 354
On the North Missouri Railroad 355
Granting a Tract of Land 356
MEMORANDA OF PROCLAMATIONS AND WRITS OF ELECTION
January 4, 1865 357
January 23, 1865 . 357
January 23, 1865 357
March 6, 1865 358
April 4, 1865 . 358
May 2, 1865 358
May 6, 1865 .... 358
May 16, 1865 359
May 20, 1865 359
June 23, 1865 .... 359
August 2, 1865 359
August 3, 1865 360
August 11, 1865 360
August 26, 1865 360
August 29, 1865 360
September 12 T 1865 . 361
September 12, 1865 361
September 12, 1865 361
September 30, 1865 . 361
October 7, 1865 362
October 9, 1865 362
October 10, 1865 362
October 11, 1865 362
November 9, 1865 363
November 24, 1865 363
November 27, 1865 363
December 20, 1865 363
December 29, 1865 364
January 8, 1866 364
January 16, 1866 364
January 30, 1866 364
January 18, 1867 365
February 5, 1867 365
March 21, 1867 365
April 25, 1867 365
CONTENTS
PAGE
October 7, 1867 366
October 7, 1867 366
October 7, 1867 366
December 10, 1867 366
December 24, 1867 367
February 4, 1868 367
August 15, 1868 367
August 17, 1868 367
November 13, 1868 368
GOVERNOR JOSEPH WASHINGTON McCLURG
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, By C. C. Draper 371
INAUGURAL ADDRESS 377
ADJOURNED SESSION MESSAGE 407
BIENNIAL MESSAGE 439
VETO MESSAGES
To the Senate 461
To the Senate 461
To the House of Representatives 464
To the Senate 465
To the Senate 467
To the Senate 468
SPECIAL MESSAGES
To the House of Representatives 469
To the Senate 469
To the Senate 470
To the House of Representatives 472
To the Senate 472
To the Senate 474
To the House of Representatives 474
To the House of Representatives 475
To the House of Representatives 476
To the Senate 476
T the Senate 478
To the House of Representatives 478
To the House of Representatives 479
To the House of Representatives 479
To the Senate 480
To the House of Representatives 480
To the Senate 481
To the Senate . 481
Tb the House of Representatives 482
To the House of Representatives 482
To the House 'of Representatives ...... 4$3
To the House of Representatives 483
CONTENTS XI
PBOCLAMATIONS PAGE
On Relinquishment of Land 484
On Relinquishment of Land 487
Offering a Reward 489
Offering a Reward 490
Offering a Reward 491
Offering a Reward 491
On Relinquishment of Land 492
Offering a Reward 497
Offering a Reward 498
Offering a Reward 498
On Relinquishment of Land 499
Offering a Reward 501
On a Day of Thanksgiving 502
Offering a Reward 503
Offering a Reward 504
Offering a Reward 505
On Relinquishment of Land 505
Offering a Reward 508
Offering a Reward ... 509
On Relinquishment of Land 509
Offering a Reward 513
Offering a Reward 514
On Thanksgiving 515
Offering a Reward 516
Offering a Reward . 517
Offering a Reward 518
Offering a Reward 518
Offering a Reward 519
Offering a Reward 520
Offering a Reward 521
Offering a Reward 521
Fixing Date for an Election 522
Offering a Reward 523
Offering a Reward 524
Offering a Reward 525
Offering a Reward 526
Offering a Reward 527
Offering a Reward 528
Offering a Reward 528
Offering a Reward 529
Offering a Reward 530
On, Eelinqxiishment of Land 530
Offering a Reward 532
Offering a Reward 532
Offering a Reward 533
Offering a Reward 534
On a Land Patent to South Pacific Railroad .... 535
On Thanksgiving 538
XII CONTENTS
PAGE
Offering a Reward 538
On an Amendment to the State Constitution . . . 539
On an Amendment to the State Constitution . . . . 541
On Amendments to the State Constitution .... 542
On an Amendment to the State Constitution .... 544
On an Amendment to the State Constitution . . , 545
On an Amendment to the State Constitution .... 546
Declaring Two Days of Thanksgiving 548
Offering a Reward 548
MEMORANDA OF PROCLAMATIONS, WRITS OF ELECTION AND NOM-
INATING NOTICE
January 18, 1869 550
March 6, 1869 550
March 6, 1869 ' . 550
March 19, 1869 551
April 28, 1869 551
May 20, 1869 551
May 20, 1869 . 551
May 20, 1869 552
May 26, 1869 552
June 12, 1869 552
July 10, 1869 553
October 27, 1869 553
November 5, 1869 553
November 11, 1869 553
November 24, 1869 554
February 15, 1870 554
October 18, 1870 554
October 24, 1870 555
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL
WILLARD P. HALL
Governor 1864-1865
WILLARD PREBLE HALL
BY
HENRY S. PRIEST
In 1841, "a pale and delicate youth, dressed in blue
jeans and mounted on a pony, with a pair of leather saddle-
bags containing his wardrobe and library," rode into Sparta,
the county seat of Buchanan county, Missouri. This is the
Buchanan county tradition of the first appearance of Willard
Preble Hall as a lawyer, ready for eminence at the Missouri
bar.
As this tradition was not recorded until after he had
reached eminence, it is possible that artistic touches have
been added in coloring the picture of his first appearance, for
the sake of contrast. Something is needed to explain the
rapidity with which he made his way, and we have it added,
along with the color of his jeans and the paleness of his com-
plexion. He passed in triumph the searching examination at
the bar of public opinion to which a new-comer in a Missouri
town was then subjected. He was found to be "plain and
simple" "frank and easy," and these qualities, added to his
jeans, to the report that he had "a university education,"
and at twenty-one knew more law than some old lawyers
ever cared to learn, made him "almost a pet" of the com-
munity, which according to immemorial custom, proceeded
to advertise him as a prodigy. This helps to account for
progress, otherwise unaccountable. In 1843, when he re-
moved to St. Joseph, he was appointed Circuit Attorney and
in 1844, named a Presidential Elector and assigned to can-
vass a large area of Northwestern Missouri for Polk and Dal-
las, on the issues of expansion to the Rio Grande and west-
ward. In that campaign, matched against veterans, he
was supposed by his admirers to have justified their opinion
of him as a prodigy, and Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan.
himself records that "he succeeded at once system and
logical arrangement were natural to him. n
(3)
4 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
They had been developed, however, by careful training
through both the Virginia and the New England tradition.
He was born of New England ancestry at Harper's Ferry,
Virginia, May 9, 1820. His father, "a celebrated inventor,"
sent him first to school in Baltimore and then to Yale, where
in the "Class of 1839," he had William M. Everts and others
of that rank as classmates. In Yale then, as in Virginia,
"education" demanded the severe discipline of the classics,
and on leaving Yale, Hall brought with him to Missouri a
sufficient knowledge of the classical languages to give him
their ready use through life, and to enable him to train his
son in them for admission to college and for eminence at
the bar.
When he came to Missouri in 1840, it was to qualify for
the bar, in the office of his brother, Judge William A. Hall
a splendid lawyer leamed in classical literature and profound
in philosophy of Randolph county. With such credentials,
his trained abilities more effective in their results because
of his pallor, his delicacy and his blue jeans disposed his
constituents in Northwest Missouri to enthusiasms. They
nominated him for Congress in 1846 against Judge Birch, of
Clinton county, but in the middle of what the supporters of
the Polk administration thought a successful canvass, he
answered the call for volunteers by enlisting in the First
Missouri Cavalry as a private, for service in Mexico. As
the Doniphan expedition was being outfitted at Fort Leaven-
worth, it was reported back to Missouri by teamsters and
others of Hall's constituency, that they had found him at
Fort Leavenworth "doing the menial work of a private
soldier" in unloading supplies and otherwise. Accordingly,
his district kept his name on the ticket and elected him to
Congress "by a majority of 3,000, out of a total vote of only
10,000." It is said that his sudden enlistment followed a
reproach from his Whig opponents that by supporting Polk
and Dallas in 1844, he had helped to force the country into
an unjust war, which others were called on to fight, while he
was taking advantage of it for his own political advancement.
This is made more probable by the recorded speeches of
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 5
such "Old Line Whigs" as John M. Clayton, Thomas Cor-
win and Robert Tombs, who denounced what was called
the "manifest destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race" as infamous
aggression, forcing civil war on the United States. Most of
the Whig opponents of the War were forced out of politics
unless they saved themselves by such a proviso as made
Tombs afterwards a leader of the War party, the proviso
being that when once Southern blood had been shed to gain
Mexican territory, the South should "stand to its arms"
rather than be deprived of its rights in it. With such emo-
tions recalled, there is no difficulty in understanding that
Hall gave the one possible answer to his opponents in 1846
by enlisting as a private soldier. This, in connection with
his experience in New Mexico as a "liberator," and his New
England tradition must be considered also in accounting for
the reaction of his own mind on itself, between 1846 and
1861 when in the Missouri Convention of 1861, his political
friends of 1846 found him one of their most uncompromising
opponents.
When his election to Congress was announced to him
at Santa Fe in 1846, he was completing work to which he
had been "detailed as a private soldier" by General Kearney
in August of that year. This was to prepare a Civil code
of American Laws for the liberated New Mexicans a suffi-
cient number of whom were "executed" under "martial
law" during their liberation, to make a Civil Code beneficial
to survivors intelligent enough to appreciate the principles
of American institutions. It is agreed that Private Hall
did the work of codifying these principles in a way that
made the New Mexican code a model of condensed and
lucid definition. Adopted by the Territory of New Mexico,
the code was "in use for forty-five years."
When Hall's election to Congress was announced in
Santa Fe, he was released from military service, but pend-
ing the meeting of the Congress to which he had been elected,
he volunteered for the expedition which occupied California.
This military record and his service in Congress itself
made him one of the Democratic leaders of his State. He
6 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
served three terms in Congress, where a part of his record is
the promotion of the first Missouri railroad system. He is
credited, among other things, with securing a grant of 600,-
000 acres for the Hannibal and St. Joseph road. During
this period, following the admission of California as a State,
the struggle over the Kansas-Nebraska bill forced the issues
of 1846 towards the crisis of 1860-61. When Whigs of 1846
in Missouri had joined with "Polk Democrats" of that year
against Benton as a "Jackson Democrat" and the Van
Buren Democrats or "Free-Soilers," parties were so con-
fused in Missouri that all histories so far in print fail to
enable any reader of the present to comprehend what such a
change as that undergone by Williard P. Hall meant to his
mind and emotions, as it did to so many others, loyal Mis-
sourians, threatened with an enforced choice between loyalty
to Missouri and loyalty to the Union. As he saw his choice,
he was loyal to both his State and the Union in the uncom-
promising opposition to the Confederate States and to the
secession of Missouri which made him lieutenant governor,
when the Convention appointed Hamilton H. Gamble Gov-
ernor, to succeed Jackson, deposed. When OB Governor
Gamble's death in January 1864, Hall succeeded him, holding
until the inauguration of Fletcher, January 2, 1865, it would
be necessary in reviewing however slightly his public service,
to recall the history of a Civil war in which Missouri had
given more volunteers to the Confederacy as well ts to the
Union, than some States, North and South, had given to
either. We may recall only from Carr's History of Missouri,
that in the first nineteen months of the war, "over 300 battles
and skirmishes" were fought within the State. Only as we
are able to realize what this meant to those who lived through
it, can we enter into the feelings with which Governor Hail,
returning to private life, devoted his mind and talents to
the work of restoration, which at his death, November 2*
1882, had proceeded so far that the lessons of war seemed 10
assure Missouri a future of great, increasing and unmUur
rupted prosperity. It is notable that though
had forced Governor Hall to bear the brunt of the of
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 7
the most exaggerated passions, he was most apt to give a
first impression of mildness and kindness to younger men
who knew him only after the close of the War, while it left
with those who had been his opponents, no such enmity as
was for a long time felt to others of his prominence in the
struggle.
As a lawyer, he is ranked by his successors at the Mis-
souri bar as a type of the best in theory and in practice.
Judge Elijah H. Norton said of him: "As a lawyer, he was
the peer of any man in the State. As a citizen, in the pri-
vate walks of life, his character was without stain or reproach,
and no man was more distinguished for incorruptibility and
integrity." lie was genial, yet dignified, simple in diction,
yet profound in thought, learned, yet not pedantic. A
more admirable example than he to the young man of this
State has not graced the pages of history.
MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
BIENNIAL MESSAGE
DECEMBER 28, 1864
From the Journal of the Senate, pp.
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
It is four years since the Legislature of Missouri met in
the halls you now occupy to plot treason against the Gov-
ernment of the United States. In conjunction with a faith-
less Governor and Lieutenant Governor, they inaugurated a
war against the Federal Government, and endeavored to
commit our people to the cause of rebellion. They had all,
without a single exception, obtained place by warm profes-
sions of loyalty and of attachment to the Union, and yd, it
is now certain that many of them, at the very lime of taking
the oath of office, had resolved to violate both its obligations
and their pledges to their constituents. Encouraged by
secret political organizations, and confident of their power to
intimidate and intrigue, they ventured to call a convention of
the people, to "consider the then existing relations between
the Government of the United States, the people and gov-
ernment of the different States, and the Government and
people of the State of Missouri; to adopt such measures for
vindicating the sovereignty of the state, and the protection
of its institutions, as should appear to them demanded." By
this course the conspirators expected to obtain an apparent
popular approval of their conduct* Fortunately they were*
dissappointed in the result. The people, by a majority of
more than eighty thousand, decided in favor of the Gov-
ernment, and the delegates elected resolved, with but one
dissenting voice, "that there was no adequate cause* to impel
Missouri to dissolve her connection with the Federal Union-"
And it would have been most remarkable if the deciHtoii
had been otherwise.
Since the admission of Missouri into the Union, tin*
action of the Federal Government had In
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 9
with her views and wishes. During a period of forty years
no act of a general character, with but two or three excep-
tions, had been passed by Congress that had not re-
ceived the votes of the Missouri Senators and Representa-
tives at Washington. And this State had but seldom asked
of the United States a local measure that was not promptly
granted.
At the very time that efforts were making by our State
authorities to drive Missouri out of the Union, there was no
public law on the statute book of the nation that did Dot re-
ceive the approval of an immense majority of our people.
Indeed, it may be safely said, that if Missouri had controlled
the Federal Government and dictated the legislation of
Congress, the policy of the country would not have been
changed in any important particular.
The emphatic repudiation of rebellion and secession by
our people did not check the operations of the men in power
at this capital. On the contrary, they became more ener-
getic than before in preparing for war against the Federal
Government. They appropriated money set apart for the
support of schools and asylums, and for the payment of the
State debt, to the purpose of arming and equipping a rebel
military force. They set on foot schemes to seize the prop-
erty of the United States within our limits, and authorized
negotiations with our border Indian tribes, with a view to
employing them against the loyal citizens of the State. In
this way a cruel civil war was begun in Missouri, which has
continued to the present time with greater or less violence,
It is true, that every rebel army which has attempted to
invade or make a stand on our soil, has been defeated. But
guerilla bands are numerous in some sections, and do great
injury by murdering our citizens, and robbing them of their
substance. The authorities have been active in their efforts
to exterminate these outlaws, but up to the present time have
not been entirely successful. An experience, however, of
three years has demonstrated that the people themselves
can rid the State of these pests to society* if they will but do
their duty. It in a fact well established that guerillas do
10 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
not, to any great extent, infest loyal communities. It Is
only counties wluch are regarded as in sympathy with the
rebellion that these bands frequent and make their head-
quarters. Occasionally they visit other neighborhoods, but
in all such cases they are quickly destroyed or expelled. The
Inference is, that if counties known as disloyal would cease
to sympathize with treason, and become earnest supporters
of the Government, guerilla warfare would soon cease to
exist in the State.
But few of our citizens sympathize with ordinary crim-
inals, ordinary robbers, or ordinary murderers. The great
trouble is, that many do not regard treason as a cr me, and
sympathize with traitors.
Traitors have, however, done more harm to Missouri in
three years, than all other criminals combined have been able
to accomplish since our State was first settled by white men.
They have perpetrated outrages that the worst men in our
State prison would not commit, and which the wild Indians
of the prairie can scarcely rival.
It seems to me time that Missourians should cease to
sympathize with this class of men, and should one and all
un te in efforts to suppress treason in every form, and re-
store peace and prosperity to our State.
The officers elected by the people in August, I860, hav-
ing determined to involve this State in a war with the United
States, the Convention did not hesitate as to their course*
They had been especially empowered **to adopt such
uri-s for vindicating the sovereignty of the State and the pro-
tection of its institutions, as to them should appear to be
demanded/ 9 In order to protect our institutions as a member
of the Federal Union, it was necessary to remove from place
those who were endeavoring to destroy the Union iUelf*
Hence the Convention, by ordinance, on the 30th day of
July, 1861, removed from office the Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, Secretary of State and the members of the Gen-
eral Assembly, and on the ne t day established a Provisional
Government, to control the State until the people could
elect officers to perform that duty. I most cordially
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 11
ulate you and the people on the election of a loyal State
government, and am more than pleased that I am able to
surrender the State to those about to succeed me in a much
better condition than it was when the Provisional Govern-
ment took charge of its affairs. That wa the most gloomy
period in the history of our country. The first battle of Bull
Run had just been fought, General Lyon was hard pressed
in Southwest Missouri, and a few days afterwards was killed
at Wilson's Creek. In September following, the rebel Gen-
eral Price captured Lexington and its garrison of three
thousand men, and rebel forces had so over-run the State that
only a small part of the northwest and northeast, and a
small section, including St. Louis and Jefferson City, and
the country intervening, recognized the Federal authority.
Many of the judges of our courts, sheriffs, circuit attorneys,
justices of the peace, and other civil officers, were avowed
rebels. Now there is no organized rebel army in the State,
and all of the civil offices of the State are filled with men of
avowed loyalty. At the recent election more than one
hundred counties voted for President and Vice President of
the United States, and at this time the Union includes no
more loyal State than the State of Missouri.
Up to the first of July last, Missouri had furnished, by
volunteer enlistments, ten thousand more soldiers for the
Federal army than her quota. Since that time eleven new
regiments have been recruited and organized. Three of our
districts have filled their quotas under the last call of the
President with volunteers. Three other districts are but a
few hundred men in arrear, and the deficiency in the other
districts is believed to arise, to a considerable extent, from
an excessive enrollment.
The wliok* number of mem furnished by Missouri under dif-
ferent walls of the President prior to February 1st, 1804, IB, 59,676
Number of men furnishwl sinew February Iwt, 1804, as shown
by the reports of the (lommissary of Musters, Department
of the Missouri, and Assistant Aotmg Provost Marshal
Oiinfsm! of Missouri 18,508
to April 28, 1864 , 1 ,409
12 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The Enrolled Missouri Militia that have served six months and
longer reduced to throe years standard, by report of Ad-
jutant General of Missouri of April IS, IX(>4 . 2, 174
Total number furnished to 30th November, 1804 SI ,707
In addition to this, we have had in the field, since the
31st of July, 1861, more than sixty thousand militia, and
have actually expended in their payment upwards of four
millions of dollars. These gratifying results, it is claimed,
are due in part to the fidelity and industry of the Provisional
Government.
In September last, General Sterling Price, with a rebel
force estimated at from 12,000 to 14,000 mounted men, in-
vaded this State. He entered in the southeast, and his
forces passed through the counties of Butler, Wayne, Madi-
son, Iron, St. Francois, Washington, Franklin, Gasconade,
Osage, Cole, Moniteau, Cooper, Howard, Pcllis, Saline,
Lafayette and Jackson, plundering our people. He threat-
ened Jeffe son City, seized Boonville, Glasgow, Lexington,
Independence, and many other less important places, and
recruited his strength with nearly ten thousand men and
boys, residents of Missouri.
He left the State at or near Weslport, passed into
Kansas, and thence retreated through Kansas and South-
west Missouri into Arkansas. He was very gallantly
resisted by General Kwing and a few hundred soldiers al
Pilot Knob; our forces were, however, compelled to give
way before superior numbers and retreated to Kolhu
General Brown, by his prompt concentration of troopn
at this point, and Generals Pisk, McNeil and Sanborn, by
their prompt reinforcements, saved the capital of the Slat**
from capture.
General Pleasanton, with some six or eight thousand
cavalry, overtook Price's rear in Jackson county, and
pressed him hotly as far as Fort Scott, capturing of
his artillery, and killing* wounding and making n
large number of his officers and menu General
by his vigor and skill, drove Price from the and
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 13
Kansas from great loss. His brigade commanders, McNeil,
Sanborn, Philips and Benteen, acquitted themselves with
credit. The last three are especially commended by their
division commander. I feel it my duty to call your atten-
tion to Philips and Benteen particularly. They are both
young officers, and both Missourians; one is Colonel of the
7th, the other is Lieutenant Colonel of the 10th Missouri
Cavalry Volunteers. As a testimonial of my appreciation
of their services, I have made them both brigadier generals
of the Enrolled Militia, and I trust the President of the
United States will think proper to make them brigadier
generals of volunteers an honor they merit for gallant and
important services on the battle field.
Major General A. J. Smith, with his infantry, made
every effort to overtake the enemy. Though he failed
in this, it cannot be doubted that his rapid marches
and proximity to the scene of action, by inspiriting our
cavalry and dispiriting the enemy, contributed much to
our success.
The troops under General Curtis co-operated with those
under General Hosecrans, and by their joint efforts the
raid of Price was returned from a rebel triumph to a rebel
disaster.
As soon as Price's invasion became a certainly, I
authorized the various district commanders to call into
service such portions of the militia of the Slate, as in their
opinions, the emergency demanded. A large number of
the militia were so called into the service; a portion of
them fought, at Pilot Knob, others participated in the
defense of this city, others fought and were captured at
Glasgow with Colonel Harding; others fought under Gen-
eral Blunt in resisting the enemy's march from Lexington
to the western border, and generally they acquitted them-
selves well. It was the Enrolled Militia who killed the
outlaw Bill Anderson, who for months had been the scourge
of northern Missouri, and who had defied or evaded all
troops that had previously sent against him. Under
orders from Brigadier General Craig* of the militia* Lieu ten-
14 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
ant Colonel Cox and Major Grimes, both militia officers,
with a militia force attacked Anderson and his band at
Albany, in Ray county, killed him and dispersed his fol-
lowers. For their good conduct in this affair, Lieutenant
Colonel Cox, Major Grimes and their officers and men,
have received the thanks of the Commander of the Depart-
ments in orders from Headquarters; and in my opinion,
they deserve the thanks of the General Assembly also, for
beyond all question Bill Anderson was the most dangerous,
the most wicked and the most mischievous man who has
ever afflicted Missouri.
When the militia were called out to meet Price, I
promised both officers and men that they should be paid for
their services, and paymasters are now engaged in perform-
ing that duty.
The payment of the militia will engage your attention.
Up to the first of January last, there were clue the militia
$989,579.05. The rolls for the current year are not all
returned to Headquarters, and the precise sum due the
militia for services in 1864 cannot therefore be stated. It
is believed, however, that one million of dollars will be
found not far from the amount, and I would recommend an
issue of one million of dollars of Union Military Bonds to
pay the militia. That amount, together with the Defense
Warrants that may be issued under existing laws, wilt
enable the State to pay off the militia in full. The whole
amount of Union Militiary Bonds now outstanding is lean
than two million of dollars. The issue recommended would
not make the whole amount outstanding as large by acme
hundreds of thousands as the original issue, which WHB three
millions.
The amount paid the militia by the State* and the
amount still due the militia* constitute a valid claim
the United States, which Congress ought to discharge. In
support of that position, the following facts may he adduced:
In the summer of 1862 the rebel General Price
believed to be threatening to Invade
with a formidable force. The
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 15
Hughes actually penetrated to the Missouri river, captured
Independence, defeated our forces at Lone Jack, and threat-
ened Lexington. At the same time, there sprang up in
northern Missouri a rebel force of over three thousand men
under Porter, of over fifteen hundred men under Poindexter,
and there was a large force on the south side of the river,
all acting in concert. To meet these dangers, the Federal
forces in Missouri were deemed by General Schofield, at
that time in command of the department, to be inadequate.
He, therefore, with the consent of Governor Gamble,
organized the militia, called thrm into active service, and
placed them under command of such officers as he chose to
designate, They proved to be an important auxiliary in
defeating the rebels. They fought in different parts of the
State, under Federal officers, and they took many prisoners,
believed to be not less than five thousand, who were sent
south and exchanged. In all cases they acted in subordination
to the Federal officers, aiding in carrying out the orders of
the Commantler of the Department, and were not used as
a force to enforce the State authority, any further than it
was the duty of the Commander of the Department to see
that such author ty was enforced; on the contrary, General
Schofield issued an order prohibiting the Enrolled Militia,
in serviec% from assisting in executing the laws of Missouri
concerning slaves.
The Enrolled Militia were first called out, in a most
pressing emergency, by the Commander of the Depart-
ment, to supply deficiencies in the Federal forces. They
have been kept in service after the emergency passed, to
enable the Commander of the Department to send Federal
troops to other points, as in the case of reinforcements to
General Grant, at Vicksburg, and to General Steele, in
Arkansas,
The importance of the services rendered by the Enrolled
Militia is strongly attested by General Schofield in a com-
munication to the President, under date of October 20>
1863. lie says: "The services of the Enrolled Militia hae
of value, not only during the summer of 18$2
16 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
when they were first organized, but also during the present
year. The ten provisional regiments which the Governor
organized for continuous service and placed under my
command enabled me to relieve an equal force of United
States troops, and send them to General Grant. On several
occasions I have called out from one to four additional
regiments for temporary service, to meet emergencies as
they have arisen. With a few exceptions they have re-
sponded with promptness and alacrity, and have done good
service."
To the same effect is a letter from General Curtis to
Governor Gamble, dated January 4th, 1863. General
Curtis says: "The demand for troops below has induced me
to send out almost everything, so there is only Merrill's
regiment of United States troops remaining north of the
river. This is only partially armed. We must rely, there-
fore, mainly on the Enrolled Militia. 9 *
From this statement, it will be perceived that the
duties of the Enrolled Militia have been precisely those of
the United States soldiers in Missouri, In all cases they
took the place and answered the purpose of Federal troops.
In many cases they relieved Federal troops, and in some
cases they were engaged in actual battle. They especially
distinguished themselves at Springfield, in January, 1803,
and received the warmest commendation of General Brown,
then in command in Southwest Missouri.
They contributed to the capture of Vicksburg and the
great victories in that quarter* by enabling timely reinforce-
ments to be sent to General Grant from Missouri, and they
materially assisted General Rosecrans to repel the late
rebel invasion of this State.
It should be borne in mind, that the Enrolled Militia
were undfer the command of General Schofielcl while lie
remained in Missouri, General Rosecrans had the
command over them that General Schofteld
though, owing to some misunderstanding
Gamble and General Curtis, the latter did all
of his stay in Missouri have that it is
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 17
the militia rendered him every assistance he required, except
in a single case of furnishing guards for provost marshals.
The payment of the large militia force which has been
kept in service in this State, at the instance of United States
officers, and under their command, is a drain upon our
resources that we are- but poorly able to bear. Appreciating
this fact, I endeavored, while acting Governor in August,
1863, to reduce the militia force in service, and accordingly
issued an order relieving the 8th Provisional Regiment from
duty. This led to a correspondence between General
Schofield, General Fisk and the State authorities, and
finally, on General Schofield's application, the order was
rescinded. After the recision of the order, I called on
General Schofield, and urged upon him the necessity of
relieving the militia from active service. He promised to
relieve them as soon as he could, but when he left the depart-
ment there were three thousand militia on duty.
On the 2nd of February last, I addressed a letter to
General Rosecrans, requesting him to relieve the militia.
He replied that he could not then, but that he would do
so as soon as the condition of the department would permit.
A large number of the militia are still on duty.
The President of the United States and the Secretary
of War have done all in their power to place the Enrolled
Militia on the same footing with Federal soldiers. By an
order from the War Department the militia are fed and
clothed at the expense of the United States, and all militia
that have served continuously for six months or more
have been credited us on our quota of troops due under
the calls of the President.
An effort was made at the last session of Congress to
procure the passage of a bill refunding to Missouri,. the
amount expended by her in paying the militia. That bill
failed. It is now respectfully suggested that such action
should be taken by the General Assembly as will bring the
subject before the Congress of the United States.
Experience has nhown the absolute necessity of a more
and militia organization in this State.
18 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
Under existing laws a man may relieve himself from militia
duty for the year, by paying a commutation tax of thirty
dollars, and one per cent, on his taxable property. The
result is that in some of the most populous counties in the
State there is no militia organization at all. I recommend
the repeal of the law permitting men to commute their
militia service. In my opinion the best interests of the
State require that all persons subject to military duty
should be attached to some militia organization, and
required to perform militia duty when occasion demands
it. The system of substitutes in the militia should also be
abolished. The changes suggested would greatly im-
prove our militia force. Still another change is required
before our militia can be what it ought to be. All com-
missioned officers should be appointed by the Governor.
The plan of electing officers is fatal to good discipline, and
was abandoned as to volunteers in the United States serv-
ice more than three years ago. Those acquainted with
the subject know that it is much more difficult to control
militia who are in the service occasionally, than it is soldiers
who are in continuous service. The highest possible dis-
cipline, therefore, that can be attained should be aimed at
in our militia organization.
It is true, that under the present State Constitution,
company officers are made elective. But it is hoped and
believed that the Constitutional Convention, about to
assemble, will make a different provision.
Many of the counties of this State require the presence
of a military force all the time to protect them against bush-
whackers, guerrillas and outlaws generally- Federal troops
cannot always be spared for that purpose, and the State in
not able to pay militia for such service* The counties
alluded to are, however, both able and willing to pay sol-
diers for this local defense. I recommend the of a
law authorizing the formation of volunteer militia com-
panies, under the direction of the County Courts* for
of their counties, to be paid for their by the
The men should be required to volumteer for six or
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 19
months. The officers should be appointed by the Governor
and removed at his will.
Under the act for the extension and completion of the
Pacific Railroad to the western boundary of the State, and
the North Missouri Railroad to the Iowa State line, I ap-
pointed Hon. T. L. Price fund commissioner for the former
road, and Hon. Norman C. Cutter fund commissioner for
the latter road. The North Missouri Railroad Company
has not yet been able to negotiate any of its bonds at par,
and I would not consent to their negotiation at a less rate.
The Pacific Railroad Company has negotiated thirteen
hundred thousand dollars of its bonds at par, and was pro-
ceeding in a most satisfactory manner to the completion of
the road, when the destruction of all the large bridges by
Price's rebels put an end at pi^esent to all further prosecu-
tion of the work.
It is hoped the work will be resumed by early spring,
and finished before the ensuing winter.
Nothing has been done, so far as I am informed, to the
Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad, from Rolla to
Little Piney.
The extension of the Southwest Branch to Springfield
is so manifestly a military necessity that it is much to be
regretted that the Federal Government has not already
completed it. It is reported that a plan is on foot which
will insure the completion of said road to Springfield at an
early day. My information is not, however, official But
the importance of the subject seems to require that the
General Assembly should adopt such measures as will give
aid and assistance to the reported movement, or any other
similar movement.
According to the provisions of an act entitled * 4 An act
ordering the sale of the Platte Country Railroad, and for
other purposes/* approved February 12, 1864, I advertised
and sold the Platte Country Railroad and its appurtenances.
The State of Missouri became the purchaser, for the sum
of liuadred and forty-seven thousand dollars. The
of the Platte Country Railroad Company turned
20 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
over to the State that part of their road north of St. Joseph,
it barely paying running expenses. I appointed J. T. K.
Hayward agent to operate the road till such time as the
Governor or General Assembly should otherwise direct.
This duty he has performed in a very satisfactory manner,
but the road yields no revenue to the State.
That portion of the Platte Country Railroad south of
St. Joseph, whose earnings are very large, the Directors
turned over to the Atchison and St. Joseph Railroad Com-
pany and the Weston and Atchison Railroad Company,
some thirty days before the State bought the same. The
conduct of the Directors in this respect was certainly most
extraordinary.
Prior to, and during the year, 1859, the Atchison and
St. Joseph Railroad Company had purchased the most of
the right of way for their road from Atchison to St Joseph,
and had done some grading on it. The Weston and Atchi-
son Railroad Company had also purchased a portion of the
right of way for their road from Weston to Atchison* and
had done a portion of the grading.
Those companies, finding it difficult to complete their
roads, made a contract in July, 1859, with I), Carpenter, Jr M
the contractor of the Platte Country Railroad* to convey
to the Platte Country Railroad Company the right of way,
so far as obtained by said companies, and they agreed to
procure the right of way on, that part of their roach not
already obtained, and deliver it to the Platte Country
Railroad Company, In consideration of which Carpenter
was to pay said companies the value of such right of
in full paid shares of the capital stock of the Platte Country
Railroad Company, One of the stipulations of the eon-
tract referred to provides that if the Governor of Missouri
shall refuse to issue the State bonds called for for the Platte
Country Railroad Company, the contract shall be null
void,
After the execution of these contracts the Atchinon
and St. Joseph Railroad Company executed a
veying to the Platte Country Railroad Company all
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 21
right of way between the town of Atchison and the city of
St. Joseph. The Weston and Atchison Railroad Company
executed a similar deed conveying all their right of way
between Weston and Atchison to the Platte Country Rail-
road Company. The Platte Country Railroad Company
located their road south of St. Joseph on the right of way
conveyed to them by the Atchison and St. Joseph
and the Weston and Atchison Railroad Companies; but
the whole of the right of way of the Platte Country
Railroad Company, south of" St. Joseph, was not
purchased of the railroad companies before mentioned,
Three miles and a half of the right of way between
St. Joseph and Atchison was conveyed to the Platte Country
Railroad Company directly by the owners of the land, and
perhaps about the same distance between Atchison and
Weston was conveyed in the same way. The Platte
Country Railroad Company commenced the construction
of the road south of St. Joseph in 1859, and completed it
to its present terminus at Weston in some two years, and
controlled and operated it until August last, after the
president of the company had been informed that I would
not postpone the sale of his road. Then it was discovered
that the deed of the Alchison and St. Joseph Railroad
Company to the Platte Country Railroad Company was
void; that all the rights of way which had ever belonged to
the Atehison and St. Joseph Railroad Company belonged to it
still, and that three miles and a half of the right of way be-
tween St. Joseph and Atchison, that never had belonged to
that company, suddenly became vested in it, together with
the railroad iron and track that were laid on it.
A similar discovery with similar effects was made with
reference to the Wen ton and Atchison Railroad Company,
and the result was to be that the State of Missouri was to
lose the money she had advanced to build said road. Not
being able to appreciate either the legality or the justice of
this position I employed Messrs. Vories & Woodson to
bring suit for the Platte Country Railroad, south of St.
Joseph, appurtenances.
22 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
It was desirable to have both an injunction and attach-
ment in aid of the suit. But as these writs cannot be issued
until a bond is first filed by the party applying, and as no
one was authorized to execute a bond for the State, the
writs were not applied for. I would suggest the propriety
of passing an act providing that in all civil suits, instituted
by the State, writs of injunction and atachment shall issue
in behalf of the State, as in cases of individuals, except
that no bond shall be required on the part of the State.
In the suit instituted by Messrs. Vories & Wooclson a
receiver was asked for, to take charge of the road and its
appurtenances and to manage them, subject to the order
of the court. The court appointed a receiver but let the
road and its appurtenances remain in the hands of the
then managers, they being required to pay over, monthly,
to the receiver the net earnings. The statement of the
proper officers of the road shows that the receipts of the
road for the month of October last were $8,295.81, and the
expenditures for the same period were $8,721.07.
The same statement shows that the following officers
are employed at the following salaries:
James N, Buraes, President W. & A, tt. It. Company (3,000,00
George W, Belt, Secretary. , . 1 ,000.(X)
D D. Burnes, Treasurer. , . 1 ,000 CM)
John Doniphan, Attorney , , . I ,000 , (X)
B. P. Stringfellow, President A, & St. Jo. H. B. Company., 3,000.00
A. G. Otis, Treasurer ...,...,.....,..,., I ,000 , 00
J. M. Price, Attorney. , . . , . t ,000,00
D, Carpenter, Jr., Superintendent A, & St. Jo. And W* &
A, E. R ..,..,.. 0,000.00
O, Kellogg, General Freight Agont. ..,,... , 3, OCX), 00
Samuel W, Clapp, . . . . I t KOO.OQ
I think it manifest from this statement that the receiver
will never be paid any net earnings; and yet, there Is no
doubt the net earnings of the road, under prudent manage-
ment, would be very large. Mr. Hayward, of the Hannibal
and St. Joseph Railroad Company, offered ma $150.00 per
day for six days in every week, which is equivalent to
$46,800 per annum, for the use of the road. If
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 23
belongs to the State, as I believe it does, it ought to be
secured to the State. If, on the other hand, it belongs to
individuals, it should be secured to them. The best way
to effect this object is to appoint a receiver to take charge
of the road and operate it until the litigation is determined.
I would, therefore, recommend the passage of a law by
the General Assembly, which shall provide that when the
State is a party to any civil suit, and it shall be made to
appear, by petition, that the State has a probable right to
any of the property in controversy, and that such property,
or its rents and profits, are in danger of being lost, or mate-
rially injured or impaired, the court, or, in vacation, the
judge thereof, shall appoint a receiver to take charge of
and control such property under its direction during the
pendency of the action, and may order and coerce the
delivery of it to him in any court of this State. The expenses
of advertising and selling the Platte Country Railroad and
appurtenances were as follows:
Advertising $900 . 00
Auctioneer's foes. , 200 . 00
Which has not been paid, for the reason there was no appro-
priation for that purpose. An appropriation should now
be made. I also recommend an appropriation of $4,000 to
pay attorney's fees.
The report of the Auditor of Public Accounts shows a
very unsatisfactory condition of the State finances. There
will be clue on the 1st of January next $5,008,240 interest
on bonds of the State issued to our various railroad com-
panies. That interest is accumulating at the rate of $1,-
200,000 per annum. Something should be done at once to
stop this accumulation of State indebtedness and to satisfy
in part, at least, the demands of our creditors. I know of
no way of accomplishing this but by increasing our revenue.
The present subjects of State taxation are taxed as high, per-
haps, as tl*ey should be. But it seems to me we might \ery
properly receive a very considerable revenue from taxes on
professions, and I know of no good
24 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
reason why a stamp tax, similar to that of the United Slates,
might not be imposed by the State.
I must refer you to the report of the Inspectors of the
Penitentiary for information concerning this institution.
Our common school interests suffer equally with all
other interests in Missouri, from the effects of the rebellion.
The report of the Secretary of State, who is cx-ofllcio Superin-
tendent of Common Schools, will give you much interesting
information on the subject.
The ninety-second section of an act to regulate elec-
tions, approved December 8, 1855, provides that **every
person elected Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts,
State Treasurer, Attorney General, or Register of Lands,
shall enter upon the duties of his office on the first, clay of
October next following his election, and not before, any
law to the contrary notwithstanding," At the time this
statute was passed, the general elections of the State were
held in August. The day of general election being changed
to November, renders a change of the statute necessary.
I recommend the passage of a law requiring the Secretary
of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, Attorney General
and Register of Lands to enter upon the duties of their
offices on the first day of January next following their elec-
tion. This will enable the officers elected in November
last to qualify on the 1st of January, 1865, the clay on
which the present incumbents wish to turn over their office*
to their successors.
The thirteenth section of the fourth article of the Con-
stitution of Missouri provides that the Governor ahull at
stated times receive for his services an adequate salary, to
be fixed by law, but it shall neither be increased nor dimin-
ished during his continuance in office. The present salary
of Governor is three thousand dollars per annum, and in
inadequate. The war has greatly increased the expendi-
tures as well as the labor of the Governor, and it is well
known that the cost of living in Missouri has been
than doubled in the last few years. In my opinion the
salary of the Governor should be increased to five, thousand
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 25
dollars a year, and I accordingly recommend such in-
crease.
The Constitutional Convention, about to assemble,
will doubtless make great changes in our organic law, and
the duty will devolve upon you of conforming the statutes
of the State to the new order of things. Slavery will be
abolished, with the almost unanimous approval of the
people of Missouri. The new relation thus given to negroes
in our State will demand, and no doubt receive, your con-
sideration. The organization of a new government in the
midst of a revolution is a work of great delicacy and respon-
sibility, and will irake the present General Assembly one
of the most important that ever met in the State.
The result of the recent election, it is hoped and believed
will not be without much good effect in Missouri. Our
loyal citizens had permitted themselves to be divided into
bitter factions as to the proper mode of suppressing the
rebellion. The people have carefully considered the various
plans proposed, and by an immense majority, decided in
favor of the plan of the Administration. With all loyal
men this should be satisfactory and conclusive. The
minority should be willing to yield their judgment to that
of the majority. And all Meads of the Government
should now unite in giving the greatest efficiency to the
plan of the people, and in strengthening the hands of the
Executive, in his efforts to terminate the war. And after
all it cannot be said that the terms imposed on rebels are
hard or unreasonable. All that is required of them is to
submit lo the constitution and the law. This is the duty
of every #ood citizen. The peo - Ic of the loyal States of
Massachusetts and New York, Ohio and Missouri, Kansas
tind California* in one word, all the Slates adhering to the
(lovcrumcnt, are required to do this. Are the citizens of
Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia to enjoy privileges
licit enjoyed by cither sections? It is not believed the
American people will grant it* Submission to the constitu-
tion and the laws is the rule that all should be required to
obcy * WILLAED P. HALL,
26 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
VETO MESSAGE
TO THE SENATE
FBBEUARY 10, 1864
From the Journal of the Senate, p*
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JBFFERSON CITY, February 10, 1864.
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:
Sir I herewith return to the Senate, with my objections,
a bill entitled "an act to fix the terms of the Circuit
Court in the 12th Judicial Circuit." A portion of the
Representatives and Senators from that circuit have re-
quested me to withhold my approval of the bill. On ex-
amination I find that the bill so arranges the terms of
some of the courts as to make them conflict with the courts
of the adjoining circuits, and with the courts of common
pleas in the 12th Judicial Circuit. The result will be, if
the bill becomes a law, that both clients and attorneys
will be greatly injured without any benefit to the people*
Very respectfully.
Your obedient servant,
WILLAHD P. HALL*
Governor of Missouri.
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 27
SPECIAL MESSAGES
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT-
ATIVES
FEBRUARY 1, 1854
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 898-399
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JEFFERSON CITY, February 1st, 1864.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
It becomes my painful duty to announce to you the
death of the Executive of this State. Governor Gamble
departed this life yesterday at fifteen minutes before twelve
o'clock, at his residence in the city of St. Louis. When
called to the position he lately filled so honorably and well,
he had arrived at an age when peace and quiet were neces-
sary to his health and comfort. But, unfortunately, the
condition of the State did not permit him to consult his
taste or inclination. We were in the commencement of a
terrible revolution, and the Governor elect of Missouri
had adhered to the rebellion. Under these circumstances,
it became the duty of the late State Convention to remove
him from office, and to place in his stead one who would
faithfully perform all the duties devolved upon him by
a state of civil war. In looking around for the man best
calculated for the position, all eyes turned to Hamilton R.
Gamble his great purity of character, his talents and his
devotion to the whole country, pointed him out as peculiarly
fitted for the crisis. With great reluctance, almost repug-
nance, he yielded to the demands of the Convention and
became Governor of Missouri.
Surrounded by difficulties, such as never before beset
a Governor of this State, it is not strange that his admin-
istration of affairs should have failed to satisfy all. His
official career m now a part of history, and it is confidently
28 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
believed that when the animosities of the present shall
have yielded to the decision of a cooler judgment, all will
admit that he discharged his difficult and arduous duties
with an eye single to the best interests of the country.
I am aware of the embarrassments I must encounter in
succeeding so good a man and officer, and 1 solicit your
kind support whenever I shall deserve it. My chief and
constant effort shall be to co-operate with the Federal
Government in its effort to suppress the existing rebellion.
In doing this, I shall not be solicitous to find fault with
the President, with Congress or our Generals in the field.
I shall rather defer my objections to whatever I may con-
sider blameworthy in the acts of either to a more propitious
period, and trust, by a cordial support of the Government
of the United States, to contribute something to the res-
toration of peace. In this course I shall expect to receive
the approbation of yourselves and of the people of Mis-
souri.
WILLABD P. HALL,
Governor of Missouri.
TO THE SENA TE
FEBRUARY 5, 18(14
From the Journal of Executive Bunmm in tfcnato Journal, /*, tf J/J.
EXKCJUTIVB MANBION, JRPFKEBON CITY, February 5,
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate;
Sir I respectfully nominate to the Seriate for con-
firmation, Captain Milton Burch, to he Major XI h IU*fji-
ment Cavalry, Missouri State Militia.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
AH!) I>. HAM.,
Governor of Missouri.
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 29
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 6, 1864
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, pp. 640-41
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JEFFERSON CITY, February 6, 1804.
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:
Sir- I respectfully nominate for confirmation, John
Doniphan, to be Lieutenant Colonel of the 82nd Regiment
Enrolled Missouri Militia.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
WILLARD P. HALL,
Governor of Missouri.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 9, 1864
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 641
KXKCPTIVK MANSION, JEFB-ERBON CITY, February 9, 1804.
To the Honorable, the President of the, Senate:
Sir I respectfully nominate for confirmation, Elvas
ParrotU to be Lieutenant Colonel of the 25th Regiment
Enrolled Missouri Militia.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
WILLARD P. HALL,
Governor of Missouri.
30 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 10, 1864
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JEFFERSON CITY, February 10, 1804.
To the Honorable, the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I herewith communicate the report of the com-
mittee appointed to settle the accounts of the Quarter-
master General of this State, under an act entitled "an
act to provide for a settlement with the Quartermaster
General of the State," approved February 9 1864, It is
proper to state that on the 8th day of January last, a com-
mittee was appointed, under order of His Excellency,
Governor Gamble, to discharge the duties required by the
act above mentioned. This committee had discharged
their duties before said act was passed; hence, immediately
on my appointing them, they were prepared to report.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
WILLAED P. HALL.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 13, 1804
From the Journal of Executive Bunne$ in Senate Journal* /;,
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JBFFBESON Cn% February 13, 1804.
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:
Sir I respectfully recommend to the Senate, for con-
firmation, William E. Moberly, to be Colonel of the 35th
Regiment E. M. M.; George W. Thompson, to be Lieuten-
ant Colonel of the 35th Regiment K. M. ML; Jonathan M.
Barrett, to be Major of the 81st Regiment K. M. M.
Very respectfully.
Your obedient servant,
WILLAKD l\ HALL,
Governor of Missouri,
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 31
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUABY 13, 1864
From the Journal o/ Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 64
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JEFFERSON CITY, February 13, 1864.
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:
Sir I respectfully recommend to the Senate, for con-
firmation, Henry Neill, to be Major of the 1st Cavalry,
M. S. M.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
WILLARD P. HALL,
Governor of Missouri.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 15, 1864
Prom the Journal of the Senate, p. 66
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JEFFERSON CITY, February 15, 1864,
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:
Sir- I beg leave to communicate the enclosed telegram,
which has just been received.
Very respectfully,
WILLARD P. HALL,
Governor of Missouri.
ST. Louis, February 14, 1864.
To W. P. Hall: I will visit the Legislature to-
morrow; go by morning train.
W, S. HOSECBANS,
Major General.
32 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 15, 1864
From the Journal of Executive Business in fieri ate Journal, p,
EXECUTIVE MANSION, JEFFERSON CITY, February If), 1864.
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:
Sir I nominate Silas Woodson for Inspector General
M. S. M., with the rank of Colonel of Calvalry, in place of
Colonel Easton, resigned.
Very respectfully,
WILLAHU P. HALL,
Governor of Missouri.
TO THE SENATE
DECEMBER 29, 1804
From the Journal of Executive Business in Sunatc Journal^ />.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, D<mnlxr 29, I SIM.
To the Honorable President of the Senate;
Sir I nominate the following officers for confirmation
by the Senate;
James W. Strong, to be Lieutenant Colonel K7th Hcfti-
ment E, M, M M to rank from 15th day of July, 1804.
James W, Strong, to be Colonel of the 87lh Hegiment
E. M. M., to rank from the 6th of October,
Mr. Strong was first Lieutenant Colonel and then
promoted, but as he cannot be paid under the law until
his nomination has been confirmed by the Senate, I
present his name as Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel.
Very respectfully,
WlLLAtfl) I*.
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 33
TO THE SENATE
DECEMBER 29, 1864
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 29, 1864.
To the Honorable President of the Senate:
Sir I nominate to the Senate for confirmation, the
following officers:
George H. Hall, to be Brigadier General M. S. M., to
rank from August 31, 1864.
James Craig, to be Brigadier General E. M. M., to rank
from May 29, 1864.
Madison Miller, to be Brigadier General E. M. M., to
rank from September 27, 1864.
George F. Meyer, to be Brigadier General E. M. M.,
to rank from October 1, 1864.
J. BL Phillips, to be Brigadier General E. M. M., to
rank from November 24, 1864.
F. W. Benteen, to be Brigadier General E. M, M., to
rank from November 23, 1864,
Very respectfully,
WILLARD P. HALL.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 29, 1864
Prom the Journal of the Home of Representatives, p. 3$
EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 29, 1864.
To flie Honorable* the Speaker of the House of Representatives?
Sir I herewith transmit various papers relating to
the "Missouri institution for the education of the blind."
Very respectfully,
WILLARD P. HALL.
34 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
PROCLAMATIONS
ON HOLDING AN ELECTION
MAY 23, 1864
From, the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, p. 110
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON, STATE OF MISSOURI.
Under and by virtue of the provisions of an act of the
General Assembly of this State, entitled "an act to pro-
vide for calling a State Convention" approved Feb. 13,
1864: I WILLARD P. HALL Governor of the State of Mis-
souri do hereby notify the several sheriffs of the State
that an election of delegates to a convention of the people
of the State of Missouri will be held at the several places
of voting in this State, on the Tuesday next after the first
Monday in November One Thousand eight hundred and
sixty four. Said election will be managed and conducted
by the sheriffs or other proper officers of the counties re-
spectively in the same manner, and according to the same
rules and regulations as are now prescribed by law for the
election of members of the General Assembly. The several
sheriffs of the State will hold and conduct said election
according to law and they will advertise the time ami place
of holding said election for at least thirty days before said
election, by publication in the several newspapers of their
respective counties, and by posting notices at ten public
places in each county.
In Testimony Whereof I have hereunto et my
(L.S.) hand and caused to be affixed the (treat Seal
of the State of Missouri. Done at
City this 23rd day of May
By the Governor
M, OLIVER, Secy of State WILLAHD P. HALL.
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL
CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS
JULY 28, 1864
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp. 116-117
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OP JEFFERSON, Mo.
To the people of Missouri:
Major General Rosecrans commanding Department of
the Missouri, is authorized by the War Department to
muster into the United States service for a short period,
such number of Missouri Volunteers as the exigencies of
the times require. He has accordingly called for Ten
Regiments for the period of Six months,
I appeal to the people of Missouri to respond to the
call promptly and with alacrity Our condition is such
that we must have more soldiers Guerrillas infest our
borders, and a large force from Arkansas is threatening to
invade us. Troops cannot be spared from the front to
assist us and we must protect ourselves, or be overrun by
rebels.
Under such circumstances, the people of Missouri
should not hesitate. During three years of War they have
sustained the Government and filled every call for troops
by Volunteer enlistments.
The cause of the Rebellion is no less wicked now than
it was at its commencement, and the rebels are no less
the enemies of law and order now tha they were in the
beginning. For Missouri there can be no peace while armed
rebels are in the State.
If you desire peace and security for life and property,
you must expel all armed bands of rebels from your borders-
When this is done, soldiers may be relieved from duty, mili-
tary power may be withdrawn, and the ordinary course of
civil law restored.
If the troops asked for by General Hosecrans are not
promptly provided, it will be my duty to furnish him such
a militia force as lie may require* That militia force
36 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
cannot be paid for the reason that the State has no suf-
ficient means for the purpose.
The question is therefore presented whether you will
do your duty as paid soldiers of the United States, or
whether you will duty as detailed militia of the State with-
out pay. The choice should be readily made. As federal
troops you will be more efficient, better paid, better clothed
and better provided for than you can be as Militia, and
you will therefore render better service to your Govern-
ment and your State in the former than in the latter ca-
pacity.
General Rosecrans relies confidently upon your re-
sponding to his call favorably Let him not be disappointed.
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand, and caused to be affixed the Great Seal
of the State of Missouri. Done at the City of
(L.S.) Jefferson this twenty eighth day of July ia the
year of our Lord One Thousand eight hundred
and Sixty four. Of the Independence of the
United States the Eighty ninth, and of the State
of Missouri the Forty Fourth.
By the Governor
M. OLIVER, Sec'y of State WILLARD P. HALL.
ON EXAMINING CITIZENS BETWEEN AGES OP
TWENTY AND FORTY FIVE YEARS
NOVJBMIJKE 23, 1884
From the Appendix a/ the Journal of th& Senate, pp. 802()3
HBADQUARTBHS STATI OF MWBOUEI, ST. Louin, No vain bar 2*1, 1B04
WHEREAS, the enrollment in. the Provost Marshal De-
partment is very much larger than the actual number of
men between the of twenty and forty-five In
the State, capable of performing military service;
whereas, by the increased enrollment the
to the State by the Provost is
portionally large; and, whereas^ authority is by the
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 37
Secretary of War to have said enrollment corrected and re-
vised, in order that the names of those disqualified on
account of
First. Alienage.
Second. Non-residence.
Third. Over age.
Fourth. Permanent physical disability, such as to
render the person an unfit subject for enrollment under
existing laws and regulations.
Fifth. Having served in the military or naval ser-
vice two years during present war, and having been honor-
ably discharged, may be stricken off the lists.
Civil officers, clergymen and other prominent citizens
are invited to appear at all times before the Boards of En-
rollment to point out errors in the lists and to give such
information in their possession as may aid in the correction
and revision thereof.
The Provost Marshal General has directed the several
Boards of Enrollment to hear and act upon claims for ex-
emptions at all times.
And WHEREAS, every city, town and county has a local
interest in the reduction of its enrollment and quota,
Now, THEREFORE, I WILLARD P. HALL, Governor and
Commander-in-chief of the State of Missouri, by virtue of
the power in me vested, do issue this my proclamation, re-
questing and recommending the several cities, towns and
counties in this State, through their local authorities, to
take such measures as will insure the examination of all
citizens between the ages of twenty and forty-five, that
they may be stricken from the rolls or retained upon the
same, as circumstances may determine, on or before the first
day of January, 1865; and for the convenience of the citizens
the several Boards of Enrollment will advertize the days
and places at which they will neet for said examination.
la Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand
and caused the seal of the Adjustant General's office to be
hereunto affixed*
38 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
Done at the city of St. Louis, this, the twenty-
third day of November, in the year of our
(L.S.) Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
four, and of the independence of the United
States the eighty-ninth.
By the Commander-in-Chief:
JOHN B. GRAY,
Adjutant General. WILLARD P. HALL.
TO THE PEOPLE OF MISSOURI
DECEMBER 29, 1864
From the Appendix of the Journal of the Senate, p*
HEADQUARTERS STATE OF MISSOURI, JEFFERSON CITY, December
29, 1864,
The President of the United States has found it neces-
sary to call for three hundred thousand more volunteers
for the Army of the United States, in order to prosecute
the war with the necessary and proper vigor. The great
successes of Generals Sherman and Thomas render it most
important that renewed efforts should be made to destroy
the staggering enemy.
The disorganized and discouraged rebel forces should
not be permitted to recover from their late disasters* To
this end every energy should be directed, ia order that
peace may be restored to the whole country at aa early day.
The experience of last summer proves that Missouri is
liable at any moment to a destructive invasion while it
continues. We have no hope for security of person or
property in our State, except ia the restoration of peace*
and peace cannot and ought not to be restored until the
rebellion is suppressed.
Missouri has done her duty nobly during the last tea
months. From the 1st of February 1864, to the 30th of
November, 1804 9 she has furnished over twenty thousand
volunteers to the Federal army. I see no she
GOVERNOR WILLARD PREBLE HALL 39
should not do even better in the next ten months. There
is a large number of discharged volunteers among us, and
this number will be increased nearly ten thousand in a short
time by the muster out of the service of the Missouri State
Militia. Most of these veterans will reinlist if sufficient
bounties be given them, I, THEREFORE, most earnestly
recommend to the various counties and cities of the State
an immediate appropriation of a liberal bounty to volun-
teers. No burthen will be so useful to the public, and, I
believe, none will be so cheerfully borne.
In Testimony Whereof, I WILLARD P. HALL,
Governor of the State of Missouri, have here-
(L.S.) unto set my hand and caused the great seal of
State to be affixed, this 29th day of December
A. D. 1864
By the Governor: WILLARD P. HALL.
FRANCIS RODMAN,
Secretary of State.
MEMORANDA OF PROCLAMATIONS AND
WRITS OF ELECTION
MAY 2, 1864
Prom the Register oj Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, p. 106
The Governor issued writs of election to the Sheriffs
of the Counties of Lewis, Clark, Scotland, Knox, Adair and
Schuyler ordering an election to be held in said Counties
on Tuesday 21st day of June A. D. 1864, for the election
of a Judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Missouri, to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of the late Hon. Humphrey
M. Woodyard.
40 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
JULY 27, 1864
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861~1868, p. 116
The Governor issued writs of election to the Sheriffs
of the Counties of Lewis, Clark and Scotland, ordering an
election to be held in the said several Counties on Tuesday
the 8th day of November 1864, giving at least ten days
notice, for the election of a Senator from the Fifth Senatorial
District to the 22nd General Assembly vice lion David
Wagner resigned.
AUGUST 26, 1864
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, ISfil-lSGS, p. 120
The Governor issued writs of election to the Sheriffs
of the Counties of Atchison, Holt, Nodaway & Andrew,
ordering an election to be held in said several counties,
on Tuesday the 8th day of November 1864 giving at less
ten days notice for the election of a Senator from the llth
Senatorial District to the 23rd General Assembly* vice
Wm. Heren resigned.
SEPTEMBER 20, 1864
From the Register of Civil Proceedings,
The Governor issued writs of election to the Sheriffs
of the Counties of Pemiscot, Mississippi, Boilinger, New
Madrid, Scott and Cape Girardeau, ordering an election
to be held on Tuesday the 8th day of November next, ten
days notice being previously given* for Judge of the 10th
Judicial Circuit to fill the vacancy caused* by Hon. M.
Frissell, late indumbent betag constitutionally over
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER
'UOMAS C. FLKTCHKK
Governor 1865-1869
THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER
BY
JOHN H. REPPY
Jefferson county along its entire eastern border fronts
the Mississippi river. Gray walls, mighty bluffs, tur-
reted and embrasured, enriched by varicolored mosses, by
climbing vines and shrubbery along its grim face and with
the dark green of cedar in every sheltered nook and crown-
ing each crag and pinnacle, show the stern character and
beauty of the Ozark hills. Here and there along this
front, green hillsides show, mounting steeply to the crests
behind. Here and there between sombre headlands,
pellucid streams march down to meet the mighty river.
Where the "Swashen River," known now as Joachim
Creek, flows into the Mississippi, is such a spot and marks
the site of one of Missouri's earliest settlements,, Hercu-
laneum,
To this place in 1818, came Clement B. Fletcher and
his wife, Margaret (Byrd) Fletcher, from the State of
Maryland; both were descendants of early colonials,
Mrs. Fletcher's ancestors having come over in 1634,
with Lord Baltimore's Colony, Mr. Fletcher and his
wife were cultured and refined people, and Mr. Fletcher,
a merchant and astute business man. To this couple on
January 22, 1827, was born a son, Thomas C. Fletcher,
who was the first son of Missouri to be its governor. Scarce
two miles north of this historic site, upon a bluegrass
slope, looking out over the Father of Waters^ is a simple
rock-walled tomb, marking the last resting place of the
fifth governor of Missouri, Daniel Dunkliru
At the time of Governor Fletcher's birth, Uercu-
laneum was the county seat of Jefferson county and its
cultural center* There were no public schools, but there
private schools, and among the teachers of Hereu-
(48)
44 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
laneum was one Willard Frissell, who came to Jefferson
county in 1827 with his cousin Mason Frissell, later a
distinguished Missouri lawyer, from the Berkshire Hills
of Massachusetts. Thomas C. Fletcher was one of Mr.
Frissell's pupils, and in later years Mr. Frissell frecjuently
boasted that he was the only man in Missouri or elsewhere
who had ever "licked the Governor." As the county
seat and an important trading point, eminent lawyers
gathered here, as did also that class of men whose natural
abilities had made them leaders of the people. Such an
environment was sure to arouse the ambition of a youth
of Fletcher's type. Family tradition and culture spurred
him on in an effort to secure an education. There were
no ready-made amusements and few incidents to distract
the mind. Amusements such as there were, were of home
production and of course educational in their nature.
There were no railroads, telephones or movies. Circuit
court, county court, the stage-coach and an occasional
steamboat were matters of greatest public moment. In
such circumstances, it was natural for Thomas C. Fletcher
to seek to acquire an education, and having secured the
rudiments, he secured text books and applied himself to
their mastery. So well did he apply himself, he was
given work in the office of the clerk of the circuit court
at the age of seventeen and on May 25, 1846, was duly
appointed the deputy of John S. Brickey, the circuit
clerk, and thereafter performed all the duties and three
years later was elected to that office. The records made
by him during his incumbency in office arc models in
brevity and in clarity of expression as well as models of
chirography,
On April 16, 1851, he was married to Mary Clara
Honey in Hilisboro, the ceremony having been performed
by H. N. Watts, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South* The bride was bora la Herculaneum,
within a week or two of Governor Fletcher's natal day,
and her maternal ancestors were of the Austin family,
famous in Texas annals. Family history that the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 45
parents of the children were very close friends and be-
trothed the children in infancy. Both the Honey and
Fletcher families came to Hillsboro when the county seat
was removed from Herculaneum to Hillsboro, and as
early as 1843 the two were leaders in the community life
of the new town. Local history preserves the presenta-
tion speech of Miss Honey as head of the Daughters of
Temperance when a flag was given by the Daughters to
the Sons of Temperance, and the speech of acceptance
was made by Thomas C. Fletcher, of the Sons. The
home built in Hillsboro by Mr. Fletcher for the reception
of his bride is still standing and is in an excellent state of
preservation.
The original rolls of bar membership for Jefferson
county appear to have been lost and the present roll, into
which was copied the names of all members who had been
theretofore enrolled, gives the dale of Thomas C. Fletcher's
enrollment as May 1856. Records of the circuit court,
however, show that he was admitted to the bar before
that time, for in 1855 he was appointed guardian ad litem
in cases pending in court. In 1856 he was appointed
land agent for the Southwest Branch of the Pacific Rail-
road, now the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, and
moved with his family to St. Louis.
During 1856, he campaigned southwest Missouri in
advocacy of the election of Thomas II. Benton for Gover-
nor. Fletcher was strongly opposed to slavery, although
he came of a slave owning family.
During the time he was in St. Louis he, in partner-
ship with his brother-in-law, CoL Louis J, Rankin, pur-
chased the site and laid out the town, now the city of
DeSoto, and having built a home there moved with his
family to the new town early in 1860. Elected a delegate
to the National Republican Convention at Chicago in
1860, he was an earnest advocate of Abraham Lincoln
for the nomination, and voted for him at DeSoto in No-
vember, 1860, He was a strong Union man, and as a sup-
porter, became one of President Lincoln's trusted advisers
46 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
and was a close personal friend of General Nathaniel
Lyon and Francis P. Blair in the troublous times dating
from Lincoln's election to the fall of Fort Sumter in April,
1861. After the fall of Fort Sumter he volunteered his
services and was appointed by General Lyon as assistant
provost marshal general, with headquarters in St. Louis
and continued in this service until the following year.
In the summer of 1862, at the request of the President, he
recruited the 31st Missouri infantry and it is due to his
personal character that most of the Union men of Jefferson
county were on the roster of the 3 1st, and among them
were his two brothers, William and Carrol. lie was
commissioned colonel, receiving his commission in October
1862 and was wounded and captured at Ghickasaw Bayou,
December 29, 1862. He was confined in Libby Prison
until his exchange in May 1863 and returned to his regi-
ment and was present at the fall of Vicksburg. lie served
with his regiment in the battle of Lookout Mountain and
in the Atlanta Campaign commanded a brigade of which
his regiment formed a part.
On the night preceding the battle of Dallas, Georgia*
in the Atlanta Campaign, after a long march with his
brigade in the rain, Colonel Fletcher contracted a severe
cold, which settled in his back, so that he was unable to
mount his horse, lie was advised to return home, by the
regimental surgeon, and did so, his first visit to his loved
ones in nearly two years. While at home recuperating.
General W. S, Rosecranz, then commanding the Depart-
ment of Missouri, sent for him and requested that ha
organize the Union forces in Missouri for the purpose of
resisting the "Price Expedition/ 1 This was in August
1864. The 47th regiment of Missouri Volunteers was
formed, and he was chosen colonel. lie was asked to
organize another regiment, which he did, known as the
50th of which the late David Murphy* of St. Louis, was
commissioned colonel. The companies of these regiments
were stationed In the counties where organized
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 47
never been drilled in battalion drill, when first called to
face the enemy at the battle of Pilot Knob.
When Price captured Bloomfield, General Rosecranz
assumed that Cape Girardeau was his objective, and St.
Louis the great objective. CoL Fletcher was sent to the
Cape and prepared defenses. When the confederate forces
passed Cape Girardeau, CoL Fletcher went to Pilot Knob
and reported to General Ewing. The command of the
infantry was assigned to CoL Fletcher and prepara-
tions were hurriedly made for the defense of the Fort.
The entire Union force available for the defense numbered
less than 900 enlisted men and thirty-five citizen volunteers.
Opposed to this little force were ten thousand Confederates.
The battle lasted all day and resulted in a Confederate
loss of I486 killed and wounded while the Union loss was
twenty- two killed, forty wounded and sixty-seven missing.
A flank movement necessitated the evacuation of the posi-
tion, which was successfully accomplished and a junction
formed with General A. J, Smith,
While this battle was going on, the over-shadowing
importance of other fields of action caused the battle of
Pilot Knob to be overlooked in Civil War annals, but there
can be but little doubt that the stubborn defense made at
Pilot Knob saved St. Louis from capture, and as a defensive
battle, has few equals in history. The Missouri General
Assembly voted its thanks to CoL Fletcher and his as-
sociates and President Lincoln in recognition of his service
brevetted him a brigadier general of the volunteer army
of the United States,
It was while commanding a brigade in the army of
Tennessee, under General William T. Sherman, in the
"March to the Sea," that he was nominated by the Re-
publican party as the candidate for Governor and at the
election in November, 1864, he was elected by a large
majority*
He was duly inaugurated and in his inaugural message
to the Legislature January 2, 1865, he laid down the
principles of reconstruction for which he stood and which
48 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
characterized his whole administration. He regarded all
men who willfully and deliberately violated the law of the
land as traitors to the Government. He was opposed to
the test oath from the beginning, and urged liberality in
dealing with those who manifested a sincere desire to
become loyal citizens. In his inaugural message he says:
"Being victorious everywhere, let magnanimity now dis-
tinguish our action; and having nothing more to ask for
party, let us, forgetful of past differences, seek only to
promote the general good of the whole commonwealth.
While, therefore, we let past dangers teach us provision
for future security, let us welcome to a participation in
our coming prosperity and greatness as a State, all who
unite with us in upholding and defending the authority
of the Constitution of the United States and of the State
of Missouri and of the laws enacted in pursuance thereof.' 9
He was a friend of education and in all his messages
his friendship for and his desire to aid and upbuild the
State University is apparent and much was accomplished.
He urged repeatedly the establishment of the Agricultural
College and the department for military instruction and
civil engineering were added to the University. Teacher's
institutes were instituted throughout the State as a means
for meeting the growing necessity for trained teachers
for which he urged legislative support until Normal Schools
could be established, lie secured the establishment of a
board of immigration and urged that it be encouraged and
industry fostered, so that Missouri should not be laggard
in the development of its wonderful resources* concerning
which he was ever eloquent. "There is," he says, "enough
of accomplishment already attained to nerve us on to
the labor of regenerating our political structure, so as to
cause it to blaze in the sight of nations of the earth t the
brightest gem in the diadem of liberty.**
To Governor Fletcher came the opportunity to emanci-
pate slaves in Missouri, as President Lincoln's proclama-
tion only extended to those territories In armed rebellion,
and on January 11, 1865, Governor Fletcher his
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 49
proclamation "That henceforth and forever, no person
within the limits of this State shall be subject to any
abridgment of liberty, except as the law may prescribe
for the common good, or know any Master but God."
At the beginning of Governor Fletcher's administration,
the State had 826 miles of railroads widely scattered and
in very poor condition. At the close of his administration
the State had 1394 miles of completed roads and 569
miles under actual construction, a history, he says "of
material advancement made in four years recorded in iron
chirography." The sale of railroads during his administra-
tion has been much criticised, but these criticisms have
been largely matters of partisan propaganda. From an
economic standpoint, the student and thinker, viewing
the matter after a lapse of over half a century, taking
into consideration that the State was practically bankrupt
at the time, must see that he acted in the only practical
way to redeem the credit of the State and to procure the
early completion of these roads, which were so essential
to the development of the material resources of the State.
Had the State held to these roads, rehabilitation of the
State's finances must of necessity have been long delayed,
the railroads must still further have deteriorated, and
Missouri passed in the march of progress by her sister
States. It must be apparent now to everyone, that had
the State held on to these roads, that the great trans-
continental systems of which they are now parts, could
not, or would not have been built to connections with a
few hundred miles of State owned roads. The unprec-
edented advancement of Missouri following these sales,
and the extension of these lines from Lakes to Gulf and
from sea to sea bespeak the necessity of the act. Gov-
ernor Fletcher had vision enough to see the future and
realized that whatever present criticism might be that the
future would justify his action. St. Louis, as an industrial
center, and when its adjoining neighbors and suburban
population is included, still is the fourth city of the Union,
owes its preeminence as a trade and industrial center to
50 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
the wisdom of Thomas C. Fletcher in disposing of the
railroads. The Governor's recommendations were not
always carried into execution, for in his messages he urged
that inasmuch as the State had aided in building these
roads, that they should be required to pay a small per-
centage of their gross earnings to the State which would
in time grow into a sum sufficient to carry on the expenses
of the State Government without the levy of taxes for that
purpose.
Other States and the Federal Government did to
some extent what he recommended and the saving to the
Federal Government in the transportation of its supplies
and the mails, over land grant railroads, amounts annually
to a sum that must closely approximate the then whole
value of the land granted.
During his administration more school houses were
built in the State than had been built since Missouri
became a State. The population of the State increased
from nearly a million to approximately one million five
hundred thousand. The assessed value of property in
the State arose from $200,000,000 to $500,000,000. The
State debt was decreased during his four-year term to the
extent of twenty-three million dollars, leaving an indebted-
ness of $18,645,000 of which $13,734,000 was due on ac-
count of bonds issued to aid the railroad and there was a
treasury balance of $2,411,060,00.
Whatever else may be said in criticism, his honesty
and personal integrity have never been questioned by friend
or foe. While Governor he turned back into the treasury
an appropriation of $20,000.00 for a governor's mansion
and lived in the old house, because the State's needs were
great, but in his final message he urged the necessity of
such a mansion. Fierce hatreds and intense partisan-
ships the inevitable result of war were at the highest
point during his administration, lie was naturally a
partisan, but because he had suffered the wounds and hard-
ships of the conflict, he had a profound respect for his
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 51
honest opponent who sought to enforce his will in honorable
battle and urged that the proscriptions of reconstruction
be lightened for these; and that bushwhackers and guerrillas
be utterly proscribed. He did not believe it was necessary
to destroy in order to reconstruct and sought honestly
and honorably to salvage the true manhood of the State
and build it into the body politic, of what he was pleased
to call, Free Missouri.
Governor Fletcher was chairman of the Republican
State Convention in 1868 and supported General U. S.
Grant for president. After the close of his term of office,
as governor, he removed to St. Louis and engaged in the
practice of law and sometime thereafter removed to Washing-
ton, D. C., and engaged in his profession there, until his
death March 25, 1899. His remains were brought back to
his home State and interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery,
St. Louis. Governor Fletcher was devoted to his family
and there was never more faithful cavalier than he. He
has only one living descendant, Mrs. Perry Fletcher Earth-
low, of St. Louis, and a glimpse of the man he was at home
is to be found in his letters written to her from various parts
of the country. The letters are descriptive of his travels,
or if at home, descriptive of all those things that he con-
sidered to be of interest to his loved one, and are splendid
specimens of the lost art of letter writing. His life was not
spectacular, but he was sincere in all his public service.
At a time when opportunity was ripe for men of his position
to reap unworthily, it can be truly said of Governor Fletcher
that no hint of personal use of power for mercenary ends
ever touched his life. lie did his duty as he saw it with
courage and fidelity, and to the end of his days remained
the personal friend of the most lowly of those who in youth
and young manhood were his associates. He was born a
gentleman ancl remained one through all his days. The
Ozarks gave him to Missouri and endowed him with their
own inflexibility. He served his County, his State and his
Nation with all the seal of the Cavalier and with the in-
52 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
tegrity of the Puritan. When time shall wear away the
last vestige of partisanship and Thomas C. Fletcher's
service is more fully known, he will stand high in the ranks
of those who have been most instrumental in achieving
Missouri's greatness.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 53
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
JANUAEY 2, 1865
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 84~40
Senators and Representatives:
In the name of Truth, of Justice, of Freedom, and of
Progress, God has permitted us a political triumph, bring-
ing with it the solemn responsibility of promoting those
great principles by an enforcement of the fundamental law
for securing the peace, happiness and prosperity of the
people of the State.
Through the blood and fire of a civil war, we have
attained to a new era, effulgent with the glory of the decree
of the People in their sovereign capacity, emancipating
themselves from servitude to principles and policies which
have weighed clown their energies, opposed barriers to their
progress, and armed the hand of Treason for the shedding
of patriot blood.
The only instance in the world's history of a rebellion
against an existing Government in the name and for the
sake of Slavery, has resulted in the enlargement of Liberty;
and the retributive Nemesis has sent the system of Slavery
crashing down to hopeless destruction in the conflagration
of 'a civil strife lighted by its own hand.
All men fit to be citizens and partakers of the common
rights accorded men in civilized communities, must regard
and treat as final and conclusive the recent deliberate and
solemn verdict of the people of Missouri, rendered in the
full exercise of reason restored by the calamities of the war,
in favor of closing the gates of Janus and restoring the power
of the civil law, and against the mad attempts to defy the
authority of the National Government. The civilized
world which has been observant of, not less than our own
community which has been participant in this unparalleled
54 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
conflict, must, in that verdict, acknowledge that the posi-
tion of Missouri, in the van of the free and progressive States
whose attachment to the Union defies earthly power to
rend, is as enduring as our own eternal and solid mountains
of iron, which, based in the deep center of our State, lift
their firm brows toward the sky in colossal majesty.
Being victorious everywhere, let magnanimity now
distinguish our action; and, having nothing more to ask
for party, let us, forgetful of past differences, seek only to
promote the general good of the people of the whole common-
wealth. While, therefore, we let past dangers teach us
provision for future security, let us welcome to a participa-
tion in our coming prosperity and greatness as a State, all
who unite with us in upholding and defending the authority
of the Constitution of the United States and of the State
of Missouri, of the laws enacted in pursuance thereof, and
of the officers selected for their enforcement.
Behind us we leave the wrecks of old institutions,
and all the bitter memories of the terrible Past, retaining
only the lessons of wisdom our experience of them has
taught us. Before us, glowing with promise and fruitful
with hope, is the mighty Future; but be assured, that in
readjusting the framework of our torn community to its
requirements, we shall need, to enable us to grasp that
promise and realize that hope, all the energies of our truest
and best citizens.
In point of physical advantage, in the combination of
all the elements of wealth, in the invitations that are held
out to enterprise, and in the magnificent and swift rewards
that wait on industry, no area on the Western Continent
containing an equal number of square miles, can compare
with our own State, While embracing a greater number
of acres of good agricultural land than any other State in
the Union, Missouri has more iron than all the other Stales
combined; lead in quantities greater than elsewhere dis-
covered in the world; mines of cobalt amd zinc, and lades
of copper; whole districts of country underlaid with
of coal; almost illimitable of the moat
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 55
including the giant resiniferous pine, inviting the hand
of unshackled industry and liberal enterprise to gather its
wealth; prairie and forest diversified everywhere by streams
affording unequaled water power; one of the largest rivers
of the world flowing through her center, and another wash-
ing the whole length of her border.
In contemplating our natural resources, gratitude for
their bestowment and pride in their possession struggle
for the ascendency; and we are more grateful and prouder
still in reflecting upon the heroic resolution with which our
noble State has shaken off a thralldom fatal to prosperity
and at war with justice has buried the dead Past, and
advanced the standard of Freedom as the emblem of her
future faith. We have every reason to incite us henceforth
to great achievement. We have a State that promises
to be the grand central figure of a cluster of republics,
victoriously emergent with new splendor from the recent
conflict of industrial systems. There is enough of accom-
plishment already attained to nerve us on to the labor of
regenerating our political structure, so as to cause it to
blaze in the sight of the nations of the earth, the brightest
gem in the diadem of Liberty.
Henceforth Missouri shall be an asylum for all nation-
alities and races and peoples; the repository of wealth, and
a theater for the development of the labor and enterprise
of the hand and spirit of Industry; and the home of free
thought, free speech and a free press, where the prejudices
of caste and class have no legal embodiment or political
encouragement. She shall be a central mart for the inter-
change of the products of the North and the South, the
East and the West, through the rivers of her great basin
and the system of railways centering in her metropolis.
She shall be a highway for the commerce of the two oceans,
borne by the inland transit lines that carry the freights
between Europe and Asia. She shall proffer a secure and
guarded repose to all consciences and all religious beliefs,
untied by any secular control, yet upheld and encircled by a
public sentiment upon which faith in God has taken a new
56 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
hold from the experiences of an unparalleled national
preservation.
Let it be announced that in the new era which has
come, ours is to be the first of States, with the largest free-
dom and the widest charities. Let this be a State where,
with the administration of inflexible justice, the abandon-
ment of mere partyisms, and the domination of industrial
politics, all the advances of statute law progress towards
combining labor and capital, rather than placing them in
the cruel antagonisms of the Past; where the light of hope
is shut out by the fundamental law from no human being
of whatever race, creed or color; but where a free people,
heeding the stroke of inevitable destiny on the horologe
of Time in the great crisis of changeful progress, guards the
right of permitting the position and privileges of every
man to be such as his virtues, talents, education, patriotism,
enterprise, industry, courage or achievements may confer
upon him.
It should be our effort to preserve harmony, in every
department of the State Government, with all the measures
of the National Administration. We have the sympathy
of the Federal Executive in the sufferings and losses entailed
on us by the War, and in our consequent intolerance of
treason and rebellion. The strong hand of the General
Government may be relied upon to sustain the patriotic,
prudent and vigorous measures of unimpugned loyalty*
I hope an early act of the Legislature will evince an
appreciation of the services of the men who, by their heroic
bravery, have made the name of a Missouri soldier a proud
title. While the loyal people of the State, and the soldiers
themselves, testify their feeling by generous contributions
for the support and education of the children of our dead
heroes, their efforts should be met* if it be necessary, by
liberal legislative action, even though, in order to avoid the
imposition of additional taxes upon our distressed people,
it should have to be done at the expense of industrial in-
terests heretofore aided by the State. Give the orphans
of war the children of the People a home and t culture
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 57
of mind to fit them for preserving the institutions in defense
of which their fathers died.
In this connection I would call your attention to the
propriety of the expression of the gratitude of Free Mis-
souri to the loyal men of her sister Free States who have
stood beside us, and made many of our mountains, hills,
valleys, prairies and river shores historic by their bravery
in our defense.
It is a duty to ourselves, so far as possible, to put every
influence, power and benefit conferred by civil and military
office in the State in harmony with the spirit of the principles
and policy indorsed by the people in the recent election;
and I must add, that for all appointments to be made by
the Executive, I shall prefer the men who have served with
honor in the field in defense of the Union, they possessing
equal qualifications in all other respects with other applicants.
Our educational system should receive at all times the
earnest care and consideration of the Legislature. It must
be so moulded as best to resist the inroads of war, and con-
serve the ends of peace. Perhaps no better foundation
can be had than the admirable Common School system
now so well organized and engrafted upon our public
policy. To this, however, a superstructure should be
added, different from that which has hitherto obtained.
The requirements of self-defense will suggest that more
attention be given in our educational course to those depart-
ments of instruction which qualify for military service.
And in devoting our energies to the means of supplying
more extended knowledge to the young men of our State,
it would be well to confine the furnishing of such facilities
to those scientific branches which may contribute
most directly to the practical purposes of life, and
to the immediate development of the resources of the State.
There are two offices which belong to education: the
first is the imparting of a clear understanding of elements,
and the second is the application of those elements in drill
and practice. I rejoice to see that the educational ten-
dencies of the day throughout the country are manifested
58 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
in the foundation of schools for specialties of instruction,
agriculture, the only firm and immutable foundation and
source of a nation's greatness, receiving the largest share
of attention.
I would, therefore, recommend in this connection a
revision of the organization of the State University, and
its transformation into two or more departments bearing
directly upon the agricultural and mineral wealth that so
abounds in our State; and that it be recast and relocated,
if this shall be deemed expedient for its new design, and
constituted a free academy, devoting itself to the task of
gathering the statistics of our resources, to invite immigra-
tion; furnishing brief yet full courses of instruction, that
may fit the farmer for more scientific methods of culture
of the soil and advance the very important interests of
horticulture; and sending forth annually hundreds of young
men enlisted in bringing to light the mineral masses that
vein our soil, or superintending the development of those
already found. Such an institution would at once become
an efficient instrument of progress, and would repay ten-
fold whatever expenses might attend its inauguration and
support. If necessary, to increase its endowments, I
recommend the sale of the State Tobacco Warehouse prop-
erty, and the investment of the proceeds for that purpose.
I also recommend the revival of the law providing for
a Superintendent of Common Schools*
The law for the organization, government and support
of the Militia should be so modified as to secure its adapta-
bility to the condition of the people of the State, and the
greater efficiency of an arm of the service upon which we
are to rely, in the future as ia the past, m an indispensable
means of our security in time of invasion, and to local
organizations to which we are to look as the means of ridding
the State of the bands of murderers and robbers who arc*
yet prowling in our forests. The right of citizenship and
of a home in Missouri ought to be inseparable from the duty
of assisting in Its defense. No sum of moaey should ba
adequate to the purchase of the exemption of an
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 59
bodied man from this duty. Numbers of men will not
compensate for want of skill in the use of arms. The men
should be so classified, that one-half of them may be called
into service, when the exigency requires it, without detri-
ment to the ordinary and now so necessary peaceful pur-
suits of life. Thorough drill and discipline will render one-
half equal in efficiency to the whole number of imperfectly
instructed and undisciplined men. A bill embodying my
view on this subject is in course of preparation, and will
at an early day be presented for your consideration.
The officers of the militia must be men imbued with
true courage and the spirit of reaching a final result in this
war, who understand the principles of our government,
which require the subordination of the military to the civil
authority, and who are efficient in drill and discipline.
Another decade of years brings the labor of revising
our statutes, increased by the necessity of conforming them
to the new Constitutional provisions about to be made.
Great care should be taken, in framing our general laws,
to prevent special legislation, by obviating as far as possible
its necessity.
The amendments to the Constitution will -require the
erasure of the word "slave" from our statutes, the abolition
of all distinctions of color in the law relating to crimes and
their punishment, and the abrogation of all laws for the
fostering and protection of the interests of slavery.
The enforcement of the civil law to repress the ten-
dencies to lawlessness begotten of treason, will probably
add to the number of convicts usually employed in the
Penitentiary. The object of the law being the reformation
as well as punishment of convicts, I call your attention to
the manifest inadequacy of provision made for the employ-
ment of a Chaplain for the Penitentiary, and recommend
that such compensation be provided as will secure the entire
time and effort of a competent man, for their moral and
religious instruction.
The act concerning elections will, it is hoped, have to be
so amended, as to meet the requirements of new constitu-
60 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
tional provisions for guarding the palladium of our liberties
against the wily and unscrupulous approach and unsanctified
touch of alien enemies, whose hands are stained with the
blood of Union men, of traitors who have alienated them-
selves by flight beyond the jurisdiction of the United States
to avoid duty to the government or escape punishment for
the crime of treason, and of men who have written their
own infamy by enrolling themselves as in sympathy with
treason and rebellion, and who have not since erased it by
the services and conduct of patriots.
More effectually to guard the ballot-box, a law is
necessary requiring a registration of all qualified voters in
each county, and permitting only those to vote who are
thus registered. Men who have by rebellion disavowed
'allegiance to the Government, should be permitted to
regain the privileges of citizenship only through the means
provided by the naturalization laws of the United Stales;
while to the liberty loving foreigner who makes his home
under the government of his choice, and for which he is
willing to fight, liberal laws should be enacted as soon as
permitted by the letter of the State Constitution, shortening
the probationary term preceding his investment with the
elective franchise for all the purposes of Stale election.
We should be connected, through an agent, with the
Immigration Bureau, and take the necessary measures
for the collection and publication of statistical information,
not only conveying to the energetic and enterprising in-
habitants of the more densely populated states, as well as
to those of foreign countries* a knowledge of our mineral
wealth, of the fertility of our soil and of the cheapness of
our land, but also bringing home to them the facts of the
adaptability of our soil and climate to the cultivation of
the grape and the growing of fruits. The wines and fruits
of Missouri will be sources of incalculable wealth* its
been demonstrated, by our own people. The very perfec-
tion of fruits has been obtained here, and our wines are
becoming the favorites wherever their has
tested. Show to the Immigrant the we
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 61
for wool growing, and that he may graze upon our hills the
flocks from which may be sheared the greater part of the
100,000,000 pounds of wool annually imported from foreign
countries for our manufactories. Let the exhibition of
samples of our hemp and tobacco attest their superiority,
accompanied by facts and figures showing the enormous
returns yielded by our fertile soils in these and other pro-
ductions. And bid them come, where the abundance of
industrial resources renders labor independent, and will
make freedom perpetual
To secure the return of the Union men, who, unable to
fight, have sought safety in the Free States, it is only neces-
sary for them to know that the military policy now adopted
in Arkansas and Missouri will prevent the return of the
armies of the enemy to our soil; that the united action of
our own people will soon free us of the presence of the lawless
depredators who, in small bodies, yet infest some parts of
the State; that loyal men will be secure in life and property,
while traitors wanting security to either will cease to intrude
their presence upon us; that the policy of the Department
of the Missouri is, unheralded, silently but effectually to
stamp enduring peace on the State, and ere long to make the
voice of the law potential in all its hitherto silent forums;
and that Free Missouri, like all other Free States, will only
hear the distant clash of arms without interruption to the
prosperity of her people.
We must deeply regret, as one of the great calamities
of the war, that we have been deprived of the means of
meeting the obligations of the State, one of the results of
which has been the accumulation of a large amount of un-
paid interest on our bonds, as shown by the able and very
satisfactory Message of my predecessor.
The subject of our indebtedness, and the present and
prospective condition of our finances, should be carefully
considered, with a view to the restoration of the credit of
the State. I suggest that if the General Assembly can,
at this session, devise the ways and means for the uncertain
expenses of our militia, for defending the securities of our
62 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
creditors, as well as our homes, and determine our financial
condition in the future, so as to place beyond doubt our
compliance with any new undertakings, we fund all our
over-due coupons, including those to a date to which our
bond-holders may look with certainty for the payment of
a per centum of accruing interest, and provide for funding
the remainder, increasing the per centum of payments
annually until we can meet the whole of the coupons as
they fall due; the bonds thus to be issued for accrued in-
terest, and the portion of interest we are hereafter unable
to meet, to be styled interest bonds, to carry no interest
for, say three years, then three per centum per annum,
increasing the rate of interest one per centum per annum,
for two years, the maximum rate of interest to be five per
centum, to run twenty years from date. If the prospects
of our several railroads taken into consideration justify it,
discrimination should be made in the time of resuming
payment of full interest on their bonds.
Let our undertakings be only such as we can certainly
meet, and let them at the same time be such as become a
people whose honesty is unshaken by misfortune, who are
resolved to pay their debts, and who have only to let pru-
dence and energy characterize the management of their
known assets and resources, to preserve the confidence of
their creditors and insure their ability to meet their obliga-
tions,
We have seven Railroads, with an aggregate of 820
miles of finished railroad in the State, for which we have
incurred liabilities amounting to $23,700,000, exclusive of
interest* The only finished railroad in the State promptly
meets the interest on the three millions of bonds issued to
aid its construction. All the other roads are in default of
payment of interest due by them. They are ample security
for the amounts advanced to them respectively- Almost
the whole debt of the State has been contracted on their
account All the interests of the State, and the attainment
of the greatness to which we aspire, are involved in their
completion. If the light of events has revealed that we
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 63
have committed an error in attempting to build up at once
a whole system of railroads, instead of directing all our
means and energies first to building those most necessary
to our wants, and consequently most certain to yield large
net earnings, let us at once seek to correct that error. If,
in the present or a changed relation of the State to them,
we cannot command the means for their completion, and
if they cannot be made to yield at least a portion of the
accruing interest on the bonds loaned them respectively,
with reasonable prospect of their completion or increased
net earnings, enabling them to meet the whole interest,
then it will be our duty, in order to restore the credit of the
State and to save the people from burthensome taxation,
to foreclose our first mortgage liens on them, and by their
sale reduce the State debt to a sum within our easy control,
and, private enterprise failing to do so, trust to our future
prosperity to afford the means for their completion.
These important questions will be the subject of a
special communication which I shall hereafter have occasion
to make to the General Assembly.
I recommend that all charters heretofore granted to
railroad companies or other corporations, and forfeited by
non-user, be repealed.
I call your attention to the propriety of using all the
power possessed by the General Assembly over our railroad
and other corporations, to compel the exercise of their entire
influence in favor of loyalty. I hope that every privilege
and benefit accorded them will be coupled with the condi-
tion of forfeiture or penalty for knowingly contracting with
or employing a traitor, and that the power to enforce such
forfeiture or penalty may be conferred on the Executive.
There are no degrees in loyalty; and whoever refuses to
use all the influence he is possessed of in favor of upholding
the authority of the National Government, is a traitor.
The victorious armies of the Republic are with deadly
thrusts piercing the enemy on every side. The giant
Rebellion, bleeding at every pore, begins to reel and faint.
Our Sherman, with his veteran braves, stands on the Ocean's
64 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
beach, gazes back at the last deep mortal wound inflicted,
and waits only to see if another is necessary. The legions
of Grant, Butler, Sheridan, Thomas and Canby, are rushing
on to complete the work. The coming spring-time will
bring the final blow, and amid the battle-cry of Freedom
the death of the Rebellion will be consummated, and blessed
Peace once more breathe its benisons over the land.
Reposing implicit reliance in that Power to which all
earthly authority is subject, and assured that, if we are
true to ourselves, a wise and just Providence will lead us up
the golden stairs of a radiant Future, to the attainment of
the high destiny clearly marked out for us in the bestow-
ment of our wondrous material resources, I assume the
responsibilities and undertake the labors of the position
assigned me by the too generous partiality of the citizens
of my native State. As your fellow-laborer, I claim your
assistance, your confidence, your forbearance, and your
sympathy. While doubtful of my own abilities, I yet have
unfaltering faith that all earnest effort to support and
advance the true principles of Republican Government, as
approved by the intelligence and patriotism of the American
People in the recent election, will secure me the encourage-
ment and engird me with the support of the loyal men of
Missouri, and enable me, when my official term shall expire,
to resign back into the hands from which I receive it the
trust now committed to my charge, strengthened and
adorned by the application of radical democratic principles.
THOMAS C. FLETCHBB,
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 65
ADJOURNED SESSION MESSAGE
NOVEMBER 3, 1865
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 9-18
Senators and Representatives:
Since your adjournment in February last, the mightiest
of events have transpired in our country.
The prediction made in my first communication to
you, that the ensuing spring-time would bring the final
blow to the Great Rebellion, was verified, and the conflict
was brought to a close in a manner entitling the men who
won the victories of the Union to the lasting gratitude of
the nation. The supremacy of the national authority
has been triumphantly asserted, and its permanence def-
initely and indubitably assured.
The joyous ringing of bells in celebration of this grand
consummation was suddenly changed to the tolling knell
for the loss of our President, the good and the true, whose
most foul murder constitutes the last chapter in the record
of the slaveholders' war, and will furnish to the peoples of
all the future the most conclusive evidence of the diabolical
purposes of those who aimed the deadly blow at the life
of liberty, and drenched the whole land in blood, in the
hope of dedicating it forever to human slavery.
Fortunately for the nation, the law made a successor
to Abraham Lincoln, in the person of one who has, by a
life-long struggle with the aristocratic and domineering
spirit of the Southern slaveholder, learned to rely upon the
virtue, intelligence and power of the masses of the people,
and been made alive to that genuine philanthropy which
seeks to widen the liberty and elevate the condition of
every human being.
We have great reason for thankfulness to the Giver
of all blessings, that in our own State the alarms of war
66 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
were hushed in the stillness of a peace so profound that
we have only been able to realize it by the evidences of a
returning prosperity seen and felt on every hand.
You have reassembled under circumstances calculated
to inspire high hopes in the breast of every true citizen, and
which call for the earnest efforts of patriotism and states-
manship towards securing to our State that greatness which
a mere partisan view fails to comprehend.
Your present action will probably affect some of the
great interests of the State far into the future, and must
augment or diminish in a large degree the prosperity which
is just now opening up to us in our new-born day of liberty
and progress. Coming, as you do, immediately from the
people, with whom you have mingled since your adjourn-
ment, you are well prepared to reflect their intelligent
views, and carry out their honest purposes.
I shall as briefly as possible avail myself of the con-
stitutional privilege of giving you such information relative
to the condition of the State Government, as will, in my
opinion, aid your labors, and of recommending to your
consideration such measures as I deem necessary and ex-
pedient.
The most important of these relates to the subject of
our finances.
The State Treasurer reports the total receipts into the
treasury for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1865, at
$2,463,909.03, and total expenditures at $1 ,854,6(51. 77,
leaving a balance in the treasury of $609,247/26, of which
balance $105,535.28 is in currency, and $503,711.98 in
Union Military Bonds and other issues of the State*
The total bonded debt of the State, exclusive of bonds
loaned the several railroads. Is $602,000^ of which amount
$402,000 matured in 1862 and 1863, For these matured
bonds I have, in pursuance of the act of January 2 f 1864,
exchanged new bonds, having twenty years to run, to the
amount of $260,000, The bonds thus taken up have been
delivered to the Auditor to be canceled.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 67
In pursuance of the act of February 15, 1864, I have
made settlements with the following named banks: Bank
of St. Louis, Exchange Bank, Farmers' Bank, Western
Bank, Mechanics' Bank, Merchants' Bank, and the State
Bank. I found the aggregate of bonus due the State by
these banks to be $181,461.63, including interest, and that
they had advanced Governor Gamble, inclusive of interest
to settlement, the aggregate sum of $121,699.80, and have
paid into the State Treasury $117,910.97 in money and
coupons of bonds held by them under their charters. The
bonds are in course of preparation for the balance due by
the State to these and other banks which hold Governor
Gamble's checks for portions of that loan.
Under the act approved March 2, 1861, I have signed
and delivered to the proper officer sixty-seven bonds of the
State, tp be exchanged for seven per cent, bonds of the
Pacific Railroad, guaranteed by the State for the construc-
tion of the Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad.
I herewith transmit a statement of the State Treasurer,
showing the condition of the State Interest Fund. The
total amount of bonds of the State loaned to the railroads,
including the bonds guaranteed by the State, is $23,701,000,
on which the accrued and unpaid interest up to January,
1866, will be $6,316,090, the annual interest being $1,307,850.
In my inaugural message I made some suggestions in
reference to this indebtedness, and a committee was ap-
pointed by you to consider the subject during the recess.
The restoration of the credit of the State, by providing
for Ihe over-due interest on these bonds, without creating
an additional burden of taxation, is a question of the highest
importance, as is also the securing of a resumption of the
prompt payment of interest, as early as it can be done with
certainty of continued ability to maintain such payment
in the future; and these considerations may induce me,
during the session, to communicate specially to you my
views in reference to those questions.
The total amount of Defense Warrants and Union
Military Bonds issued for the pay of the Enrolled Missouri
68 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
Militia for services rendered prior to the 10th of February,
1865, including the loan by the banks to Governor Gamble
to purchase arms, together with interest, on said bonds and
loan to this date, is $7,046,575. The appropriation made
by the act of February 20, 1865, will fall short of the amount
due the Enrolled Missouri Militia for services up to that
date, the sum of say $500,000. There is due the Missouri
Militia, called into service at the request of Major General
Dodge, commanding the Department of the Missouri,
including expenses attending the enrolling and organization
of the militia, say $500,000. There is due for irregular
claims and the Quartermaster's Department, say $250,000.
I have caused all the evidences to be prepared for again
presenting the claim of this debt to Congress, and con-
fidently rely on the justice of that body for the reimburse-
ment of the State in the sum we have thus been compelled
to expend in defense of the flag of the Union.
Our railroads occupy the foreground of the picture
which reason and experience present of the coming great-
ness of our State.
The completion of the Pacific Railroad to the Western
line of the State, is a subject of sincere congratulation.
The business of this roacl will exceed the most sanguine,
expectations; and though its earnings are pledged till 1871
to pay advances made for its completion, we may rest
assured of the prompt payment, after that dale, of accruing
interest on the bonds loaned the road by the State. The
State has been liberal in assistance to this great enterprise,
and the men who have brought it to a successful issue, by
the use of their time and individual credit, made it a first
class road, and secured the State beyond peradveniure
from ultimate liability for any part of the $7,(XX),OOQ of
bonds loaned to it, may well be proud of their achievement.
But the greater praise Is due the liberal people of St. Louis,
whose crowning act of public-spirited generosity gave the
last loan, without which it could not aow have com-
pleted.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 69
THE SOUTHWEST BRANCH RAILROAD has, by
mere operation of law, become the property of the State.
I recommend that provision be made for disposing of it on
terms which will secure its completion. I need not urge
the importance of opening a highway to the southwestern
portion of our State, for the thousands of immigrants who
are looking thither for homes, and who, finding there all
they desire in the way of resources and advantages, would
soon, by their enhancement of the taxable wealth in that
region, amply compensate the State for all liability assumed
in the construction of the road.
The liability of the State on account of this road is
$4,500,000, with over-due interest, say to the 1st of Jan-
uary next, amounting to, say $1,350,000. To permit this
interest to go on accumulating at the rate of $270,000 per
annum, while the Southwest remains shut out from com-
munication with the centers of trade, is a policy for which
I hope the members of this Legislature will not become
responsible.
The building of this road can now be secured. Before
the enterprising capitalist not only does there lie the in-
describably rich country embraced in thirty counties of
Southwest Missouri, to be drained of its surplus produc-
tions, and its wants to be supplied by this road, but the
Indian Country west of Missouri, Southern Kansas and
Northwestern Arkansas, are to be tributary to it. And,
better than all this, a railroad connection is promised this
road, at the western border of the State, with the Leaven-
worth, Lawrence and Fort Gibson Railroad, which connects
with the Union Pacific Railroad. This latter road is being
rapidly pushed westward, and the work upon it will never
cease until its cars are unloaded into ships lying in the
Bay of San Francisco.
Again, the Southern people must have a connection
with the Union Pacific road, and a railroad is already con-
structed a hundred and fifty miles northward from Galves-
ton, Texas, liberally endowed with lands and destined soon
to reach Fort Gibson, while Congress will undoubtedly aid
70 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
the enterprise of the men of comprehensive policy who are
laboring to give the South the desired connection with the
Union Pacific road by means of the Leavenworth, Lawrence
and Fort Gibson road.
Thus, within a dozen miles of the western line of our
State, there will be a connection for our Southwest Branch
Railroad, the importance of which can only by estimated
by taking into consideration the fact that it will form a
direct route of trade and travel from Galveston to St. Louis,
and the shortest line from the gulf coast to New York,
The construction of about 550 miles of railroad, in addition
to that now built on this route, will connect St. Louis and
Galveston, over a line less than eight hundred miles in
length. For the construction of our part of this road, about
two hundred miles, we have one million and thirty-three
thousand acres of land, the value of which, for agricultural
purposes, is sufficient to build the road, and the mineral
wealth of which is incalculable.
There is now completed and in good condition and
rnnning order, of this road, seventy-six miles, from Franklin
to Rolla, the cost of which has been $2,552,087. Beyond
Rolla twelve miles are graded, and an additional twenty
miles partly graded, with two tunnels partly cut, the cost
of this unfinished work having been $546,852. There is
the following rolling stock belonging to the road; six engines
and tenders, forty-six freight ears, and two passenger ears,
which cost the aggregate of $116,132, and tools and ma-
chinery which cost $783. With this basis I have no doubt
capitalists can be found who will take the road ant! com-
plete it* It is clue the people of the Southwest that this
communication should be given them at the earliest practical
period* and the truest and highest interests of the State
will thereby be promoted.
T1IK IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD has, by dint
of extraordinary exertions, been put once more in
condition. The perseverance and energy which replaced
the bridges and depots burned by the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 71
repaired the immense damage caused by an unprecedented
flood, is highly commendable in the managers of the road.
To this road the State loaned her credit for $3,501,000,
the interest on which is due since January, 1861. I submit
to your consideration the advisability of selling this road.
Private enterprise, once possessed of the eighty-six miles
of finished road between St. Louis and Pilot Knob, would
soon be enabled to push on to Columbus and obtain a
southern connection. The country to be developed by this
extension is the richest portion of the State of Missouri,
Its minerals and timber are of a value incredible to those
who are not familiar with that portion of the State, while
perhaps its greatest wealth is in the agricultural resources
of the great plateau of the Southeast.
I need not urge your action in a matter of such im-
portance as the extension of this road, nor need I say to
you that until it passes into the hands of private enterprise,
at such cost as will warrant prudent men in buying it, it
will never be extended, and the rich section south of Pilot
Knob will remain sparsely populated and undeveloped,
while the accumulating interest on the debt of this road will
go on to aggregate the liabilities of the State for and on
account of a security insufficient and constantly decreasing
in value.
To the Cairo and Fulton Railroad the State has loaned
her bonds for the aggregate of $650,000. The interest due
and unpaid thereon amounts to, say $175,000. I recommend
that provision be at once made for the sale of this road,
with all its franchises and property on which the State
has a lien.
The Platte County Railroad promptly paid its July
interest. The better to secure the payments agreed upon
by the Weston and Atchison.and Atchison and St. Joseph
Railroads, as provided in the act passed at your last session
an additional mortgage has been given me by those roads
for the amount of the total debt and interest due by the
Platte County Railroad.
72 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The North Missouri Railroad, so liberally assisted by
you at your last session, has thus far failed to negotiate
for the money to make the extension to the Iowa line, and
to build the West Branch and the bridge at St. Charles.
You have made the securities they are now offering the
best ever put on the market by any road in this State.
I have no doubt their value will soon be understood, and
that the company will be prepared to commence the work
at an early day. A prominent feature in the picture here-
tofore alluded to is the road which shall connect our railway
system with that of Iowa, and bring thence a tide of trade
and travel to aid in pushing on the extension of our roads
to southern connections.
The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad continues to
meet the interest promptly on the $3,000,000 State bonds
loaned for its construction.
The Union Pacific Railroad, one of those works of
stupendous magnitude, destined to mark the present period
in our nation's history, arid upon which posterity will gaze
as a monument of the glory of their ancestors, is the iron
way which is to connect the Pacific coast with our system
of inland highways, and bind the country with a continuous
line of road from ocean to ocean.
I hope the General Assembly will urge upon Congress
the importance of aiding a central location for such road,
extending the track now built due west by way of the Smoky
Hill route, thus securing to Missouri and the Slates south
and east the most direct communication to the Pacific
coast.
I renew the recommendation made in my inaugural
message in reference to the creation of a department of
agriculture in connection with the State University. This
is required to be done by the fourth section of the fourteenth
article of the Constitution,
Under the act of Congress of July 2nd, 1862, the State
is entitled to three hundred and thirty thousand of
land for the endowment of a college for the benefit of agri-
culture and the mechanic arts, This munificent
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 73
accepted by the Legislature in a joint resolution approved
March 17th, 1863. By the second clause of the fifth section
of the act of Congress above referred to it is provided that
no part of the fund created by that act shall be applied,
directly or indirectly, to the purchase, preservation or
repair of any building or buildings. The State University
buildings are ample for the purposes of a Department of
Agriculture, and the use of them therefor will save the State
the expense of the erection of other buildings, at least until
buildings shall be erected elsewhere and offered to the State
for this purpose. The lands granted by Congress must,
according to the provisions of the act, be selected within
our own State, providing there are sufficient unentered
lands in the State for that purpose. Of such lands there
now remain about five million acres. As the best lands
are being rapidly sold, I cannot too earnestly urge upon
you the importance of early action to secure the selection
of these lands.
The subject of agriculture is one ever entitled to the
careful consideration of legislators, and especially commends
itself to your attention in the present crisis of our history.
The husbandman toils on in humble silence while far less
deserving interests receive greater fostering care and sub-
stantial assistance at the hands of the Legislature. No
people have greater reason for pride in the tillers of the earth
than we in Missouri, and the elevation of the art of cultivat-
ing the soil to a science, is among the first duties of a free
State. Let us have an Agricultural College to which the
farmer can point with pride, and in which his sons can be
prepared to follow more successfully the honorable calling
of the parent.
As agriculture is the basis of the wealth of a nation, so
is education the safeguard of its liberties. Our own Con-
stitution provides that the right of suffrage in every male
now ten years of age or under, shall be dependent on his
ability to read and write when he becomes of age. The
General Assembly should not fail to exercise the power
given by the Constitution to compel parents to send their
74 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
children to school. A careful revision and amendment of
the law for the organization, support and government of
common schools is essential to adapt it to the provisions of
the Constitution, and to make it systematic, plain and
practicable. It is your duty to prescribe the powers and
duties of a Board of Education, and to provide for the
appointment of a Superintendent of Common Schools,
until one is elected as required by the Constitution.
The Constitution also directs the establishment and
maintenance of a State University, with departments for
instruction in agriculture and natural science, and a Normal
professorship.
The State University at Columbia is situated in the
central and a fertile portion of the State. The buildings
are large, substantial, and indeed elegant, and were erected
without cost to the State. This institution is endowed
with the fund arising from the sale of the land granted by
the act of Congress of March 6th, 1820, to this State, for
the use of a seminary of learning. Of this fund, $100,000
is invested in the stock of the State Bank of Missouri,
and $23,000 in the stock of the Branch Bank of Chillicothe.
The sixth section of the ninth article of the Constitution
requires that this stock should be sold and invested in
United States, or other securities.
The University, notwithstanding the small amount
derived for its support from the dividend of three per cent.
per annum declared by the -State Bank, is in a healthy and
flourishing condition, maintaining a high rank among the
institutions of learning in the west* I recommend that
provision be made for enlarging, if necessary, the buildings
and grounds, and for the further endowment of the Uni-
versity out of the proceeds of the sales of the lands granted
to the State by the act of Congress of July 2d 1862, or
otherwise, so as to support the additional professorships-
contemplated by the fourth section of the ninth article
o! the Constitution*
The State holds in trust for the Common School Fund
$078,967.96, which is Invested in stock of the Bank
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 75
of Missouri. The Constitution requires that this stock
shall be sold, and that you shall prescribe by law the time
and manner of sale. I recommend that the proceeds of
such sale be invested in United States bonds.
The Missouri Military Institute, provided for by the
act of May 13th, 1861, has not been organized. I have not
been able to find the deed contemplated by the eleventh
section of that act, the delivery of which to the Governor
is a condition precedent to the taking effect of the law. The
buildings, which were erected by the Masonic order at a
large cost, have been almost entirely destroyed by the acts
of the public enemy.
In this connection I renew the suggestion made in my
inaugural message, that more attention be given in our
educational system to those branches of instruction which
qualify for military service.
There have been selected and claimed by the State,
under the act of Congress of September 28th, 1850, about
5,000,000 acres of land. Up to this date there have been
patented 2,642,972 acres, and 1,250,000 acres have been
rejected by the Department of the Interior. The claim
of the State under the acts of Congress of March 2nd, 1855,
March 3rd, 1857, and March 12th, 1860, will amount to
about $250,000 in money and 100,000 acres of land. To
secure these claims I recommend that authority be given
the Executive to appoint notaries public for the State at
large, for the purpose of taking the necessary proofs, under
the instructions of the agent appointed under the act of
the General Assembly approved January 25th, 1865. I
herewith transmit the report of the agent appointed under
that act.
The great need of our State is more people. The
Board of Immigration, created by an act passed at your
last session, has been engaged for six months in disseminat-
ing in this country and in Europe, by the circulation of
publications and the employment of agents, information
concerning the peculiarities and capabilities of our soil,
the varieties and localities of our minerals, the extent and
76 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
qualities of our timber, the number and availability of our
water courses, the nature and adaptability of our climate,
the facilities for railway and other communication and
transportation, the opportunities for education, the evi-
dences of complete tranquility, and other subjects of interest
to those contemplating removal from an old to a new
country. The results of the labors of the Board are highly
gratifying. The attention of the emigrant from the old
world has been so constantly and urgently directed hither,
that thousands are embarking thence directly for Missouri,
while the immigration here from the northern and eastern
States, and in fact from all the free States, is greater than
our most sanguine hopes had promised.
The class of people finding homes among us comprises
men of intelligence, native energy, and industrious habits,
such as are calculated to augment our wealth, and support
and strengthen all the best interests of a State,
The adoption by the people, during your recess, of a
revised and amended Constitution, devolves upon you at
this session the duty of conforming the statutes to its pro-
visions, and of making such enactments as will give force
and effect to the general principles contained in the new
features of the fundamental law.
I call your attention especially to the provision of the
fourth section of the second article of the Constitution,
requiring the enactment of a law for a complete and uniform
registration of voters. Too much care cannot he exercised
in guarding the elective franchise. On the purity of the
ballot box depends the security of the dearest rights of the
citizen.
It will be your duty to pass a law for carrying into
effect the provision of the twenty-fourth section of the
seventh article. A practical method of enforcing this pro-
vision would be to require clerks of the courts to report
quarterly to the County Court all fees received by them,
and attach a penalty to a failure to pay annually into the
county treasury the surplus of received by them beyond
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 77
twenty-five hundred dollars, after making the deductions
allowed by law.
The third section of the eighth article requires the
enactment of a law to provide for the sale of the stock owned
by the State in the Bank of the State of Missouri, of which
there is, in addition to the Seminary Fund and State School
Fund, the sum of $15,558.54 of the Sinking Fund and $508,-
773.50 of State stock. The time and manner of sale should
be placed within the discretion of one or more proper persons,
who should have ample time for understanding the real
condition of the bank and the true interests of the State
in that connection.
In view of the restrictions in the fourth section of the
eighth article, I recommend a revision of our general corpora-
tion law, so as to afford, for the association of capital for the
usual objects of incorporated companies, every inducement
and privilege consistent with the constitutional provisions
on this subject.
The twelfth section of the eleventh article enables you
to enact a statute which will largely contribute to bring to
punishment criminals, who, for any cause, are likely to
escape justice in the counties where offenses are committed.
There are other provisions of the Constitution, making
necessary certain enactments, to which I have called your
attention under their appropriate heads.
It is the right of the General Assembly to propose such
amendments to the Constitution as a majority of the mem-
bers elected to each house shall deem expedient. The most
recently expressed wish of the people on the subject of this
Constitution is their adoption of it as their law; notwith-
standing which, and although you were not elected on any
issues made in favor of amending the Constitution, I rec-
ommend that you submit to the people such amendments
as will exempt from the requirements of the second article
all officers, trustees, directors or other managers of corpora-
tions for benevolent purposes, in which neither the United
States* this State, nor any county, city or town Is Interested
as a stockholders creditor or contributor, as well as all pro-
78 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
fessors and teachers in schools not endowed, supported or
in any manner contributed to by the United States, this
State, or any county, city or town.
The twenty-third and twenty-fourth sections of that
article ought to be stricken out, and in lieu thereof it should
be provided that no person who has served a regular enlist-
ment in the service of the United States in the suppression
of the late rebellion, and has an honorable discharge, shall
be recfuired to take the oath of loyalty for any of the pur-
poses mentioned in the article, except as provided in the
thirteenth section. The men who have fought for the Union
should be honored and trusted without an oath to confirm
what they have done; and if any of them have wiped out
with their blood an error of the first clays of the rebellion,
we should not ask them to make a record of those errors
for the shame of their children. To have been a soldier
of the Union should be made a source of just pride and
honorable distinction among the citizens of the Stale, and
should carry with it the right of suffrage, without other
qualification, except that required by the nineteenth sec-
tion, even to those not now invested with the right of
suffrage.
Deferring to the deliberately expressed judgment of
the people in the adoption of the Constitution, and relying
upon their wisdom and justice to remedy what may need
correcting in it, 1 shall at this time suggest no other amend-
ments, but, so far as my action is concerned, will patiently
await the further expression of their wishes in the light of
their experiences and amid the surroundings of pence and
prosperity.
The provision requiring the oath of loyalty from ec-
clesiastical functionaries has been made the occasion for
raising the question of the right of the people, in their
sovereign capacity* to make such a law. The future
of the State requires that the question of the right of the
people to make it be now definitely settled by the Supreme
Court of the United States, so that the
hereafter made, shall be distinctly understood as a
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 79
given, not as a right acknowledged as superior to the power
of the sovereign people of the State.
Many of the brave men who, during the late rebellion,
bore the brunt of the battle for the Union and shed luster
on the name of Missouri, have been permanently disabled
by wounds. It is the duty of the State to care for these
men in their decrepitude, misfortune or old age. The
rebellion has impoverished our State, and we cannot endow
a home for these deserving heroes but it is our duty to ask
Congress for a grant of land for this purpose, and to go to
the extent of our means in contributing to make such an
institution what it should be a retreat where the war-
scarred veteran may pass the remainder of his days, the
recipient of a grateful and noble charity which carries with
it no humiliation.
The present is an important epoch in the history of
our State. Freedom has but recently changed the lethargy
born of servile institutions into the energy and activity of
industrial prosperity. Peace having spread its hallowed
influences over the nation, stilling the tempest of bad pas-
sions which had been nourished amid scenes of carnage,
the justice and certainties of the law are again the reliance
of the people, and it rests with the General Assembly to
make steadfast their confidence in the majesty and strength
of civil authority. Let our laws be just and wise. Let
them be the guarantees of such degree of liberty as will
distinguish us among States. Let them be few and plain,
and carry with them the power to secure their enforcement.
Then, with that confidence in the assistance of God which
a firm conviction of right always inspires, we shall enter the
opening future in the van of human progress.
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
80 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
FIRST BIENNIAL MESSAGE
JANUARY 4, 1867
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 18-&8
Senators and Representatives:
Chosen by the voice of the people, uttered through
the forms of law, to exercise the powers of the legislative
department of the State government, you have assembled
for the performance of the important duties devolved upon
you under circumstances the most auspicious that have
marked any period in the history of our State. While
blessed with national peace, we enjoy in our own State a
general quietude, evidencing on the part of the great ma-
jority of our citizens a respect for and obedience to the laws;
and at the same time we are favored by Providence with
prosperity in every branch of industry and all the varied
interests and pursuits of our people. Representing the
just, liberal, progressive and patriotic spirit of the sovereign
electors of the State, as well as their power, you may, by a
statesmanlike application of the true principles of govern-
ment to the subjects of legislation, greatly augment the
degree of protection in their rights enjoyed by your con-
stituents, enhance their prosperity and happiness, and
largely contribute to hasten the coming greatness of the
State.
Proceeding to the discharge of the constitutional duly
devolved on me, of giving you information relative to the
state of the government, and recommending measures
deemed by me necessary and expedient, I call your atten-
tion to the fact that Congress* at its last session, a
resolution, proposing to the legislatures of the several States
a fourteenth article to the Constitution of the United States,
a copy of which resolution* duly certified by the Secretary
of State of the United States, 1 herewith
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 81
The first section of the proposed amendment secures
to every person, born or naturalized in the United States,
the rights of a citizen thereof in any of the States. It
prevents a State from depriving any citizen of the United
States of any of the rights conferred on him by the laws of
Congress, and secures to all persons equality of protection
in life, liberty and property, under the laws of the State.
The second section prevents one class of citizens from
representing in Congress another class who are deprived
of the right to vote, though it be by no crime committed
by them, and thus gives equal representation in Congress
to every person of the class permitted to vote.
The third section disqualifies from holding any office,
civil or military, under the laws of the United States, or
of any State, every person who shall have engaged in re-
bellion against the United States, after having at any time
been a member of Congress, or an officer of the United States,
or a member of a State legislature, or an executive or judicial
officer of any State; thus protecting the government from
the danger of permitting men to exercise its authority who
have committed or may hereafter commit perjury by going
into rebellion, but giving to Congress the power to remove
such disability by a two-thirds vote of each house, and
thereby setting before this class of rebels the hope of here-
after obtaining forgiveness by such conduct as will entitle
them thereto*
The fourth section provides against repudiation of
our national debt, prevents the repeal of the laws giving
pensions and bounties for services rendered in suppressing
the rebellion, and guarantees exemption from taxation
at any future time for the payment of the debt made by
rebels in their efforts to destroy the Union.
The principles which this article will ingraft on the
Constitution are essential to constitutional liberty, to the
altered circumstances attendant upon universal enfranchise-
ment, and to the future peace and security of the republic.
The representatives in the national Congress of that portion
of the people who, during the rebellion, preserved the exis-
82 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
tence of their State governments by adherence to the Con-
stitution and Government of the United States, are entitled
to your support and encouragement in so exercising their
power as to secure the future peace of the country while
restoring to the benefits of the national government the
States which have destroyed their existence as States of
the Union. I hope the General Assembly will freely and
at once ratify, on the part of Missouri, the proposed article
as a part of the Constitution of the United States.
Time and experiences have, no doubt, satisfied those
who ever doubted, that our fundamental law should contain
only general principles, applicable alike under all circum-
stances, and essential to secure common rights to the people*
I earnestly recommend the General Assembly to exer-
cise at the present session, the right conferred by the second
section of the twelfth article of the Constitution, by pro-
posing to the people such amendments as will make the
name of Missouri the synonym of all that is most free, just,
liberal, generous and progressive, In a land rejoicing in the
fruition of freedom, and glowing with the splendors of the
progress of the nineteenth century.
Ours is a Democratic republic, in which the sovereign
power resides with the people, who exercise that power
through their representatives in the various departments
of the Government, chosen by them to give utterance to
their will. The perfection of a government by the people
consists in the diffusion of the sovereignty until all shall be
sovereigns, and all shall alike be subjects of laws necessary
for the common good. There has ever lingered among
people who have attempted a government of themselves*
so much of the spirit of barbarism* tyranny, prejudice or
injustice, as to partially destroy in practice the cardinal
principle upon which such government must rest, in ex-
cluding a part of the people from the exercise of sovereignty,
by which exclusion some are sovereigns, others merely
subjects*
Let us recognize the title which God has glvea to
sovereignty His IB the of man~~and
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 83
permit men to be deprived of it in no manner, save for
crime. Justice punishes crime. Let us have the suffrage
of Justice. Loyalty is made by our Constitution the test
for franchise: then let the right to vote be given to all loyal
men. To read and write is also made a necessary qualifica-
tion for a voter after 1876: then let the ballot be given to
all who are loyal and have the last named qualification
at that time. Our Constitution, even as it is now framed,
requires the recognition of patriotism and intelligence, and
justice demands the repeal of that portion of it by which
color is made the only ground for the refusal of such recogni-
tion.
I recommend the General Assembly to submit an
amendment to the Constitution, striking out the ninth
section of the second article. This section has not pre-
vented disloyal persons from pursuing the avocations of
lawyers and school teachers. Bishops, priests and ministers
teach and preach without taking the required oath. When-
ever a law is unnecessary for the protection of the rights
of the people, or to secure their prosperity and welfare,
they will not demand and enforce obedience to it. Such
laws are productive of the most lamentable consequences.
The example offered by their disregard, especially by so
intelligent and influential a class of citizens, begets a general
disposition to exercise individual discretion in obeying
or enforcing laws a disposition which leads to anarchy
and impunity in crime.
The dangers to society from the too frequent use of
oaths, and especially oaths for the taking of which great
inducements are offered, and often demanded, by the very
necessities of persons, cannot be overestimated; and where
there is, by common usage, no penalty inflicted for the falsely
taking of them, such oaths are destructive of good con-
science, and are calculated to engender dangers to life and
property greater than was threatened by rebellion. This
is one of the many oaths required by our Constitution and
laws that are unnecessary, and which only familiarize the
mind with the taking of oaths, thereby lessening their
84 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
solemnity and impressiveness, and inducing perjury by
creating a motive to swear falsely
The oath of loyalty required of voters is also of this
class. The ballot is thereby offered as the price for perjury,
and the most loyal, no matter how unlearned, are required
to swear that they are well acquainted with the terms of
the third section of the second article. That section defines
what shall constitute a disqualification as a voter; and
adequate punishment can be affixed to the offense of register-
ing as a voter, or offering to register as such, or voting in
violation of law. Aside from the utter failure of this oath
as a means of protecting the ballot box from the votes of
disloyal persons, the provisions of the Constitution of the
United States, and the humane principle of law, that no
one shall be compelled to testify against himself, seem to
me inconsistent with the end sought to be accomplished
by the voters' oath. There are certainly less objectionable
and more effective modes for the enforcement of the dis-
franchising law. It may be done by punishment for illegal
voting, as well as for false swearing, and thereby prevent
the commission of the latter crime.
In connection with this subject, I desire to call your
attention to the propriety of adopting some means whereby
obedience to and support of the laws, and general evidences
of attachment to the government and regard for the peace,
good order and happiness of the community, may give
good grounds for the hope of the reward of enfranchisement
on the part of the disfranchised. Justice may condemn a
whole class of persons, as a class, but does not require that
each one shall remain permanently of that class. An en-
couraging recognition of those distinguished in the body to
which they belong by their good conduct, in a powerful
and always necessary auxiliary of the control of force.
Instead of admitting all to the franchise in 1871, as seems
to be contemplated by the power given by section twenty-
five of the third article, only those should be enfranchised
who have* by their conduct as citizens, entitled themselves
to relief; while those who evince by their that they
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 85
continue to be rebels, should continue to be disfranchised.
Modification in reference to this subject will, I hope, be
made, which will conform our policy as a State, as nearly
as practicable, to the national view which may be indicated
by the legislation of Congress. But even if Congress
should allow generosity to blind it to justice and future
safety, by giving amnesty to traitors, without distinction
as to their conduct, I hope Missouri will refuse to accede
to general amnesty, but make forgiveness specially depen-
dent on the future good conduct of each individual. I
have confidence to believe that you will make all our laws
such as an enlightened and liberal public opinion will heartily
sustain and give strength to the courts to enforce.
However correct the principle stated in the sixteenth
section of the eleventh article may be, it must be admitted
that long established customs, having their origin in the
best attributes of our natures, strongly appeal to you to
propose to the people to modify that section so as to per-
mit the Legislature to exempt from taxation such property
as is actually essential and used exclusively for religious
purposes. In doing this, especial care should be taken that it
affect alike every branch, church and sect of religionists; and
any existing law on this subject which may be even liable
to misconstruction, in this respect, should be promptly
amended.
I also recommend that you submit a proposition, to
be voted on by the people, to strike out of the Constitution
the twelfth section of the sixth article. The district court
established by this section being an intermediate tribunal
between the circuit and supreme courts, with exclusive
appellate jurisdiction from the circuit court, is, in my opinion,
without any compensating good effects for the additional
delays it imposes in obtaining final judgment, and the
expense and other hardships to litigants consequent upon
it* To afford speedy justice, with the least possible expense,
should be the objects kept constantly in view in framing
all our laws for the organization of courts.
86 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The system of public instruction contemplated by the
wise and liberal provisions of our State Constitution is not
yet fully perfected. The act for the organization, support
and government of commonjschools, passed at the last
session of the Legislature, accords with the true spirit of
progress, and is one of the beneficent results of the new era
of freedom upon which Missouri has entered. But our
common schools must be linked to the higher departments
of education. The normal professorship in the State
University, required by the fourth section of the ninth article
of the Constitution, will be one of the best means of effect-
ing this object. Experience has so well demonstrated the
necessity for schools for the thorough training of teachers,
that sixteen of the States of the Union, where the subject
of education has received most attention, have established
normal schools for the education of their teachers. I hope
the Legislature will at once comply with the requirements
of the Constitution, by providing for the establishment
and maintenance of a department in our State University
for instruction in teaching. In my opinion the Public
School Fund will permit this. I recommend that the in-
come from an investment of the proceeds of the sale of the
State Tobacco Warehouse, being $132,000, and which
belongs by law to the school fund, be set apart for that
purpose.
I call your attention especially to our State University.
This institution is required by the Constitution to be main-
tained, and should be so cared for as to make it worthy
of our State, and a source of usefulness and pride to our
citizens. Let it rival the University of Michigan, with its
sixteen hundred students.
The income of our University is only about eight thou-
sand dollars per annum, derived from $100,000 formerly
invested in stock of the Bank of the State of Missouri,
recently sold for $108,500, which is ROW invested in Mis-
souri bonds, and on which there was due and payable on
the first of January, 1867, by the State, sli months* In-
terest, for the payment of which provision should bo
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 87
besides $23,000 invested in the stock of the bank at Chilli-
cothe. This is a sufficient basis on which to build up an
institution of learning such as is contemplated by the Con-
stitution and demanded by the educational interests of the
State.
Besides the normal professorship, there should be added
to our University, first, a department of agriculture and
mechanic arts, including a school of engineering, a school of
mining, and a school of analytic chemistry; second, a law
department. For the first, Congress has, by the act of July
2, 1862, made provision in the grant of three hundred and
thirty thousand acres of land, which has just been selected
and will soon be patented to the State. For the second,
a mere nominal endowment would be sufficient to inaugurate
the first institution of the kind in the State, the circum-
stances requiring which would very soon make it self-
sustaining, having the whole of our own State and all the
country south and west of us for our field. Among the
four hundred law students in the University of Michigan,
and among the number composing the large class at Cam-
bridge, are many of the young men of Missouri, who ought
to be provided with this means of education at home.
Every interest of our State will be promoted by making
our University an institution such as time may endow with
the fame of a Harvard or a Yale; this cannot be done by
the diffusion of our means among numerous independent
institutions, with diverse managements.
In this connection, I will state that the Masonic order,
through their proper officers, have conveyed to the State
the property at Lexington, for the purpose of organizing
a military institute, as provided by the act of May 13, 1861,
and I have appointed visitors for the management of the
same as required by said act*
I desire to reiterate the suggestion made in my former
communication to the General Assembly, that our educa-
tional system should embrace those branches of instruc-
tion which qualify for military service. The practical
means of doing this is certainly not to be found in attempt-
88 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
ing to build up a separate institution of learning, especially
upon the ruins of the Masonic College building at Lexington,
the repairs of which will cost almost as much as the erection
of new buildings; and for neither repairing' or rebuilding is
there a fund provided. But the annual appropriation for
this institution, made by the act referred to, would be ample
to maintain a department in the State University for in-
struction in military science; particularly in case an in-
structor be detailed by the President from the United
States army, whose services would be without cost to the
University.
I take pleasure in presenting herewith the biennial
report of the Missouri Institution for the Education of the
Blind, prepared with care and written with perspicuity,
in which is shown a most gratifying condition of the affairs
of that institution. Accompanying the report arc interest-
ing specimens of printing in the Braille alphabet. Several
rudimental school books have been printed by the students
in this alphabet; and altogether, the progress made at this
institution in the education of the unfortunate class who
seek its benefits, gives it high rank among similar schools,
and renders it a credit to the State.
Under the act of the Legislature, approved March
19, 186(5, I appointed a commissioner to select the land
inuring to this State under the act of Congress of July 2,
1862, entitled "an act donating public lands to the several
States and territories which may provide colleges for the
benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts. n The selections
have been completed after an examination of the unentered
land in the State, and are believed to embrace the bast
quality of land subject to selection. Upon the completion
of the Iron Mountain railroad and the extension of the
Southwest Pacific railroad, the three hundred and thirty
thousand acres of land thus acquired will make a magnificent
fund for the endowment of the school contemplated by the
act of Congress. The United States has been munificent in
donations of lands to our State for educational and other
purposes* I hope that this last gift may be
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 89
nearly to realize its true value than those heretofore disposed
of by the prodigal acts of former legislatures. These lands
will, by careful and patient management, enable the State
to meet the requirements of a department of agriculture
and natural science, in the great educational establishment
contemplated by the fourth section of the ninth article of
our Constitution, in a manner worthy of the great central
State of the republic.
It is to be regretted that the bill providing a uniform
militia law did not pass Congress at its last session. I
recommend that you repeal the ordinance of the State Con-
vention, entitled "an ordinance for the organization and
government of the Missouri Militia," adopted April 8,
1865, and enact a law on the subject of the militia, which
will be attended with less expense in time of peace, and be
better adapted to a time of war. The annual enrollment
required by the ordinance entails a large expense without
any benefit whatever. Experience has proven that in time
of peace a military organization cannot be kept up and made
efficient for sudden emergencies, except as regards a limited
number of the persons liable to military duty, and then
only when an inducement is offered by the State for such
service. This can be done by providing a system of volun-
teer organization and the acceptance of a limited number
of companies, the members of which, in consideration of
performing certain military drills, musters and encamp-
ments, and holding themselves in readiness to respond to
any call of the Governor or chief conservator of the peace
of any city or county, should be exempt from jury duty
and poll tax. Similar laws have been found, by experience
in other States, to secure a sufficient military organization,
attended with but very little expense to the State.
In compliance with the requirement of the Constitu-
tion, I herewith communicate a statement of each case of
reprieve, commutation or pardon granted by me since the
fourth day of July, 1865, with the reasons for my action.
The number of convicts confined in the Penitentiary
is about six hundred. The necessity for an additional cell
90 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
building was so imperative that it has been deemed proper
to commence the work, and employ the surplus labor at the
disposal of the Warden for that purpose, without awaiting
your action on the subject. The foundation of this building
is finished, the superstructure steadily progressing, and a
very considerable part of the materials for the latter fur-
nished and in course of preparation. Some appropriation
will be necessary for the completion of the structure.
The reports of the Warden and Factor show a very
satisfactory condition of affairs in the Penitentiary, as
regards both its financial and its disciplinary departments.
Contracts have been entered into for the labor of the con-
victs at greatly advanced rates over those of the existing
contract, which expires on the fifteenth inst. The disposi-
tion thus made of the convict labor will, it is confidently
believed, hereafter make the Penitentiary entirely self-
sustaining. The result reflects the highest credit on the
officers and managers of this institution, The discipline,
based as it is, on the principles of kindness and humanity,
and enforced with the object of reformation of the convict,
combined with the hope of pardon constantly held out as
the reward of good conduct, has been chiefly instrumental
in enabling the officers to educate the prisoners in the various
mechanical branches in which they are now profitably
employed.
Congress, by an act approved July 2, 1864, set apart
the old Hall of the House of Representatives in the National
Capitol, for a hall of statuary, and Missouri is invited, with
each of the other States, to furnish statues in marble or
bronze, not exceeding two in number, of deceased persons
who have been citizens of the State, and illustrious for their
historic renown, or from distinguished civic or military
services, such as the State shall determine to be worthy
of this national commemoration. By direction of the late
lamented President, Abraham Lincoln, the State depart-
ment called my attention to this act, with the request that
I would present it for the consideration of the Legislature*
In doing so I eanaot refrain from the of the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 91
natural impulse of a Missourian, when the States are about
to embody in bronze and marble the gratitude, respect and
honor they entertain for their illustrious dead, that the form
of our own Benton should be given that proud rank among
the monuments of the great which it occupied among them
living. This we ought to do as early as is consistent with
our obligations of another but not less binding character.
A committee should be appointed to correspond with the
most eminent artists, to ascertain the cost, and report to a
subsequent meeting of the Legislature all the necessary
facts, so that we will be prepared as soon as we shall have
redeemed the faith of the State with her creditors or
when our credit as a State stands so high before the world,
that Benton, if living, would be as proud of Missouri as
in the days when she met her every obligation, without days
of grace, in golden coin to make a statue worthy of the
man and the commonwealth.
The State Treasurer gives as the total receipts into
the Treasury during the fiscal year ending September 30,
$4,108,407.92, and states his disbursements during the
same time at $954,492.78. He also reports the balance
in the Treasury to the credit of the State Interest Fund,
on the first of October last, at $450,046,03, and the balance
at same date, to the credit of the Sinking Fund, $9,694.06.
There has also been paid into the Treasury, in bonds of the
State and coupons, up to and including first inst:
From nalo of bank stock $1 , 178,635.50
On account of sale of Southwowt Pacific railroad 324,850.00
On account of Platto Country railroad 153 ,020.00
On account of sale of Iron Mountain and Cairo and Fulton
railroads 225,000.00
Total $1,881,505.50
The State Auditor reports the issue of $1,400,000 in
military bonds, under the act of December 20, 1865, for
the payment of the Enrolled Missouri Militia and the Missouri
Militia, for services rendered, and for the payment of the
Quartermaster's Department of certain claims incurred
92 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
against the State, of which amount the Acting Paymaster-
General has yet on hand $156,000.00, and the Acting
Quartermaster General $123,000.00.
However gratifying may be the rapid recuperation of
the State from losses by the rebellion, and greatly as we
may rejoice in the marvelous prosperity which attends
upon our new condition of freedom, we have yet to recover
the greatest loss entailed on us by civil war, that of our
financial credit as a State. You have now an opportunity
of giving our people cause for rejoicing, exceeding that
afforded by any event since the return of peace, by restoring
that credit, and this, too, under circumstances which enable
you, at the same time, to reduce the heavy burden of taxes
to about one-half of the levy for the last year, and yet
have perfect asssurance of being able to meet the accruing
interest on our State debt.
I need not repeat to you the earnest statements of my
inaugural message in reference to our duty in this connec-
tion, nor the hopes expressed and suggestions made in
subsequent communications to the General Assembly; nor
is it necessary for me to recapitulate the elToris of the last
Legislature to devise a plan for extricating the State from
the deplorable inability in which the uncertainties of the
future then involved us. The circumstances surrounding
us at that time warranted no greater undertaking and no
better offer to our creditors. A twelve-month has brought
hundreds of thousands of people, with their wealth of prop-
erty and labor, to strengthen our financial ability. No
parallel exists to the rapidity with which wealth has accumu-
lated in every avenue of industry 9 and with which popula-
tion has increased in every part of our State., within the
past year. Substantial proofs of amazing prosperity on
every hand attest the sudden and unprecedented growth
of the State. Our taxable wealth has grown from $198,-
602,216 in 1863 and from $262,354,932 In 18fi5 f to a sum
which by the means of the law establishing a State board
for the equalization of at the last
will retch
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 93
The representatives in a loyal Congress had beheld us
emerging from a long, desolating, terrible war, bearing the
banner of freedom, tattered and soiled, but wreathed with
victory. They had witnessed our patriotism, in yielding
up even our financial credit as a State in order to pay soldiers
to fight for the Union. Relying on their sense of justice,
I caused the evidences of all our disbursements made in that
behalf to be carefully prepared, for the purpose of aiding
the able and persistent efforts of our representatives in
both branches of Congress. I employed a gentleman of
ability in general business, and possessed of personal know-
ledge of the whole subject, to present and explain these
proofs to the proper committees. The labors of our Sena-
tors and members, aided by the invaluable services of
General John B. Gray, were successful in securing the
passage of the act of Congress, approved April 17, 1866,
entitled "an act to reimburse the State of Missouri for
moneys expended for the United States in enrolling, equip-
ping, and provisioning militia forces to aid in suppressing
the rebellion." Under the provisions of this act, com-
missioners were appointed to adjust the account and claim
of the State under said act, and they met in St. Louis for that
purpose. General Gray presented our claim, having, with
the assistance of the Adjutant General's and Paymaster
General's Departments, arranged, abstracted, and put in
proper shape, the vast accumulation of vouchers and other
papers necessary to enable the commissioners to act. After
about six months of unremitting labor on the part of General
Gray (a report of whose action as our agent is herewith
transmitted), and by faithful and diligent work on the part
of the commissioners, they have found that there is due
the State about six millions two hundred thousand dollars.
It is believed that their finding will undergo the scrutiny
of the Treasury Deparment without any material altera-
tion. General Gray will continue to follow up the claim
and press its early payment. When that consummation
is reached, the Legislature can at once relieve the people
from the further payment of any military tax, the heavy
94 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
burden of which they have borne without complaint. If
our claim against the United States is promptly paid, we
can provide for the redemption of all outstanding Military
Bonds, and appropriate thereof at least three millions
five hundred thousand dollars to the Interest and Sinking
Fund for the State debt incurred on account of railroads.
The military tax of 1866, now being received at the Treasury,
with the arrearages and delinquencies of taxes, which latter
promise, through the assiduity of the State Auditor, to
realize a very considerable sum, will, it is estimated by
that officer, absorb very nearly all the outstanding Union
Military Bonds and Defense Warrants. If these estimates
are realized, it will very materially increase the amount that
may be set apart to the Sinking and Interest Funds.
With such a sum to begin with, and the addition thereto
of the special annual tax of one-quarter of one per cent,
on all subjects of taxation (voted upon themselves by the
people, at the election held on the 6th of June, 1865), and
in view of the bright prospects of future prosperity which
surround us, you can, with perfect assurance of ability to
perform our undertakings, fund the accrued interest on
our bonds up to the present date, by the issue of new six
per cent, twenty-year bonds, to include the overdue interest,
and to be exchanged for the old bonds and coupons on the
first day of July next, at which time the half year's interest
on the new bond could be paid. It is believed that the
total bonded debt of the State incurred for railroads, on
which default has been made, can, with the interest thus
funded, be reduced to twenty-five millions. The annual
interest on this sum would be fifteen hundred thousand
dollars. Certainly, with one year's interest in the Treasury
to begin with, and a reserve fund equal to another year's
interest invested in government bonds, to be held to meet
deficiencies in the annual tax provided by the State Con-
stitution, our credit would be placed on a sure and firm
basis, and could be thus permanently maintained* while
we could appropriate the ten per cent, for the present and
following year, and per cent, thereafter of the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 95
receipts of Pacific and North Missouri railroads, to the
Sinking Fund. Nothing short of such a credit as is enjoyed
by the most favored of our sister States should be satis-
factory to us, and with prudent management it can be
reached without oppressive taxation. In view of the great
increase of the business of the Pacific railroad, the gross
earnings of which are now about three hundred thousand
dollars per month, and will be largely augmented by the
addition of rolling stock, we may confidently expect that
company to be able to provide for its short mortgage bonds
(the last of which are due in April, 1870), and thereafter
promptly to meet accruing interest on the seven millions of
dollars loaned that company by the State, and the accumu-
lated interest thereon, which is part of the coupons proposed
to be funded. At the same time the flattering prospects
of the North Missouri railroad, justify the belief that it
will soon be able to promptly meet accruing interest on the
four millions three hundred and fifty thousand dollars loaned
to that company, and the funded interest on the same. The
realization of these expectations, which are, I believe, con-
fidently and justly entertained by the managers of these
roads, will virtually reduce the State debt to about ten
millions, which amount the special tax imposed by the
Constitution of the State would, with judicious manage-
ment, pay off in full in fifteen years.
Assured of your full and hearty co-operation in the
measures herein proposed, it is ample compensation to me
for whatever of labor or thought I have put forth or exer-
cised, or for whatever of despondency I have experienced
in the dark and trying hours of the struggle to redeem our
financial honor, to be enabled to give to you and to send
our creditors abroad a New Year's greeting in the announce-
ment, which I make with serious confidence, that Free
Missouri will, within the year, redeem the plighted faith
of Slave Missouri.
Under the act of the Legislature entitled "an act to
provide for the sale of the State Tobacco "Warehouse,"
96 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
approved December 15, 1865, I appointed a commissioner,
who, in the manner directed by the law, sold the property
known as the State Tobacco Warehouse for one hundred
and thirty-two thousand dollars, and I approved the sale.
One-third of the purchase money (being $44,000), has been
paid into the Treasury, and the balance is secured as the
law requires, bearing interest at six per cent, per annum.
The proceeds of this sale belong to the School Fund, and
the installments should be invested in United States secur-
ities as soon as received into the Treasury.
There is in the Treasury the sum of five thousand two
hundred and twenty-three dollars and sixty-seven cents,
received from the United States under the act of Congress
admitting Missouri into the Union. The distribution
of this amount among the counties for purposes of roads
and canals, would make so small a sum to each county as
to be of no practical use. It will be entirely within the
scope of the objects contemplated by the third subdivision
of the sixth section of the act of Congress, to apply this sum
to the Interest Fund, and I recommend that it be so dis-
posed of.
In pursuance of a requirement of the Constitution, the
Legislature at its last session passed an act for the sale of
the stock held by the State in the Bank of the State of
Missouri. In obedience to the duly devolved on me by
that act, I appointed an agent to make the sale, who did
so in the manner directed by the law and reported the
same to me. There were held by the State 10,86*1 shares
of $100 each, divided as follows:
Saminary Fund , . . S 100, 000* (X)
State Bohool Fund . . . Clill ,11(17 ,90
Sinking Fund. ........ 15,558,54
State, in owa right. . , , , . . . . , , . 808,773.50
Total. . . . . . . .... . .....,...,,.,... $1,086,300, 00
The amount derived from the into the
State Treasury Is as follows:
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 97
For Seminary Fund $108,500.00
State School Fund 7lg 235 26
Sinking Fund .'.'.'.'.'.'.".". 16^880! 99
State, in own right 335,019.25
Total $1,178,635.50
Or one hundred and eight dollars and fifty cents per share.
The usual cash selling rates of the stock of this bank, at the
time of the sale, was sixty-five to sixty-six dollars per share.
I thought the sale a good one, and approved it. After it
had been effected, but before the payment was made and
the transfer completed, the bank declared a dividend. I
claimed the dividend for the State, and caused proceedings
to be instituted to recover it, but a decision has not yet
been had.
Strengthened in the opinion, so often expressed, that
we have no interest comparable with that of the completion
of our system of trunk roads, and confirmed by observation
in the belief that the development of the country, and the
influx of population consequent on the facility of railroad
communication, will amply repay the vast expenditures the
State has incurred on their account, I have not hesitated
to approve the action of the commissioners appointed
under the act of the last session of the Legislature for the
sale of certain railroads. By such action the Southwest
Pacific railroad was sold for $1,300,000, of which amount
the purchaser has paid into the Treasury, according to the
terms of the sale and the requirements of the law, the sum
of $325,000. Since the sale of this road by the commis-
sioners, it has become a part of the Atlantic and Pacific
railroad. There is no reason to doubt that it will be com-
pleted to Springfield within a period of time less than that
required by the terms of the contract. It is largely to the
interest of the owners to do so as early as possible, and it is
fair to presume that they will do what their interests require.
While the primary object of the law for the sale of these
roads was to get them completed, and while to that end
I presume the commissioners first looked, yet they obtained
for this road a price much greater than any person well
98 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
informed of its earnings and of the immense expenditure
necessary to extend it to the paying region of the southwest,
had any reason to expect. This I esteem the most im-
portant road in Missouri. It develops one of the best
portions of the State, rich in agricultural land, in minerals,
and in water power; a large district of country which only
wants means of communication with our great market
places to make it one of the most populous portions of the
State. This road will certainly, by extension and connec-
tions, within a few years, carry the largest portion of the
commerce west of the Mississippi.
The Platte Country railroad was duly advertised by
me for sale, under the act of February 19, I860. Before
the day of sale arrived, the Weston and Atchison and Atchi-
son and St. Joseph railroad companies, which by the act of
February 18, 1865, held the relation and rights of mortga-
gors to said road, paid into the State treasury the sum of
one hundred thousand dollars, due by the first section of
said act, on the first day of January, I860, together with
the interest due on the debt of said road to the State. Being
advised that the debt mentioned in the seventh section of
said mortgage act was not so secured as to empower me to
sell, I gave up the possession of the road to the mortgagors,
and they having entered upon the work of extending the
road, rendering thereby the security for the debt of the
State more ample, and giving renewed assurance of the
accomplishment of the primary object which the State has
in view in reference to its extension north to the Iowa line,
and south to Kansas City, I did not institute legal proceed-
ings to foreclose the mortgage and subject the road to sale
for the payment of the debt, but deferred the same for such
further action as the General Assemby may direct*
The Iron Mountain and Cairo and Pulton railroads
were sold by me under the act of February, 1HIHS, and
bought in by the commissioners appointed under that act,
to whom the were turned over as required by the act*
The commissioners have sold roads in the manner
required by law* for the of nine hundred thousand
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 99
dollars, and their action in that behalf I have approved,
having first taken a bond from the purchasers, in the sum
of five hundred thousand dollars, with good and sufficient
securities, conditioned for the commencement of work in
extending the Iron Mountain railroad, in good faith, within
thirty days after the delivery of the deed; and for the faith-
ful expenditure of half a million dollars, within twelve
months, in the extension of said road. The purchasers
have paid into the treasury the sum of two hundred and
twenty-five thousand dollars, the first payment required
by the law and the terms of the contract.
It is assuredly a cause of congratulation to the people
of the whole State, that our metropolis is now to have,
without any contingency, connection by rail with the south-
ern system of railroads, and with river navigation below
obstruction by freezing. It will be most gratifying to the
people of the most beautiful section of the southeast, com-
prising our cotton-growing counties, and our mineral hills
and pine forests, to know that the commissioners have borne
in mind the principal object of the sale of these roads, and
have made their early completion the end to which they
have shaped their action. The payment into the treasury
of $225,000, and the expenditure of half a million dollars
in the extension of the road the first year, will make an
investment by the purchasers of seven hundred and twenty-
five thousand dollars, an amount which precludes the pos-
sibility of any speculation or profit to them, except in the
completion of the road, when, indeed, they will have the
most valuable line of railroad in the Mississippi Valley.
It is my opinion that these roads should have brought
a larger sum; but the paramount want of the southeast, of
St. Louis, and of the State, was the completed railroad, and
not the contingency of a few thousand dollars more from
its sale, which, if obtained, would be no adequate compensa-
tion for delay, or even risk of delay, in this long-deferred
enterprise.
The owners of this road are now citizens of and prop-
erty holders in St. Louis. They have obtained possession
100 * MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
of it at a price which they can afford to pay. The State
has constructed railroads which have built up the commerce
of St. Louis, until that commerce should be sufficiently
strong to build up railroads. So short a line as this, and
one which will redound so materially to the benefit of every
interest of that city, will surely find St. Louis capital, enter-
prise and energy to complete it at once.
The North Missouri railroad, now completed to Macon,
a distance of one hundred and seventy miles from St. Louis,
has under contract the work of the extension of that road
to the Iowa line, to be completed by the first of September
next. This company has also contracted for the building
of forty miles of the west branch of its road from Moberly
to Brunswick, which portion is now in course of active con-
struction, and will be finished by the first of April next. I
am informed that a contract has also been let for extending
the west branch from Brunswick to Kansas City, by the
terms of which the road is to be completed to the latter
named place by the first of January, 1868. With this
branch road completed, and the main line extended to
Iowa, this company will have nearly four hundred miles of
road. The bridge across the Missouri river at St. Charles
is also in process of construction by the company, and, by
the contract, is to be completed by July 4 f 1868. It is
very gratifying to note the zeal which the company displays
in the management of this important part of our system
of internal improvements, whereby St. Louis is soon to have
a connection with the roads of Iowa, and thence very soon
with St. Paul; another connection with the Union Pacific
road, by a bridge now in process of construction across the
Missouri river, at Kansas City; and still another with the
Platte Country road f by which Omaha will be reached by
the 1st of January, 1868.
The Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad and the Pacific
railroad, the only completed roads la the State, so well
illustrate, in their effects upon the country through which
they are constructed, the for railroads to populate
and develop our State, so satisfactorily prove that
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 101
finished roads do pay, that we should be nerved to new
exertions, and to the endurance of great sacrifices for the
completion of all our other roads. The wisdom, enterprise
and energy of this generation, written in iron upon the sur-
face of Missouri, will be read for all time to come.
The Kansas City, Fort Scott and Galveston railroad
is now under contract for construction from Kansas City
to Fort Scott, a distance of one hundred miles, with the
means provided for the grading of that distance. This
road has a liberal grant of land, and traverses the western
border counties of our State, through a fertile region, which,
to become populous and prosperous, needs only a means of
communication with markets. The natural wealth of the
country that would be tributary to this road, will, when
once fully appreciated, insure its completion.
The Kansas City and Cameron railroad, which will
afford a connection of the Hannibal and St. Joseph rail-
road with the Union Pacific railway and the Missouri Pacific
railroad at Kansas City, is graded the whole length from
Kansas City to Cameron. The construction of an iron
bridge across the Missouri river at Kansas City is a part
of this enterprise, of the success of which in its entirety
there seems to be but little doubt.
The Osage Valley and Southern Kansas railroad also,
projected from Boonville via Tip ton to the valley of the
Osage, and thence up that valley to a point in Southern
Kansas, traversing a rich portion of the State and bringing
its productions to the markets afforded by the Pacific rail-
road and the Missouri river. This road is graded from
Boonville westward, beyond the Pacific railroad.
To the three latter named roads, to which the State
had made no loan of credit, I refer, in this connection, as
evidences of material advancement, which call forth my
congratulations to the representatives of the people.
The most encouraging results have attended our efforts
to promote immigration. In these results there may well
be much of gratification to every citizen of the State; and
I trust the pleasure it imparts may, to others as well as to
102 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
myself, be derived from the realization of hopes and the
reward of exertions which have extended through years.
I urgently recommend that the means be placed at the
disposal of the State Board of Immigration to enable it to
continue the work of advertising and illustrating our material
and industrial resources, and the inducements we are enabled
to offer to the immigrant from the Old World, or from the
overcrowded shores of the New. Let the facts, that our
unfinished railroads are being pushed forward to comple-
tion; that our admirable system of common schools is going
into effect; that our higher educational establishments are
to be equal to those of older States; that our credit as a Slate
will soon be restored; that our laws, just and liberalized,
are to be enforced in every neighborhood -let these facts
and other cognate ones be attested to the world, accompanied
by statistics of our material wealth and natural advantages,
and our sparsely settled counties will double their popula-
tion in a half year, while the towns along our rivers and
railroads, which in their growth have filled us with wonder,
will spring into cities. The means of the board have been
so used that, with the uncompensated labor of its officers, a
general interest in enfranchised Missouri has been awakened
in Europe, as well as in our own country. At my request
Professor S. \Vatcrhouse prepared a series of articles de-
scriptive of the resources of the State, which have been
published in the leading journals of this country. These
papers should be published ancl circulated in pamphlet
form, and I recommend that the General Assembly make
an appropriation for that purpose.
For the details of the operations of the board, I refer
you to the report prepared by the Secretary, herewith
presented.
The return to peaceful pursuits of the communities in
which almost every man had been actively engaged, on
one side or the other, in the late war* has been general
throughout the State* and It has been, not less unexpected
than gratifying to witness the unanimity with which the
people of almost the entire their support
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 103
to the civil authorities. During the rebellion there was
furnished opportunity for the worst class of beings that
disgraced the human form to band themselves together
solely for purposes of plunder, and these wretches being
hunted by the Union forces, who represented the power of
government and law, they claimed to be the soldiers of the
rebel cause, and were treated accordingly when they sur-
rendered themselves as such. Some of these brigands never
surrendered, but in a few localities of the State have con-
tinued to keep up their peculiar organization, and singly
or in small squads to roam about the country to the terror
of all peaceable people, occasionally committing murders
and robberies. Some of this dangerous class infested
Lafayette and Jackson counties, among them men against
whom there were indictments and writs for crimes, com-
mitted subsequent to the surrender of the last man in the
State who claimed to have been a rebel soldier. They
visited the county towns, rode through the streets, swag-
gered in the hotels and bar-rooms, and even in the court-
houses, with three to six revolvers belted on them, taunted
the officers of the law, fired their pistols into houses, robbed
men on the highway, and, in short, terrorized the people
to an extent wholly unendurable. The citizens who had
no sympathy with their lawless conduct were unable, for
the want of unity of action among themselves, and also
for the want of assurance of having justice administered
to them by a timid, time-serving court, to rid themselves
of these desperate characters. Each man naturally shrank
from any prominent identification of himself with the arrest
of any member of these gangs, whose organization and
general impunity from the penalty of crime placed any
single isolated citizen at their mercy. The officers did not
arrest these men. The people did not protect themselves
against them, though their very presence was a menace to
life and property. Deeming it immaterial whether it was
because the officers or the people could not or would not
arrest them, that they were thus permitted to remain in an
attitude of defiance of the laws of the State, I called into
104 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
service thirty-four companies of militia, with the intention
of compelling their submission to civil process. Before,
however, any of the companies called for had been sent to
Jackson county, the people of that county united for the
purpose of aiding and protecting each other and the civil
officers in arresting and bringing to justice all violators
of law in their county, and I have confidence that they will
carry out that purpose.
I regret to say that the same result was not reached in
Lafayette county. Three companies and a platoon of men
were sent to that county, under command of Colonel Bacon
Montgomery. In an effort made by this force to arrest
one of the men, for whom a reward was offered as a fugitive
from justice one of the most notoriously desperate charac-
ters, whose crimes have shocked the whole country -he
resisted arrest by firing on the militia, and was killed.
Some of the civil officers, and a number of gentlemen
claiming to lepresent the wishes of the people of Lafayette
county, have assured me that the citizens will aid the proper
officers in arresting and holding for trial the men against
whom proper writs are issued. In order to give them full
opportunity to do this, and thereby relieve their county
from the expense of the militia forcean expense which,
by the act of the General Assembly, entitled "an art to
provide for the enforcement of civil law and the payment
of the expenses thereof," approved March 14, 18(>f>, in
chargeable to the county I have withdrawn all the militia,
with the exception of thirty men and an officer, who are
ordered to remain in quarters, unless called on by the sheriff
to aid in the execution of process. Two companies ere at
Warrensburg to await the result of the efforts of the citizens*
of Lafayette county, and the other company m ordered to he
mustered out*
In of a failure, from any cause, on the part of the
citizens of Lafayette county* to arrest the men for whom
writs are issued, who are notoriously guilty of
high crimes, I shall order to county
as I may for tie of
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 105
either with or without the assistance or concurrence of the
citizens of the county.
The benefits to result from exhibiting at the Universal
Exposition at Paris something of what Missouri possesses
and is capable of, will be readily understood. It will not
only encourage immigration, but will also invite capital,
and increase the confidence felt abroad, in our ultimate
financial ability. Your predecessors made no appropria-
tion for this purpose. In order to enable you, in case you
should consider the matter of sufficient importance, to
have our resources and productions represented at Paris,
I authorized Mr. James L. Butler to collect the necessary
specimens to effect that object. He has made a good collec-
tion, and I recommend such appropriation as will, with the
provisions made by the United States, be sufficient for their
transportation and exhibition.
Confiding in the intelligence and patriotism which
have been recognized in your selection by your fellow citizens
as law-givers, I assure you of my earnest desire to co-operate
with you in the measures you may inaugurate for the com-
mon good. Your action may mark the year with which
you begin your labors, as the epoch in our history, when a
genuine progress asserted the absolute rule, in government,
of the principles of right over mutable expediency, whereby,
we will deserve, and continue to enjoy, the favor of a just
God, which is never withheld from a people whose course is
shaped solely by the conceptions he gives them of right and
duty.
THO. C. FLETCHER.
Jefferson City, January 4, 1867.
106 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
ADJOURNED SESSION MESSAGE
JANUARY 8, 1808
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. G-2S
Senators and Representatives:
With cordial greeting I welcome you on your return
to the Capitol. During the year so recently closed, the
labors of the farmer have been rewarded with a full harvest,
and God has blessed us as a people with unbroken peace,
As you resume your labors another year dawns upon us,
radiant with promise of continued mercies. The Ihircl
year of Free Missouri, now so nearly completed, has brought
with it increased prosperity and assurance of still greater
progress in the not distant future. It seems not inappro-
priate at this time to contemplate the results of the asser-
tion and maintenance of the principles which have now con-
trolled the government of this State for three years, and
we may view them with a satisfaction that will not fail to
inspire you with confidence and energy for the work before
you.
When the party of freedom and progress came into
power in Missouri, the fires of a civil war were yet spreading
desolation throughout our borders; the churches were dilapi-
dated and deserted; the schoolhouses destroyed, or silent
and tenantless; only 1264 schools then existed in the Slate;
the State University was converted into a barrack; the
marts of trade were without of life; our great rivers
bore no commerce; the railroads that ware not abandoned
or rendered useless carried only soldiers and their supplies;
the murderous guerrilla roamed the fairest agricultural
districts, and ihe fanner sought safety at the military posts;
the graves of murdered loyal and true men were strewn
along the highways; one-third of the counties of the State
were without or court-houses and public
records were burned; eery of or travel was
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 107
blocked; railroad bridges were in charred and blackened
ruins, and the cars and steamboats were fired upon by con-
cealed rebels; every branch of production was withered;
every department of industry stagnated in a death-like
torpor; a debt of thirty-seven millions of dollars hung over
us, accumulating interest at the rate of a million eight
hundred and sixty thousand dollars per annum; our popula-
tion had been reduced to about eight hundred thousand,
and the assessed value of property to less than $215,000,000,
and our credit as a State was at the lowest ebb.
Loyal Missourians dealt the first blow that treason
felt, and met the last desperate onset of the rebellion the
first to know war and the last to welcome peace. The
magnitude of our losses, and the depth of the distress of
our people, will never be fully measured by the historian.
Such was the condition of the State when, in obedience to
the will of the loyal people, expressed through their delegates
in Convention assembled, I proclaimed a free Missouri.
Thirty-six months have not yet passed since that epoch
from which our prosperity dates. An intelligent, energetic,
liberty-loving immigration has come from the older free
States and from foreign countries, and has materially aided
to repeople the places made waste by war. We have invited
and cordially welcomed free labor; the churches have been
repaired and filled with worshipers; on the prairies, in the
forests, and along the rivers spires have risen marking new
temples and new Altars erected and dedicated to our God.
The increase of educational facilities is one of the surest
proofs of our progress. Four thousand eight hundred and
forty schools are now filled with over two hundred thousand
children; the University, newly endowed, is being crowded
with students, and is taking rank with the first colleges in
the nation; the capital of the State School fund has been
more than doubled; cities, towns, and counties have in
many instances more than trebled their population; the
exchanges resound with voices of active men; the steam-
boats and long trains of cars are bearing our productions
to the markets; the prairies, forests, hills, and valleys are
108 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
being everywhere beautified with new-made homes. Capital
by millions has come to us, and manufactories have arisen
and are vocal with busy industry; the mines are reopened,
and new and valuable discoveries of ore have been made.
Two hundred and forty miles of railroad have been built
without thereby increasing the State's indebtedness; two
hundred and ninety-two miles are in process of construc-
tion, and eight hundred and twenty miles more are pro-
jected. The debt of the State has been reduced about
eleven millions of dollars; our population has increased to
at least one million five hundred thousand, and taxable
property has been augmented in value by importations and
by additions consequent on our general prosperity to $454,-
863,895; our credit as a State has not only been restored,
but raised to a standard higher than it has ever reached since
the inception of the internal improvement debt.
With these fruits of a loyal and progressive rule before
us, we may well be strengthened in our attachment to the
principles by which these wonders of transformation have
been wrought, and made firm in our resolves to press for-
ward to new victories, fraught with new and greater blessings
until we have laid sure and steadfast the foundations upon
which we may safely rest the future of our State*
NATIONAL AFFAIRS.
Arc so full of interest that I might with propriety in
this communication present the view of them which, in
my judgment, should actuate the people of Missouri in
their federal relations. But agreeing in my opinions with
the views of the able, earnest, and faithful guardian** of our
interests in the National Congress, as expressed in their
steadfast adherence to liberty* justice, equality, and the
basis of loyalty in reconstruction, ant! in confident
security upon a faithful Congress to preserve to un ill that
we acquired by the war for the Union, I need not
questions of a national character, but will confine myndf
to subjects the of our
ment.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 109
FINANCES.
The operations of the treasury for the fiscal year com-
mencing Oct. 1, 1866, show a balance in the
Treasury at that date of $3,962,808 04
Receipts from all sources to September 30, 1867 7,048,006 76
Total $11,010,81480
Disbursements 10,333,432.74
Balance October 1, 1867 $677,382.06
Which is exclusive of the sum of $3,070,682.63 received by
the State Interest Fund Commissioners. There appears a
deficiency in the Revenue fund of $446,816.79.
Exclusive of the tax levied by the constitution, with
that of one mill and a half levied by statute for the pay-
ment of principal and interest of the internal improvement
debt, the total levy of taxes for State purposes is two and
one-half mills. This is found to be at present barely suffi-
cient for the ordinary expenses of carrying on the govern-
ment of the State after deducting therefrom the amounts
set apart to schools and University. The revenue tax is
not a large one compared with the taxes levied by other
States, even if it were not subject to the deductions of one-
fourth of the whole for schools, and one and three-quarters
per cent, of the remainder for the University; but when these
(deductions are taken into consideration, the tax is in fact
smaller than it has been at any time in our history as a
State. Still it may be made with prudent management to
defray all the ordinary expenses, and leave a small surplus
to be added to the Sinking fund to retire our outstanding
indebtedness.
The yearly expenditures for the following named depart-
ments have averaged for the two fiscal years of 1866 and
1867, in the aggregate for the various branches of each
department, as follows;
110 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
For executive $48,944.02
For legislative 265 , 638 . 13
For judicial , 251 ,711 .40
For public charities 78,998.82
For assessing and collecting revenue and special appro-
priations 2 13 , 449 . 47
I recommend that all the expenditures of the State,
as shown by the elaborate and carefully prepared report
of the State Auditor, receive your close scrutiny, and that a
thorough system of retrenchment be applied to them, so as
to make the present small revenue tax sufficient for ordinary
State purposes. The people are paying large amounts in
taxes for local objects. County roads are being made, new
courthouses, schoolhouses, and bridges are being built in
many counties of the State, and while this is being done
the State taxes should be as light as will suffice to defray
immediate and necessary expenses and to meet the current
interest on our debt. By reducing our expenses and care-
fully managing our available assets applicable to the reduc-
tion of our internal improvement debt, you may so reduce
that debt that it will not only be carried by the constitu-
tional tax, but that tax may also yield something to the
Sinking fund, which, increased by the surplus of the Revenue
fund that may be created by a judicious retrenchment of
expenses, will assure the gradual but certain extinction of
our whole indebtedness without imposing an additional
burden of taxation.
In my communication at the beginning of your session
I advised you of the manner in which we had obtained the
allowance, by the Commissioners, of the claim of the State
against the United States, under the act of Congress of
the 17th of April, 1866, entitled "An act to reimburse the
State of Missouri for moneys expended for the United States
in enrolling, equipping, and provisioning militia forces to
aid in suppressing the rebellion," and stated the amount
allowed at "about six million two hundred thousand dollars."
The precise amount allowed by the Commissioners was
$6,475,851.01. I informed you at that time that General
Gray would continue to urge the claim and press its early
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 111
payment. This he has done with such ability and success
that he has received, at various times, and deposited, by
my direction, in the National Bank of Commerce, in New
York, the sum of $6,362,279.35, and in addition thereto
has received, in part payment of our claim, the sum of
$78,044.60, in overdue bonds and coupons of the State,
which were held by the Department of the Interior in trust
for Indian tribes. The amount of the claim against the
State for these bonds and coupons, as forwarded to the
Treasury Department from the Department of the Interior,
was $138,971.97; but upon the argument submitted by
General Gray in our behalf the claim for interest was reduced
by the sum of $60,927.26, and only the sum of $48,044.60
was deducted by the Treasury Department in full for the
claim. I have received of these bonds and coupons the
sum of $77,242.50, and delivered them to the State Auditor
and caused them to be canceled. The balance, being $802.10
in coupons, has not yet been turned over to the Treasury
Department by the Secretary of the Interior.
There now remains unpaid of our claim against the
United States, under the act of Congress referred to, only
about $58,000, to obtain which some additional evidence
must be procured, and to the gathering and arranging of
which General Gray is devoting his best energies. For
the details of the operations of our agent in this behalf, I
refer you to his report, which is herewith transmitted.
In connection with this claim against the United States,
it is proper to say that the State has paid interest on her
Union Military bonds and on money borrowed to purchase
arms, amounting in the aggregate to about $400,000. This
appears to me to be a legitimate claim against the United
States, and I shall as early as practicable cause it to be
presented in a proper manner.
The act of 12th of March, 1867, appropriates $1,500,000
for a school fund, and $500,000 for the Seminary fund and
for the redemption of Union Military bonds. The Supreme
Court having held that the funds so received were pledged
first to the payment of Union Military bonds, and the
112 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
amount appropriated to that use by the act referred to
having been found inadequate, I deposited for that pur-
pose and for the special appropriations before mentioned,
$3,291,596.72 of the amount collected from the United
States to the credit of the State Treasurer, and the balance
of the amount so collected, being $3,070,682.63, to the
credit of the Commissioners of the State Interest fund,
for the payment of overdue coupons, which amount the
Commissioners have so applied. They also paid the July
interest, and have promptly forwarded the money to meet
the January interest.
I have caused to be prepared, and have executed and
delivered to the Commissioners of the State Interest fund,
three thousand bonds, under the third section of the act
of March 12, 1867, for funding the overdue coupons still
remaining unpaid, and will execute and deliver the balance
as fast as they can be registered.
The total debt, the interest on which will hereafter
have to be provided for by the State, is as follows:
The State debt proper $535 ,000
Internal improvement debt 23 ,358 ,000
War debt 4<S ,000
Total $23 ,941 ,000
There is included in the internal improvement debt
$1,600,000 of bonds guaranteed by the State for the Pacific
railroad and applied to the Southwest Branch, which bear
seven per cent, interest, and $354,000 of bonds, called
"revenue bonds/* issued by Governor Jackson on the first
of June, 1861, under the fourteenth section of an act en-
titled "An act for the relief of the Bank of the State of
Missouri and other banks," approved March 18, 1861,
which bear nine per cent, interest. The principal of these
bonds is past due, with interest unpaid, amounting in the
aggregate to $79,470, Provision should be made for either
funding or paying these last-mentioned bonds. I recom-
mend an appropriation out of the Interest fund for their
payment.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 113
The amount hereafter to be provided semi-annually
to meet the accruing interest on the indebtedness of the
State, will be $700,740.00.
By the ordinance adopted by the State Convention
on the 8th of April, 1865, entitled "An ordinance for the
payment of State and railroad indebteness," which, being
ratified by a vote of the people, became a part of the Con-
stitution of the State, a tax of one-quarter of one per centum
on the assessed value of all real estate and other taxable
property is levied. This tax will yield to the Interest fund
for the year 1867, about $1,131,509.00, and the amount
will hereafter grow with our rapidly-augmenting taxable
wealth.
The same ordinance levies an annual tax of ten per
centum for the two years ending the 1st of October, 1867
and 1868, on all the gross receipts for the transportation of
freight and passengers on all the railroads which are in
default in the payment of the interest on the bonds loaned
them by the State. This tax was due on the 1st of October
last from the Pacific and North Missouri railroads. The
amount due from the Pacific railroad is $253,644.54, and
the amount from the North Missouri railroad is $68,257.41.
Both of these roads have thus far neglected to pay the tax
so levied, or any part of it. The fourth section of the
ordinance referred to is mandatory as to the action of the
Legislature in case of the continued neglect and refusal by
these roads to pay said tax.
Under the act of the 26th of January, 1864, entitled
"an act to provide means to pay the State bonds that
matured in 1862, and falling due in 1863, issued for State
purposes," I have exchanged new bonds for all the bonds
which became payable in 1862, except one bond, and for
all those which became due in 1863, with the exception of
thirty-four bonds, the holders of which refused to exchange
them for new ones. I have not issued and sold any bonds
under the act referred to, and in order to avoid the necessity
of doing so, and thereby creating another series or class of
State bonds for so small a sum, I recommend that an ap-
114 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
propriation be made out of the Interest fund to pay off
the thirty-five bonds mentioned. The amount required
for this purpose is $44,450.00. These bonds are payable
on their face, principal and interest, in gold or silver, and
are indorsed by the Bank of the State of Missouri. I have
proposed to pay them off in legal tender notes at par. Some
of the holders have accepted the proposition and the others
I presume will do so.
The "war debt" of $48,000.00, to which I have referred,
consists of bonds issued by me under the act of 15th of
February, 1864, in settlement with various banks for ad-
vances made to Governor Gamble for the purpose of pur-
chasing arms. These bonds fall due July 1, 1868, and
July 1, 1869. There is a surplus in the Union Military
fund sufficient to pay them off, and I recommend that an
appropriation be made out of that fund for that purpose.
I also recommend that the balance remaining in the Union
Military fund, after paying these bonds and the small
appropriation necessary for pay of militia, be transferred
to the State Interest fund.
EDUCATION.
Among the great results achieved by us as a people
since our introduction to freedom, none is so significant as
the advancement manifest in the cause of popular educa-
tion. In the history of the western States, there has no-
where been exhibited more enthusiasm on this subject
than is now evinced throughout Missouri. Energy and
efficiency have marked the administration of this depart-
ent of the State government during the year. The re-
sponse to the demands for improved facilities for free and
universal education has been generous and unexampled.
Tasteful and commodious school buildings have sprung up
as by magic; teachers have come from other States, at-
tracted hither by the prospect of ultimate superior advan-
tages; colleges have been reopened, academies and schools
for special, normal, and mechanical instruction have been
established, and teachers* institutes are organized every-
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 115
where and are well attended. The sentiment of free popular
education is growing, and shall continue to grow in im-
portance as its beneficent effects become more and more
evident. A glance at the munificent provisions for the
support of a system of public schools warrants us in saying
that with prudent management means for the thorough
education of the children who are to supply our places may
be afforded equal at least to those provided in any State
in the Union.
The capital and sources of State School fund are as
follows :
invested in United States 5-20 registered bonds, being
a permanent school fund, created by act of llth of
March, 1867 $1,500,000
United States 5-20 registered bonds, being part of pro-
ceeds of sale of Tobacco warehouse 86 ,000
Amount of note for deferred payment on sale of Tobacco
warehouse, secured by deed of trust on the property
and bearing six per cent, interest per annum 44 , 000
State bonds, issued to Pacific railroad 20,000
From Internal Improvement fund 5 ,937
From sales of saline lands , 5 ,223
Amount in treasury from forfeitures 881
Total $1 ,685 ,071
The annual income from which is about $103,000.00.
To this is to be added one-fourth of the whole revenue of
the State government collected annually, and which, for
the year 1868, will amount probably to $225,000.00. Super-
added to these large and generous provisions by the State,
the respective counties have received one section of each
township of land, or one thirty-sixth part of all the land
in the State, devoted sacredly to the benefit of public schools.
For the same purpose the counties are endowed with all
the land granted to the State by act of Congress of 28th
September, 1850, designated as swamp land, and amounting
in the aggregate to exceeding three millions of acres, a large
portion of which is valuable. In addition to all this are
the sums collected in each county from fines, penalties
116 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
and forfeitures which fines, reported during the past year
amount to $37,758.00.
Inasmuch as a great portion of the land given to the
counties has been improvidently disposed of, I recommend
that the minimum price for any sixteenth section (or lands
selected in lieu thereof) be fixed at not less than two dollars
and fifty cents per acre, and that the same minimum price
be fixed for all the swamp land hereafter to be sold by the
county courts.
The number of teachers of public schools in the State
is 6,262 an increase of 3,558 over the number reported for
1866, and 5,362 more than in 1865; the number of school
houses is reported at 4,000, while there were only 2,500 in
1866 exhibiting the remarkable increase of 1,500 school-
buildings erected in one year.
Free government has for its foundation the virtue
and intelligence of the people; the school-house is a strong
pillar in its superstructure, and the teacher an architect of
its most enduring parts.
LAND FOR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
In my last message I informed you that the lands
granted to the State by the act of Congress of 2d July,
1862, entitled "An act donating lands to several States and
territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of
agriculture and the mechanic arts," has been selected and
properly reported to the General Land Office,
The fourth section of the act of Congress declares this
grant to be for "the endowment, support, and maintenance
of at least one college where the leading object shall be,
without excluding other scientific and classical studies and
including military tactics, to teach such branches of learn-
ing as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in
such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively
prescribe.'*
The fifth section requires that c< any State which may
take and claim the benefit of this act shall provide within
five years, at least* aot less than one college, as described
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 117
in the fourth section of this act, or the grant to such State
shall cease."
The Legislature, on the 17th of March, 1863, accepted
the grant, and assented to all the conditions of the act.
It will thus be seen that only sixty-nine days remain to you
of the time within which you may provide a college, as
required by the law of Congress, to obtain the benefit of
the grant.
It is clearly stated in the act of Congress that all of the
proceeds of the land granted shall constitute a permanent
fund, to be invested for the benefit of the college. No part
of the proceeds arising from the sale of the land can be
applied to buildings.
The land selected for our State cannot yet be made
available, and a considerable time will necessarily elapse
before it can be disposed of and the proceeds invested in
bonds of the United States or of this State, and an income
be derived from the interest on such bonds.
A compliance with the terms on which Congress has
granted this land will also be a fulfillment of the require-
ments of the State constitution in reference to a college.
By doing, within the time prescribed by the act of Congress,
what the constitution requires to be done, you will save
to the State the three hundred and thirty thousand acres
of land heretofore selected. This can be done by providing
at once for the establishment and maintenance of a de-
partment of agriculture and natural science in the State
University. It will only be after several years of continued
prosperity to the State that this land can be sold at a reason-
able price, and at best the endowment from the proceeds
of its sale will not be sufficient to support a separate college
such as would be creditable, or generally useful to the State.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
The standard of the civilization of any people Is fixed
by the facilities for education and for trade and travel with
which they provide themselves.
118 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
With freedom and peace there has come to the people
of Missouri a new spirit of energy and enterprise a spirit
characteristic of the older free States which strengthens
the bonds of sympathy that bind together in interest the
great commercial, mining and manufacturing States which
belt the continent from ocean to ocean.
One of the most forcible exemplifications of this truth
is found in the rearing of a bridge across the Father of
Waters at St. Louis the first bold effort ever made to span
our "inland sea" below the confluence of the great rivers.
In columns of granite and arches of steel this stupendous
structure will soon become one of the proud marks of our
civilization. Standing midway of the continent, it will
remove from the pathway of commerce the dividing line
between the East and the West, and locate the point in the
great central valley for the exchange of the productions
of the North and South. It should be a source of pride
to us that the success of this great undertaking will be
an enduring monument to the genius of a Missourian.
The inspirations of progress are seen again in the work
of binding our shores to those of our sister Illinois, by a
bridge across the Mississippi river at Quincy, furnishing
another means of the easy and frequent communication
which assimilates the objects, feelings and interests of the
people of different localities.
The spirit born of freedom is manifested by another
great enterprise now far advanced toward completion. The
swift currents of the turbid Missouri, within our State never
before spanned, are soon to pass under the yoke of commerce
at Kansas City, and while we may still boast of our great
river, it will no longer divide our State into two separate
parts. The bridge will be of iron, with a highway or wagon
crossing, as well as a railroad track. It is being built by
the same parties who have recently completed the Kansas
City and Cameron railroad. Two other railroads in course
of construction on the north side of the river are to cross
this bridge. All these roads have the right to run their
trains over it on such terms as may be agreed upon; and
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 119
in case of a failure of the parties to agree, the Governor of
the State has power, by the charter, to settle the terms
and conditions
Individual enterprise, induced by the present and
prospective improvements of the State, is taking hold of
and building other great works of internal improvement,
unaided by the public credit. Among these is the railroad
which has just been completed from Cameron to Kansas
City, a distance of fifty-three miles. By this road the Han-
nibal and St. Joseph railroad is connected at Kansas City
with the Union Pacific railway, eastern division, the
Missouri Pacific railroad, the Kansas City, Fort Scott and
Galveston railroad, the West Branch of the North Missouri
railroad, and the Missouri Valley railroad.
The Boone County railroad has also been recently
completed, and connects Columbia with the North Missouri
railroad. It is twenty-two miles in length and was built
by the liberality and public spirit of the people of Boone
county. This road is of more than local importance, from
the fact that the State University is thus made more ac-
cessible, and from the fact that it forms an important link
in a line of road which shall connect the system of railroads
north of the Missouri river with the Pacific railroad at the
State capital.
The Kansas City, Fort Scott and Galveston railroad
is graded for a distance of about twenty miles, and will no
doubt be rapidly constructed during this year.
The St. Joseph and Council Bluffs railroad is also in
process of rapid construction, and it is expected that its
whole length, about eighty miles, will be completed within
this year.
A railroad is projected from Chillicothe to Brunswick,
another from Chillicothe to Omaha, and another from
Chillicothe to connect at the Iowa State line with the road
to DCS Moines. Energetic efforts are being made to obtain
the means for building these roads. A railroad is also
projected from the city of Cape Girardeau to connect with
the extension of the Iron Mountain road, and will no doubt
120 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
be constructed as soon as the extension of the Iron Mountain
road is completed.
RAILROADS SOLD BY THE STATE.
At the beginning of the present session I stated in my
message the proceedings under the act of the 19th of Feb-
ruary, 1866, providing for the sale of certain railroads to
which the State, at the date of that act, held the relation
of mortgagee. The object of the Legislature in passing
that act was the completion of three unfinished roads
the Southwest Pacific, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain,
and the Platte Country railroads; the benefit to the State
to be derived from their sale was the development of those
parts of the State through which they would pass when
completed, and the increased facilities for trade and travel
which they would afford.
The provisions of that law were not such as I thought
best calculated to attain its objects. The conditions upon
which persons were required to undertake the completion
of the roads seemed to me to involve so many and such great
risks to timid capital that I had serious apprehensions that
parties of reasonable ability would be unable to obtain the
money needed. It is very evident that compensation for
these unusual risks would have to be made in the price to
be paid for the completed portions of the roads, and their
whole value was not, in my judgment, sufficient inducement
or security to obtain capital to complete them. These
views, held by the Board of Commissioners for the sale of
the Platte Country road, in common with myself, induced
their president to seek parties who took the place of the
mortgagers and redeemed the road from sale, by which the
whole debt due the State by that road was secured. In
the case of the other roads the sales of which were provided
for by that act, the same opportunity did not exist.
The Southwest Pacific railroad was disposed of to
General John C. Fremont, who offered for it, under all the
circumstances, a very liberal price. He was thea represented
and believed to be wealthy and able to influence a large
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 121
amount of capital for such an enterprise. He united it
with the Atlantic and Pacific railroad, a corporation which
was organized under an act of Congress with power to build
a railroad from Springfield, Missouri, to the Pacific ocean,
with a grant of land for that purpose exceeding in quantity
and value any grant ever made to a corporation in America.
He paid $325,000 to the State, as required by the terms of
the sale. The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company laid
down the track and extended the road to Little Piney, a
distance of about twelve miles from its former terminus;
built one or two bridges, and partially constructed one
across the Gasconade river, and did some grading west
of that point. On the expiration of one year from the date
of the sale I was satisfied that the sum of five hundred
thousand dollars had not been expended in the work of
4 'graduation, masonry, and superstructure of the extension
of the road," as required by the contract The annual pay-
ment of the purchase money was not made; the contractors
and laborers were not paid; but little work was being done;
the means and credit of the company appeared to be ex-
hausted; all its operatives and employes were unpaid, and
no reasonable ground remained for hope of a compliance
with the contract on its part; when, under the power given
me by the law, I took possession of the road and appointed
General Clinton B. Fisk agent "to operate it until the
General Assembly shall otherwise dispose of the same, for
the purpose of foreclosing the State's lien or mortgage."
He reports the aggregate receipts of the road from June
21, 1867, to January 1, 1868, at $118,970.83, and the ex-
penditures during the same period at $112,006.38, leaving
the sum of $6,964.45 in his hands. Of the expenditures
above stated the sum of $93,471.09 includes ordinary running
expenses, repairs, stock, and material purchased, and the
sum of $18,535.29 paid the employes retained by him. for
wages due them at the date of taking possession of the
road. For further details I respectfully refer to his report,
which is herewith transmitted. The importance of the
completion of this road, the difficulties attending efforts
122 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
for that purpose, and my desire to present my views at
length in reference to it, lead me to make it the subject of
a separate communication to which I shall soon invite your
attention.
IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD.
The President of the Board of Commissioners appointed
for the sale of this road, reports its receipts from the 27th
day of September, 1866, to the 12th day of January, 1867
the time during which the road was in possession of
and operated by the Commissioners at $164,466.62, and
the expenses during the same time at $126,530.08, leaving
a balance of $37,936.54, which has been paid to the State
Treasurer.
I am informed by the purchaser of this and the Cairo
and Fulton road that he has put it under contract the entire
length from a point a few miles north of Pilot Knob to
Belmont, a distance of one hundred and seventeen miles.
As the same party is the owner of both these roads,
there is not involved any conflict of corporate jurisdiction,
which I apprehended might occur under the law, and which
was avoided by uniting them in the sale.
Time adds constantly to our knowledge of the natural
wealth of Southeast Missouri, and deepens the conviction
in my mind that we have no more important interest as a
State than the completion of this road. Looking to its
extension as a means of developing the unequaled mineral
wealth of that part of the State, and the consequent influx
of capital for working its mines and establishing manu-
factories to convert its metals and use its timbers; feeling
that nothing but the extension of this road would ever make
the plateau of our rich cotton-growing counties appreciated;
and knowing that every part of the State whose railroad
system centers at St. Louis was interested in having a
connection by railroad with the southern market, I have
never ceased to believe that the true consideration for the
sale of the road already built should be its extension through
Southeast Missouri to the river, and to a connection with
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 123
the southern railroads. Although I did not regard the
price to be paid for these roads as the principal object in
their sale, I have since had additional reasons to believe
that they were awarded by the Commissioners to the
highest responsible bidders under the law.
The year has not yet fully elapsed during which the
purchaser is bound by the contract, and in a bond with
security, to expend half a million dollars in the work of
gradation, masonry, and superstructure of the extension
of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain road. On the 12th
day of December last he filed in the office of the Secretary
of State the affidavits of himself and the chief engineer and
treasurer, stating that $460,000 had been expended in
"the work of extending the St. Louis and Iron Mountain
railroad up to the 10th day of December, 1867."
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.
This road was incorporated by an act of the Legislature
approved March the 12th, 1849. An act amendatory of
the charter was passed March the 1st, 1851, which, among
other things, required the treasurer of the company and
acting superintendent to make an annual report on the
20th of December, verified by oath, stating the receipts
and other principal facts in the operation of the road, and
to file the same with the Secretary of State. This has not
been done. The last annual report of the directors made
to the stockholders shows the gross earnings for the year
ending 1st of March last to have been $2,675,874.84, and
the net earnings $719,230.00. The road was completed to
the western line of the State on the 2d day of October,
1865, and by virtue of the act of 25th of December, 1852,
to expedite the construction of this and the Hannibal and
St. Joseph railroad, the roadbed, buildings, machinery,
engines, cars, and other property became, on the 2d day
of October last, taxable at the same rate as other real and
personal property. The cost of construction of this road
is $11,418,794,14, and the rolling stock has cost $2,049,674.-
124 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
33, making the total cost of road and rolling stock $13,-
468,468.47.
The total indebtedness of the Pacific railroad to the
State, exclusive of taxes, is $10,569,493, for which the State
has a first mortgage lien on the road east of Dresden, on
all the rolling stock, and a second lien on the road west of
Dresden. The prior lien on the road west of Dresden
was created by an act approved February 10, 1864, and
is for $1,500,000, one-third of which is due in 1868, one-
third in 1869, and one-third in 1870, and for the payment
of which the net earnings of the road are pledged.
The State is paying annually four hundred and I wen I y
thousand dollars for interest on the principal of this debt,
which has, by accumulation of interest, reached a sum
exceeding the present value of the mortgaged property, and
is increasing by accruing interest more rapidly than the
value of the road.
While it is true that the payment by the road of the
debt for the first lien west of Dresden as it becomes due
would enhance the value of the State's lien to the extent
of one million five hundred thousand dollars, it is also true
that the State will have paid out in the meantime, for in-
terest on the bonds originally loaned the road, and on the
bonds issued for interest on the same, upward of $1,300,000,
and the debt due the State would be increased by that
amount.
This road having failed to pay or provide for the in-
terest on the bonds loaned it, the law creating the mort-
gage gives you the right to foreclose; and as the road has
also failed to pay the tax required by the constitution, it
becomes the duty of the Legislature to "provide by law
for the sale of the railroad and other property, and the
franchise of the company thus in default under the lien
reserved to the State.**
This is the most valuable of the assets of the State
applicable to the reduction of the internal improvement
debt. The debt of this road forms a very large portion of
the liability of the State, on account of internal improve-
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 125
ments, which has entailed a burden of taxation on the
people; but it has added to our material wealth by the
development of a broad belt of territory extending through
the entire State, as is shown by the increase of population
and taxable wealth of all the counties through which it
passes.
The stockholders contributed to this great enterprise
$3,609,215.23 of paid-up stock, while the State contributed
$7,000,000.00 in bonds. These stockholders are, almost
all of them, citizens of our State. The road has also a
floating debt of over a million of dollars, which, I believe,
is principally due to our own citizens. The county of St.
Louis has loaned to this railroad its bonds to the amount
of $700,000.00, by which it will be seen that the road is
indebted, outside of the liability to the State, over $3,200,-
000.00. The company is financially so involved as to
preclude the hope that it can ever redeem its property from
the mortgage to the State. I recommend that you adopt
such course as will, in your judgment, 'secure to the State
the greatest amount that can be obtained on account of the
indebtedness of this road. The loan of the public credit
was for the purpose of building railroads to develop the
State, and the people have borne taxation with that object;
but a railroad completed for over two years should not, in
justice to the tax-payers, be the cause of continued taxa-
tion upon them.
THE NORTH MISSOURI RAILROAD.
The work of construction is progressing on both the
main line and the west branch of the North Missouri rail-
roadthe latter being now completed to Brunswick. The
gauge has been changed during the past year to four feet
eight and a half inches, corresponding with the roads with
which it has actual and projected connections.
The indebtedness of the North Missouri railroad to the
State amounts, in principal and interest, to $6,698,610.00.
The lien of the State on the road for this indebtedness is
126 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
subject to a first lien created by the act of the 16th of Feb-
ruary, 1865, for the sum of $6,000,000.00,
This company is also in default for the interest on the
bonds borrowed from the State, and has not paid the tax
levied by the constitution. The earnings of the road for
the year ending 1st of October last were $698,237.67, as
reported to me by the Fund Commissioner.
It was the intention of the Legislature, in permitting
the first lien to which I have referred, to secure the building
of the west branch to Kansas City, the main line to the
southern border of the State of Iowa, and a railroad bridge
across the Missouri river at St. Charles, by which the value
of the mortgaged property would not only be enhanced to
the full amount of the prior lien so permitted, and thereby
the security of the State for her debt be not lessened, but
the extensions would, in addition, by developing some of
the richest agricultural portions of the State, be an in-
calculable and lasting benefit to the people.
The proceeds of the sale of the bonds authorized by the
act of 16th February, 1865, are being rapidly applied to the
extension of tlie west branch and main line. It is desirable
that the whole proceeds of their sale be applied so as to
obtain for the State's lien the benefit of the consequent
increase of value of the mortgaged property.
THE HANNIBAL AND ST. JOSEPH RAILHQAD.
By the act of 10th of December, 1867, entitled S6 An
act to secure the completion of certain railroads in this
State," the Pacific, the North Missouri, the Hannibal and
St. Joseph, and the Iron Mountain railroads were bound
to pay annually into the Sinking fund one and a quarter
per cent, on each thirty-year bond, and two and a half
per cent, on each twenty-year bond loaned them, respec-
tively; also, ten per cent, of the net earnings of said roads
after they should each be completed. The act amendatory
of that law, approved March 3, 1857, postponed the pay-
ments required of the several roads for the Sinking fund
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 127
until the 1st of January, 1859. No payments on account
of Sinking fund were ever made by either of these com-
panies. Afterward the Legislature, by an act entitled "An
act directing the collection of certain money due the State/'
approved March 28, 1861, directed the Commissioners of
the State Interest fund to sue the Hannibal and St. Joseph
railroad for the amount of percentage due by the act of
10th of December, 1855, but the Commissioners ever since
that time have failed to commence such suit. This road
has never been in default for interest on the bonds loaned
it by the State. During the past year the company has
expended a large sum in reducing the grades, relaying track,
and other improvements on its road. The State has the
first lien for $3,000,000 on this property. The road cost
$7,707,763, exclusive of interest, discount, and exchange,
and is, and must always be, one of the most valuable roads
in the State. Its debt to the State is not increasing, while
the value of our security is constantly augmenting. This
company promptly pays a State tax on its road and prop-
erty the same as other real estate.
Considering these circumstances, and fearing that to
compel immediate payment of the accumulated percentage
by the company would embarrass it so far as to prevent
some of the improvements then being made, I advised the
Commissioners of the Interest fund not to sue a company
which, in war and peace, had so well protected the credit
of the State, but to postpone action until the question could
be referred to the Legislature.
LAND DEPARTMENT.
The records of sales of State lands are imperfect and
without the systematic arrangement necessary for easy
reference. Indeed, it is impossible to know from the records,
as heretofore kept, what portion of the internal improve-
ment grant, or of the seminary, saline or swamp land grants
have been sold, or when, or to whom. I recommend that
these records be perfected.
128 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
There should also be made and preserved in the office
of the Register of Lands a complete list of all the land here-
tofore sold, or that may hereafter be sold at the several
United States land offices in this State. This list should be
numerically arranged by sections, townships, and ranges, so
as to afford the greatest facility for ascertaining the name
of the original purchaser and date of sale of any legal
subdivision of land.
The archives, field-notes, maps, records, and papers
belonging to the office of the Surveyor-General of Illinois
and Missouri appropriately belong to the office of the Reg-
ister of Lands, and I recommend that the act of the 16th
of December, 1865, providing for the care and custody of
these records and papers, be so amended as to make the
Register of Lands, ex-officio, custodian of them.
The grant under the act of Congress of the 28th of
September, 1850, embraces a large quantity of land not
yet patented to the State. Selections made by our State
under the law to the amount of a million acres have been
rejected by the Department of the Interior, and a quarter
of a million acres on approved lists have not yet been pa-
tented, a great portion of which may be secured by diligent
attention. A large portion of the three million acres pa-
tented to the State and given to the counties for school
purposes has been sold and conveyed by the counties. No
record of these sales has been kept in the office of the Regis-
ter of Lands from 1857 to 1866. The counties should be
required to supply the record for that period.
The Register of Lands is charged by law with the
duties of Swamp Land Agent. The claim of the State
under the act of 28th of September, 1850, and under the
acts of Congress of 2d of March, 1855, 3d of March, 1857,
and 12th of March, 1860, embraces one million of acres of
rejected selections, $250,000,00 for land entered with money
at the United States land offices after its selection as swamp
land, and a hundred thousand acres for land thus selected
and afterward entered with land warrants. To obtain
any part of these claims special efforts will be necessary.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 129
I therefore suggest that the Register of Lands be allowed
at least one additional clerk for the present year and that
he be authorized to employ such assistance in prosecuting
the claim of the State under the acts of Congress referred
to, as he may deem necessary and as may be approved
of by the Governor.
PUBLICATION OF THE LAWS.
There necessarily elapses a considerable period of
time after the enactment of our laws before they can be
published and distributed in book form. Our statutes
usually take effect from and after the date of their passage.
The most efficient method of giving early and general in-
formation of such laws to the people should therefore be
adopted. I suggest, as a means of affording authoritative
information of the changes or additions to our laws of
a general nature, that such laws shall, as soon as may be
after their enactment, be published in one newspaper
in each county. The cost of such publication may be saved
to the State by decreasing the number of copies of the
laws usually published in book form.
REGISTRATION OF VOTERS.
The law on this subject is materially defective in not
providing that a competent voter who may fail, for any
cause, to be registered at the registration preceding a regu-
lar election, shall be entitled to be registered at a subsequent
registration preceding any special election.
The time limited by the eleventh section of the act
of 16th of December, 1865, for the sitting of the board of
appeals and revision is not sufficient for that purpose in
many counties, and should in my opinion, be extended to
embrace at least ten days.
I also recommend that provision be made for a com-
plete registration of all the qualified voters of any county
where there has been or may hereafter be a failure to make
any registration at the time now provided by law.
130 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
COURTS.
I call your attention to the want of uniformity in the
system of the inferior tribunals which the General Assembly
has from time to time established. In some counties pro-
bate and county courts are separately established; in other
counties of the same population there are only county courts
with probate jurisdiction; in others the judge of probate
is made ex-officio presiding justice of the county court;
in others there are established courts of common pleas with
probate jurisdiction, and numberless special laws are enacted,
or altered, or amended in reference to these courts at every
session of the Legislature.
This is a subject to which a general law can be made
applicable, and, in my opinion, such a law is required by
the constitution. You have the experience of the older
States, as well as the experience of nearly a half century
in our own State, to guide you in making a uniform system
of county and probate courts, and the importance of doing
so will, no doubt, commend itself to you on examining the
numerous acts now in force in reference to such courts.
CIRCUIT ATTORNEYS.
Under the provisions of the Revised Statutes of 1855,
circuit attorneys were elected in the several judicial circuits
of the State at the November election, 1864, for a term of
four years. By the ordinance of the State Convention
vacating certain civil offices and directing the manner of
filling the same, adopted on the 17th of March, 1865, the
office of circuit attorney became vacant, and was filled by
appointment for the remainder of the term for which cir-
cuit attorneys were elected in 1864,
The sixth section of chapter eighteen, General Statutes,
requires that circuit attorneys be elected in November,
1866, and every four years thereafter. So general was
the misapprehension on this subject on the part of the
people, owing to the time which elapsed before the distribu-
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 131
tion of the General Statutes, that in some circuits no elec-
tion for circuit attorney was held in November, 1866, and
in all the others, except the Fifteenth Circuit, the vote
was very small in many instances only one or two counties
voting at all, and even in those instances the vote given
for that office was far less than was given for any other
office. I recommend that section 6, chapter 18, General
Statutes, be amended so as to make the office of circuit
attorney elective at the general election in November, 1868,
and every four years thereafter.
In this connection I suggest the subjects of the salaries
of the circuit attorney, and recommend that they be in-
creased to such sum as will be a reasonable compensation
for the labors required, and thereby uniformly secure to
the State in the prosecution of violators of the law the
services of men of good ability in their profession. The
saving to the State of costs in criminal prosecutions would
more than reimburse for a reasonable increase of salary.
MILITIA.
I most earnestly renew the recommendation made in
my last message in reference to the organization of the
militia. But if, in your opinion, the ordinance of the State
Convention should not be wholly superseded by a law better
adapted to the organization of the militia in time of peace,
I hope it will be so amended as to authorize the formation
of volunteer companies and regiments, and the acceptance
of their rolls as a legal enrollment under existing law,
I call your attention to the fact that the militia has
not been paid for services in Lafayette county. Although
the county is liable, by law, to pay for that service, I rec-
ommend that an appropriation be made to pay the same
out of the Union Military fund.
In August last I became satisfied that the chil author-
ities in some of the sparsely populated counties of the
southern border were unable to bring to justice the mem-
bers of an organized band of desperadoes who made fre-
132 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
quent incursions into the counties of Howell, Oregon,
Carter, Dent, and Texas, committing murders and rob-
beries. I directed Major Monks, of the llth battalion
Missouri militia, to detail for active duty fifty men of his
command, and proceed to aid the civil authorities in thoso
counties in bringing to justice violators of the law whe
resisted legal process and defied the civil authorities. This
he did with signal success. The honest men of that part
of the State being thus assured and sustained, rallied to the
assistance of the civil officers and have made the law a terror
to evil-doers. The appropriation for pay of militia should
also cover this service.
INSURANCE LAWS.
The provisions of law for protecting the people from
loss and imposition through irresponsible insurance com-
panies, organized under chapter 67, General Statutes, are
insufficient. In the older States these companies are re-
quired to have some actual capital in assets available to the
assured; but under our present law persons may form com-
panies and do business without a bona fide security for
paying losses. This subject deserves your careful atten-
tion. Each company now organized or hereafter to be
organized under the general law, and each foreign company
permitted to take insurance risks in this State, should, in
my judgment, be required to furnish, either to a State
officer, who may by law be designated, or to a commissoner
especially appointed for that duty, satisfactory evidence
that it has paid up cash capital bearing a reasonable pro-
portion to the whole amount of risks taken by the company,
securely invested in United States or Missouri bonds, or
in notes secured by liens on real estate of an assessed value
one-fourth greater than the face of such notes, or in ap-
proved dividend-paying stocks of established market value*
readily convertible into money. A penalty should be
enacted for a failure to comply with the second section of
chapter 90, General Statutes, and for any attempt to pursue
the business of Insurance in this State without compliance
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 133
with the requirements above suggested; and it should be
made the duty of the officer to whom these returns are
made to prosecute all such violations of law. In some other
States the labor thus required occupies the whole time of
a commissioner empowered to supervise the business of
insurance, and whose salary is paid by the companies doing
business within the State. But whether the duties con-
templated be imposed upon an official especially appointed
to perform them, or upon one of the present State officials,
I recommend such legislation as will, in your judgment,
best protect the people against unsound companies or their
agents. Mutual companies should also be prohibited,
under penalties, from doing business as stock companies
until they have complied with the provisions of law regard-
ing insurance applicable to stock organizations. There is
no pecuniary loss borne by the people for the prevention
of which greater care should be taken in framing our laws
than the loss incurred by paying for worthless insurance
policies. A thorough revision of chapter 67, above referred
to, seems to me desirable. I have no doubt that your
examination of the subject will profitably embrace the
experience and example of other States.
BOUNTIES AND PENSIONS.
At the last session of Congress a bill passed both houses
.granting the same bounties to soldiers of the Missouri
State Militia as have been given to other soldiers of the
volunteer army of the United States, but it failed to become
a law, owing to an unfortunate omission to present it to the
President for his approval within the proper time. Our
Senators and Representatives in Congress have diligently
labored to remove the discrimination which a mere name
of organization has made against ten thousand of Missouri's
brave soldiers, who did effective service and were, in every
true sense, United States volunteers. It is hoped that the
bill giving justice to them will again be passed and become
a law at the present session.
134 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The agent appointed under the act of the General
Assembly of the 13th of February, 1864, to forward and
prosecute the claims of widows and orphans of deceased
soldiers and soldiers disabled in the service of the United
States, reports the number of claims filed with him during
the past year at 822, and the number finally disposed of
during the same period at 794.
The act creating this agency requires the agent to
reside at St. Louis, and gives him a salary of $3,000,00 and
$1,000.00 for contingent expenses. I am of opinion that
the salary is sufficient for the pay of the agent to reside at
Washington, where he would be enabled, by his personal
presence, to secure more speedy action on the claims made
by him, and where he could perform such other services in
attention to business before the various departments at
the National Capital as the interests of the State might
from time to time require. For the details of the opera-
tions of the agency during the past year, I refer you to the
report of the agent, which is herewith transmitted.
INSANE ASYLUM.
The number of patients in this institution has doubled
since the passage of the law fixing the annual appropriation
for its support. The number of employes has necessarily
been increased. I recommend that the appropriation be
increased to the sum shown by the report of the managers
to be necessary for its proper maintenance.
I also recommend a special appropriation for provid-
ing the means of furnishing a sufficient supply of water,
for repairs of the buildings, and for increased facilities for
the comfort, security, amusement, and exercises of the
unfortunate class who are inmates of the Asylum. The
estimate for these purposes amounts to $20,000,00 as appears
by a special communication addressed to me by the man-
agers, which 1 herewith transmit for your consideration,
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 135
CONCLUSION.
It will not have failed to attract your attention that
this review of the condition of the State, and of topics
demanding legislation, is mainly a record of progress. At
every point the new life of the State manifests itself in
improvements or in demands for improvement. Through
all the arteries of the commonwealth throbs new blood;
in all its sinews it feels new strength; in every department
the work of rebuilding, restoration, revivification, progress,
and development of resources goes on with unexampled
vigor. Within the year the payment of accruing interest
on the public debt has been resumed, and the redemption
of a part of the overdue coupons has given new confidence
to capitalists.
Education marches on with rapid stride to drive from
the State that ignorance which is the most deadly foe of
a free government. Improvements start up on every
hand; the pick of the miner pierces to the rich stores locked
up in our hills; the art of the engineer spans mighty rivers;
the engine starts echoes from hills never before waked by
the whistle of its shrill music, and opens to wide and fertile
regions the commerce of all the land. In every village
and every town capital rears temples of industry, private
enterprise works for the public weal, and thrifty, happy
homes rise from the ashes of the war. If the year has been
one of general depression in business, and if some of our
own endeavors have failed, we may yet look back upon
great triumphs, trace them to their cause in the application
of true principles in our government, and feel assured that
we witness, as yet, only the dawn which heralds the perfect
day. The truths of principles and policies are found in the
results of their application to governments, and truth
known will never be deserted by free and brave people.
Encouraged and strengthened, we shall not forget that
there is yet work to be done. To everything that will
hasten the progress and increase the prosperity of the State,
136 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
it is your privilege to extend the helping hand. There is
enterprise to be fostered, industry to be stimulated, order
to be maintained and perfected above all, the broad
principles of justice, equality, and freedom have to be
sustained and firmly established. As I know that you do
not forget the past, and look with pride and pleasure upon
the advancement already made, I do not doubt that you
will faithfully perform the duties before you, and con-
tribute by wise legislation to such general welfare of the
people as will merit for your acts the approbation and
protection of a just and allwise Providence.
THOMAS C. FLETCHER.
Executive Office, January 8, 1868.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 137
SECOND BIENNIAL MESSAGE
JANUARY 8, 1869
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 13-86
Senators and Representatives:
The general condition of the affairs of the State warrants
me in congratulating you on entering upon the discharge
of the duties devolved by the Constitution upon the legisla-
tive branch of the government.
We are in the full enjoyment of all the blessings of
National Government, and feel the inspirations of the new
and high hopes which are founded on the recent strong proof
of the capacity and will of the people to govern themselves.
The land is filled with plenty. Peace is confirmed. The
voice of the people has called one who knows his duty
wherever placed, and with majestic firmness performs the
work set before him, and into his hands they give the nation's
laws to be enforced. Confidence pervades the minds of the
whole people that the soldier President will display, as
the Chief Magistrate the signal virtue and ability which
have distinguished him as the head of the armies; that he
will lead on in the civil department to the victories of peace
which will vie in brilliancy with the successes of war. The
men who upheld liberty and stood by the Union have se-
lected him to stand guard for four years over the fruits of
the victories in the field; and they repose in perfect security
that in his hands the sword of the nation will protect their
Constitution and laws, and that to their will as expressed
in those laws, obedience will be compelled in every part of
the Republic.
You come to the discharge of your high duties fully
impressed, I trust, with the responsibility of making free
Missouri as distinguished for the justice and wisdom of her
laws as for the possession of those natural advantages for
which she is so famed.
138 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The present prosperous condition of the State has been
achieved in a contest with a hopeful, vigilant and untiring
political party, led on by unscrupulous and desperate parti-
sans, who have struggled with fearful energy to stay our
course and weigh us down to the uninviting past. The
decree of the people rendered in November last, has forever
sealed the fate of the policies which opposed the advancing
column of civilization and human progress. It is your
proud privilege to institute the measures for readjusting
the foundations of our political structure, and to rear it
up in the beautiful proportions of liberty and equality;
to more firmly establish justice and assure its speedy ad-
ministration; to decrease the means that tend to the de-
moralization of the people; to initiate measures for the
elevation of morals; to diminish the expenses of govern-
ment; to simplify the laws; to extend and improve the
system of education; to encourage commerce, manufactures
and internal improvements; to give additional dignity,
impressiveness and efficiency to both the system and manner
of government; to increase the privileges and improve the
condition of whole classes of the people, and better insure
peace and tranquility.
To these ends I recommend that you submit for adop-
tion by the people an amendment to the State Constitution,
providing that every person disqualified as a voter by the
terms and effect of the third and eighteenth sections of
the second article, except "bushwhackers" or guerrillas;
persons who, after having voted or held an office, claimed
the protection of foreign governments during the war;
persons who at any time or for any purpose have falsely
taken the "oath of loyalty,* 9 shall, upon application to a
court of record in the county of his residence, and upon
proof by two credible witnesses that he has deported himself
as a good citizen since the fourth day of July, 1865, and by
his conduct manifested an attachment to the principles
of the Constitution and Government of the United States,
and a disposition to the good order and happiness of the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CXEMENT FLETCHER 139
State, receive a certificate which shall entitle him to be
registered as a legal voter.
This is, in substance, the manner of regaining citizen-
ship lost by participation in the rebellion, suggested by
me four years ago in my Inaugural Message.
It is a primary object of government to give security
to life and property, and to this end laws are enacted. The
justice of the law is attainable only through the judicial
tribunals. Courts must derive the facts to which the law
is to be applied from the moral sense that fear of punish-
ment is invoked through the means of an oath. Whatever
tends to deaden the sense of moral obligation to the com-
munity or to lessen the fear of punishment for false swear-
ing, tends directly to lessen the security of every citizen in
his life and property.
Every oath unnecessarily required of the people has
the bad effect of so familiarizing their minds with the cere-
mony of judicially calling the Creator to witness the truth
of their asseverations that its solemnity and impressiveness
are lost. The oath of loyalty, as prescribed by the sixth
section of the second article of the Constitution, is con-
clusive of nothing, as other provisions show, and inasmuch
as conviction for falsely taking it cannot be had, it is, there-
fore, unnecessary for any good purpose. My views in
reference to this oath as required of voters, I take the liberty
of repeating here from my message to your predecessors
at their first session: "The ballot is thereby offered as
the price for perjury, and the most loyal, no matter how
unlearned, are required to swear that they are well ac-
quainted with the terms of the third section of the second
article. That section defines what shall constitute a dis-
qualification as a voter. Aside from the utter failure of
this oath as a means of protecting the ballot box from the
votes of disloyal persons the provisions of the Constitution
of the United States and the humane principle of law that
no one shall be compelled to testify against himself, seem
to be, inconsistent with the end sought to be accomplished
by the voter's oath* There are certainly less objectionable
140 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
and more effective modes for the enforcement of the dis-
franchising law." It may be accomplished by punishment
for illegal voting more effectually than by punishment for
false swearing done in aid of illegal voting thereby removing
an inducement for the commission of perjury. While the
second section of the fourteenth article of the Constitution
of the United States clearly carries with it the right of the
State to disfranchise any portion of its citizens for participa-
tion in rebellion, the Supreme Court of the United States
will most probably hold that an oath of loyalty cannot be
exacted as the means of effecting that object.
The eighth section provides for the taking of the "oath
of loyalty" within fifteen days next preceding the election
by all candidates for whom any vote may be counted. An
incentive to false swearing is thus held out. Frequently
the will of the people, in their selections of those whom
they wish for civil officers, is defeated by want of attention
to this requirement on the part of such persons. The
qualifications of men to hold office being well defined, the
taking of this oath confers no qualification that did not
previously exist. The party falsely taking it cannot be
punished for perjury; but he may be denied an office to
which he has been elected because of his want of any of the
qualifications prescribed by the Constitution of the United
States or of this State, even though he has taken the oath.
The ninth section which requires this oath to be taken
by a number of officers and others has been judicially
determined to be in conflict with the Constitution of the
United States and therefore inoperative and void. The
portion of this section which has not been so passed upon
and decided to be of no effect, is the first clause of the sec-
tion which requires the oath to be taken by all persons
before entering upon the duties of any office to which they
may be appointed. The reasoning applied to the oath as
required of candidates holds good in reference to the oath
required by this section.
The eleventh section, requires the "oath of loyalty"
to be taken by grand and petit jurors. In this the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 141
inducement offered is to refuse to take the oath and thereby
avoid the performance of one of the duties of a citizen,
necessary to the good of society, but which each man pre-
fers that some other than himself should perform. A refusal
to take this oath as a juror involves no consequences and
no punishment awaits the taking of it falsely. This re-
quirement of the Constitution is not observed in some of
the courts of the State. Public opinion, in many localities,
regarding it as unnecessary and unfruitful of any good, does
not demand its enforcement. Even where it is required,
a conviction for falsely taking it cannot be obtained. No
instance has been brought to my knowledge of a conviction
for falsely taking the "oath of loyalty" either as a juror,
as a candidate or as a voter. It is the certainty of the execu-
tion of laws that gives feeling of security to good citizens
and restrains bad men. The non-enforcement of laws
begets a habit of neglect of the duties of a citizen, which
tends to a lawless spirit and the worst consequences to
society.
Every department of the government is within the
control of the supporters of liberty, law, order, justice,
loyalty and progress. The executive office is committed
for the coming two years to the care of a citizen of known
and tried firmness in the right and fidelity to the interests
of the people. The great principles for which the patriotic
men of the State heretofore fought and lately voted have
been established and confirmed by the recent election,
never more to be seriously endangered. The time is auspi-
cious. You may make the legislation of the Twenty-
fifth General Assembly an epoch of new progress in our
history.
Though the proposition to strike from our Constitu-
tion that provision which, in hostility to the fundamental
idea of a republican government, confers the governing
power upon one class of persons, fell before unreasoning
prejudice, more than fifty-five thousand men voted for it,
and gave earnest of its ultimate success by the election of
men to all the State offices, and a majority of the members
142 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
of Congress who advocated its adoption. Prejudice itself
is not so blind as to fail to see in the steady and rapid growth
of radical democratic principles, our early future radiant
with the perfect equality of the political privileges of men.
It is the part of the statesman and patriot to continue to
present the true principles of free government relying with
confidence on the intelligence and justice of the people to
eventually recognize and adopt them. The true principle
of a republican government as to who are citizens, is declared
in all its breadth and liberality by the first section of the
fourteenth article of the Constitution of the United States.
Citizenship is the true basis of the right of suffrage. No
permanent disfranchisement of any intelligent being is
consistent with our theory of free institutions, unless it be
necessary to the safety of the government. The liberal
minded man recognizing these truths will, as soon as safety
is assured, seek at once to better the condition and promote
the welfare and happiness of all the classes that have been
excluded from political privileges. The rebel was dis-
franchised for safety and not for vengeance; the loyal
colored citizen for neither safety nor vengeance, but from
prejudice, which must fall before the reason of an intelligent.
a just and liberal people. It is safe to enfranchise the rebel
who, returning to his allegiance, has for three years and a
half obeyed the laws and conducted himself as a good citizen,
despite all the efforts of unprincipled partisan leaders to
induce him to swear falsely, and otherwise disregard and
defy the laws. His silent appeal for the ballot by good
conduct, is made not only to our magnanimity and gener-
osity, but also to our best judgment of good policy in strength-
ening the government, by interesting a class of resolute
men in its active support. The amendment to be pro-
posed, should, in my opinion, dispense with the "oath of
loyalty/' not only for the purpose of voting, but for all
other purposes for which it is required by the Constitution.
The power given the General Assembly by the twenty-
fifth section of the second article, carries with it the evidence
that the framera of the Constitution regarded the dis-
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 143
franchisements of the second section, and the requirement
of an oath in the fifth section, as mere temporary provisions,
necessary to the safety of the State under circumstances
such as then existed, but unnecessary, and not to be pre-
served in the fundamental law when peace and order should
prevail.
It cannot be denied that the greatest dangers which
have threatened the well-being of the State during the past
three years, have come from men to whom the disfranchise-
ments of the second section do not apply, or who can only
be reached by purging their consciences by means of an
oath a means which has proved ineffectual to that end.
Nor can it be controverted that the majority of the men
who were engaged in actual rebellion and open fight, have
since their surrender, demeaned themselves as law-abiding
citizens; and while they have refused to commit moral
perjury, when no fears of legal punishment were before
them, other classes of the disfranchised have not hesitated
to swear falsely; to encourage others to do so, and to resist
and counsel resistance to the Constitution, laws and officers
of the State, thereby showing the insecurity to the good
order of society from their participation in the rule of the
State through the ballot.
Let obedience to the law have its reward. Let us
welcome to a participation in political privileges, all who
have by their actions shown the disposition to unite with
us in maintaining a government of civil law, and a desire
to share our duties as citizens as well as our privileges.
Let enfranchisement come by an amendment to the Con-
stitution, so that the Legislature may not exercise the power
given by the twenty-fifth section, to repeal any part of the
third, fifth and sixth sections of the second article, in the
absence of any power to repeal the word "white" in the
eighteenth section of the same article. Let us guard the
safety of the State by excluding from its rule those who have
rebelled against the laws of God and their country, by
super-adding perjury to treason, and who stand in an attitude
of defiance to the civil rule of the men who won in fair fight
144 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
the right to govern. In the calm enjoyment of the final
triumph of the Union, and exulting in the firm establishment
of loyal rule in Missouri; with pride in having aided to
win the one on the battlefield, and in having borne apart
in securing and maintaining the other, I have made these
suggestions in full confidence that they are consistent with
the safety of the State, and in the earnest hope that you
will submit to the people an amendment to the Constitu-
tion embracing their objects.
DISTRICTS COURTS.
The amendment to be submitted by you should also
embrace a provision striking out the twelfth section of the
sixth article of the Constitution. This proposition was
recommended by me to the consideration of your prede-
cessors.
The District Court established by this section is merely
an intermediate tribunal between the Circuit and the
Supreme Court, having exclusive appellate jurisdiction
from the Circuit Court. It increases the labors of the
Circuit Judges without diminishing the work of the Supreme
Judges. It is a bridge with heavy tolls, erected on the
highway of justice between the Circuit and the Supreme
Court, at a point where there is no stream to cross. The
effect of this court is to delay final judgment in cases where
the ruling of the Supreme Court is desired. The expense
and inconvenience to litigants having to pass through it
are so burthensome as in many cases to be equivalent to a
denial of justice. To afford speedy justice with the least
possible expense should be the object kept constantly in
view in framing all our laws for the organization of courts.
For the immediate relief of the people from the burden
of the useless expense and delay of this court, I recommend
that the statute establishing District Courts be repealed.
IMMIGRATION.
The unprecedented influx of population is a cause for
congratulation. In your respective localities this increase
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 145
of people and of wealth is so fully seen and appreciated
that it is only necessary for me to mention the aggregate
increase since the first of January, 1865, and to commend to
your encouragement some of the means which have con-
tributed to this good result. On January 1st, 1865, the
population of the State was less than one million; now It is
fully fifteen hundred thousand an increase of about fifty
per cent, in four years. In 1860 the assessed value of all
personal property and real estate was $273,746,492.30,
added to which was the value of slaves $44,181,912, making
a total, including slaves, of $317,928,404.30. A devastating
war, and the declaration that people were not chattels
had reduced the valuation of our taxable property on the
1st of January, 1865, to but little more than $200,000,000.
Now we have nearly $500,000,000 worth of taxable prop-
erty, being almost $200,000,000 more than we had in I860,
including the value of slaves.
In pursuance of the suggestion in my inaugural message,
an act was passed in 1865 creating the State Board of Im-
migration. The labors of this board have largely con-
tributed to carry abroad into other States and into Europe
the knowledge of the advantages offered to immigrants by
our State, thus inducing thousands to come among us.
The system of encouraging immigration adopted by Mis-
souri is commended generally and regarded by our neigh-
boring States as worthy of imitation. I cannot better
convey an impression of the value of the work done by the
board, in writing, publishing and disseminating many
thousands of documents containing information respecting
our State to the people of Europe, than by quoting a para-
graph from a translation of a letter from the editor of a
journal published in Bremen, who has been interested in
aiding the efforts of the board. He says: ''Without undue
pretensions, we may claim that through our efforts during
the last few years Missouri has become a well known and
favorite point of emigration. When parties wishing to
build up a new home on the other hemisphere inquire as
to what State of the Union is the best to settle in, Missouri
146 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
is named in the foremost rank. This is a great deal, con-
sidering that less than ten years ago Missouri was almost
unknown amongst the mass of the people of Europe."
The Governor and Secretary of State are ex-officio
members of the board. For the great success attending
this means of promoting and encouraging immigration
much credit is due to Hon. Frederick Muench, Hon. Isidor
Bush and Hon. Amadee Valle for the time and attention
they have voluntarily given as members of the board. The
efficiency of this board may be augmented by increasing
the annual appropriation made for its use. Sufficient means
should be furnished to enable the board to procure from the
published and unpublished portions of the Geological Survey
of the State and other reliable sources the compilation and
publication of a concise and practical report on the geology
of the State.
The Board of Immigration has endeavored to show
alike to all classes the attractions of Missouri. It has
exhibited the advantages of the State to the capitalist and
manufacturer not less than to the agriculturist and horti-
culturist. It has also directed attention to the superior
profits of educated labor. But of the vast multitude of
people who have come to our State during the last three
years and a half, the proportion who came for agricultural
and pomological pursuits far exceeds what might reasonably
have been anticipated in view of our varied resources,
adaptation to manufactures and profitable use of skilled
labor. The explanation of this want of a diversity in the
objects and pursuits of our immigration, proportionate
to the variety of inducement for labor and capital can,
in my opinion, be found to a great extent in the provisions
of the sixth section of the eighth article of the State Con-
stitution. This section makes each stockholder in a pri-
vate corporation liable, over and above the stock owned,
for a further sum equal in amount to the whole stock owned.
To utilize the coal which we have in thirty-six counties,
iron in thirty-five counties, lead in thirty-six, copper in
twenty-two, zinc in five, nickel and kaolin in two, platina,
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 147
emery, alabaster and tin in seven counties, is scarcely less
important to us as a people than the conversion of our
champagne country into grain fields, and the wooded high-
lands into orchards and vineyards. We want labor alike
for each of the industrial pursuits necessary for the develop-
ment of our natural resources. In Missouri mining and
manufactures may profitably employ half as many laborers
as farming. We have nearly 400,000 persons employed in
various occupations: of these 272,000 are engaged in agri-
culture, horticulture, etc.; of the 118,000 who follow other
vocations not one-half are at work in factories or mines.
If with all our facilities and adaptabilities for mining and
manufacturing we have less than sixty thousand persons
engaged in these employments, we may trace the cause in a
great measure to the want of inducements afforded by our
laws for the investment of capital in manufactures, and
to the excessive liability now prescribed by law of corporate
organizations. We want more educated labor to be applied
to our abundance of crude materials. Skilled labor is ever
attendant upon capital. Enterprises in mining and manu-
facturing usually subject capital to all the risks of experi-
ment. Large investments are generally necessary to these
enterprises. The association of capital supplies the large
sums requisite for such undertakings. In these invest-
ments the Eastern and indeed our own capitalists would
generally commit their funds to the management of other
persons, and while they would willingly risk a stipulated
sum, they are unwilling to be made liable for a larger amount
than their original venture. The public has always a
better opportunity of learning the financial condition of a
corporation than it has of ascertaining the pecuniary ability
of an individual. While the whole world knows of our
mountains of iron and our rich lodes of other ores; while
it is demonstrated that we have near at hand the coal by
which the iron ores may be reduced at a cost which will
almost defy the competition of foreign iron, even if admitted
duty free; while the subject of the metallurgic capabilities
of our metropolis has recently been presented by Prof. S.
148 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
Waterhouse in an article prepared for the State Board
of Immigration, with such startling truths and impressive
results, as to awaken the attention and interest of capitalists
in Europe as well as in America; there is still wanting that
freedom of organized capital which is certainly requisite
to bring hither the money and the labor to make Missouri
what she assuredly can be made, the first manufacturing
State of the Union. While this provision of our Constitu-
tion prevents responsible and prudent men from embarking
their capital in associated enterprises, it does not prevent
irresponsible and reckless persons from practicing the most
shameless impositions, as is shown in the number of spurious
insurance companies, and other baseless corporations which
continually bubble up and again disappear with ill-gotten
gains. It prevents honest men from subscribing and paying
up stock, and is no restraint upon dishonest adventurers
in subscribing what they never intended to pay. It affords
no protection to the people. It is an invulnerable defense
on the side where there is no assailant, but no safeguard
on the side which the enemy will be most likely to assault.
I recommend that you submit to a vote of the people an
amendment to the Constitution striking out the latter
clause of the section mentioned*
FINANCE.
In informing you of the condition of the finances of
the State at the present time, it will be proper to deduce
that condition from a brief aggregate statement of the
general financial operations of the past four years; from the
gloomy and discouraging time when a debt of about thirty-
seven millions of dollars, with its growth of terrible weight
in accumulation of interest, threatened to crush out the
hope and energy of the people in their noble struggle to
maintain the honor of the State to the brighter day on
which they were able with the just pride of honest men to
rejoice in a financial standing in the money markets of the
world equal to that of any of the States.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 149
Since the first of January, 1865, there have been paid
and retired Bonds, Coupons, Military Bonds and Defense
Warrants, with interest thereon, amounting in the aggregate
to $23,145,130.80 as follows:
State Bonds received in payment of dues to the State
for railroads, etc $6,897,000.00
Union Military Bonds redeemed 4,794,387 00
Interest paid on same 380,720. 13
Defense Warrants redeemed 304 , 055 . 00
State Bonds received on account of claim against United
States 63 , 000 00
Bonds for old debt due in 1862 and 1863, paid 32,000 00
Interest on same 7,80300
Bonds of same, same series, taken up with new 20-year
Bonds 304,00000
Revenue Bonds paid 354,00000
Interest paid on same 98 , 670 . 00
Coupons taken up by issue of Consolidation Bonds 3,868,000 00
Overdue Coupons paid at New York in money 3,070,682.63
Paid for current interest 2,259,090, 00
Coupons received for dues to State 472,575 00
Interest paid on State debt proper 192, 145,44
Coupons received on account of claim against United
States 47,002.60
Total $23,145,130 80
Of this sum $6,355,183.20 has been paid in money for
interest overdue and accruing, $2,120,180 of which was
transferred from the State Treasury to New York, the
transfer being made without cost of exchange to the State.
There have been issued during the same period con-
solidation bonds and renewal bonds, amounting to $4,126,-
000. The total bonded debt of the State at this date, for
which we have hereafter to provide, is as follows:
Six per cent. Bonds issued to aid Railroads $13,734,000.00
Consolidation Bonds 2,830,000.00
Seven per cent. Guaranteed Bonds 1 ,589 ,000.00
State Debt proper 453 ,000.00
War debt 48,000.00
Total $18,654,000.00
150 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The semi-annual interest on which is $567,565.
The assessed value of taxables is $470,773,119. The
annual tax of one-fourth of one per cent, voted by the
people upon themselves by the ordinance adopted in 1865
for the payment of the State Debt will therefore be $1,178,-
502.32. Upon the basis of the increase of taxable values
which have grown from $215,000,000 four years ago to the
present amount, and relying on the continuation of our
prosperity, we may calculate that with close collections
of the revenue something may be realized a year hence
for the Sinking Fund. The yearly investment of the excess
of Interest Fund for a Sinking Fund in bonds of the United
States, and the prompt re-investment in such bonds of all
interest received thereon may swell this Sinking Fund to a
sum in 1872 very nearly sufficient to meet the first series
of short railroad bonds which begin to fall due at that time.
These bonds were issued from 1852 to 1860; $477,000 of
them fall due in 1872.
By existing law the Fund Commissioners are required
to invest the Sinking Fund in the "Consolidation Bonds."
These bonds have nineteen years to run. If it is thought
best to retire our bonds with the Sinking Fund before they
are due, then those first to fall due should be the first retired.
The total receipts into the Treasury from all sources
during the four years from the first of January, 1865, to
the first of January, 1869, were $22,113,680.07. The total
disbursements during the same period have been $19,702,-
589.26 leaving a balance in the Treasury of $2,411,060.81,
which consists of bonds and other evidences of debt and
securities held in trust for school and other purposes, and
of $738,547.52 in currency.
The money to meet the January interest on our bonds
has been forwarded. The redeemed and canceled bonds
and coupons in the offices of the State Auditor and Treasurer,
amounting to about nineteen millions of dollars, should be
destroyed, after being carefully compared with and canceled
upon the registers. I recommend that the committee now
engaged in examining the accounts of the State Auditor
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 151
and Treasurer be empowered and required to perform this
duty.
There is held by the State Treasurer $167,000 in bonds
issued to the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad and received
from the Pacific railroad in payment of indebtedness to the
State. The Treasurer should be required by law to receive
the semi-annual interest on these bonds as it falls due, and
the principal at maturity and place the same to the credit
of the Interest Fund.
A portion of the bonds issued under the act of 15th of
February, 1864, denominated the "War Debt," fell due
in July last and the remainder will fall due in July next.
An appropriation should be made out of the Union Military
Fund for their payment. These bonds were given for
money advanced by the banks to Governor Gamble for the
purchase of arms. As has been shown, they amount in
the aggregate to $48,000. There was a balance in the
Union Military Fund on the 1st of October last of $464,-
637.89. After paying the bonds above mentioned, and
after supplying therefrom the deficiency in the Revenue
Fund, the balance of this fund should be transferred to the
credit of the Interest Fund, and all receipts for the Union
Military Fund should hereafter go to the State Interest
Fund. Of the bonds which fell due in 1862-63, denominated
"Sterling Bonds," and for the payment of thirty-five of
which provision was made by the act of March 18th, 1868,
thirty-two have been paid, one has never been presented,
and two are held by a person who refuses to receive pay-
ment in currency. It is so nominated in the bonds that
they are payable, principal and interest, in gold or silver.
With great satisfaction I communicate the final settle-
ment of the claim of the State against the United States for
reimbursement for military expenses incurred during the
rebellion. This claim engaged my attention very early
in my administration of the affairs of the Executive
Department of the State. It was a large claim so large
that all experience suggested extraordinary exertions as
being necessary to obtain its settlement within a time not
152 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
measured by decades. It amounted to nearly six and a half
millions of dollars. Knowing that we could never hope to
obtain interest on the claim, every day of delay in its collec-
tion was a loss to the State. The interest at six per cent,
being about $390,000 a year, every year's delay was a loss
to us of that amount. Our State debt was swelling con-
tinually by accruing interest, and there was no means to
stay it but through the collection of this claim; the school
houses must continue closed and the large issue of Union
Military Bonds must remain depreciated, unredeemed, and
accumulating interest. Under this state of facts I employed
as my agent General John B. Gray, a gentleman familiar
with all the details of the manner in which the claim had
accrued. I agreed to give him one per cent, of all that he
could collect, and to allow him one-half of one per cent,
for expenses his pay to be wholly contingent upon his
collections. He prepared a synopsis of the claim and
went to Washington to aid in presenting it and procuring
the passage of a law for its payment. He rendered valuable
aid to our Senators and Representatives in their faithful
and able effort by which the act of Congress of April 17,
1866, was finally passed. A commission was then appointed
to adjust the account. General Gray put in abstract form
the vouchers and prepared the account for presentation.
One of the commissioners was appointed minister to a foreign
country and another to a position in the regular army. It
was only by extraordinary effort that they were kept at the
work until it could be hurried through. This was the more
important in view of the fact that it was well understood
that if the commission failed to act the President would
delay the appointment of another.
The commissioners allowed us in the aggregate the
sum of $6,475,851.01. General Gray then went to the
Treasury Department with the vast amount of vouchers
and papers which were the evidence to support his allowance.
In April, 1867, he received the first installment, after meeting
all the objections and counter claims presented by the
Secretary of the Treasury, who desired delay. Among
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 153
these counter claims was one for about a million of dollars,
made by the Quartermaster's Department, but which was
shown by General Gray to have been settled. In the settle-
ment we paid the direct tax of $700,000 levied on the State
by an act of Congress, passed in 1862, and obtained the
deduction of fifteen per cent., being $105,000 for its pay-
ment within the year 1862, upon the showing that our claim
had accrued to that amount within the time specified by
the act of Congress. Upon the argument of our agent
$60,927.26 in overdue coupons upon Missouri bonds held
by the United States was turned over to us and not deducted
from our claim on the ground that the indebtedness had
accrued to the State anterior to the time during which the
coupons had run. By diligent labor he caused additional
allowances to be made, and received in the aggregate $6,-
570,845.31, being $94,994.30 more than was allowed by the
commissioners.
He has paid to the National Bank of Commerce, in
New York, and into the State Treasury $6,472,289.35, being
only $3,561.66 less than the amount allowed by the com-
missioners. The last payment made was the sum of $31,-
957.50, in overdue coupons of bonds of the State held by
the Department of the Interior in trust for Indian tribes,
which coupons I have deposited in the Auditor's office and
caused to be canceled. These coupons were received by
my direction in full satisfaction of a balance of $58,000,
which had been suspended in the Treasury Department
and of which we could make the necessary proof to obtain
only about $15,000, under the ruling of the accounting
officers of that department.
I herewith transmit the final report of General Gray,
accompanied by official copies of his settlements with the
Treasury Department, and a detailed statement of his
account with the State.
The amount received for indemnity under the act of
Congress of 17th of April, 1866, has been applied as follows:
154 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
To a permanent School Fund created by act of llth of
March, 1867 Jl ,500,000 00
To reimburse the Seminary Fund 108,364 45
To redemption of Union Military Bonds. 1,683,232.27
To payment of overdue coupons 3,070,682.63
To payment of overdue bonds and coupons of the State,
held by United States 110,010.00
Total $6,472,289.35
EDUCATION.
The report of the State Superintendent of Schools will
be found of unusual interest. It embraces a statement of
the details of the condition of the Department of Educa-
tion, and also presents a concise history of the rise and
progress of our system of public schools.
The whole number of children between the ages of
five and twenty-one years in the State is 544,664, of whom
510,183 are white and 34,481 colored. The number of
teachers employed is 7,100. We have 6,040 public school
houses in the State.
The Permanent School Fund now consists of
Missouri six per cent, bonds $20 , 000 . 00
United States bonds 1 , 669 , 760 . 00
Total $1 ,689,760.00
The interest received in gold on the United States bonds
has amounted to $92,793. This gold has been sold for the
aggregate of $130,991.25 in currency, of which the sum $92,-
793 has been distributed to the counties for schools, being
six per cent, on the original investment and $38,198,25
invested in United States bonds.
An act should be passed authorizing and requiring the
investment of the profits from the sale of gold received for
interest on the bonds held for schools.
The portion of the levy of revenue tax set apart by
law for the School Fund for the past year is $217,011.60.
The amount for distribution for the year, from all sources,
is $273,261.30.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 155
The active interest on the part of the people in the
subject of education continues to increase. About half
as many school houses have been built in one year of Free
Missouri as were built in a period of forty years from
1820 to 1860.
Within the last two years a system of "Teachers'
Institutes" has been organized. They partake of the
character of primary schools of training for teachers, and
exist in every county of the State, with very few exceptions.
The practical good resulting from the meetings of the
teachers of each county for consultation and comparison
of modes of instruction commends this feature of our
general system of public instruction to the General Assembly
for a legal embodiment and support in the acts governing
common schools. This should be done, at least until a
system of Normal Schools shall be established.
The advances to be made in the great work of popular
education must be in the increase of facilities for acquiring
a knowledge of the scientific branches pertaining most
directly to the practical in the ordinary departments of
life. Public instruction should embrace the rudiments
of the science of government, at least so far as defines the
general rights and duties of the citizen. It should also
include the elementary sciences, especially as they relate
to nature and industrial arts. The arts of industry should
be supported by the sciences of the school. Instruction
in the general principles of agriculture, of physiology, of
botany, of natural history in a word, instruction in the
direction of future usefulness, should be authorized and
required in our system of State schools.
THE STATE UNIVERSITY
is now in a prosperous condition. It has a full corps
of professors, with the Normal Department, which was
provided for by the last General Assembly, in complete
and successful operation, and with a Military Department
fully organized, in which military tactics and civil engineer-
ing are taught by a distinguished officer of the army, who
156 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
has been assigned to that duty under a law of the United
States. The University begins to assume the proportions
contemplated by the framers of the Constitution, and may
soon be made to take rank among the best educational
establishments in the country. Recent experiments have
resulted in establishing a system by which students at the
University may live at comparatively a nominal cost, thus
bringing the advantages of a thorough education within
the reach of every young man in the State who has the
ambition and energy to seek it. Under this system, it is
hoped that the county courts of every county in the State
will see to it that the sons of the poor receive the benefits
of the provisions made for them by the fifty-third and follow-
ing sections of the forty-fifth chapter of the General Statutes.
The University ought to be to every young man of Missouri
as free as the public schools.
The endowment of the University is as follows, in
addition to one and three-fourths per cent, of the balance
of State revenue, after deducting amount for public schools :
United States 5-20 bonds .1100,000.00
Stock in bank at Chillicothe 23 , 000 00
Money in the State Treasury 707 . 50
Total $123 707.50
The income from which amount during the past year
$10,677.50 -added to the sum of $11,358, derived from
State revenue, makes the total income for the past year
$22,065.50.
Our State University comprises all that is contemplated
by the act of Congress of July 2d, 1862, with the exception
of a department for teaching such branches of learning as
are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts. To endow
this department we have 330,000 acres of land which inured
to the State under the act of Congress before mentioned.
The proceeds of this land cannot be used for buildings, but
are required by the act of Congress to be safely invested,
to constitute a permanent fund, the income from which can
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 157
alone be used for the college. Add this to the endowment
of the State University, and make the learning of a collegiate
course as free as the instruction of the public school.
THE MISSOURI MILITARY INSTITUTE
at Lexington has a feeble existence, derived from the
appropriation of $3,000 per annum, made by the act of 13th
of May, 1861.
A department for instruction in military tactics and
civil engineering having been organized at the State Uni-
versity, it is unnecessary to continue the effort to build up
a military institute upon the ruins of the old Masonic
College. The property conveyed to the State for the pur-
pose of this institute should be relinquished to the Masonic
order, and the sum of $3,000 per annum be thereby saved
to the State.
LAND FOR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
On the 30th of June, 1867, there remained within the
State, unsold and unappropriated, 1,835,892 acres of the
public lands of the United States. Since that date there
have been sold and located by scrip and land warrants,
and taken for homesteads, about 375,000 acres, leaving
about 1,460,000 undisposed of. The expense of keeping
open land offices to dispose of these undesirable lands will
leave but little if any profit from them to the United States.
With proper management they could be made to yield
something of consequence to the State. I recommend
that you cause this subject to be fully investigated, and
all the facts to be embodied in a memorial to Congress
asking the cession of all the public lands within Missouri,
for the purpose of making the grant to our State for a college
for agriculture and mechanic arts equal to the grant of other
States of a like population, and in settlement of all claims
for land or money which we have against the United States
under the Swamp Land Act of 28th of September, 1850.
This would be just, inasmuch as we were compelled by the
act of July 2d, 1862, to take the land granted by that act
158 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
for an Agricultural College within the State, and thereby
obtained only such inferior land as was undisposed of, and
which is not saleable at so great a price as was received for
their scrip by States having no public lands.
There are other considerations which ought to be
urged in behalf of this claim, and which will strongly com-
mend it to the justice of Congress. By the seventh section
of an act of Congress passed the 3d of March, 1811, one
entire township of land was set apart for a seminary of
learning in the territory of Louisiana. Afterwards, by
the act of July 17, 1818, it was provided that two townships
of land should be located for that purpose in the territory
of Missouri. By the compact of 1820, made with Congress
for the admission of the State into the Union, an additional
township of land was to be given to the State of Missouri
for the use of a seminary of learning. Thus the State of
Missouri was entitled to three townships of land for that
purpose. Only two townships were ever selected. If the
three townships to which we were entitled had been selected
in 1821, when the right accrued, the additional township
selected from the land then subject to location would have
been worth greatly more than all the land now remaining
unsold in the State. In addition to this we have a claim
against the United States for land selected under the acts
of Congress of 28th of September, 1850, 2d of March,
1855, 3d of March, 1857, and 12th of March, 1860, amount-
ing to upwards of a million acres of land, and a further
claim under the same acts of Congress for $250,000 for
land entered at the United States land offices with money,
after it had been selected as swamp land, but before it was
patented to the State. I have no doubt that, upon a proper
presentation of the facts and a proposition on the part of
the State to accept all the unentered land in the State in
full satisfaction of all these claims, Congress will make the
grant.
RAILROADS.
In my inaugural message I stated the number of miles
of railroads in the State at eight hundred and twenty-six.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 159
Now we have thirteen hundred and ninety-four miles of
finished road and five hundred and sixty-nine miles in pro-
cess of construction. A history of the material advance-
ment made in four years recorded in iron chirography!
We have now, completed or in process of construction
with the certainty of early completion, the whole system of
roads as originally devised for the State. Four years ago
there was but one of them finished. Five hundred and
sixty-eight miles of railroad have since been built, without
the increase of one dollar of the liability of the State on
their account. These unfinished roads were wearing out.
The State was paying interest on the bonds loaned to them,
and getting nothing in return. The alternative was pre-
sented of keeping them as they then were, until they would
be wornout and worthless, and paying the liabilities in-
curred on their account, without any compensating benefits
to the State, or to use the portions of them then in running
order as a basis with which to procure their extension and
completion, and thereby develop the State and obtain
population, capital and all the resulting benefits of com-
munication between the commercial center and the great
agricultural and mineral districts of the State. We chose
the latter.
Provision should be made by law for the assessment
of the State tax on all railroads and railroad property by
the State Auditor, and for the payment of such taxes by
the several railroad companies directly to the State Treasurer.
THE NORTH MISSOURI RAILROAD.
The act passed at the last session of the General As-
sembly for the sale of the claim of the State against the
North Misouri railroad, was fully complied with by the
company in every respect. The sum of $200,000 in the
bonds of the State was paid to the Treasurer within the
time limited by the first section of the act; the bond with
security for $500,000, and the bond for $100,000, required
by the second section of the act, were given and approved;
the transfer was made by me as directed by the same section
160 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
of the law. The road was completed and cars were running
over it to the Iowa State line within nine months after the
passage of the act, and the West Branch was completed
and trains of cars were passing over it to Kansas City within
one-half the time limited by the law. Work on the bridge
across the Missouri river at St. Charles has progressed and
is being rapidly pushed. The main line of this road is now
extended several miles into Iowa, and will very soon reach
a connection with the Iowa system of roads at Ottumwa.
This great work of internal improvement has been
thus early completed by the energy, enterprise and capital
of citizens of the city of St. Louis. This road with its
branches embraces three hundred and seventy-four and
one-half miles of road in this State, and, with its connec-
tions, forms a system of roads leading from the far North
and Northwest to our metropolis, and develops some of the
best agricultural country of the State. The permanent
benefits to result to the State from its completion are in-
calculable and will far outweigh the debt incurred on its
account through the erroneous policy of lending the credit
of the State to build railroads.
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.
In compliance with the provisions of the fifth section
of the act of March 31, 1868, the Pacific railroad company
paid to the State Treasurer the sum of $350,000 in the
bonds of the State within ninety days after the first day
of April last, and also paid, within the period required by
law, the additional sum of $4,650,000 in the bonds of the
State, making in the aggregate $5,000,000. The receipts
of the State Treasurer for said amounts being produced
to me, I executed and delivered to the company a deed of
release, as required by law, for all the claim, title and in-
terest which the State had in and to the Pacific railroad, its
property and appurtenances.
THE SOUTH PACIFIC RAILROAD.
It is with great gratification that I am able to state
that the construction of this most important road is pro-
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 161
gressing with satisfactory rapidity. The grantees named
in the second section of the act of 17th of March, 1868,
providing for the disposal of the road and for its completion,
with the exception of Andrew Pierce, Jr., Clinton B. Fisk,
Win. H. Coffin and Benj. Holliday, failed to comply with
the conditions of the act.
These gentlemen, assisted by Hon. James Baker and
Eli G. Paris of Southwest Missouri, represented the enter-
prise to capitalists in New York and Boston, and succeeded
in associating with themselves men of capital and energy.
The necessary deposit of $1,500,000 was not only made
within the time limited by the law, but $1,700,000 was
deposited in responsible banks in New York, Boston and
St. Louis. All the requirements of the act were fully com-
plied with, and the road was turned over to them on the
30th day of June last. Two thousand men are now em-
ployed in the construction department of the road, and
provision has been made for the iron and equipments for
the line to Lebanon.
I herewith transmit the report of Clinton B. Fisk,
who, as my agent, operated the road for the State from
June 21, 1867, up to the date of its transfer.
It is thought that the road will be completed to Lebanon
early in the month of July next, and will progress from that
point to the State line with greater rapidity of construction.
This company has acquired the valuable franchises of the
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, the benefits of
which can only accrue to it after the completion of the South
Pacific railroad to Springfield. This consideration will,
no doubt, call forth all the best energies of the company,
and hasten the building of the South Pacific railroad to that
point.
In the prospect for the realization of the hopes of the
people of the rich agricultural and mineral districts of
Southwest Missouri for a better means of communication
with the great marts of trade, there is cause for congratula-
tion to the Representatives of the people of the State.
162 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
Without repeating what I have said to your prede-
cessors of the importance of this road for the development
of a large extent of our territory embracing one of the richest
portions of the State, and as the initial link in the line of
communication which is to connect the eastern cities with
the western seaports and the Gulf coast at our metropolis,
by which it is to become the grand point of exchange be-
tween the East and the West, the North and the South, I
earnestly commend the enterprise to your generous en-
couragement. The continuation of this road westwardly
from the border of Missouri, under the charter granted to
the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company at the first
session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, through the fertile
Indian Territory up the beautiful valley of the Canadian
will develop a country worthy and reimbursive of an ex-
penditure of national treasure.
It points a way along the 35th parallel to San Francisco,
via Albuquerque, free from the interference of snows in the
winter. An agricultural district in the Indian Territory,
Northern Texas and New Mexico unequalled in fertility
and of almost boundless extent, susceptible of sustaining
a population of millions of people, will be opened by it and
a vast mineral district be made to yield its wealth. The
Southern States will obtain a connection with the Pacific
Coast and equality in benefits from national liberality.
The railroad now in process of construction northward
from Galveston will bring the trade of Southern Texas
and all the Gulf coast to a point on this road near the western
line of our State. The true interests of Missouri, of all
the South and of the East, are to be promoted by the build-
ing of a road to the Pacific on this route. I earnestly
recommend that you memorialize Congress to extend the
same assistance by way of subsidy to the Atlantic and
Pacific railroad that has been given to the Union Pacific
railroad, and instruct our Senators and request our Repre-
sentatives in Congress to vote for such measures as will
attain that end.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 163
MISSOURI VALLEY RAILROAD.
By the act of 17th of March, 1868, it was provided that
the Missouri Valley Railroad Company might pay its
indebtedness to the State of $768,000 in extending the road
at the rate of $120,000 for each of ten miles of road there-
after to be built, five miles of which should be built in
extension of each end of the road. The company paid the
interest due on the debt in July last. Five miles of road
have been built in the direction of Kansas City, and about
two-thirds of the whole work of graduation has been done
on that end of the line. It is thought that the road will
be completed to a connection with the Cameron and Kansas
City road and the West Branch of the North Missouri
road within the next sixty days. The grading of five miles
northward from Savannah is well-nigh done and has prob-
ably been delayed by the unusual severity of the winter
season. The iron necessary for the track to Kansas City
is now on the line and I am informed that the iron for the
extension to the Iowa State line has been shipped for that
destination and that the road will be finished in that direc-
tion as far as Maryville during the coming summer.
It is believed that the Bedford, Winterset and Des
Moines railroad will be completed from the capital of Iowa
to connect with this road as soon as it reaches the State
line. The value of this road to our State is seen in the
connections to be made by it with the roads coming from
the North and with the Missouri and Iowa State Line rail-
road by which it will be connected with the Union Pacific
road at Omaha. It also connects the Central Branch of
the Union Pacific road with the more northern system of
roads, and connects all these roads with those centering at
Kansas City. The increase of the value of property and
the influx of population resulting from its extension north-
ward, will compensate the State for the liberal aid afforded
in its construction.
164 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
THE IRON MOUNTAIN RAILROAD.
The sum of $664,300 of the balance due the State from
this road was appropriated by the act of 17th of March,
1868, to the building of a railroad from Pilot Knob to the
State line of Arkansas. The manner of applying the ap-
propriation was provided for by an act approved March
23, 1868, entitled "An act to accept a grant of land made
to the State of Missouri by the Congress of the United
States, and to apply the same and certain funds due the
State to the extension of a branch of the Iron Mountain
railroad to the State line of Arkansas."
This act was duly accepted by the St. Louis and Iron
Mountain Railroad Company as required by the ninth
section thereof. Some surveys have been made, perhaps
with a view to the location of the route of this road, but
nothing more has been done.
The Iron Mountain Railroad Company has purchased
and consolidated the Cairo and Fulton railroad with its
road. This expenditure made in the work of the gradua-
tion, masonry and superstructure of the road from a point
north of Iron Mountain in the direction of Belmont has
been sufficient, I am satisfied, to entitle the company to
the postponement of the payment of the $135,000 due for
the present year on the principal of the debt due the State,
as provided in the fifth section of the act of 19th February
1866, under which the road was originally sold, although
the statement required by the latter clause of that section
has not yet been filed. The interest amounting to $40,500
is due and payable into the State Treasury during the
present month.
The gauge of the road has been changed to five feet.
The progress made in construction justifies the belief that
it will be completed in the coming spring.
At the time the President of the Board of Commis-
sioners for the sale of this road paid into the treasury the
amount of receipts in his hands, there was a demand for
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 165
one hundred and thirty-four dollars and twenty-three cents
in favor of Wm. White & Co., for material furnished during
the time that the road was run by the Commissioners, which
remained unpaid, and to pay which I recommend that an
appropriation be made.
The importance of a road running from Pilot Knob
to the State line in the direction of Little Rock, Arkansas,
will no doubt commend itself to your consideration. It
would traverse about eighty miles of our State, opening
up a region of inexhaustible timber and mineral wealth,
and developing some good agricultural country. The road
would cost perhaps less than two millions of dollars. It
would seem that the sum $664,300, appropriated by the act
referred to and the lands appropriated by the act of Con-
gress of July 4, 1866, ought to form such a basis for the
enterprise as to insure its early success.
THE HANNIBAL AND ST. JOSEPH RAILROAD COMPANY
promptly meets the interest on the bonds loaned to
aid its construction. It has paid the State tax levied by
law on the road and property of the company.
Other railroad enterprises have progressed during the
past year, and have added their influence to the growth of
our population and wealth.
THE ST. JOSEPH AND COUNCIL BLUFFS RAILROAD
has been completed. This road passes for eighty
miles through one of the most fertile portions of our State.
THE BOONVILLE EXTENSION OF THE OSAGE VALLEY
AND SOUTHERN KANSAS RAILROAD
has been built from Boonville to Tipton, a distance of
twenty-five miles, at a cost of $600,000. The people of
the county of Cooper and of the city of Boonville, with a
commendable public spirit, provided this money. This
road will soon be connected at Boonville with the roads
on the north side of the river.
166 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
THE MISSOURI AND MISSISSIPPI RAILROAD
which is projected from the Mississippi to the Missouri
river, via Macon, has been graded a distance of thirty
miles, and the company is laboring with energy to carry
forward the enterprise.
In addition to the road projected from Chillicothe to
Omaha, there is also a company organized for building a
road from Macon to Omaha. Active measures for initiat-
ing the last mentioned enterprise are being taken. The
importance of this road is seen in the fact that it passes
through a rich agricultural country, and, in connection with
the North Missouri railroad, would form almost an air
line road from St. Louis to Omaha. The work of grading
is finished on the Chillicothe and Brunswick road, and the
superstructure is being energetically carried forward.
THE LOUISIANA AND MISSOURI RIVER RAILROAD
is in process of construction from Louisiana to the North
Missouri railroad, and active preparations are going on for
an early commencement of work on a branch road via
Fulton to Jefferson City.
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
I have for a considerable time, during the past two
years, employed guards at the State Treasury. The con-
dition of the vault made it prudent to do so. The funds
of the State in excess of $100,000 should be kept in the
banks in St. Louis. The official bond of the Treasurer is
in the sum of $250,000. He has in his hands at least $1,-
000,000 in currency on two different occasions in each year,
in addition to nearly $2,000,000 of United States bonds
and other securities all the time. He cannot be expected to
keep such large sums in his vault, and in the exercise of a
proper care for his responsibility, will of course deposit it
in the St. Louis banks. It is proper that these deposits
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 167
should be made by authority of law and that the State
should have, through the Governor, the right of designating
the depository of its money. I recommend that an act
be passed embracing these suggestions.
GOVERNOR'S MANSION.
The house provided by the State as a residence for
the Governor is dilapidated in every part and cannot longer
be made comfortable. The erection of a new building
should be commenced as early as practicable.
An appropriation of $20,000 was made for this purpose
by an act passed 27th March, 1861. The financial con-
dition of the State was such at the time I came into office,
that I was unwilling to use the appropriation, and it was
transferred to the Interest Fund.
The General Assembly may now, by a small appropria-
tion and with the use of convict labor, provide the Governor
with a dwelling comfortable and suited to the dignity of his
position, without doing injustice to the creditors of the
State or creating any additional indebtedness or taxation.
The eligible site adjoining the old building on the
north, which I have terraced and improved somewhat,
should be adorned with a tasteful building such as becomes
the dignity of the State and such as the people will regard
with pride. The picturesque landscape seen from that
position appeals to the sense of the beautiful for a building
that shall be in harmony with the new and better days of
the commonwealth.
I also recommend that a special appropriation be made
of a sum sufficient to furnish the Executive Office in a be-
coming manner.
SALARIES.
Too much importance cannot be attached to the
Judiciary. The lives, liberty and property of the people
are secured by the learned as well as honest administration
of the laws. It cannot be expected that the best talent
168 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
in the profession of law can be brought to the duties of the
bench unless properly compensated. The compensation
of judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts is greatly
inadequate to the labor and exercise of professional learning
required of them. 1 earnestly recommend to your con-
sideration the justice and propriety of increasing their
salaries. If, in your opinion, a regard for the best interests
of the people of the State will not permit a larger aggregate
amount being paid for this purpose, then the number of
Circuit Judges should be so lessened as to allow proper and
reasonable salaries without increasing the aggregate now
paid. This may be done with great propriety, for while
several of the circuits are too large, the greater number
of them may be extended.
The aggregate expenses of the government may be
decreased even while the salaries of all the judges are in-
creased, as recommended, by reducing expenditures in
other departments. One of the retrenchments which can
be made is in the cost of the public printing. Aside from
any consideration of the subject of the increase of these
salaries I recommend that the office of Public Printer be
abolished. There has been paid to this officer since the
first of January, 1865, the sum of about three hundred
thousand dollars. It is safe to assume that the portion
of this sum which was profit has exceeded the combined
salaries of the judges of the Supreme Court for the same
time and perhaps equalled the aggregate of the salaries of
all the Circuit Judges in the State. The printing and bind-
ing for the State should be done by contract or by the
purchase of a press, machinery and materials for a printing
establishment and the appointment or election of a com-
petent superintendent with a reasonable stated salary.
There seems to me no propriety in creating or continuing
an office for the performance of such mere mechanical
labor; and the payment to the officer of a sum greater than
that for which others of his trade could be had to perform
the same labor, is a waste of the people's money.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 169
The business of the office of State Claim Agent has
been so faithfully prosecuted by the present incumbent
that all now remaining to be done after the first of July
next may be added to the duties of the Adjutant General
and a saving of $4,000 per annum thus be made. I here-
with transmit the report of Colonel Sigel, the State Military
Claim Agent.
PUBLIC CHARITIES.
The completion, by the county of St. Louis, of an
Insane Asylum, will no doubt, at an early day, reduce the
number of patients in the State Lunatic Asylum, when the
provision made for this unfortunate class will be ample.
The Institution for the Blind is in a prosperous condition,
and seems to be all that is required for the wants of poor
blind persons.
The Deaf and Dumb Asylum is full. There are many
of this class whose condition appeals to our humanity for
an enlargement of the buildings and an increase, in every
respect, of the capacity of this institution.
CLERKS OF COURTS AND COUNTY OFFICERS.
The statutes in reference to clerks of courts should be
so amended as to give to the judge or justices of courts of
record the power to fill by appointment any vacancy that
may occur by death, resignation or otherwise, in the office
of clerk of their respective courts, until a special election
can be held. The power to order such special election
should likewise be conferred on the courts.
I also recommend that provision be made for the issuing
of commissions to persons elected or appointed to all county
offices, except justices of the county court and sheriffs,
by the presiding justice of the county court, attested by
the clerk, with the seal of the court affixed.
In this connection I call your attention to the law in
relation to contested elections for county offices, and rec-
ommend that it be so amended as to require special terms
of courts to be held for hearing such cases, whenever the
170 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
regular term does not occur within thirty days after the
election.
The great number of special acts creating, changing
and abolishing inferior tribunals at every session of the
Legislature has produced such confusion that it is almost
impossible to determine the true condition of many counties
in respect to their probate and county courts. The system
of county courts provided by our General Statutes is a
good one and should be made to apply to every county
in the State except St. Louis. A general system of pro-
bate courts should also be established.
The necessity for securing uniformity in these courts
and for removing the uncertainties and complications which
have grown out of the vast amount of special legislation on
the subject, will commend itself to your consideration on
an examination of the special acts referring to county and
probate courts. Many of these acts were passed twenty
years ago, and have been materially amended and altered
from time to time, making it necessary to look through the
vast amount of special legislation since that time, in order
to learn the manner in which the courts are constituted.
In one instance an act was passed providing that the county
courts of twenty-seven counties should consist of two justices
and the judge of probate, who should be presiding justice;
a separate act created probate courts in the same twenty-
seven counties. Subsequently one of these acts has been
repealed as to some of the counties, while the other act
remains in force as to the same counties, thus producing
conflicts of jurisdiction, or uncertainties and confusion.
INSURANCE LAWS.
The attention of your predecessors was directed by
me at their last session to the insufficiency of the laws for
the protection of the people from imposition and losses
through fraudulent associations pretending to provide in-
demnity against losses of property by casualties on land
and water. These irresponsible companies continue to
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 171
multiply In number. I most earnestly recommend that
a law be passed requiring companies that may do business
in this State, to make an exhibit of their ability to meet
any losses they may sustain, and providing for the creation
of an Insurance Department, and the appointment of a
Commissioner, with a salary to be paid by the insurance
companies, and with full power to enforce such provisions
of law as may be enacted for the security of the people
against imposition by such companies. These provisions
may be so made as not to impair the privileges of either
mutual, marine and fire, or life insurance companies and
associations, organized in good faith under existing laws,
but to prevent the abuse of those privileges. In restrict-
ing the business of stock insurance companies to the sound
basis of a paid up capital, care should be taken to preserve
all the freedom to capital demanded by the wise policy of
encouraging the investment of Eastern wealth in the enter-
prises presented by our varied resources.
MILITIA.
Small detachments of the militia have been on duty
in Buchanan and Platte counties. A portion of them I
have paid out of the fund for enforcement of civil law. The
Adjutant General will report to you the amount that yet
remains due on account of their services. An appropria-
tion should be made to pay the same.
The act passed at the last session of the General As-
sembly is framed on the true theory for securing an efficient
military organization, but is defective in failing to offer
any inducement for keeping up organized and uniformed
bodies of militia. The law should be so amended as to
exempt from jury duty and poll tax a proper number of
men in each county who may have a membership in a
volunteer militia company, and who attend stated meetings,
drills and parades. After serving a designated period in
such companies they should be entitled to exemption from
further military duty.
172 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
PENITENTIARY.
The number of convicts confined in the Penitentiary
is seven hundred and thirty-five. The space enclosed with-
in the walls, the buildings for shops, as well as the cell
room, are all so greatly insufficient for the proper working
and economical management of this great number of men,
as to require the vigorous prosecution of the work of ex-
tending the walls and the early completion of the cell build-
ing, now in process of construction.
The existing law constitutes the State Auditor, State
Treasurer and Attorney-General ex-officio Inspectors of
the Penitentiary, with the duty of supervising its manage-
ment, and making a report of its condition to the Legislature
at each biennial session. They are required to visit the
prison at least once in each week, and, in full for their
services, receive $100 each per annum. No penalty is
attached to a failure to perform the duties of Inspectors.
The official term of the Auditor and Treasurer expires at the
date the report is due, and their other duties demand the
whole of their time and attention. This additional burden
should not be imposed upon them. I recommend that the
statute be so amended as to make the Attorney-General
sole ex-officio Inspector, with the compensation now allowed
to the Board of Inspectors, to be paid quarterly, upon the
certificate of the Governor to the State Auditor that the
duties of Inspector have been performed.
Under the Provisions of the act of the 16th of December,
1865, relating to convicts, there have been pardoned two
hundred and twenty-two convicts who had served three-
fourths of their respective sentences and were recommended
for good conduct as prisoners. The workings of this law
have fully realized the expectations of its humane author,
both in aiding the maintenance of prison discipline and in
reformatory influence. The hope of reward for good be-
havior has proven a more effectual disciplinary measure
than fear of corporal punishment.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 173
There have been one hundred and ninety-seven other
pardons, reprieves and commutations granted since my
report to the General Assembly two years ago.
I herewith transmit, as required by the Constitution,
a statement of each pardon and the reasons for granting
the same.
In this connection I desire to call your attention to
the provisions of the sixth section of the fifth article of the
Constitution, which confers on the Legislature the power
to regulate by law the manner of applying for pardons. I
recommend the passage of an act requiring the circuit at-
torney to make and file in the court as part of the record,
a statement of the material facts of each case of conviction
for felony, signed by the judge at the time the sentence is
pronounced, and that every application for pardon shall
be accompanied by a certified copy of such statement,
together with the affidavits of at least two witnesses certified
to be credible by the officer by whom they were sworn, 01 the
certificate of a civil officer of the county, stating the general
character of the convict before and at the time of his arrest.
LANDS ERRONEOUSLY CERTIFIED TO THE STATE.
Some errors have been made in the General Land Office
at Washington in certifying to the State land for railroads
which did not inure to the State under the act of Congress
of June 10th, 1852, or under any other act. The law author-
izing the release of lands erroneously certified to the State,
does not embrace lands certified for the purpose of railroads.
I recommend that authority be conferred by law upon the
Governor to relinquish such lands to the United States.
CONCLUSION.
The assertion of true principles in the policy of the
Government for the past four years, by which a condition
of great and growing prosperity has been attained, will
mark the period for the origin of the causes whence results,
distinctive of good to the State, shall flow on forever.
174 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
We have to regret that industrial politics has not
predominated to a greater extent. We have failed to
attain for ourselves the high distinction for that large free-
dom and broad charity which would be evidenced by univer-
sal equality of political privileges. The history of the time
will take with it to the future the proper explanation of this
failure, in the faithful record of the unparalleled stubborn-
ness, malignancy and vindictiveness which have charac-
terized the persistent opposition to the restoration of a
rule of law at every step of the progress of the government.
It will not be surprising to those who read our history,
that men whose acts and words were continually suggestive
of the necessity of measures for the safety of the State
against them, restrained by their own acts the magnanimous
disposition to enlarge their privileges.
With a proud consciousness of having contributed to
bring the State from a condition of civil war to the supreme
rule of lawful authority; of having aided in the transforma-
tion of the public finances and credit from an almost hope-
less embarrassment to an unquestioned standing, by the
reduction of the debt to a sum which may be carried with
its weight scarcely preceptible; and of having aided to
put into active operation some of the measures which have
built up our internal improvements and advanced the
interests of education and of industrial pursuits and pro-
moted material prosperity, I approach the occasion when
I am permitted to resign back into the hands from which
I received it, the high trust committed to my charge four
years ago.
This I do with bright anticipations for the future of
my native State, founded on a confidence in the patriotism
and wisdom of the citizens who have been chosen for the
performance of the duties of the various departments of
the Government for the ensuing two years.
Upon the virtue and intelligence of the people I rest
my hopes of the attainment of a still higher and better
destiny; and above all, my hope for our future as a people
is radiant in the faith which has been strengthened and
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 175
enlarged amid the storms of State, that liberty and justice
will be upheld by the protecting care of God.
For all the kindness, courtesy and aid received by me
from the State officers and their assistants, I am truly
grateful.
To all the true men of Missouri who have upheld the
civil authority and aided to establish the rule of loyalty,
law" and order, I delight to do that honor which the coming
millions who are to be blessed by their faithfulness, will
gratefully bestow upon them.
THO. C. FLETCHER.
Executive Office, January 8, 1869.
176 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
VETO MESSAGES
TO THE SENATE
FEBKUARY 8, 1865
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 281
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEBSON,
February 8, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I respectfully return to the Senate an act entitled
"an act for the relief of James H. Bethume."
I have withheld from the said bill my approval and
signature to the said bill for the following reason:
It authorizes and requires acts to be done by an officer
whose office is not created by the act, and does not exist
by the constitution and laws of the State of Missouri.
The words "Secretary of the Treasury," though I presume
a mere clerical error, is such an error as would prevent any
legal effect being given to the act, and defeat the manifest
objects of the General Assembly in passing the same.
Very respectfully,
THOS, C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 11, 1865
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 44@~448
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 11, 1865.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
I herewith return to the General Assembly an act
entitled "an act authorizing the clerk and deputy clerks of
the circuit and county courts of Camden county to practice
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 177
law," and respectfully submit the following objections to
its becoming a law:
1st. It purports to amend another act but is wholly
wanting in any reference to the act to be so amended.
2d. The fifty-eighth section of the act entitled "an
act to establish courts of record and prescribe their powers
and duties," approved December 12, 1855, contains the
only restriction of the right of a clerk or deputy clerk of a
court of record to practice law. That section does not
prohibit clerks and their deputies from acting as counselor
or attorney in any court of which he is not clerk or deputy
clerk.
The only apparent object of the bill herewith returned
is so clearly expressed in the statute of a general nature, that
I regard it as an instance of special legislation wholly
useless.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 15, 1865
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 500-501
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 15, 1865.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir Herewith I respectfully return House bill entitled
"an act to incorporate the DeSoto Railroad Company,"
and submit the following objections to said bill, with its
present provisions, becoming a law:
The fourth section provides "that said DeSoto Rail-
road Company shall have the right to operate a railroad
over the lines of such other railroad companies connecting
with the lines of the DeSoto Railroad Company as they
may see fit, with the consent of such other railroad com-
panies, and they shall have the right to purchase and hold
the whole or any portion of the track of such other railroad
178 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
companies within the limits of the city of St. Louis, as they
may see proper,"
Section eleven provides that "within the limits of the
city of St. Louis the rates of fare shall be established on a
basis not exceeding four cents per mile."
The effect of the act would be to enable the company
incorporated by it to operate all the street railroads in the
city of St. Louis, and to charge a much greater fare than
such roads are permitted to charge; or to permit all the
street railroads in the city of St. Louis to be nominally
merged under this act, and thereby increase their rates of
fare. It is but just that the company incorporated by this
act should be required to carry the passengers over the
lines of other roads at the same rates which such other
roads are permitted to charge.
Very respectfully,
THOMAS C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
FEBBUABY 17, 1865
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 398-39$
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEBSON,
February 17, 1865.
To the Honorable President of the Senate:
I herewith return Senate bill entitled "an act providing
for the instruction of colored children," and respectfully
submit the following objections to it becoming a law:
Section one provides that "the tenth section of article
II, of chapter CXLIII, being an act to provide for the
organization, support and government of common schools
in the State of Missouri, approved December 12, 1855,
shall be so constructed as to include all colored children of
the proper age.
This amendment, if made to the tenth section of article
IV of said act, would have the effect to require trustees of
school districts to include colored children in their report
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 179
so as to obtain for them their portion of school fund, but
when made to tenth section of article II, effects no purpose
whatever.
Section two is as follows: "Wherein section four of
article V of the aforementioned chapter the word 'white*
occurs, it shall be stricken out, and it shall further be enacted,
that the trustees of all school districts shall make provision
for the instruction of colored children."
While I do not fail to gather the meaning of this section,
and heartily approve the object in view, I beg to suggest
that the use of the present tense in expressing the act of the
Legislature always renders more clear and easily understood
the intentions of the law.
I hope this act will be so amended, at this session, as
to secure with certainty the manifest objects intended by it.
I also return herewith an act entitled "an act amending
an act entitled an act to provide for the organization, support
and government of common schools inthe State of Missouri,"
and respectfully submit the following objections to the said
bill becoming a law:
Section 1 provides that so much of the third section
of article IV of chapter CXVIII, being "an act to provide
for the organization, support and government of common
schools in the State of Missouri," approved December 12,
1855, as reads, "to raise money by a majority of the qualified
voters comprising the school district," be hereby repealed,
and it be enacted in lieu thereof: "To raise money by a
majority of those attending district meetings, being qualified
voters."
The words quoted, and intended to be repealed, are
in the third subdivision of the seventh section of the fourth
article of chapter CXLII, and not in the third section of the
fourth article of chapter CXVII. I deem the objects
intended to be reached by this act so desirable that I hope
the necessary amendment may be made, so as to effect it
during the present session.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
180 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 20, 1865
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 616-617
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 20, 1865.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I herewith return a bill originating in the House
of Representatives, entitled
An act amendatory of an act entitled an act authorizing
an officer of this State to receive certain records and papers
from the United States concerning land titles, approved
February 15, 1864,
And respectfully submit the following objections to
the same:
1st. The act of Congress approved 12th June, 1840,
provided, for reasons so obvious that they need not be here
stated, that upon the closing, under that act, of the offices
of Surveyors General, the records of the offices of Surveyors
General should be delivered to the States in which they were
respectively located. Congress, by act approved January
22, 1853, provided that such records should not be delivered
to the respective States, as contemplated in the act of 12th
June, 1840, until the State should appoint a person to
receive them.
The General Assembly of the State of Missouri, by
an act entitled "an act authorizing the Governor to receive
the records and papers appertaining to land titles in this
State from the authorities of the United States/' approved
March 15, 1861, authorized the Governor to receive said
records and place them in the office of the Register of Lands
at the seat of government.
This very proper and judicious act was, it appears,
never carried into effect, but was repealed by the General
Assembly, by an act entitled "an act authorizing an officer
of this State to receive certain records and papers from the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 181
United States concerning land titles," approved February
15, 1864, which I take it for granted was read and passed
by its title. It authorizes the Recorder of Land Titles of
the United States, and requires him to receive from the
United States the records, etc., pertaining to the office of
Surveyor General.
The effect of the last mentioned act is to leave the
records and papers of the office of Surveyor General in the
possession of the United States represented by one of the
officers of the United States. They are not delivered to
the State, as contemplated by the act of Congress above
referred to.
The act herewith returned makes provision for paying
the clerks and providing fuel, etc., for an officer of the
United States. Whenever these records are delivered to
the State, it will be time enough to provide for their safe
keeping. Instead of being an expense to the State of two
thousand dollars per annum, as contemplated by this bill,
any State officer will, I am very confident, be glad to receive
them, if allowed the same fees for furnishing copies of them
as provided by this bill.
I recommend that the act approved February 15, 1864,
above referred to, be repealed, that the act approved March
15, 1861, above mentioned, be revived, and that the
Governor be authorized to deliver the records and papers
of the Surveyor General's office to the Register of Lands
of the State or to the clerk of the Supreme Court at St.
Louis, that copies certified by such officer be made evidence,
and that reasonable fees be allowed for such copies.
Very respectfully,
THOMAS C. FLETCHER.
182 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 15, 1865
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 243
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
December 16, 1865,
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I herewith respectfully return to the General
Assembly House bill entitled "an act to repeal an act en-
titled an act to extend the jurisdiction of the courts of
New Madrid county over Pemiscot county, approved
January 26, 1864, and an act amendatory of same act,
approved February 18, 1865," and submit the following
objections to the same becoming a law:
The second section of the act herewith returned is as
follows:
That the act of the General Assembly of this State
approved February 19, 1851, entitled "an act to organize
the county of Pemiscot," be and is hereby revived.
The 25th section of the 4th article of the Constitution,
in express terms, prohibits the revival of an act by mere
reference to the title thereof.
The title of the act approved February 18, 1865, which
is repealed by the first section of the act herewith returned,
is not stated in full. I am of opinion that a law repealing
a former law should distinctly state the title of the law
intended to be repealed as well as the date of its approval.
Respectfully,
THQS. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 183
TO THE SENATE
MAECH 1, 1866
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 695-696
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEKSON,
March 1, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
I herewith return to the Senate a bill entitled "an act
to establish a criminal court in the City of Kansas, and
providing for the erection of a jail," which originated in the
Senate, and respectfully submit the following objections
to the same becoming a law:
The 25th section of said act requires the county court
of Jackson county to erect a jail in the City of Kansas.
The 33d section provides for the issue of county warrants
for the payment of the cost of erection of such jail, having
''gone and two years to run, (which, I presume, is intended
for "one and two years to run," and that "the receipts into
the county treasury from fines and penalties recovered in
said criminal court shall be appropriated to the payment
of said warrants." The 34th section requires a special
tax to be levied on the entire county for payment of said
warrants, in case the fines collected are insufficient for that
purpose; and the 23d section requires the entire expenses
of the court to be paid by the county of Jackson.
Aside from the question of the propriety of the unusual
provisions by which a county is required to erect and main-
tain a jail in addition to the one required by general statute,
and of the proposition to tax property outside the limits
of the jurisdiction of the court, either for building a jail
or paying a grand jury and other expenses of the court, the
diversion of the fund arising from fines to the payment of
county warrants issued for erecting such jail is clearly in
conflict with the fifth section of the ninth article of the
184 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
Constitution of the State, which provides that all fines,
penalties and forfeitures shall be securely invested and
sacredly preserved as a public school fund.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH?, 1867
From the Journal of the House of Representatives* pp. 563-564
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEPFEBSON,
March 7, 1867.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I herewith respectfully return to the House of
Representatives House bill entitled an act to repeal an act
entitled an act to amend an act entitled an act to incorporate
the town of Washington. My objections to this bill are,
that it would in effect vacate the streets and alleys which
have been opened within the new limits of the town of
Washington, as set forth in the act which this bill proposes
to repeal.
The 27th section of the 4th article of the State Con-
stitution prohibits the Legislature from establishing, alter-
ing or vacating any street, avenue or alley in any city or
town.
I herewith transmit a copy of certain proceedings had
by the board of trustees of said town, certified by their
clerk under the corporate seal of said town, protesting
against the passage of this bill, and stating that vested
rights have accrued under the act which this bill repeals.
I also transmit herewith a remonstrance, signed by a
number of the inhabitants of the town of Washington,
against the repeal of the act of the 12th of March, 1866.
I deem this a fitting occasion to call your attention
to the 21st section of chapter 62, General Statutes of Mis-
souri, which provides that no charter of any corporation
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 185
granted by the Legislature of this State shall be altered,
suspended or repealed, unless proof be first made to the
satisfaction of the Legislature that notice of such proposed
alteration, suspension or repeal has been given to the presi-
dent and secretary of such corporation for at least a month
before the time at which such alteration, suspension or
repeal will be proposed,
I am not informed whether this law was complied with
in the case now under consideration; if it was not, the bill
herewith returned would be without any effect whatever,
unless, perhaps to produce useless litigation.
THO. C. FLETCHER.
186 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
SPECIAL MESSAGES
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 9, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 466
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON, January 9, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
I respectfully nominate for appointment, and ask the
consent of the Senate to commission, the following named
officers, to wit:
Samuel P. Simpson, to be Adjutant General of the
State of Missouri.
George Schuster, to be Aid-de-Camp, with rank of
Colonel.
M. Ellwood Miller, to be Aid-de-Camp, with rank of
Colonel.
William J. Dougherty, to be Additional Aid, with
rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and Deputy Paymaster General.
Theodore S. Case, to be Quartermaster General of
Missouri.
Robert P. Richardson, to be Surgeon General of Mis-
souri.
Campbell W. Waite, to be Aid-de-Camp, with rank of
Lieutenant Colonel, Military Secretary.
Franklin Cooley, to be Brigadier General of E. M, M.
Hozea G. Mullings, to be Brigadier General of E. M. M.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHEK.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER I 87
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTA TI VES
JANUABY 11, 1865
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 75
EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON, MISSOUBI,
January 11, 1865.
To the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of
Representatives:
I have taken possession of the Platte County Railroad
from Weston to a point opposite Atchison, and from said
last named point to St, Joseph.
I respectfully ask the General Assembly to make such
regulations for the operation of said railroad, or such a
disposition of it and its appurtenances as will be most
advantageous to the interests of the State.
A proposition has been submitted to me by the "Weston
and Atchison Railroad Company, and the Atchison and
St. Joseph Railroad Company, to purchase from the State
that part of the Platte County Railroad located south of
St. Joseph.
Possessing no authority to treat for the sale of the road,
I respectfully refer the proposition to the General Assembly.
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
JANUAKY 14, 1865
From the Journal o/ the Senate, p. 103
EXECUTIVE DEPAKTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEHSON, January 14, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
I respectfully transmit herewith the report of Brigadier
General John B. Gray, Adjutant General of the State of
Missouri, for the information of the General Assembly.
188 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The report will be found unusually full, and so ad-
mirably arranged as to afford easy reference to all its parts.
It was not completed in time to accompany the message
of my predecessor, and in view of the importance of the
information it contains, I have thought it proper to com-
municate it to the General Assembly at this time.
I am, very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 20, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, pp. &67-/I.68
EXECUTIVE MANSION, CITY OF JEFFERSON, January 20, 1865,
To the President of the Senate:
I have the honor to nominate and ask the Senate to
commission the following named officers:
John S. Cavender, Director in Bank of State of Missouri.
Alexander Crozier, Director in Bank of State of Mis-
souri.
John Wolff, Director in Bank of State of Missouri.
John H. Lightner, Director in Bank of State of Missouri.
William A. Keyser, Bank Commissioner*
Ellis G. Evans, Assistant Bank Commissioner.
Madison Miller, Fund Commissioner for the Pacific
Railroad.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 189
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 27, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, pp.
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPAETMENT, CITY OP JEFFERSON,
January 27, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
I respectfully nominate and ask the consent of the
Senate to commission Ferdinand Meyer and E. H. E. Jame-
son Police Commissioners for the city of St. Louis, and
John F. Hume Fund Commissioner for the North Missouri
Railroad.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 28, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, pp.
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON
January 28, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
I respectfully nominate and ask the consent of the
Senate to commission as Police Commissioners for the city
of St. Louis, N. H, Clark and Bernard Laibold.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
190 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
FEBBTJAKY 10, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 470
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 10, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
I respectfully nominate and ask the consent of the
Senate to appoint David C. Coleman, William R. Penick,
Amos W. Maupin, Brigadier Generals Missouri Militia.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 13, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 471
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 13, 1865,
To the President of the Senate:
I respectfully nominate to the Senate, and ask consent
to appointment, of William H. Maurice as Director of the
Bank of the State of Missouri, to fill a vacancy occasioned
by the resignation of John H. Lightner.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 191
TO THE SENATE
FEBBUABY 16, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 472
STATE OF MISSOUKI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEBSON,
February 16, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
I hereby appoint, and respectfully ask the consent of
the Senate to commission, the following officers of the
Missouri Militia:
For Brigadier Generals: Isaac V. Pratt, John F.
Benjamin, Daniel M. Draper.
Very respectfully,
THOMAS C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBEB 13, 1865
From the Journal of the Home of Representatives, p. 59
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPAKTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEBSON,
November 13, 1865.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I have the honor to transmit herewith a com-
munication from Hon. John C. McBride, of the county of
Perry, and a member of the House of Representatives.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
192 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTA TI VES
NOVEMBER 15, 1865
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 51~5%
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON'
November 15, 1865.
Senators and Representatives:
I have the honor herewith to transmit a communica-
tion signed by Robert P. Faulkner, John D. Brutsche and
E. G. Evans, a committee in behalf of the citizens of Rolla.
From this, and other reliable information, I am satisfied
that bands of desperadoes are infesting the counties south
and west of Rolla, all of whom are rebel outlaws who have
never surrendered to the authorities of the United States
or of this State, and are now banded together under the lead
of James Picket, Joseph F. Gifford, Duke Summers, Dick
Watson, Gibson Martin, Josiah Westlake, Thomas S. Yates,
Peter Sanders, Ishmael Copeland, Joseph Apsley, Dick
Kitchen, Keely, Peter Smith, Anthony Wright, Archie
Allen, F. M. Chambers, John S. King, Wm. S. Ball, Riley
Huddleston, Marion Huddleston, Joe Shelton, Sam West,
Jesse Huddleston, Josiah Boze and Sypes, for pur-
poses of robbery and murder.
The civil authorities in the sparsely settled counties
on the southern border of the State are not able to subdue
this organized banditti.
I respectfully ask the General Assembly to authorize
me to offer suitable rewards for the leaders of the bands
referred to, and to make an appropriation for that purpose,
and likewise to make an appropriation subject to my order
as Commander-in-Chief of the militia of the State, which
will enable me to put in good repair the arms of the State,
and subsist and pay such militia force as it may be necessary
to call into active service from time to time, for the protec-
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 193
tion of the people of the border counties, and the extermina-
tion of robbers and outlaws.
I avail myself of this occasion, to call the attention of
the General Assembly to the fact that the State Treasurer
reports to me that he has received from the United States,
through the efforts of Colonel Charles E. Moss, Swamp
Land Agent, the sum of five thousand two hundred and
twenty-three dollars and sixty-seven cents, on account of
the Road and Canal Fund. I respectfully recommend that
this sum be credited to the State Interest Fund, the amount
being so small that it will make very unimportant and use-
less dividends to the counties.
Very respectfully,
THOMAS C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
NOVEMBER 20, 1865
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 119
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
November 20, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I transmit herewith a report of the Bank Com-
missioner, containing a statement of the amount of currency
of banks of the State destroyed by him in pursuance of
law, and other information in reference to the banks now
in operation under the laws of the State.
The suggestion of the Bank Commissioner as to the
propriety of the discontinuance of the office of Bank Com-
missioner, I recommend to the consideration of the General
Assembly. The records of that office should be preserved
in the office of the Secretary of State. So far as the duties
of bank commissioner are deemed necessary safeguards
for the people, in connection with the few banks yet doing
194 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
business under their charter, they can be performed by
one of the State officers, with a saving of all expenses, both
to the banks and to the State.
Respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 30, 1865
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 143
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY or JEFFERSON,
November 30, 1865.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir For the information of the General Assembly, I
herewith transmit a report of the Paymaster General,
containing a statement of the amount disbursed by the
pay department in Union Military Bonds, of the issue of
1865, in paying the Enrolled Missouri Militia from the
15th of May, 1865, to the 25th of November instant, to-
gether with an estimate of the amount still remaining un-
paid, and other information.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C, FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 6, 1865
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 164-165
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
December 6, 1865.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir In pursuance of a resolution adopted by the
House of Representatives on the 27th day of November,
1865, which has this day been officially communicated to
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 195
me, I have to inform the House of Representatives that the
following named officers are now on duty under the ordinance
of the State Convention entitled, "an ordinance for the
organization and government of the Missouri militia,"
adopted April 8, 1865, to wit:
Colonel Samuel P. Simpson, Adjutant General; rank
and pay of colonel of cavalry.
Colonel Theodore S. Case, Quartermaster General;
rank and pay of colonel of cavalry.
Colonel William J. Dougherty, Commissary General,
with rank and pay of colonel of cavalry; detailed to duty
as Paymaster General.
Colonel Fred. Schuyler, Acting Assistant Adjutant
General; a captain in the 13th cavalry volunteers, and paid
as captain by the United States.
Major C. W. Waite, Aid-de-Camp, detailed to duty
as Military Secretary, rank and pay of major of infantry.
Major R. Enslin, Assistant Quartermaster General
and Ordnance Officer; rank and pay of major of infantry.
Captain Gustavus Cohrs, Assistant Quartermaster;
rank and pay of captain of infantry.
Major A. S. Vogdes, Major G. W. Hood, Major Charles
A. Buck, assigned to duty as Assistant Paymasters, with
rank and pay of majors of infantry.
Major E. G. Evans, Aid-de-Camp, assigned to duty
as Assistant Paymaster, with rank and pay of major of
infantry.
The necessity for keeping the Adjutant General on
duty is that the records pertaining to the volunteer and
militia forces of the State engaged in the defense of the
Union in the late rebellion may be perfected and preserved,
and that the returns of the troops from this State now in
service may be properly made and preserved, and that the
enrollment of the militia of the State may be completed.
The Quartermaster General is kept in service to receive
and examine the property returns of officers who have been
in the military service of the State, and to collect and take
care of the property of the State for military purposes, and
196 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
for settling and adjusting claims against the State under
the several acts of the Legislature for settling and paying
said claims.
The Paymaster General is kept in service to complete
the payments of the militia, so far as the appropriations
for that purpose will extend, and to make up and forward
his proper reports.
The four assistant paymasters are kept in service until
they complete their accounts and reports of the payments
they have made to the militia.
The Acting Assistant Adjutant General is kept on duty
to assist the Adjutant General in the duties of his office.
His services are necessary to that department.
The Military Secretary is kept on duty to aid the
Commander-in-Chief in his necessary correspondence and
clerical labor.
Major Enslin, the Assistant Quartermaster General, is
kept on duty to collect the arms and equipments of the
State (many of which are yet uncollected) and to examine
the accounts of officers for ordnance and ordnance stores
for which they are accountable.
Captain Cohrs is yet engaged in collecting and taking
care of clothing, camp and garrison equipage, and other
property, and has been superintending the construction of
a State powder magazine, which is now about completed
and ready to receive the powder and fixed ammunition
belonging to the State.
The number of officers on duty in the military depart-
ment has been reduced as rapidly as was consistent with
the true interests of the State.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 197
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 12, 1865
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p.
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPAKTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
December 12, 1865.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
I herewith transmit a communication, addressed to me
by Isador Bush, a citizen of this State, on the subject of
the State indebtedness, directing attention to a system of
progressive payments, which I commend to the considera-
tion of the General Assembly as containing suggestions
pertinent to the matter contained in concurrent resolutions
entitled "State credit," providing for the appointment of
joint committee of the two houses of the General Assembly,
approved February 15, 1865.
Very respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
DECEMBER 19, 1865
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 757
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
December 19, 1865.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir In pursuance of the 15th section of the VI article
of the Constitution, I hereby nominate and ask the consent
of the Senate to appoint Samuel Reber and Charles B.
Lord Judges of the Circuit Court of the county of St. Louis.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
198 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 10, 1866
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 281
STATE OF MISSOUEI, EXECUTIVE DEPAKTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 10, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I hereby transmit to the General Assembly the
report of Quartermaster General E. Anson More from
December 31st, 1863, to March 1st, 1865.
The report is very full, and contains much matter of
general interest as well as very valuable evidences, in tabular
form, of the expenditures of the State in the Quartermaster,
commissaries and ordnance departments.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 12, 1866
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 284
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 12, 1866,
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I herewith transmit to the General Assembly
the report of the Quartermaster General for the year ending
31st Dec., 1865.
The report contains full statements of the operations
and condition of the Quartermaster's Subsistence and
Ordnance Departments, from March 1st, 1865, to December
31st, 1865, and is unusually interesting, as showing the
rapid closing up of these important and very extended
departments, in a most satisfactory manner.
Very respectfully,
THOMAS C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 199
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 15, 1866
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 292-293
EXECUTIVE DEPAETMENT, MISSOUEI, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 15, 1866.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir In reply to the resolution of inquiry adopted by
the House of Representatives on the 13th inst., I have to
inform the General Assembly that the agreement entered
into by the act approved February 18th, 1865, for the sale
of the Platte Country Railroad, to parties pretending to
represent the stockholders of the Weston and Atchison and
Atchison and St. Joseph Railroad companies has not been
complied with by said parties. They having made default
in the payment of the sum of three hundred thousand
dollars, and the semi-annual interest on the sum of eight
hundred and sixty-eight thousand dollars, which by the
terms of said act they were bound to pay into the State
Treasury on the first day of January, 1866. In con-
sequence of this default on their part, and in pursuance of
the 13th section of said act, I did on the 30th day of Janu-
ary, 1866, in person, take possession of said railroad, its
rolling stock, depots, fixtures and appurtenances from
Savannah to Weston, and am now in possession thereof
through an agent of experience in operating railroads and
who kindly consented to accept the personal trust tem-
porarily to organize and carry on the operations of said
railroad, without interruption, until I am able to get an
experienced man to whom I can confidently turn over the
important trust. His instructions are to secure competent
and reliable employees in every department of the road
where changes are necessary to be made, and to make weekly
deposits of the receipts of the road and report the same to
me.
200 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
I have advertised said railroad for sale under the pro-
visions of the act of the General Assembly before men-
tioned by publication in three newspapers published in
the city of St. Joseph, a copy of which advertisement is
herewith transmitted.
Being satisfied that the parties recently in possession
of said railroad and claiming to represent the stockholders
of the Weston and Atchison and Atchison and St. Joseph
Railroad companies do not represent a majority of the bona
fide stockholders of either of said railroads, I shall not
recognize an equity of redemption on their part, and will,
unless otherwise directed by the General Assembly, pro-
ceed to sell said railroad for cash, and unless it shall bring
an amount exceeding all the indebtedness of the State,
will buy it in at such sale and thus settle definitely the title,
and place it in a condition where its completion northward
to the Iowa line and southward to a railroad connection
can be insured.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
JANUABY 24, 1866
From the Journal of the (Senate, pp. 805-807
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, MISSOTJEI, January 24, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir In reply to the interrogatives propounded to me
by resolutions of the Senate which have this day been
communicated to me, I have the honor to state in answer
to the first interrogatory, that the Southwest Branch of the
Pacific Railroad is absolutely forfeited to the State by reason
of the failure of the Pacific Railroad to complete said Branch
to Little Piney on the 10th day of April, 1865, The forfei-
ture occurred on that day.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 201
In answer to the second interrogatory I would give
as my opinion, in the absence of the Attorney General or
other legal adviser, that said forfeiture by the Pacific Rail-
road did not operate as a forfeiture of the lease of the Messrs.
Blow and Kennett as in favor of the Pacific Railroad, but
would give the option to the successor of the Pacific Rail-
road in the ownership of the land to affirm or annul the
lease made after the date of the mortgage by the Pacific
Railroad to the State as such successor might see proper.
To the third interrogatory I have to say that no legal
forfeiture on the part of the Pacific Railroad prior or sub-
sequent to the 18th November, 1862, impaired any of the
rights of said Company to lease or use any land granted
to the Southwest Branch Railroad, nor will it ever do so
until the State avails herself of her legal rights in the prem-
ises and obtains possession of the property. The Pacific
Railroad Company I presume leased the Granby mines to
Messrs. Blow and Kennett, or to the Granby Mining Com-
pany by the same "authority and right" that any other
mortgagor in possession leases his property.
The fourth interrogatory I answer by stating that I
am not officially informed whether Ferdinand Kennett and
Peter E. Blow now occupy and work the mines and land
leased to them by the Pacific Railroad, but am informed
and believe that the Granby Mining Company work the
mine at this time, and I presume pay their rents to their
lessors, the Pacific Railroad.
Of the amount paid or to be paid I have no informa-
tion whatever.
Answering the fifth interrogatory as fully and specifi-
cally as I am able to do, I will state that under the lease
approved by me, the lessees will, I have no doubt, pay the
rents to their lessor or his legal representative as tenants
usually do, at present they would pay to the Pacific Rail-
road because by the act of the General Assembly of the
State of Missouri, entitled "an act to accept a grant of
land made to the State of Missouri by the Congress of the
United States to aid the construction of certain railroads
202 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
in this State, and to apply a portion thereof to the Pacific
Railroad, approved December 25, 1852," the Pacific Rail-
road became the owner of the lands of the Southwest Branch
and is in possession thereof.
To the sixth interrogatory I answer that I have not
sufficient knowledge to enable me to form a belief as to
who compose the Granby Mining and Smelting Company.
Mr. H. T. Blow and James B. Eads have informed me that
they are interested in the Company,
To the seventh interrogatory I answer that I have no
right to take possession of the Southwest Branch Railroad
until after 10th April, 1865, and I did not do so then for
the reason that I had no power to make any disposition of it
in case I did take possession of it. I do not doubt but the Pa-
cific Railroad would have willingly turned it over to me at any
time after 10th April, 1865, if I had so desired; no rights
of the State being endangered by the delay, I preferred to
wait the meeting and action of the General Assembly.
The statement that I did take possession of the South-
west Branch Railroad and did assume and exercise the
right to control and lease the lands mentioned, I can only
attribute to an oversight incident to the hurry of business,
it being a very great mistake of the facts, and such a state-
ment as I cannot think the Senate intended deliberately
to make. The approval and confirmation by me was given
by me with a full knowledge of the legal effect of such a paper,
which effect it would be mere surplusage to state.
In May last, the people of the extreme Southwest of
the State were returning to their homes, they had been
bravely fighting the battles of the country, their property
had been destroyed in their absence, hundreds of them
destitute, the country was in a great measure desolated,
there was but little to invite the old settlers to return there,
and nothing to induce immigration to that part of the State.
I desired to induce capital to go to Granby and thus give
employment to the people there and furnish supplies. This,
Mr. H. T. Blow proposed to do with the consent of his
partners, and the approval by me of the lease was one of
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 203
the means necessary to secure their consent which I most
cordially gave, and the result was a blessing to the South-
west part of the State.
The rents for the ore obtained from Granby mine follow
the title and possession of the Southwest Branch Railroad.
If collected by the Pacific Railroad it is entirely within the
power of the Legislature to compel an account for them
whenever the State takes possession of the Southwest
Branch Road.
All the men who can be put on the Granby mine can-
not more than fully develop it in the present generation.
The lease is such as the proprietors of lead mines
usually give and is as favorable to the lessor as the shrewdest
owner of lead mines in the mining districts ever require.
To induce the working of any mines in the State, or
the prospecting for minerals, I am always happy to do
anything in my power, and will, unless prevented by legisla-
tion, approve and confirm all leases or other documents
having such an object for any lands in the State, regardless
of who they may be owned by or mortgaged to.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUAEY 2, 1866
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. ^.5
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 2, 1866.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I herewith transmit to the General Assembly the
annual report of the Adjutant General of the State, which
will be found unusually full and very satisfactory. It
contains information to which the lapse of time will lend
additional interest. The Adjutant General is systematically
204 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
and carefully preserving and arranging all the records and
papers which are the evidences to transmit to posterity
the history of the noble part borne by Missourians in sup-
pressing the great rebellion. The system, order and ele-
gant execution of the affairs of the Adjutant General's
office are highly creditable to his predecessor, to him and
his efficient assistants, and the value of which though now
seen and felt every day, will be more highly appreciated
by the descendants of the men whose names are enscribed
on our rolls of honor.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 19, 1866
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 576-581
EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, STATE OF MISSOURI, CITY OF JEFFEKSON,
February 19, 1866.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir In pursuance of the following resolution adopted
by the House of Representatives on the 9th day of February,
1866, to-wit:
Resolved, That His Excellency, Governor Fletcher, be
hereby requested to furnish to this House at his earliest
convenience a statement of the effects received from the
parties from whom he received possession of the Atchison
and St. Joseph, and Weston and Atchison and Platte
Country Railroads, together with a statement of the pro-
ceeds derived since taking possession of the same up to the
3d inst,"
I have to state that the effects received by me on taking
possession of said railroads were the following named articles
of property as described in the following:
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 205
SCHEDULE
Of Rolling Stock, Tools and other Property Transferred
by the Atchison and St. Joseph, and Weston and Atchison
Railroad Companies, to Madison Miller, Agent of the State
of Missouri.
January 4th, 1866.
Two (2) locomotive engines, Nos, 1 and 2.
One (1) baggage and passenger car.
Two (2) passenger cars.
One (1) baggage car.
Ten (10) platform cars.
Five (5) box cars.
Four (4) freight car trucks.
Seven (7) hand-cars.
Two (2) push cars.
Five thousand (about 5,000) ties.
One hundred and thirty-five (135) cords of wood at
St. Joe.
Seventy (70) cords of wood at Horse-shoe Tank.
Eighty (80) cords of wood at Sugar Lake Tank.
Shovels, picks, bars, and other tools of every descrip-
tion used in track repairs.
Office and furniture, stationery, stove, &c., &c.
Machine shop and tools, as per annexed list, No. I.
Car shop tools and materials, as per annexed list, No. 2.
Blacksmith shop, tools and material, as per annexed
list, No. 3.
LIST NO. I,
MACHINE SHOP TOOLS.
January 4th, 1866.
One (1) twelve-horse power oscilliating engine.
One (1) large twelve-foot screw cutting lathe swing,
32 inches.
One (1) large bolt cutter, taps and dies, from % to
206 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
One (1) small upright drill press.
Two (2) large bench vices.
One (1) small grind stone.
One (1) 3x8 McGowan pump, in use.
One (1) 4x8 McGowan pump, extra.
Twenty-five (25) feet 2-inch gas pipe (about).
One (1) valve seat planer.
Three (3) large engine-house stoves, complete.
Two (2) large engine-house stoves, not finished.
Forty (40) feet main shafting, with pulleys for running.
Lathe bolt-cutter, drill press, &c.
One (1) set large taps and dies.
,\ /IN ii 4. j j- r Rogers' Engine.
One (I) set small taps and dies. ) & &
Two (2) fifteen-ton hydraulic jacks, shop use.
Two (2) large screw jacks, shop use.
Two small screw jacks, shop use.
MATERIAL.
Nine (9) hand-car wheels, 27 inch, new.
Six (6) hand-car wheels, 23 inch, new.
Two (2) pairs tender wheels and axles, old.
Three (3) pairs tender wheels and axles, new.
About 3,000 pounds wrought scrap iron.
About 1,000 pounds cast scrap iron.
Seven (7) axle boxes for tender, complete.
Four (4) axle boxes for engine truck, complete.
400 pounds sheet-iron, assorted.
One (1) truck spring, for engine No. 2.
Two (2) driving springs, for engine No. 2.
Two (2) driving springs, for engine No. 1.
One hundred (100) pounds grate bars, engine No. 2.
Thirty (30) feet 2J^ inch gum hose, in use.
Seventy-five (75) feet 1J^ inch gum hose, in use.
Two thousand pounds car castings, new.
Fifteen (15) pounds hemp packing.
Twenty (20) pounds woolen waste.
Twenty (20) gallons coal oil.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 207
Fifteen (15) gallons whale oil, for train lamps.
Six (6) train lanterns old.
Nine (9) train lanterns, new.
Two dozen head-lamp chimneys.
Three packages 7%x.%-mch bolts, for freight cars.
Two 10-gallon water coolers, for passenger cars.
One 30-gallon tin coal oil can.
One 45-gallon tin coal oil can.
Two sheets No. 40 copper, 80 pounds.
Ten pounds hemp bell-cord, for train use.
Twenty coach candles, 10 pounds leather, two picks.
One grub-hoe, 1 signal lantern, two brush scythes.
One hundred and fifty pounds rags, 8 brooms, 21
shovels, new.
One hundred feet leather belting, assorted, 150 pounds
engine brasses and 75 pounds old brass.
LIST NO. 2.
CAR SHOP TOOLS AND MATERIAL.
January 4th, 1866.
One (1) morticing machine; 1 paint mill.
Two (2) stoves.
Two (2) freight cars, framed.
One (1) set coach tiucks, framed.
One (1) set coach trucks, complete.
Seventy (70) pounds rubber car springs.
Two hundred feet coach glass, 200 pounds nails, 60
pounds red lead.
4,500 feet pine car roofing.
128 feet pine flooring.
204 feet walnut battening.
200 feet 1 H-inch oak.
2,000 feet IJ^-inch oak; 144 pieces 6x6x12.
140 feet 2-inch oak; 200 feet 1 1 A car flooring oak.
216 feet 6x9 walnut; 192 feet 8x8.
540 feet 6x12 oak; 160 feet 8x10.
115 feet 4x10 oak; 60 feet 12x5.
208 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
1,204 feet 4x8 oak; 46 feet 7x8.
504 feet 3x6 oak; 274 feet 4x8.
749 feet 4x10 oak; 18 feet 4x4.
344 feet 4x8 oak; 54 feet 3x12 walnut.
126 feet 3J^x6J^ oak; 288 feet 2x12 ash.
264 feet 3x8 oak; 200 feet 2 ash.
200 feet 4x10.
192 feet 3x8.
LIST NO 3.
BLACKSMITH SHOP, TOOLS AND MATERIAL.
January 4, 1866.
One (1) forge, 1 pair 40 bellows.
One (1) Peter Wright anvil.
One (1) small vice and bench, 1 large swage block.
One (1) large face plate.
Two (2) cast-steel sledges.
Two (2) cast-steel hand-hammers.
Two (2) cast-steel sett-hammers.
Two (2) cast-steel flatters.
Thirteen (13) cast-steel top s wedges.
Six (6) cast-steel bottom swedges.
Two (2) cast-steel top fullers.
Three (3) cast-steel bottom fullers.
Two (2) cast-steel cap tools.
Three (3) cast-steel chisels.
Nine (9) cast-steel punches.
Two (2) cast-steel hard-eyes, for cutting round-iron.
Twenty-one (21) pairs of tongs; 11,000 pounds assorted
bar-iron.
Three (3) forge shovels; 508 pounds assorted cast-steel.
Eleven (11) heading tools; 515 pounds assorted nuts.
Three (3) hand mandrels; 45 pounds assorted washers.
Six hand punches.
One spring clamp.
One pair of callipipcrs*
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 209
One pound of borax.
One Slate.
The gross receipts of said railroad, from the 4th day of
January to the 3d day of February, Inclusive of both days,
was seven thousand and thirty-one dollars and forty-four
cents; during which time six hundred and ninety-three
dollars and fifty cents was paid out for ordinary expenses,
which will appear in detail by a statement herewith trans-
mitted.
Respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
1866. CASH DR.
January 4 Transportation account, Savannah $37.00
January 4 Transportation account, Morris 235.00
January 5 Transportation account, Savannah 43.00
January 5 Transportation account, Morris 249 . 25
January 6 Transportation account, Savannah 2100
January 6 Transportation account, Morris 218.00
January 7 Transportation account, Morris 149 00
January 7 Transportation account, Savannah 21 .00
January 8 Transportation account, Savannah 21 .00
January 8 Transportation account, Morris 176 . 75
January 9 Transportation account, Savannah 36 00
January 9 Transportation account, Morris 264 . 25
January 10 Transportation account, Savannah 25.00
January 10 Transportation account, Morris 190.25
January 11 Transportation account, Savannah 33.00
January 11 Transportation account, Morris 146.00
January 11 Local freight, Mitchell's cars, 4th and 6th 80.00
January 12 Transportation account, Savannah 19.00
January 12 Transportation account, Morris 152.00
January 12 Savannah Station 261 .30
January 13 Transportation account, Savannah 53.00
January 13 TransportatioD account, Morris 161 .50
January 13 Local freight, Palmer 154 50
January 14 Transportation account, Morris 184.00
January 14 Transportation account, Savannah, Massey. . . 19.00
January 15 Transportation account, Savannah, Massey.. . 44.00
January 15 Transportation account, Morris 181.50
January 15 Savannah Station 545 . 50
January 15 Weston Station 214. 75
January 16 Transportation account, Savannah 41.00
January 16 Transportation account, Morris 215.00
210 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
January 17 Transportation account, Savannah $42.00
January 17 Transportation account, Morris 250. 00
January 17 Local freight, Palmer 301 . 50
January 17 Local freight, Turner 14 00
January 18 Transportation account, Savannah 40.00
January 18 Transportation account, Morris 234.00
January 18 Local freight, Young 246 00
January 19 Transportation account, Savannah 21 . 00
January 19 Transportation account, Morris 199 . 00
January 20 Transportation account, Savannah 27 . 00
January 20 Transportation account, Morris 203 . 00
January 21 Transportation account, Morris 136.00
January 21 Transportation account, Savannah 32.00
January 21 Weston Station 398 . 37
January 22 Transportation account, Savannah 28 . 00
January 22 Transportation account, Morris 201 .25
January 22 Local freight, Osborn 448.00
January 23 Transportation account, Savannah 35 . 00
January 23 Transportation account, Morris 232 . 75
January 23 Weston Station 239 . 20
January 24 Transportation account, Savannah 20 . 00
January 24 Transportation account, Morris 205 . 00
January 25 Transportation account, Savannah 19 . 00
January 25 Transportation account, Morris 201 . 00
January 25 Savannah Station 1 , 988 . 06
January 26 Transportation account, Savannah 31.00
January 26 Transportation account, Morris 259 . 00
January 27 Transportation account, Savannah 25 . 00
January 27 Transportation account, Morris 158.50
January 27 Local freight, Pepperd 20 . 00
January 28 Local freight, Palmer 544 . 00
January 28 Coal 15 . 00
January 28 Transportation account, Savannah 22.00
January 28 Transportation account, Morris 157 . 00
January 29 Transportation account, Savannah 17 . 00
January 29 Transportation account, Morris 188 . 50
January 29 Local freight, Young 130.00
January 29 Transportation account, Morris 35.00
January 29 Transportation account, Massey 40 50
January 29 Transportation account, Morris 171 .00
January 31 Weston Station 206 . 07
January 31 Transportation account, Savannah 40.00
January 31 Transportation account, Masse $ 94,00
January 31 Transportation account, Morris 160.00
January 31 Winthrop Station 588.43
January 31 Savannah Station 370. 14
January 31 Weston Station 35. 14
$13,259.36
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 211
Unfinished Business.
January 31 Tickets and military transportation $1,684.14
January 31 Freight as stations 2,304.41
January 31 Wood and tie train 271 .40 4,259 .95
$17,519.31
January 31 Cash balance $5,785 .06
February 1 Transportation account, Savannah 50.50
February 1 Transportation account, Morris 207 .00
February 1 Transportation account, Massey 40 . 00
February 2 Transportation account, Savannah 27.25
February 2 Transportation account, Morris 145 00
February 2 Transportation account, Massey 46.75
February 2 Local freight, Palmer 250.00
February 3 Transportation account, Savannah 40 .00
February 3 Transportation account, Massey 37 .00
February 3 Transportation account, Morris 151 .00
February 3 Transportation account, Express 250 . 88
r,031.44
[THOMAS C. FLETCHER.]
TO THE SENATE
FBBHUABY 22, 1866
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 768
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 22, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
I have nominated, and ask the consent of the Senate
to appoint, as Commissioners for the Platte Country Rail-
road under the provisions of the act of the General Assembly,
approved February 19, 1866, the following named persons:
Samuel Huffman, of Andrew county,
Joseph E. Merryman, of Platte county,
John F. Hume, of St. Louis county.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
212 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUAKY 22, 1866
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 765
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 22, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have nominated and ask the consent of the Senate
to the appointment of the following named persons as
Commissioners under the act of the General Assembly,
approved February 19, 1866, for the Southwest Pacific
Railroad:
Robert J. McElheny, of Greene county,
Amos W. Maupin, of Franklin county,
P. Joseph Osterhaus, of St. Louis county,
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUAKY 26, 1866
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p.
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 26, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have nominated and ask the consent of the
Senate to commission the following named persons as
Managers of the State Lunatic Asylum:
Dr. Joseph D. Smith, of St. Joseph,
Dr. Charles H. Hughes, Audrain county.
Respectfully,
THO. C, FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 213
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 26, 1866
From the Journal of Exicutive Business in Senate Journal, p. 765
STATE OP MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OP JEFFERSON,
February 26, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir No official communication having been made to
me of the action of the Senate on the names of the persons
nominated by me for Commissioners of the Platte Country
Railroad, I respectfully ask that if final action has not
been had that the name of Joseph E. Merryman may be
returned to me.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 26, 1866
From the Journal oj Executive Business in Senate Journal, pp. 765-766
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OP JEFFERSON,
February 26, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have nominated, and ask the consent of the
Senate to commission as Commissioners, under the act
of the General Assembly, approved February 19, 1866, for
the sale of the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad and
for the Cairo and Fulton Railroad, the following named
persons:
Charles S. Rankin, of Jefferson county,
Bernard G. Farrar, of St. Louis.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER,
214 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTA TIVES
FEBRUARY 28, 1866
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 669-67%
Senators and Representatives:
In pursuance of the statement in my Message delivered
to you at the opening of your adjourned session, I respect-
fully call your attention specially to the subject of the
indebtedness of the State.
However difficult of solution the problem as to what
should be our action toward our creditors, it is a question
which must be met, and the circumstances surrounding us
seem to admit of no further delay in taking upon it some
decisive action.
On twenty millions of dollars of bonds of the State
issued to aid the construction of railroads, the State has
paid no interest since 1861. The accrued interest on these
bonds amounts to, say six millions three hundred and sixteen
thousand dollars. The faith of the State, which is the
faith of the citizens individually as well as a collective
obligation, is pledged to the payment of this interest and
the redemption of these bonds. We should be jealous of
our character for keeping our faith with all men, non-
residents as well as citizens of this State. States, like
individuals, must prove their intentions by exertions to
pay their honest debts, if they would prosper by retaining
the confidence of their creditors. There is no sentence in
our language more replete with practical wisdom than the
words of the Father of his Country, when he admonished
us "to cherish public credit." No Missourian possessing
due pride in the rising greatness of our State would permit
the blighting effects of repudiation to tarnish our fair name
and darken our future; and yet many, I fear, fail to see
that the effect of refusing to pay a part, however small,
of our just debts, when we have the ability to do so, is
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 215
virtual repudiation. I beseech you to take such steps
at this time as will relieve our State from liability to such
a charge, even by implication. We should act as an in-
telligent business man would act under similar circumstances,
by providing for the payment of as much as we are able to
pay at present, and increasing our payments in proportion
to the increase of our ability to pay, and thus exhibit an
honest and earnest disposition to cancel our indebtedness
by payment.
While the State was the theater of war, no dishonor
could attach to our failure to pay, nor have our creditors
made complaint. The war is at an end; and, though re-
turning peace has found our people largely despoiled of their
property though our State, in bearing a part so distin-
guished in the suppression of the great rebellion as to chal-
lenge the admiration of the loyal people of the nation, has
given millions for the payment of armies which should
have been paid by the Federal Government we are still
able to pay at least in part our semi-annual interest, and
the ability to pay is increasing rapidly and continually.
The swelling tide of immigration is adding to our industrious
and progressive population numbers so great that the
monthly aggregate would scarcely be credited. Our vast
industrial resources, which make our State so intrinsically
rich, but which are unavailable to pay debts, will soon be
added to our available wealth, and, under all the unfavorable
financial circumstances which surround us consequent on
the war, the beginning of the year 1868 will bring the
triumphant vindication of the truth of the statements
made by some of us years ago, that "two years of freedom
in Missouri would return more than two-fold the loss of
the value of all slave property in the State." The assessed
value of property in the State at that date may as certainly
be calculated at four hundred millions of dollars as it is
possible for man to predict effects in the future from causes
the results of which experience has shown us in the present.
With our growing prosperity, the obligation increases
upon us to deal fairly with our creditors, and, in order to
216 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
accelerate our growth in population, it behooves us to
endeavor at once to check the enormous accumulation
of unpaid interest on our debt, and to provide a means of
ultimate extinguishment of the whole debt.
At your first session, you wisely declared to the world,
by a concurrent resolution, "That we, as the representatives
of the loyal people of Missouri, declare it to be our fixed
and unalterable purpose, in which we believe ourselves
to be fully sustained by those we represent, that the faith
of the State shall be preserved with all her creditors, and
their demands, principal and interest, satisfied to the fullest
requirement." At the same time you appointed a Joint
Committee to report a plan by which the question of the
State's indebtedness might be solved. The report of that
committee is before you, and in many respects corresponds
with views which had first suggested themselves to my own
mind. The object sought is to graduate our liabilities to
our ability to pay, without imposing too heavy a burden
upon our people, not yet fully recovered from the effects
of civil war. With this view it is proposed to issue new
bonds, in place of those now outstanding, consolidating
both principal and over-due interest, to bear interest on a
gradually ascending scale beginning with three per cent,
and increasing until in the year 1894 the maximum of
nine per cent, will be reached. In this way it is arranged
to conform the amount annually to be paid to the growing
ability of the people to contribute, as near as that can now
be determined.
Two points in this connection mainly offer themselves
for your consideration:
First, the ability of the State to meet the demand which
the plan suggested will from year to year make upon her
resources. As the amount to be paid, as well as the rate of
increase in interest, are wholly arbitrary, the plan is sus-
ceptible of any degree of modification in this respect, and,
in case of its adoption, your own judgment will determine
what is right and preferable.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 217
The second point Is the willingness of the bondholders
to exchange their present securities for the proposed new
issue. On this point I would say that I have availed my-
self of all opportunities afforded, both by correspondence
and personal interview with the creditors of the State, to
gather their views upon the subject of the debt, and, from
their expressions at various times and in various forms, I
am satisfied that they would cheerfully make the exchange.
There is no reason why they should not. They would
simply be surrendering one class of paper for another class
of the same value, with the advantage, in the latter case,
of the certain payment of interest at fixed, instead of un-
certain periods. Without intending to go into a discussion
of the details, the plan, in my judgment, is feasible, and
will work satisfactorily in practice, because correct In
principle and adapted to our peculiar wants and circum-
stances.
To demonstrate to you that the practical operation of
the plan will not be oppressive upon the people, I invite
your attention to the following facts: The tax for the
present time is nine mills on the dollar. It is estimated
that for 1867 a six-mill tax will suffice, with that of the
present year, to meet current expenses and extinguish the
Union Military bonded debt of the State, and leave a balance
sufficient to pay the July coupons of 1868 on the consolidated
bonds. In 1868, when the proposed plan is to go Into
operation, the total State tax will not exceed five mills,
two and a half for current expenses of State Government
and school fund, and the two and a half for interest and
sinking fund, which the people, by the adoption of the
ordinance of the State Convention, entitled "An Ordinance
for the payment of State and Railroad indebtedness,"
have required that you should levy for these purposes.
Five mills is one mill less than the present State tax of Illinois,
and less than the State tax of Ohio for 1865. Certainly a
tax of twenty-five dollars per annum on ten thousand
dollars of taxable property can not be regarded as excessive,
218 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
when applied to the sole purpose of relieving the State from
debt.
Every effort is being used to recover the claim of the
State against the General Government, and no diligence
will be spared in realizing the largest amount from railroad
property to be sold, and the collection of the railroad tax
imposed by the Convention ordinance.
I should fail in my duty at a period like this, when so
much depends upon the character which our State sustains
abroad, and when the accumulation of interest threatens
to augment our debt to proportions such as will require
the taxes in the future burthensome beyond measure, if I
neglected to recommend to your consideration some mea-
sures to satisfy our creditors and to graduate the payment
of this debt.
I am very firm in the belief that the adoption of such
a plan would satisfy our creditors, encourage immigration,
give credit to the securities issued by our people, and es-
pecially to those issued by our public corporations, and
enable us to pay our State debt without the levy of heavy
taxes; and therefore in obedience to that provision of our
Constitution which requires the Executive from time to
time to recommend to the consideration of General Assembly
such measures as he shall deem necessary and expedient,
I have thought proper to address you at this time upon a
theme the importance of which can not be over estimated,
and which appeals alike to the judgment and patriotism
of every good citizen.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
City of Jefferson, February 28th, 1866.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 219
TO THE SENATE
MAKCH 7, 1866
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 766
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEBSON,
March. 7, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have appointed, and ask the consent of the
Senate to commission the following named persons:
Robert A. Watts, as Commissioner for the St. Louis
and Iron Mountain Railroad.
Charles E. Salomon, as Commissioner for the Cairo
and Fulton Railroad.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 9, 1866
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 767
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 9, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have nominated and ask the consent of the
Senate to commission Peter Rlancjour a Commissioner for
the Platte Country Railroad.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
220 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
MAECH 10, 1866
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 804-805
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 10, 1866.
Senators and Representatives:
I respectfully call your attention to an act entitled
"an act to provide for the sale of certain railroads and
property by the Governor, to foreclose the State's lien
thereon, and to secure an early completion of the South-
west Branch Pacific, the Platte Country, the St. Louis and
Iron Mountain and the Cairo and Fulton Railroads of
Missouri," approved February 19th, 1866, and suggest
that a supplementary act be passed by which the fourth
section of said act shall be so explained as to obviate the
necessity of advertising anew the roads advertised by me
under the laws by which the liens of said roads were created.
I have pursued strictly the several acts creating liens in
favor of the State. The provision in the fourth section of
the act referred to, requiring the publication of the notices
by the Commissioners to be for the same time and in con-
junction with the notices required to be published by me,
is merely an interference with the due course of existing
law, and without foundation in reason.
I also suggest that the provision in the tenth section
requiring that the act be printed on the back of the bonds
should be left discretionary with the parties issuing the
bonds. The affixing of such a law as the one under consid-
eration to a bond is always a detriment to the placing of
it, for the reason that parties otherwise willing to purchase,
naturally hesitate at binding themselves by the many
things of which notice is imparted by printing the act upon
the back of the bond.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 221
The twelfth section of the act should be so explained
as to require the Treasurer to execute and deliver the deed
therein provided for on the production to him by the party
owning the same, or his heirs or assigns, of the certificate
issued by the Pacific Railroad. The President of the Pacific
Railroad states to me that the company has received
$25,042.92 for preempted lands for which certificates have
been given to the purchasers, and that the money has been
expended in construction.
The "South-west Pacific Railroad" is, in several of the
sections subsequent to the first, called "the South-west
Branch Pacific Railroad" which should be explained or
rectified.
The doubt created by the reading of the third section,
as to whether the Commissioners are to take possession of
the Platte Country Railroad before the sale under the
mortgage act or subsequent thereto should also be removed.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MAHCH 15, 1866
From the Journal oj the Senate, p, 770
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 15, 1866.
To the, President of the Senate:
Sir I respectfully ask the Senate to return me the
name of Charles E. Salomon, nominated by me as Com-
missioner for the sale of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad,
and I nominate and ask the consent of the Senate to com-
mission R. F. W. E. Weber, of Stoddard county, a Commis-
sioner for the sale of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
222 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
MAECH 16, 1866
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 769
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEBSON,
March 16, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have nominated and ask the consent of the
Senate to commission N. S. Dimmitt a Commissioner for
the sale of the Platte Country Railroad.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 16, 1866
From the Journal of Executive Business in Senate Journal, p. 770
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 16, 1866.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have nominated and ask the consent of the
Senate to appoint Theodore S. Case a Commissioner for
the sale of the Platte Country Railroad.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
MABCH 16, 1866
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 903-904
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEBSON,
March 16, 1866.
Senators and Representatives:
Impelled by a sense of duty, I again call your attention
to the fact that at different points in the State there are
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 223
collected bands of from 50 to each of the most des-
perate characters that ever disgraced the form of man,
thoroughly armed and equipped, and awaiting only the
favorable moment to commit such outrages, robbery and
murder as not even the bushwhackers' dark history has
heretofore chronicled. I am preparing to break up these
lawless bands, and to bring to justice the outlaws who are
thus defiant of the civil authority. This I intend to do,
whatever may be the untoward circumstances in which I
find myself involved. I again appeal to you to place at the
disposal of the military department the means necessary
to subsist the force which the actual condition of affairs
indicate as likely to be indispensable to the protection of
the lives and property of the people from these gathering
organizations of marauders. The law must be upheld by
the power of the sword, and this it shall not want to make
it felt and feared. I require the means of subsisting the
necessary force, and for that and the purpose of transpor-
tation, and such other incidental expenses as may be nec-
essary in the premises, I ask you to place a sufficient sum
at my disposal.
Very Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETHCER.
TO THE SENATE
JANUABY 17, 1867
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 76
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 17, 1867.
To the honorable President of the Senate:
Si r i herewith transmit for the information of the
General Assembly the annual report of the Paymaster
General of the State, for the year ending 31st December
last.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETGHEK.
224 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 17, 1867
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 81-82
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, JEFFERSON CITY,
January 17, 1867.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir In response to the resolution of the Senate adopted
on the 14th instant, calling upon me for information in
reference to "amount paid the Swamp Land Agent, the
number of acres of land located and where located; the
number of acres to which said agent has obtained the right
of the State and where located; the number and nature of
the claims settled and adjusted between the State and the
United States," I have to say that the Legislature, by an
act entitled "an act to provide for the appointment of an
agent to obtain the right of the State under the act of
September 28, 1850, granting swamp and overflowed lands
to the State of Missouri," approved January 25, 1865, re-
quired me to appoint such an agent, which duty I per-
formed. Soon after the appointment of the agent he ap-
plied to me for advances on his pay to enable him to get
copies of the approved lists of selections of lands under
said act of Congress. The act of the Legislature referred
to provided that the agent "shall receive such pay for his
services as the Governor shall deem reasonable and proper."
The highest interests of the State in connection with
this subject was to get the patents for the lands selected as
early as possible, and at my suggestion the agent directed
his exertions to that end. I advanced him money out of
the Treasury to pay the expenses of procuring the necessary
lists, and also for the purpose of paying extra clerk hire in
Washington City to facilitate the making of the patents.
The General Assembly failed to fix the compensation
of the agent, although the subject was debated for some
days at the last session. The responsibility of fixing it
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 225
was left upon me. I fixed his compensation at two cents
per acre.
I have obtained, through the kindness of the Auditor,
copies of all accounts approved by me and paid to the
Swamp Land Agent, which copies are herewith transmitted,
showing that the total amount paid him for patents ob-
tained and on account of work not yet completed at the
Department of the Interior of Washington is $11,842 43-100.
I also transmit herewith a list of patents for swamp
lands received since 1st September, 1865, furnished me
through the kindness of the Register of Lands, showing
the total acres patented to be 560,600 7-100 acres. These
lands are generally located south of the Missouri river;
some of them are, I believe, in the late Plattsburg District,
north of the Missouri river. The quantity situated in that
district I am not able to state.
The agent has been using exertions to obtain the
money due the State for lands entered after their selection
under the act of Congress of 28th of September, 1850, but
subsequently sold by the United States. It has been found
that in consequence of the change of population consequent
on the war, it is very difficult to make the strict proof re-
quired by the Department of the Interior to establish our
claim to indemnity for the lands so sold by the United States.
I was of opinion that under the act of Congress of 2d
March, 1855, we could obtain a certificate of new location
for the lands taken by the location of land warrants after
their selection under the act of 28th September, 1850.
In this, however, it seems \ was mistaken, as will be seen
by a letter from the honorable Secretary of Interior, of
date the 15th of January, 1867, herewith transmitted.
The Swamp Land Agent is now in Washington with the
purpose of obtaining additional legislation by Congress to
enable him to obtain the indemnity due the State for lands
sold by the United States after their selection as swamp
lands. He reports to me that under existing laws, ind the
manner of proof required by the Department of the In-
terior, it is almost, if not entirely, impracticable to make
226 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
the proof. He expresses to me strong hopes of being able
to succeed in obtaining an act of Congress on the subject.
Of the lands patented to the State under the act of
28th September, 1850, the Commissioner of the General
Land Office informs me that a number of tracts or parcels
were inadvertently included in the patents, and desires me
to release such tracts to the United States. While I am
satisfied that it is proper that I should do so, I have pre-
ferred to first have authority to do so given me by the
General Assembly.
Very respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 24, 1867
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 107
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 24, 1867.
Hon. Geo. Smith, President of the Senate:
Sir I herewith transmit to the Senate the report of
the Board of Immigration for the year 1866, together with
the report of the Secretary, Hon. Isidor Bush, which latter
document is a most exceedingly interesting and valuable
one, conveying a succinct statement of the operations of
the board, and a concise view of the immigration move-
ment, as well as invaluable statistics.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 227
TO THE SENATE
JANUAHY 30, 1867
From the Appendix of the Journal of the Senate, p. 133
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON"*
January 30, 1867.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir In response to a resolution of the Senate, adopted
on the 22d inst., calling on the Adjutant General for certain
information, I herewith transmit a report of the Adjutant
General, accompanied by a report of the Acting Quarter-
master General and Paymaster General, embracing, I
believe, the information called for.
I have heretofore directed that the Inspector General,
Assistant Quartermaster Generals and military secretary
be relieved on the 1st of February.
I recommend that the Senate, by a committee, in-
vestigate fully the condition and management of the mili-
tary department of the State government and determine the
clerical force necessary for the transaction of the current
business for the pay of which an appropriation should be
made.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 8, 1867
From the Journal of the House oj Representatives, pp. %42-%/t-S
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 8, 1867.
Senators and Representatives:
I herewith transmit to the General Assembly a very
full and interesting report of James E. Yeatman, Esq.,
228 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
President of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home of St. Louis,
with the reports of the superintendent and the treasurer
which accompany the report of the president.
The condition of the affairs of this institution, as shown
by this report, are highly satisfactory, and it will no doubt
be gratifying to the General Assembly to have this assur-
ance of the efficiency of the means adopted by the State
for the care and education of the children of the men who
died for the preservation of the Union.
Respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBKUABY 11, 1867
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 272-278
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEKSON,
February 11, 1867.
To the Honorable, the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir In reply to a resolution passed by the House of
Representatives on the 5th inst., inquiring for information
in reference to the condition of the case of the State of
Missouri against the State of Kentucky for the proprietary
right of Wolf Island, now pending in the Supreme Court of
the United States, I have to state that about eleven months
ago I employed C. A. Newcomb, Esq., to procure the testi-
mony and look after the interests of the State in the case
referred to. He informs me that in order to a proper under-
standing of the condition of the case, he went to Washington,
D. C., and examined the records and papers and made an
arrangement with the attorney representing the State of
Kentucky for taking depositions; that the witnesses are
numerous and at different points in Tennessee, Kentucky,
Missouri^ and Illinois, and all old men, too feeble to be
brought away from their homes; that he was employed
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 229
during several weeks in taking depositions, and ceased
doing so in December last, after having been at many
points for that purpose, extending from Memphis, Tennessee,
to Galena, Illinois.
Mr. Newcomb states to me that the case was con-
tinued by consent until each party has taken all the dep-
ositions they desired, or until each party is willing to sub-
mit the case on his proofs.
At the suggestion of Mr. Casselberry, of St. Louis,
who I had applied to as an attorney to take charge of the
case, I wrote Colonel F. A. Dick, formerly of St. Louis,
now residing in Washington, on the 6th of August last,
and asked him to attend to the case, and referred him to
Mr. Newcomb in reference to the getting up the proofs.
The cause has been on the docket of the Supreme
Court of the United States for a number of years. Ap-
propriations have been made from time to time for its
prosecution, but up to the time I came into office only the
deposition of one witness had been taken on the part of
Missouri, as I was informed.
Mr. Newcomb informed me a few days since that he
was then about starting to Louisville, Kentucky, to
attend to the taking of other depositions.
The only point involved in the trial of the cause will
be whether at the time of the admission of Kentucky into
the Union the main channel of the Mississippi river
was on the east or west of Wolf Island.
I am not aware who represented Missouri as her attor-
ney at the time the remarkable continuance spoken of was
entered.
Instead of making an additional appropriation, I
suggest that the prosecution of the case be directed, and
that appropriations for any further pay of attorneys' fees
be made when the case is decided.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
230 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 21, 1867
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, pp. 368-369
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON*
February 21, 1867.
Senators and Representatives:
Desiring at this time to carry into effect an intention
formed at the time of communicating my message at the
opening of your session, I call your attention specially to
the condition of the geological survey of the State, which
was commenced in 1853* and prosecuted up to 1861.
The State has spent $85,000 on this important enter-
prise. Only the work of the first eighteen months has
been reported to the Legislature and published. All the
work of nearly six years remains unpublished, The im-
portance of publishing this was seen by your predecessors,
and they passed an act which was approved March 20,
1866, authorizing Dr. L. D. Morse and Prof. G. C. Swallow
to publish the information obtained by the State Geologist
since Ms last report.
I herewith transmit a report made to me by the gentle-
men named in the act referred to, from which it will be
seen that after careful examination of the condition of the
survey, they are of opinion that any reports published at
the present stage of the work would be necessarily incom-
plete.
"When the work was' suspended, eighty counties had
been completed, thirteen others were half done, the others
had not been commenced. It would be unjust to the counties
half surveyed and those not surveyed at all to abandon the
survey, and publish the work as far only as it is now com-
pleted. Those counties have paid their proportion of the
expense of the survey, and are entitled to proportionate
shares of the benefits of the reports.
GOV ERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 231
No State In the Union can derive the same benefits
from a geological survey as Missouri. The States all around
us have completed or are progressing with their geological
surveys, and by their published reports are drawing to
their borders a large share of the brains, muscles and wealth
which is flowing westward.
There is no measure so well calculated to increase
immigration to the State as the completion of our geological
survey, and the publication of the reports.
I think it was well that the Legislature directed that
the survey should be completed before any other reports
w r ere made. The State Geologist, with the survey com-
pleted, will be able to arrange the subjects of his reports
so as to publish them in separate volumes, showing the
geology proper, the mines, the soils and agricultural prod-
ucts with analyses of all the soils.
I earnestly recommend the completion of this survey
and the publication of the reports; the appropriation of
twenty-five thousand dollars will probably be sufficient
for this purpose, if made at this time, but if deferred, the
work done up to 1861 and yet unpublished may be, and at
present prices it would cost a hundred thousand dollars to
replace it, complete the survey and publish the reports.
Millions of wealth would be added to us by giving to
the capitalists of the world a full and reliable knowledge of
our minerals. Scientific agriculture, coming hand in hand
with free labor, demands scientific reports of our soils, and
will, with the knowledge which the completion of this sur-
vey would give, soon develop new and inexhaustible sources
of wealth and prosperity to our people.
Respectfully,
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
232 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 28, 1867
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 314
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF MISSOURI, JEFFERSON CITY,
February 28, 1867.
Senators and Representatives:
I herewith transmit for the information of the General
Assembly the annual report of Col Samuel P. Simpson,
Adjutant General of the State and acting Quartermaster
General for the year 1866.
The report is very full and satisfactory. I call the
attention of the General Assembly to it as containing
facts which will enable you to reach correct conclusions as
to the interests of the State in connection with the military
department of the State Government.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 2, 1867
From the Journal of Executive Business, p. 87
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 2, 1867.
To the President of the Senate:
I respectfully ask the Senate to confirm the following
appointments made by me:
J. 0. Codding to fill a vacancy in the office of Police
Commissioner of St. Louis.
Wm, A. Heguemborg, Police Commissioner for St.
Louis for four years.
Lucien Eaton, Police Commissioner for St. Louis for
four years.
Bacon Montgomery to be Brigadier General of Militia
for the Second Military District.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 233
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
MARCH 7, 186?
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 376
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 7, 1867.
Senators and Representatives:
I herewith transmit for your information a memorial,
articles of association and the by-laws, rules and regula-
tions of the National Lincoln Monument Association, to-
gether with a letter from Gen. L N. Haynie, written on
behalf of the association.
The loyal States of the Union are contributing to the
truly patriotic and national enterprise of building a monu-
ment to Abraham Lincoln, which shall be to coming gener-
ations a testimonial of the appreciation of the American
people of his worth and services. It is a source of deep
regret to me that Missouri cannot be foremost in aiding
this work. We must "be just before we are generous."
Our creditors are yet unpaid, and until we have done what
honor and justice require of us toward them, we cannot
join in this noble undertaking. The association has, it
seems, about $125,000. In the time necessary for the
expenditure of that sum we may confidently rely on being
able to contribute our part.
I call your attention to this subject for the purpose of
eliciting an expression of the feelings of the General Assembly
for the encouragement of the Monument Association, and
in the hope that you will give the assurance to our sister
States that we are not behind them in admiration of Abraham
Lincoln and respect for his memory, and that Missouri will,
as soon as she can justly do so, inscribe her name in the roll
of States that do honor to his memory, with a befitting
contribution.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
234 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
MABCH 9, 1867
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 409-410
EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, STATE OF MISSOURI, JEFFEBSON CITY,
March 9, 1867.
To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:
Sir I have this day examined and rendered a decision
upon certain proceedings had by the General Assembly,
and communicated to me by resolution of the House of
Representatives, with an address praying the removal from
office of James C. Moody, a judge of the Circuit Court of
St. Louis county.
I herewith transmit a copy of the decision rendered
by me on said proceedings, from which it will be seen that
I approved of the action of the General Assembly, and
made an order removing James C. Moody from the office
of a judge of the Circuit Court of St. Louis county, and
have filed the same in the office of the Secretary of State.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MABCH 9, 1867
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 410
STATE OF MISSOUBI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, JEFFERSON CITY,
March 9, 1867.
WHEREAS, The two houses of the General Assembly of
the State of Missouri have, upon charges and specifications
found in due form of law, and in accordance with the pro-
visions of the Constitution of the State, section 19, article 6,
declared James C. Moody, Judge of the St. Louis Circuit
Court, guilty of the matters and things alleged in said
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 235
charges and specifications, and have, according to the
provisions of the law in such case made and provided,
adopted in both houses an address to the Governor of this
State, requesting him to remove said James C. Moody
from his office of judge of the Circuit Court of St. Louis
county;
Now, in pursuance of the request made by the two
houses of the General Assembly of this State, as above set
forth, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of the State of
Missouri, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Con-
stitution of this State, under article 6, section 19, and the
statutes in such case made and provided, do hereby remove
James C. Moody from his office of judge of the Circuit
Court of St. Louis county, and declare the commission and
authority of the said James C. Moody as judge vacated
and revoked.
THO. C. FLETCHER,
Governor of Missouri.
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
JANUARY 17, 1868
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 7J+-75
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF MISSOUKI, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 17, 1868.
Senators and Representatives:
In obedience to the requirements of the 14th section
of the act provided for the sale of certain railroads, ap-
proved February 19, 1866, I have taken possession of the
St. Louis and Iron Mountain railroad, and have appointed
an agent and a superintendent to operate it until the Gen-
eral Assembly shall otherwise dispose of the same.
This road was sold by the State, under the act referred
to, upon the following expressed terms and conditions:
236 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
First. The purchaser was bound to pay one-fourth of
the purchase money at the time of sale, and the balance
in five equal installments, payable annually, with interest
on the deferred payments.
Second. The road was to be finished to a point south
of Pilot Knob, to connect with the line of the Cairo and
Fulton railroad, in three years, and to the Mississippi river,
opposite or below Columbus, Kentucky, in five years.
Third. The purchaser was bound to expend, in each
and every year, between the date of sale and the comple-
tion of the road, at least five hundred thousand dollars in
the work of graduation, masonry, or superstructure on said
extension.
Fourth. An annual statement of expenditures should
be made under oath by the treasurer and two directors of
the road, and be filed with the Secretary of State.
Fifth. Any failure on the part of the purchaser to pay
the purchase money, or to expend the sums of money
stipulated to be annually expended, should work a for-
feiture of the road, its franchises, rolling stock, appurte-
nances, and other property, both real and personal, to the
State of Missouri; and the Governor should, in such case,
proceed at once to take possession of the same, without the
aid of any writ or process of law.
The purchaser of this road has failed to pay the annual
installment of purchase money due on the first day of
January, 1868. He has failed to expend the sum of five
hundred thousand dollars in the work of graduation,
masonry, or superstructure of the extension of the road,
and he has failed to file a statement of expenditures, under
oath, as required by the contract and by the fifth section of
the act referred to.
The recent owner of this road has expended considerable
sums of money for material and for purposes necessary in
the extension of the road, which is not included in grading,
masonry, and superstructure. He has manifested a dis-
position to build a road to Belmont, and having put his
private means, to a large amount, in the enterprise, he is
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 237
entitled to a liberal consideration of any proposition (con-
sistent with the interests of the State) he may submit to
redeem the property, or to be preferred as the purchaser
at any sale of it you may make.
The money with which railroads are built in this
country is always borrowed for the purpose. It can only
be had on first mortgage bonds. The bonds which a pur-
chaser, under the act of February 19, 1866, could issue for
building a railroad \vere subject to a lien for the first, sec-
ond, and third stipulations of the contract as above set
forth, and were therefore, in fact, only a fourth lien on the
road built and to be built. It is no matter of surprise to
me that, under these circumstances, both the roads sold
under that act are forfeited to the State.
I will not repeat what I have so recently said, in my
last message, in reference to the importance of building this
road, but submit this great interest of the State to your
action, with the earnest recommendation that you will
avail yourselves of the recovery of title and possession of
the same to take such measures as will secure its completion
within the shortest time possible.
In whatever disposition may be made of the St. Louis
and Iron Mountain railroad, I hope that the Cairo and
Fulton road will be made a part of it in every legal aspect,
and no redemption of the Iron Mountain road should be
permitted unless the purchaser is bound for compliance
with the terms of the purchase of the Cairo and Fulton road.
In any future sale of this road, or in case its redemp-
tion is permitted, such power should be reserved to the
Legislature as to prevent it from becoming a monopoly
oppressive upon the people in its tariffs and general manage-
ment. It should also be made, after its completion, to
yield a small per centage, not exceeding two per cent., of
its gross earnings to the State, in addition to the same
taxes the property of other citizens is liable to pay.
THO. C. FLETCHER.
238 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 18, 1868
From the Journal of Executive Business, p. 89
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 18, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir 1 have appointed Benjamin R. Bomier fund Com-
missioner for the North Missouri Railroad and respectfully
ask the Senate to confirm the appointment.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
JANUARY 20, 1868
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 85
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 20, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I herewith transmit to the General Assembly the
report of Col. Wm. J. Dougherty, Paymaster General.
Also, the report of the President and Secretary of the
Missouri Collegiate and Military Institute.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
JANUARY 20, 1868
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 85-91
Senators and Representatives:
In my message addressed to you on the 8th inst., I
briefly stated the facts in reference to the seizure by
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 239
me of the Southwest Pacific railroad, and announced my
intention of communicating, specially, my views in refer-
ence to it. I was influenced to this course by considerations
of the importance of the subject and the length of a com-
munication which will embrace all the questions deemed by
me proper to discuss under the circumstances surrounding
this long deferred and greatly desired road.
For the construction of a railroad from St. Louis to
the western boundary of the State there was granted to
the State of Missouri, by act of Congress of the 10th
June, 1852, every alternate section of land, designated by
even numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said
railroad; and for all or any part of the sections, designated
by even numbers, which had been sold by the United States,
or on which pre-emptions had been made before the date of
the act, the State was permitted to select an equal quantity
from any sections designated by even numbers within fif-
teen miles of the line of the road.
It was further provided by the same act that the land
remaining to the United States "within six miles on each
side of said road, shall not be sold for less than double the
minimum price of the public land when sold.'*
It was further provided by the same act that the land
so granted should be subject to the disposal of the Legis-
lature for the purposes stated in the act, and no other.
The Legislature, by an act entitled "an act to accept
a grant of land made to the State of Missouri by the Con-
gress of the United States to aid in the construction of
certain railroads in this State, and to apply a portion thereof
to the Pacific railroad," approved December 25, 1852,
vested all the rights acquired by the State under the act
of Congress referred to, so far as the same was applicable
to the construction of a railroad from St. Louis to the
western boundary of the State, in the Pacific railroad.
The same act authorizes the building of the "Southwest
Branch of the Pacific railroad," now known as the South-
west Pacific railroad.
240 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
The land set apart to the Southwest Branch road com-
mences four miles west of the range line which divides
ranges one and two west of the fifth principal meridian,
extending to the western boundary of the State, and em-
braced, at the time the Pacific railroad surrendered it to
the State, one million seventeen thousand six hundred and
eighty-two acres unsold.
The "act to secure the completion of certain railroads
in this State," which became a law on the 10th of December,
1855, authorized the Pacific railroad to mortgage the South-
west Branch, and to include in the mortgage all the lands
vested in it for the building of the road, for an amount not
exceeding ten million dollars, and required the Governor to
indorse the guarantee of the State on three millions of
bonds for building the first division of the road, from Frank-
lin to a point twenty-five miles west of the mouth of Little
Piney.
On the 3d of March, 1857, the last-named act was
amended so as to require the Governor to indorse the
guarantee of the State on four million five hundred thousand
dollars of the bonds of the Pacific railroad for the South-
west Branch, bearing seven per cent, interest. This was
done; and afterward, by a supplemental act passed 19th of
November, 1857, and by an "act concerning the bonds of
the Pacific railroad guaranteed by the State," approved
March 2d, 1861, the holders of the bonds were given the
privilege of exchanging them for State bonds. There now
remain fifteen hundred and eighty-nine of these bonds
unexchanged, and they constitute a valid and subsisting
first' mortgage on the Southwest Pacific railroad, and on all
the land set apart to aid the building of that road, for one
million five hundred and eighty-nine thousand dollars.
By the terms of this mortgage there was reserved to the
Pacific railroad the right of selling the land, and it was
stipulated that upon the payment to the State Treasurer
of the purchase money for any of the land so sold he should
join in the deed, and such deed should constitute a perfect
title to the land conveyed.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 241
The twenty-eighth section of the act authorizing this
mortgage provided that in case of certain defaults of the
Pacific railroad the Southwest Branch should, by mere
operation of law, become the property of the State. De-
fault was made, it became the property of the State and was
taken possession of by me, the Pacific railroad yielding up
all the rights of redemption, or otherwise, it had ever ac-
quired to the road and the lands, the State thereby be-
coming possessed of all the rights of the mortgagor, includ-
ing the power to sell and convey, free of any lien of the
mortgage, all or any of the lands referred to, in the manner
provided by the mortgage.
The road now built and to be built cannot be sold by
the State, free of the mortgage mentioned, and the holders
of the 11,589,000 of guaranteed bonds have a first lien upon
it for the payment of their bonds. It was with a view to
get rid of this lien, as well as to save the State the difference
in interest, that 1 proposed, in my message at the com-
mencement of your session, to consolidate all our out-
standing indebtedness into six per cent, bonds. This
could have been done before the resumption of the payment
of interest, but the holders of the seven per cent, bonds
would not now exchange them.
In the act providing for the sale of this and other
roads, passed 19th of February, 1866, the State assumes the
payment of these bonds, but the lien to the bondholders is
a subsisting one, and cannot be affected by any act to which
their assent is not given. The faith of the State is pledged
for the payment of principal and interest of these bonds as
they fall due.
I am informed that this last-named company at-
tempted to sell about 18,478 acres of land, but only a small
portion of it, I presume, was sold to actual settlers. The
aggregate of the sales thus attempted to be made was
$100,714.25, of which about $36,000 was paid to that
company by the purchasers. The Atlantic and Pacific
Railroad Company had only such title as it acquired from
General Fremont, and he could only give such title as he
242 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
had acquired by his purchase from the State. The title
he derived from the State was subject to the lien for the
seven per cent, bonds mentioned, to the lien of the State
for the purchase price which he agreed to pay for the road
and the land, and also to the lien of the State for a com-
pliance with his contract to extend the road.
While I recommend that protection be afforded the
persons who had innocently and in good faith purchased
land from the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, and
had settled upon and improved the same before the 15th day
of June, 1867, I see no propriety in relieving speculators of
any of their misfortunes resulting from purchasing bad
titles to land, of the claim of the State, to which they had
legal notice.
I need not here repeat the views so often expressed
as to the importance of this road to Southwest Missouri
and to the interests of the State generally. The natural
advantages presented by the soil, climate, minerals, and
water power of the southwestern counties are attracting
thither immigration by the thousands. The people of that
portion of the State are without any means of communi-
cation with markets for their surplus productions; notwith-
standing this, an immigration is fast settling up the lands
of the southwestern counties that are subject to settlement
and purchase.
In the selection of the land granted by the act of Con-
gress, there was taken, east of Laclede county, only the
unentered land of the sections designated by even numbers
within the limit of six miles on each side of the line of the
proposed road; while selections were made in the more
western countries, in better agricultural districts for all
the deficit in quantity, thus spreading out a belt of thirty
miles in width, in which all the good land of the sections
designated by even numbers, and at that date unsold by
the United States, was secured to aid the building of a rail-
road, but which was thereby denied to the immigrant seek-
ing a home for himself and his family, and who was pre-
vented from adding the land and the labor and capital he
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 243
would expend upon it to the taxable wealth of the State.
I cannot refrain from expressing the belief that if this land
had not been held from sale and settlement by the grant of it
to aid the building of a railroad, it would have been so gen-
erally settled upon and improved that the population,
wealth, and influence of the southwest counties would have
thereby been so largely increased that the road would now
have been built at least to Springfield.
It is not this grant alone which has prevented the more
dense population of that portion of the State. Congress
more recently passed an act granting to the Atlantic and
Pacific railroad every alternate section of land designated
by odd numbers, for forty miles in width, from Springfield
westward; and it, too, is withdrawn from sale.
The Atlantic and Pacific railroad has floating liabilities
to the amount of $450,000.00, all of which was incurred on
account of the Southwest Pacific railroad. Of this sum there
is due to laborers and to contractors, for money paid to
laborers, upward of fifty thousand dollars. In any dis-
position you may make of the road, some provision should
be made for paying these contractors and laborers for work
actually done.
It is impossible that men of enterprise and capital will
fail to see the value of the franchises of the Atlantic and
Pacific railroad. If the route of the Union Pacific railway
should diverge southward from Pond creek to the 35th
parallel of latitude, this road would undoubtedly be built
to connect with it at Albuquerque. The land granted is
unusually great in quantity per mile, and is of a valuable
quality the whole distance from Springfield to Albuquerque;
and the building of this road will so materially lessen the
distance by rail from San Francisco to St. Louis and New
York that I cannot doubt that it will ultimately be built.
Taking into consideration the small amount of work
done by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company,
and the amount of floating debt it is now liable for,
it would appear that the company had no capital of con-
sequence at any time, and has grossly mismanaged its af-
244 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
fairs. The whole of the work done by this company, in
extending the Southwest Pacific railroad is estimated by
competent civil engineers to be actually worth less than its
floating debt. These evidences of want of financial ability
in the management of the affairs of the company leave no
hope that this company, as at present organized, will ever
be able to build the road, or any part of it.
This road should be so disposed of as to secure its early
extension to the State line. The act providing for the sale
of this and other roads, passed 19th of February, 1866, will
not admit of any person of reasonable ability accomplishing
the desired object To induce men of enterprise to under-
take to build it, the terms of the contract must be so
liberalized on the part of the State as to give confidence
and security to capitalists.
It is not only necessary to find parties who will under-
take to build this road, but to get men who have such knowl-
edge of the subject as to fully estimate what they engage
to do, and how to provide the means to carry to a successful
termination an enterprise of such magnitude.
Money cannot be had for railroad bonds unless they
are a first lien; and even when bonds are thus secured for a
new enterprise, it is very difficult to sell them in the stock
market in competition with United States securities and
bonds of an established value, which afford opportunity
for investment the safety of which requires no investi-
gation.
The parties who may engage to build the road must,
in order to succeed, have the completed portion of the road,
and that which is hereafter to be built, free of any lien or
incumbrance. This can only be done after the $1,589,000
of outstanding guaranteed bonds of the Pacific railroad are
redeemed. The opportunity to force the holders of these
bonds to exchange them for six per cent. State bonds, with-
out doing great injury to the credit of the State, is past.
The undertaking by the State, by the act for the sale of
this and other railroads, approved February 19, 1866, to
hold the purchaser of the road harmless from them does
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 245
not render them any the less a first lien on the road built
and to be built. They become due from 1876 to 1880,
except 140, which are due in 1890, 1891, and 1892. It will
be necessary to make it to the interest of the holders of
these bonds to exchange them for State bonds.
No reliable party will, in my opinion, be willing to pay
the State anything of consequence for the finished portion
of the road, and be bound to complete it within a reasonable
time. While I recommend that the road be given away to
secure its completion, and that it be given free of all liens,
I also recommend that you provide for carefully guarding
the proceeds of the sale of any bonds that may be secured
by a lien on the road, and the application of such proceeds
to its construction. This can be done by the appointment
of a fund commissioner, who alone shall have power to
receive the proceeds of the sale of any construction bonds,
and who shall be held to a strict accountability to pay out
money derived from that source for graduation, masonry,
and superstructure of the extension of the road, and on no
other account; or the same object may be accomplished by
requiring security to be given for the completion of the
road to certain points within a specified time.
If the Legislature shall fail to pass such a law as will
enable parties of reasonable ability to build this road if
the policy of holding such liens and liabilities to forfeitures
over it as to prevent such parties from raising money to
build it is persevered in then, in order that this land grant
shall no longer be a cause of preventing the settlement of
the southwestern counties, I would recommend the sale
of all the land granted to the State by the act of Congress
of the 10th of June, 1852, to aid the construction of a rail-
road from St. Louis to the western boundary of the State;
that the same be offered at public sale by the Register of
Lands, and be sold at not less than such minimum price
as you may fix by law, and that the proceeds of such sales
be held by the State Treasurer, to be applied in aid of the
construction of the Southwest railroad, in such manner as
you may by law direct. These lands are valuable, and
246 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
while they will yield a sum which will go far toward building
the road, they are not regarded among eastern capitalists
(who do not appreciate their value) as a sufficient security
upon which to advance the money necessary to build the
road.
Population is a greater inducement for which to build
a railroad than vacant lands. Population makes business;
business creates a necessity for railroads, and always finds
the means to build them.
From a personal knowledge of these lands, I estimate
the proceeds of their sale at certainly not less than four
millions of dollars, and believe that half that sum can be
realized from them within one year, and the whole sum in
two years.
It cannot be objected that this is not the manner of
applying the grant to the purpose contemplated by the
act of Congress. The grant is a perfect one the title is
complete in the State. It was not a gift by the United States.
The minimum price of the lands of the United States was
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and the act of
Congress provided that all the sections designated by even
numbers should be granted to the State, and for the sections
designated by odd numbers two dollars and fifty cents per
acre should be the minimum price; and the people of
Missouri have bought almost all of it at that price. They
have expended four million five hundred thousand dollars
in building the road for which this grant was made. The
State has also expended seven millions of dollars in building
another road "to the western line of the State," which was,
in fact, the consideration of the grant by Congress, and is
substantially a compliance with the conditions of the
grant. The United States cannot, with any semblance of
justice, claim a reversion of this land under any circum-
stances that may hereafter arise.
I suggest that, in any disposition you may make of
this road, there be reserved the right to the State to regu-
late the rate of charges for carrying freight and passengers,
and that a penalty be annexed for exceeding such rates.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 247
It is not an inappropriate occasion to add, in this connec-
tion, that so far as you have power over the several rail-
roads, by existing circumstances, this right ought to be
reserved to the Legislature, and thus as fully as possible
provide for the protection of the people from exorbitant
charges on the part of these corporations, which have a
monopoly of a business that might be used to the great
detriment of the people.
The present is perhaps also the best occasion that may
be presented for requiring (in all cases where it legally may
be done) of all railroads a small annual tribute to the State,
which would be so insignificant in amount as not to inter-
fere with the profitable operation of the roads, but would,
in the aggregate, ultimately grow to be a sum sufficient to
carry on the State government without the levy of any
taxes on the people for State purposes.
PRE-EMPTIONS.
The act of Congress making the grant, authorized the
selection, by the State, of other land in lieu of any land to
which pre-emption had attached.
The seventh section of the act of the Legislature of
25th of December, 1852, gave to every person who was, on
the tenth day of June, 1852, the owner of an improvement
on any of the land that might be selected under the grant
the right to purchase the same at two dollars and fifty cents
per acre; provided such owner should file in the circuit clerk's
office of the county a notice to the railroad company of
such claim within four months after the selection of the
land by the railroad. By the act of 30th of March, 1855,
the time for filing this notice was extended to the 1st of
January, 1856, and the pre-emptions were made transferable.
An act supplemental to the last mentioned act gave to
persons who, before the 3d of March, 1855, had innocently
in good faith settled on any of the land so granted outside
of the six miles specified in the act of Congress the right
to exchange neighboring land for the land so occupied.
248 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
This right to actual settlers was reaffirmed by the seven-
teenth section of the act of 10th of December, 1855, entitled
"an act to secure the completion of certain railroads in this
State."
On the 12th of December, 1855, an act was passed "to
loan two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Pacific
railroad," the sixth section of which gave to every person
who, after the 10th of June, 1862, became the owner of an
improvement on any of this land made prior to that date,
the same rights given owners of such improvements by the
seventh section of the act of 25th December, 1852, above
referred to, and gave time until the 1st of September, 1856,
to file notice of such claim.
The 22d section of the act of 3d of March, 1857, de-
clared all claimants under former acts giving pre-emptions
to be entitled to one hundred and sixty acres of land in a
body, if so much has been claimed.
The act of 19th of February, 1866, directing the sale
of certain railroads, and the supplementary act thereto,
passed March 19, 1866, required the Pacific railroad to
account for and pay over to the State Treasurer all money
received for pre-empted lands, and directed the State
Treasurer to make deeds therefor.
There are a great many of these claims. Many of the
parties have paid a portion on their land, and some have
paid in full. Hundreds of settlers have been annoyed by
apprehensions of the validity of the titles to their homes.
I recommend that an act be passed authorizing the
adjustment of these claims under the law, by the Attorney
General or some competent person to be appointed a com-
missioner for that purpose. The Register of Lands should
be required, upon the report of the Attorney General or
the commissioner, to prepare a patent for the claim of each
settler, to be executed by the Governor and the State
Treasurer on the payment into the State treasury of the
purchase price fixed by law, or the production of satisfac-
tory evidence that the same has been paid to the Pacific
railroad. Similar provisions should also be made for the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHEB 249
benefit of actual settlers who purchased any of this land
from the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company before
the 14th of June, 1867.
THO. C. FLETCHER.
Executive Office, January 20, 1868.
TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 29, 1868
From the Journal of the House of Representatives, p. 168
STATE OP MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
January 29, 1868.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:
Sir I herewith transmit a report of the Adjutant
General of the State of Missouri, including his reports as
Acting Quartermaster General and Acting Paymaster Gen-
eral, made in compliance with House resolution, adopted
January 24, 1868.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 11, 1868
From the Journal of Executive Business, pp. 89-90
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 11, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have appointed and respectfully askHhe Senate
to confirm Otto Landemann as a member of the Board of
Police Commissioners of St. Louis.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
250 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
FEBKUAKY 13, 1868
From the Journal of Executive Business, p. 90
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 13, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have appointed the following named gentle-
men as members of the board of managers of the State
Lunatic Asylum:
Dr. Wesley Humphreys of Audrain Co.
William H. Thomas of Callaway Co.
Charles H. Hughes of Audrain Co.
John P. Clark of Audrain Co.
Dr. Charles W. Stevens of St. Louis Co., and respect-
fully ask the Senate to confirm the said appointments.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 14> 1868
From the Journal oj Executive Business, p. 91
STATE OF Missotmi, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
February 14, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir 1 hereby nominate and ask the advice and con-
sent of the Senate to commission the following named
persons trustee of the Missouri institution for the Educa-
tion of the blind.
Samuel J. Nichols of St. Louis.
Irwin Z. Smith of St. Louis.
Stephen Ringly of St. Louis.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 251
TO THE SENATE
FEBRUARY 28, 1868
From the Journal of the Senate, p,
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF MISSOURI, CITY OF JEFFERSOH,
February 28, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I have this day approved joint resolution paying
the managers in the matter of the address for the removal
of Judge Moody, which resolution originated in the Senate.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 21, 1868
From the Journal of Executive Business, pp. 9&-9S
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 21, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I ask the advice and consent of the Senate to the
appointment of the following named persons as Superin-
tendents of Registration for the following named Senatorial
districts:
For the 2nd Senatorial District Oscar Kirkham
For the 3rd Senatorial District Anthony Harsells
For the 4th Senatorial District Anson B. Mills
For the 6th Senatorial District Francis M. McGinnis
For the 7th Senatorial District Charles F. Mayo
For the 8th Senatorial District David Wells
For the 9th Senatorial District L. M. Conklin
For the 10th Senatorial District Wm. H, Maertens
For the llth Senatorial District Dan. M. Draper
For the 14th Senatorial District Thomas Phelan
For the 15th Senatorial District Henry Berry
252 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
For the 16th Senatorial District M. G. McGregor
For the 17th Senatorial District Bacon Montgomery
For the 20th Senatorial District A. F. Lewis
For the 22nd Senatorial District Horace Wilcox
For the 23rd Senatorial District Samuel A. Reppy
For the 28th Senatorial District. . ... . .Andrew P. McKee
For Saint Louis County Edward Augustine
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 21, 1868
From the Journal of Executive Business, pp. 93-94
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 21, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I ask the advice and consent of the Senate to the
appointment of the following named persons as Superin-
tendents of Registration for the following named districts.
For the Twelfth district Wm. T. Kays
For the Eighteenth district E. H. Benhem
For the Twenty-sixth district Charles F. Bruihl
For the Twenty-fourth district James F. Foster
For the Nineteenth district James Abbott
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 253
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 21, 1868
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 528-529
STATE OP MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 21, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I am in receipt of a resolution of the Senate in-
quiring "why Senate bill No. 30, entitled an act to carry
into effect section 24 of article 6 of the constitution of the
State of Missouri, in relation to fees and emoluments of the
clerks of courts, has not been delivered to the Secretary of
State as a law of the State."
I respectfully state that the bill mentioned was not
approved by me, and remained ten days, Sundays excepted,
in my hands. The constitution does not designate a time
in which, under such circumstances, the Governor shall
deposit a bill with the Secretary of State. Chapter 5,
General Statutes, "of the authentication, taking effect.,
and repeal of statutes," which in the second section directs
the manner in which such bills shall be certified, does not
direct the time in which such bills shall be delivered to the
Secretary of State, and it was, therefore, my opinion that
such delivery of bills to the Secretary of State at the close
of the session would be sufficient. My attention has since
been directed to chapter 7, "of the custody, publication, and
distribution of the laws and journals," the first section of
which chapter would fairly imply that immediately after
the expiration of ten days, during which a bill may have
remained with the Governor, he should deliver it to the
Secretary of State, and upon that construction of the law
I shall hereafter act.
The bill mentioned in the resolution of the Senate has
been delivered to the Secretary of State, with all other bills
which I have, withheld my approval.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
254 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
TO THE SENATE
MAECH 23, 1868
From the Journal of Executive Business, p. 9S
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 23, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I ask the advice and consent of the Senate to the
following named persons as Superintendents of Registration
for the following named Senatorial districts.
For the 5th Senatorial District Robert S. Moore
For the 13th Senatorial District Perry D. Popeno
For the 27th Senatorial District Marshal W. Johnson
For the 25th Senatorial District Thomas S. Rhoades
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 23, 1868
From the Journal of Executive Business, p. 94
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
March 23, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir I ask the advice and consent of the Senate to the
appointment of the following named persons as Superin-
tendents of Registration for the following named Senatorial
districts.
For the twenty-first district J. K. Kild
For the first district John H. Davis
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 255
TO THE SENATE
MARCH 24, 1868
From the Journal of the Senate, pp. 530-531
EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, STATE OF Missouai, CITY OF JEFFEESON,
March 24, 1868.
To the President of the Senate:
Sir In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, I
herewith return a bill entitled an act to establish a court
of common pleas within and for the county of Macon, State
of Missouri.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
TO THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRE-
SENTATIVES
JANTTABY 11, 1869
From the Journal of the Senate, p. 4
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OP JEFFEBSON,
January 11, 1869.
Senators and Representatives:
I herewith transmit the report of Brevet Brigadier
General Samuel P. Simpson, as Adjutant General, Acting
Quartermaster General and Acting Paymaster General of
Missouri, for the years 1867 and 1868.
Respectfully,
THO. C. FLETCHER.
256 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
PROCLAMATIONS
ON EMANCIPATION
JANUARY 11, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp. 148-144
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON, Mo.,
January 11, 1865.
It having pleased Divine Providence to inspire to
righteous action the Sovereign People of Missouri, who
through their Delegates in Convention assembled, with
proper legal authority and solemnity, have this day or-
dained.
That hereafter in this State there shall be neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment of
crime, whereof the party shall be duly convicted; and all
persons held to service or labor as slaves, are hereby de-
clared free.
Now therefore by authority of the supreme power
vested in me by the Constitution of Missouri:
I Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of the State of Missouri
do proclaim:
That henceforth and forever, no person within the
limits of the State shall be subject to any abridgement of
liberty except such as the law may prescribe for the common
good, or Know any master but God.
In Testimony Whereof I have hereunto signed my
name, and caused the Great Seal of the State
(SEAL) to be affixed at the City of Jefferson this Eleventh
day of January A. D. Eighteen hundred and
Sixty five.
THOMAS C. FLETCHER.
By the Governor
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secretary of State
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 257
ON THE RESTORATION OF PEACE AND ORDER
MARCH 7, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1 868 , pp. 155-156
EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEKSON, Mo.,
March 7, 1865.
WHEREAS, there no longer exists, within the State of
Missouri, any organized force of the enemies of the Govern-
ment of the United States, recognized as entitled to the
usages of war among civilized Nations; and WHEREAS, The
supremacy of the Civil law, is the desire of all good citizens;
its protection to those, who obey it, and its infliction of
Known and just punishments, on those who violate it,
the ends for which Governments are established; and the
restoration of its power the sole purpose of the armed forces
of the United States and the State of Missouri
Now THEREFORE I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of the
State of Missouri, and Commander in Chief of the Missouri
Militia, desiring to -give to every Citizen an opportunity
of uniting with the Civil Authorities for the restoration of
peace and order on the basis of the administration of Justice
as embodied in the Civil law, before the Commencement of
active operations by the Military force now being organized
to effect the common Object, do invite all men, who have
not made themselves infamous by crime, to unite together
for the support of the Authority of the Officers of the law,
and to make common cause against whomsoever shall
persist in making, aiding or encouraging any description of
lawlessness. and I request hereby all judges and justices
of the peace, within the State of Missouri, to hold regular
terms of their Courts, and to exercise all the authority in
them, vested by law for the protection of the lives and
property of the people and the preservation of the peace
of the State, and to these ends not only to exercise the
authority, conferred upon them by the laws of the State,
but also, when necessary, to use the power given them,
under the National Statutes, to arrest and bind to keep the
258 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
peace or for trial, or commit to jail, as the circumstances may
require, all offenders against the Criminal laws of the United
States Courts; and all judicial and ministerial officers of the
law are requested to apply to the nearest military district
or post commanders for such escort, guards or military
force as may be necessary to enable them to effect these
objects.
In Testimony Whereof I Thomas C. Fletcher,
Governor as aforesaid, have hereunto set my
hand, and caused to be affixed the Great Seal
of the State of Missouri. Done at the City of
Jefferson, this seventh day of March in the year
(L.S.) of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and sixty
five of the Independence of the United States
the eighty ninth, and of the State of Missouri
the forty fifth.
THOS. C. FLETCHER.
By the Governor
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secy, of State
RECOMMENDING A DAY OF FASTING, HUMILIA-
TION AND PRAYER
MAECH 7, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp. 182-188
CITY OF JEFFEBSON, March. 7, 1865.
As an appropriate national expression of the great
sorrow overshadowing our country since the late loved and
honored Chief Magistrate was stricken down by the coward
hand of an assassin instigated and hired by the chiefs of
the rebellion which has spread woe and desolation through-
out the land and brought mourning to every household,
and in conformity with the request of the President of the
United States, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of the
State of Missouri, do hereby appoint Thursday, the first
day of June, A. D. 1865, and recommend that the same
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 259
be set apart as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer,
throughout the State of Missouri; that on that day appro-
priate services be held in all the churches, and that in con-
triteness of spirit the people everywhere bow themselves
before the throne of Almighty God, and seek forgiveness
for our manifold sins as a nation and as individuals, sup-
plicate His sustaining grace in our national affliction, and
pray that peace may again reign throughout our borders.
In Testimony \\ 'hereof, I, Thomas C. Fletcher,
Governor as aforesaid, have hereunto set my
hand, and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of
the State of Missouri.
Done at the City of Jefferson, this seventh day of
(Seal) March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
Eight Hundred and Sixty Five; of the Inde-
pendence of the United States the Eighty Ninth;
and of the State of Missouri the Forty Fifth.
THO C. FLETCHER.
By the Governor
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secrety of State.
ON A DAY OF THANKSGIVING
APPIL 10, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp. 166-167
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF JEFFEKSON,
April 10, 1865.
WHEREAS an earnest of speedy peace to our war dis-
tracted country has been given in the recent successes of
the nation's brave army under the guidance and protection
of Almighty God; and for this hope of Peace and the early
restoration of the authority of the Constitution and laws of
the United States over the whole land, it becomes us to
give thanks to the Giver of all good;
Now, THEREFORE, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor
of the State of Missouri, do hereby earnestly recommend
260 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
that Saturday, the fifteenth day of April instant, be ob-
served throughout Missouri, by all good citizens, as a day
of Thanksgiving to God who giveth the victory to Truth
and Justice, that on that day the People, regardless of all
differences of opinion in the past, meet in their respective
places of worship, and unite in religious exercises; that the
evening of the day be marked by large assemblies to be
addressed by patriotic speakers; and that amid bonfires
illuminations and resounding salutes of artillery, they testify
their appreciation of the heroism of the Army of the Union
in the re-establishment of the national authority in Rich-
mond, the seat of the insurgent power, the capture of the
Army of Northern Virginia, and of the manifestation of a
disposition on the part of men in authority to stay the
effusion of the blood of America's brave men.
In Testimony Whereof, I, Thomas C. Fletcher,
Governor as aforesaid have hereunto set my
hand and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of
(Seal) the State of Missouri.
Done in the City of Jefferson this tenth day of
April, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty five, of the Independence
of the United States the eighty ninth, and of
the State of Missouri the forty fifth.
THO. C. FLETCHER.
By the Governor
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secty of State.
ON DECLARING CERTAIN COMMISSIONS
VACATED
APBIL 15, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, p. 171
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPABTMENT, CITY OF JEFFERSON,
April 15, 1865.
By virtue of the authority conferred on me by law, I do
hereby declare all commissions issued to persons residing
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 261
in any of the States or Territories of the United States or
foreign countries, as Commissioners of deeds for the State
of Missouri prior to the first day of January A. D. Eighteen
hundred and sixty five, vacated from and after the fourth
day of July next. In all cases where a reappointment is
desired a recommendation by one or more of the State
officers of the state in which the applicant resides must ac-
company his application.
In Testimony V\ hereof I Thos C. Fletcher, Gov-
ernor of the State of Missouri have hereunto
set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the
(Seal) State to be hereunto affixed.
Done at the City of Jefferson this fifteenth day
of April A. D. 1865 and of the Independence of
the United States the Eighty ninth and of the
State of Missouri the forty fifth.
THOS C. FLETCHER.
By the Governor
FRANCIS RODMAN Secretary of State.
OFFERING A REWARD
JUNE 3, 1865
From the Register oj Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, p. 189
WHEREAS our State is still infested with murderers and
outlaws, who have heretofore eluded the vigilance of the
civil and military authorities and
"V, HEREAS foremost among them stands one Saml.
Helderbrand [Hildebrand] a Notorious Brigand and Mur-
derer who has since the 1st day of June A. D. 1861, killed
several citizens of this State and committed numerous
robberies and other violations of law, and
WHEREAS this Samuel Helderbrand is still at large
committing robberies and murder upon citizens in the South-
east part of this State.
262 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
Now THEREFORE I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of the
State of Missouri, for good reasons appearing and by virtue
of authority in me vested do hereby offer a reward of Three
hundred dollars, for the arrest and delivery of the body of
the said Samuel Helderbrand, either to the civil or military
authorities at Pilot Knob or Farmington Missouri.
In Testimony Whereof, I, Thomas C. Fletcher,
Governor of the State of Missouri, have here-
unto set my hand and caused the Great Seal
(Seal) of the State to be affixed. Done at the City of
Jefferson, Missouri this third day of June A.
D. 1865, of the Independence of the United
States the Eighty Ninth and of the State of
Missouri the forty fifth.
By the Governor: THO C. FLETCHER.
FRANCIS RODMAN, Sect'y of State.
DECLARING NEW CONSTITUTION ADOPTED
JULY 1, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp. 194-195
STATE OF MISSOURI, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OP JEFFERSON,
July 1, 1865.
WHEREAS on the sixth day of January one thousand
eight hundred and sixty five, a Convention of Representa-
tives of the people of the State of Missouri, elected in pur-
suance of law, assembled in the city of St. Louis for the pur-
pose of amending the Constitution of said State; which
Convention did, on the eight day of April in said year adopt
a Revised and Amended Constitution for said State.
And WHEREAS, in and by the second section of the
thirteenth Article of the said Revised and Amended Con-
stitution it was provided that an election by the qualified
voters of this State should be held on the sixth day of June
one thousand eight hundred and sixty five at the several
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 263
election precincts in this State and elsewhere, for the pur-
pose of ascertaining the sense of the people in regard to the
adoption or rejection of the said Constitution, and provi-
sion was made in said Section for taking and counting the
votes of such qualified voters of this State as should then be
absent from the places of their residence, by reason of their
being in military service of the United States or of this
State, whether they should be in or out of this State
And WHEREAS, in and by the provisions of the said
thirteenth Article of the said Revised and Amended Con-
stitution, it was required, that the returns of said election
should be certified to the Secretary of State, and that on
the first day of July next ensuing said election, the Secretary
of State should, in presence of the Governor, the Attorney
General or the State Auditor, proceed to examine, and cast
up the returns of the votes taken at said election and cer-
tified to him including those of persons in the military service;
and if it should appear, that a majority of all the votes cast
at the said election were in favor of the Constitution, the
Governor should issue his proclamation stating that fact
and the said Constitution should on the Fourth day of said
month of July be the Constitution of the State of Missouri.
And WHEREAS, on the said first day of July, the said
Secretary of State did, in presence of the Governor and the
State Auditor proceed to examine and cast up the returns
of the votes taken at said election and certified to him, in-
cluding those of persons in the military service; when it
appeared upon an accurate casting up of said returns that
there were Forty three thousand six hundred and seventy
(43670) votes in favor of said Constitution and Forty one
thousand eight hundred and eight (41808) votes against
said Constitution; and there being therefore a majority of
all the votes cast at said election in favor of said Constitu-
tion
Now therefore I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of the
State of Missouri, in pursuance of the authority vested in
me, as aforesaid, do by this my proclamation, declare and
make known, that the said revised and amended Constitu-
264 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
tion was, at said election, adopted by a majority of the votes
cast at said election, and that in pursuance of the provi-
sions therein contained it will take effect as the Constitu-
tion of the State of Missouri, on the fourth day of the present
month of July.
Given under my hand and the Great Seal of the
State of Missouri, at the City of Jefferson on the
(Great first day of July, in the year of our Lord one
Seal) thousand eight hundred and sixty five.
By the Governor: THO. C. FLETCHER.
FRANCIS RODMAN, Sec. of State.
MAKING KNOWN THE VOTE ON THE RAILROAD
QUESTION
JULY 7, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp. 197-198
WHEREAS the Representatives of the people of the
State of Missouri in Convention assembled did adopt on
the tenth day of April A. D. 1865 an ordinance, entitled:
"An Ordinance for the payment of Railroad and State in-
debtedness" and
WHEREAS said ordinance in accordance with its pro-
visions has been submitted to the vote of the people of the
State of Missouri on the sixth day of June A. D. 1865, and
also to the vote of the qualified voters of this State absent
from their residence by reason of their being in military
service of the United States or of the State of Missouri, as
provided by said ordinance and
WHEREAS the returns of said election were made at
the time, under the restrictions and in the manner as
prescribed in said ordinance and
WHEREAS in pursuance of said provisions the Secre-
tary of State did on the first day of July A. D. 1865, in the
presence of the Governor and the State Auditor proceed to
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 265
examine and cast up the returns of the votes taken at said
election and certified to him.
Now, THEREFORE, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor
of the State of Missouri, in pursuance of authority in me
vested by said ordinance do by this my proclamation, make
known, that upon an accurate casting up of said above men-
tioned returns, there appeared thirty-nine thousand and
sixty-seven votes for "Shall the Railroads pay their Bonds?
Yes" and twenty thousand nine hundred votes for: "Shall
the railroads pay their Bonds? No."
In Testimony Whereof I have hereunto set my hand
and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the
(Great State of Missouri: done at Jefferson City this
Seal) the seventh day of July in the year of our Lord,
1865 of the Independence of the United States
the Ninetieth and of the State of Missouri the
Forty fifth.
By the Governor: THO. C. FLETCHER.
FRANCIS RODMAN, Sec. of State.
OFFERING A REWARD
AUGUST 9, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp. 204-205
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, CITY OP JEFFERSON,
August 9, 1865.
WHEREAS Benjamin Jones, Alexander Manus and
Allen Conner on the night of the eighth of April did in the
County of Moniteau and State of Missouri murder
Hilderbrand, and
WHEREAS the said Benjamin Jones, Alexander Manus
and Allen Conner were arrested and lodged in the Jail of
the said County of Moniteau, from whence they were trans-
ferred to the jail of the County of Cole, in this State under
a change of venue, and
266 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
WHEREAS the said Benjamin Jones, Alexander Manus
and Allen Conner did escape from the jail of the said County
of Cole on the night of the 17th of July A. D. 1865 and
have not been arrested since and delivered to the Sheriff
of Cole County.
Now THEREFORE, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of
the State of Missouri, for good reasons appearing and by
virtue of authority in me vested by law do hereby offer a
reward of Two Hundred Dollars for the apprehension and
safe delivery to the Sheriff of Cole County, of each and every
one of the above named fugitives from justice.
Description of Fugitives.
Benjamin Jones is about five feet six or eight inches high ;
black hair; black eyes; dark skin; thin visage; high cheek
bones; of quick speech. No visible marks recollected, but
it is supposed, that he has the initials of his name marked
on one of his arms with indelible ink.
Alexander Manus is about five feet eight or nine inches
high: light hair and light complexion; light eyes; rather slow
in speech; looks down when spoken to; no marks visible.
Allen Conner is about six feet high; with light grey or
blue eyes; light complexion; slow in speech; speaks in a
long tone; shy, downcast look and rather stoop-shouldered.
In Testimony Whereof, I, Thomas C. Fletcher,
Governor of the State of Missouri, have here-
unto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of
(Great the State to be affixed: done at the City of
Seal) Jefferson, Mo., this ninth day of August A. D.
1865, of the Independence of the United States
the ninetieth and of the State of Missouri the
forty-fifth.
By the Governor: THO. C. FLETCHER.
FRNCIS RODMAN, Secty. of State.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 267
OFFERING A REWARD
OCTOBER 28, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, p. 217
WHEREAS it has come to my knowledge, that one
Timothy Bailey of the county of Mississippi in this State
has committed numerous robberies and other violations of
law, and
WHEREAS the said Timothy Bailey has been indicted
by the Grand Jurors of the State of Missouri for the County
of Mississippi for the crime of assault with intent to kill
one James Glenn and
WHEREAS it is shown by affidavits of reliable citizens,
that the said Timothy Bailey did on the fifth day of Sep-
tember A. D. 1864 murder one Turner M. Gardner, a
citizen of Mississippi County and also robbed one John A.
Gardner of Three hundred and twenty-seven dollars; and
WHEREAS the said Timothy Bailey has so far escaped
apprehension and is still at large and it has been reported
to me by the civil officers of Mississippi county that he is a
desperate character and cannot be apprehended and brought
to justice without much trouble and expense.
Now, THEREFORE, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor
of the State of Missouri, for good reasons appearing and by
virtue of authority vested in me by law, do hereby offer a
reward of Two Hundred and Fifty dollars for the arrest
and delivery of the body of the said Timothy Bailey to the
Sheriff of the County of Mississippi in the State of Missouri.
In Testimony Whereof I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of
Missouri to be affixed: done at the City of
Jefferson this Twenty-eighth day of October
(Seal) One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-five
of the Independence of the United States the
ninetieth and of the State of Missouri the forty-
fifth.
By the Governor: THO C. FLETCHER.
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secty. of State.
268 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
ON THANKSGIVING
NOVEMBER 15, 1865
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, p.
The coming month will close a year memorable in the
annals of OUT country, and full of rich blessings, for which
we should appropriately acknowledge our indebtedness to
the Providence of God.
The nation has triumphed in a struggle for its existence.
The oppressed have been given liberty. The hallowed
scenes of peace have succeeded the horrors of civil war, and
while we mourn our dead heroes, the living ones are returned
to us.
Abundant harvests have crowned the husbandman's
labors; the privileges of education and the benign influences
of Christianity have been continued; progress has been
made in art and science; we have been exempt from mortal
plagues; prosperity has blessed the marts of commerce;
we are at peace with all the world; and the future is replete
with promises as the present with blessings. Desiring to
perpetuate the good customs of our fathers, I hereby desig-
nate
Thursday, the seventh day of December, proximo, to
be observed in the State of Missouri as a day of public
thanksgiving and devout remembrance. I recommend that
the people abandon for the day their usual avocations, and,
assembling in their places of worship, engage in such re-
ligious solemnities as to them shall seem expressive of the
feelings of grateful hearts, and while we thus recognize and
acknowledge the goodness of God, and render thanks and
praise, let us not forget to share our abundance with the
widow and orphan, and him who bears decrepitude for the
nation's sake.
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 269
In Testimony V, hereof, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Gov-
ernor of the State of Missouri, have hereunto
set my hand, and caused to be affixed the Great
(L. S.) Seal of the State, at the City of Jefferson, this
fifteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord 1865, of the Independence of the .United
States of America the ninetieth, and of the
State of Missouri the forty-fifth.
By the Governor: THO. C. FLETCHER.
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secty. of State.
OFFERING A REWARD
JANUARY 9, 1866
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp.
WHEREAS, it has come to my knowledge that several
bills of indictment have been found by the Grand Jurors of
the State of Missouri for the County of Dent against one
James Jamison for committing the crimes of Grand Larceny
and Arson and
WHEREAS it appears from an order of the County Court
of Dent County that the said James Jamison has broken
from the custody of the lawful authorities and is still at
large in this State.
Now, THEREFORE, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of
the State of Missouri, for good reasons appearing and by virtue
of authority in me vested by law, do hereby offer a reward
of two hundred and fifty dollars for the apprehension and
delivery of the body of the said James Jamison to the Sheriff
of the County of Dent in the State of Missouri.
Description of the fugitive:
James Jamison is about six feet high, rather stoop
shouldered and will weigh one hundred and sixty pounds or
upwards; complexion fair, and his face and body marked
with smallpox; nose large, rather aquiline; eyes blue or
hazel; hair light; he smokes a good deal and is of taciturn
270 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
disposition; has been shot several times, and marks and
scars will be found on his back, one shoulder and thigh.
In Testimony \\ hereof I have hereunto set my hand
and caused the Great Seal of the State of Mis-
souri to be affixed;
Done at the city of Jefferson this ninth day of
(L. S.) January A. D. 1866, of the Independence of
the United States the ninetieth and of the State
of Missouri the forty-sixth.
By the Governor: THO C. FLETCHER.
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secty. of State.
OFFERING A REWARD
JANUAKY 10, 1866
From the Register of Civil Proceedings, 1861-1868, pp.
WHEREAS on the 14th day of December A. D., 1865 one
Lavander C. Hendrix of Dallas County, Missouri, did
shoot and kill Mr, James Baker and
WHEREAS the said Lavander C. Hendrix has so far
eluded the vigilance of and apprehension by the legal
authorities and is still at large in this State
Now, THEREFORE, I, Thomas C. Fletcher, Governor of
the State of Missouri, for good reasons appearing and by
virtue and authority in me vested by law, do hereby offer
a reward of Two hundred and fifty dollars for the apprehen-
sion and delivery of the body of the said Lavander C. Hen-
drix to the Sheriff of the County of Dallas in the State of
Missouri.
Description of the Fugitive:
Lavander C. Hendrix is about five feet and ten inches
high and twenty-one years of age; hair dark; eyes grey; of
dark complexion, and is very heavy set
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 271
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of
Missouri to be affixed:
Done at the City of Jefferson this tenth day of
(L. S.) January A. D. 1866, of the Independence of the
United States the ninetieth and of the State of
Missouii the forty sixth.
By the Governor: THO. C. FLETCHER.
FRANCIS RODMAN, Secty. of State.
ON THE SALE OF RAILROADS
JANUARY 15, 1866
From the Appendix of the Journal of the Senate, pp. 581-588
WHEREAS, by an act of the Legislature of the State of
Missouri, passed and approved on the 18th day of February,
1865, entitled "an act to effect a compromise between the
State and the Atchison and St. Joseph Railroad Company
and the Weston and Atchison Railroad Company, and to
secure to the State the payment of certain bonds issued by
the State for the construction of the Platte County Rail-
road, and to sell the Platte Country Railroad, and to extend
the West Branch of the North Missouri Railroad to the
Iowa line," it was by the first section thereof provided that
the Atchison and St. Joseph Railroad Company and the
Weston and Atchison Railroad Company should pay to the
State of Missouri, at the office of the Treasurer of the State,
on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord eighteen
hundred and sixty-six, the sum of one hundred thousand
dollars; on the first day of January, in the year of our
Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, one hundred thou-
sand dollars; on the first day of January, in the year of our
Lord eighteen hundred and seventy-one, one hundred
thousand dollars, and on the first day of January, in the
year of our Lord eighteen hundred and seventy-five, one
272 MESSAGES AND PROCLAMATIONS OF
hundred and thirty-four thousand dollars, with interest on
said several sums from the first day of January, in the year
of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-five, until they
should respectively be paid, at the rate of six per centum
per annum, the interest to be paid semi-annually, on the
first day of January and the first day of July in each year, at
the office of the Treasurer of State; provided, however, that
said companies, or either of them, should have the right, at
any time before said several sums shall become due, to pay
all or any part of said debt and interest, or both, in money
or in any of the bonds of the State then outstanding and
bearing interest at a rate of not less than six per centum per
annum, or in interest coupons of any such bonds.
And, WHEREAS, it was further provided in and by
said act, that within thirty days from the passage of said
act the stockholders of the Atchison and St. Joseph Rail-
road Company and of the Weston and Atchison Railroad
Company were authorized to accept or reject the provisions
of said act by a vote of a majority in interest of such stock-
holders; and for that purpose the presidents of said com-
panies should, within ten days after the passage of said act,
call a meeting of the stockholders of their respective com-
panies, giving not less than ten days' notice of the time and
place of such meeting in two newspapers, one published in
St. Joseph and one in Weston, as they may or might select
respectively for the purpose. That if such acceptance
should be made by said stockholders and approved by the
board of directors of the respective companies, a copy of
such acceptances and its ratification should be duly certified
by the president and attested by the secretary, under the
seal of the respective companies, and should be filed in the
office of the Secretary of State of Missouri.
And, WHEREAS, it was further provided in and by said
act, that wkenever the acceptances of said companies,
ratified as aforesaid, should be filed in the office of Secretary
of 'State as tkereki provided* that the suit then pending and
a! proceedings had by the State against said companies,
or either of them should be dismissed at the costs of the
GOVERNOR THOMAS CLEMENT FLETCHER 273
defendants, and that all cars, engines and other property
now in possession of the State, and lately held or claimed
by said companies, or by Davis Carpenter, Jr., should be
delivered to said companies, and all the right, title and
interest of said State in and to said roads, and to such
property, should vest in said companies; the said Atchison
and St. Joseph Railroad Company to have the road fiom a
point on the Missouri river opposite to the city of Atchison,
and the Weston and Atchison Railroad Company to have
all that part of the road south of such point. And that said
companies should own the road jointly from Kansas City
to Weston and from St. Joseph to the Iowa line; provided,
however, that such roads, their franchises and their appur-
tenances, together with the cars, engines, rolling stock and
other property above and before named, with all such other
rolling stock as said companies, or either of them, now have,
or may hereafter have, sh
