Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, XXVII. ILLINOIS. Government for the Year 1850. AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH, Governor, and ex officio Land Commissioner (term ends 2d Monday in January, 1853), William M'Murtry, Horace S. Cooley, Salary. $1,500 $3 a day during session, [and 10 cents a mile travel. Fees and 800 on the 2d Monday in This court holds one session in each Division of the State each year. The terms are, 1st Division, at Mt. Vernon, Jefferson Co., Monday in November; 2d Division, at Springfield, on the 3d December; 3d Division, at Ottawa, La Salle Co., on the 1st Monday of During the last session of the Legislature the 11th Circuit was established. The bill to create the 10th, was lost. FINANCES. State Debt.-The State debt consists of the following items; Brought forward, Bank, internal improvement and State-House bonds outstand $4,480,858.31 Amount due Macallister & Stebbins, being amount of bonds hypothecated to them, not carried into this general statement, 592,000.00 Received in bonds and certificates of stocks for 1847 and 1848, 31,741.00 208,841.00 To meet this debt the State owns 145,000 acres of land, valued at about $870,000. Be sides the revenue accruing from ordinary taxation, nearly $88,000 were received from the tolls of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This was, however, the first season of its completion, and these receipts are not a test of its capacity for business. The sum realized by the sale of Canal lands in September, 1848, under the law under which the money was advanced by the bondholders for the completion of the work, amounted to nearly $770,000, exceeding in amount the original appraised value of the lands about two per cent. The appraised value of the entire lands, lots, &c., belonging to the Canal amounts to nearly $3,000,000, and at these rates of sales there will be realized from this source not less than $3,500,000, which will go far toward liquidating this portion of the State debt, independently of the yearly revenue from the Canal. For the year 1847-48 there has been paid into the public treasury the average yearly sum of $118,000, the avails of what is denominated the interest tax. This amount has been regularly forwarded and proportionably applied to the payment of interest upon all State bonds, as prescribed by law. By a direct vote of the people, at the time of the acceptance of the constitution, it was decided that there should be assessed, collected, and applied pro rata for the payment of the public debt other than the Canal and school debt, a tax of two mills on the dollar, in addition to all other taxes. The estimated effect of this tax was thus stated in the Address to the People of Illinois in August, 1847: "The principal of the debt is $6,245,380; a two-mill tax in 1848 will produce about $200,000. This tax will increase annually at the rate of about 7 per centum throughout the 25 years, reasoning from experience connected with Western advancement. Taking these two propositions as the basis of our calculation, in 19 years this tax will yield $6,194,000, which leaves unpaid of the principal only $51,380. There is, however, already accrued $2,248,372 of interest, which will be increased to about $3,000,000 before this provision can be carried into operation. There will accrue, during the 19 years, $3,559,916, making the aggregate of interest due at that time $6,559,916, which, however, is subject to constant reduction from three fifths of the mill-and-a-half fund now raised, which in the 19 years amounts to $2,784,300, leaving interest then really due amounting to $3,775,616. To this add the unpaid portion of the principal, $51,380, and we have $3,826,996, which, without any great increase of interest, is yet to be discharged. To do this, we now have the aggregate fund produced from the three fifths of the mill-and-a-half tax, and from the two-mill tax, which in the 6 following years will produce $4,358,700, which will liquidate the whole amount, being an excess of nearly $500,000. All this, too, without materially increasing our burdens, when viewed in connection with the proposed reduction of State expenses." Common Schools in 1848.- No. of school-districts, 2,002; of schools, 2,317. No. taught by males, 1,565; by females, 966. Average monthly wages of males, $16.56; of females, $8.93. No. of scholars, 51,447. No. of children under 20 years of age, 209,639. No. of school-houses, 1,937; amount of school funds, $1,404,751.50. Amount raised by ad valorem tax, $1,081,137.00. Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Springfield. - Thomas Officer, Principal. — The institution was opened in January, 1846. The number of pupils in January, 1849, was 60, of whom 26 were females. 49 were from Illinois, of whom 5 were paying pupils. There were 10 pupils from Missouri, and 1 from Iowa. Applicants must be over 10 years of age. The charge to paying pupils-and all from out the State, and those who are able in the State, pay is $80, which includes everything but clothing and travelling expenses. Nor are these paid to charity pupils. The annual session commences the first Thursday of October, which is the proper time of admission. 66 2,000 Wilson Brown, 66 of Liberty, Merryweather L. Clark,of St. Louis, of St. Louis, President of State Bank. Cashier The Lieutenant-Governor is, ex officio, President of the Senate, and receives $4.50 a day while presiding. The pay of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the same. Senators are chosen every fourth, and Representatives every second year. Their pay is $3 a day for the first sixty days, and after that time $1 per day, except at a revising session, when they may receive $3 per day for 100 days, and $1 for the remainder of the session. The Legislature meets at the city of Jefferson, biennially, on the last Monday in December. Two sessions of the Supreme Court are held annually, one at Jefferson The judges hold office for twelve years. City and one at St. Louis. A Circuit Court is held twice a year in each county. Its jurisdiction extends to all matters of tort and contract over $90 where the demand is liquidated, and over $50 where the agreement is parol. It has exclusive criminal jurisdiction, and a supervision over the County Courts and justices of the peace, subject to the correction of the Supreme Court. The judges of the Supreme and Circuit Courts are nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. They hold office for eight years, though not beyond 65 years of age. In addition to the Circuit and County Courts, St. Louis has a Court of Common Pleas, with a jurisdiction very similar to the Circuit Court, a Criminal Court, a distinct Court of Probate, and a Recorder's Court. These are local tribunals, exercising jurisdiction only in their counties, except the Recorder's Court, whose jurisdiction is confined to small offences and within the limits of the city. From the Court of Common Pleas and Criminal Court, an appeal lies to the Supreme Court, and the judges of the Common Pleas are appointed like the circuit judges, with like tenThe judge of the Criminal Court is elected by the separate, but concurrent, vote of the two houses, for six years. The probate judge is elected by the people of the county for four years, and the Recorder by the people of the city of St. Louis, for two years. ures. County Courts. The jurisdiction of these courts is limited to matters of probate and local county affairs, as roads, &c. A County Court sits in each county, and is composed of three justices, who are elected by the people, and hold their offices for four years. An appeal lies to the Circuit Court. The County Court of St. Louis County is composed of seven judges. They are relieved from probate duties by the separate court above mentioned. The constitution of Missouri is amendable by a two-thirds vote, in two consecutive legislatures, upon the proposition; and amendments have been once voted upon favorably to elect all the judges by the people of the districts, and the proposition will probably be adopted with great unanimity. Amount of State debt, $684,997.40. Interest on debt, $73,100. XXIX. IOWA. Government for the Year 1850. of Linn Co., of Davis Co., of Johnson Co., Auditor of Public Accounts, Sup't of Public Instruction, 1,200 150 President of the Senate, $4 a day. Speaker of the H. of Rep., Secretary of the Senate, $2 a day. of Clinton Co., Ch. Clerk of H. of Rep., of Jones Co., Board of Public Works. 66 The Legislature meets biennially, on the first Monday in December. The pay of the members is $2 a day for the first fifty days, and $1 a day for the rest of the session, with $2 for every twenty miles' travel. |