Minnesota, the North Star State

by William Watts Folwell

In his messages of 1879 and 1881 Governor Pillsbury, under the heading of “Dishonored Bonds,” entreated and implored the legislatures to pay the honest debt of the state and clear her tarnished honor. His earnest and impressive appeals had no effect on the former of the two, but the legislature of 1881 was moved to provide for a special tribunal, to be composed of judges of the supreme and district courts, to consider and decide whether the repudiating amendment of 1860 was binding on the legislature. If the tribunal should hold in the negative, then the old bonds were to be redeemed by new ones at fifty per cent. of the amount nominally due. Not one of the judges of the Supreme Court was willing to serve, and the tribunal was tardily made up of five district judges designated by the governor. The tribunal met and organized, and nothing more. An order from the Supreme Court required it to show cause why a writ of prohibition should not issue, on the ground that the legislature had not the right to establish such a tribunal. The attorney-general at the same time protested against its competency, and had leave to protest further that the act was repugnant to the constitutional amendment of 1860, which forbade payment of the bonds unless after an affirmative vote of the electors. This pleading brought forward as the principal issue the validity of that amendment. The contentions were exhaustively argued in the Supreme Court by able counsel. The decision of the court was that the repudiating amendment of 1860 was obnoxious to that provision of the constitution of the United States forbidding states from passing any law impairing the obligations of contracts. The writ of prohibition issued and the tribunal dissolved. There was no appeal, and the Minnesota legislature was free to dispose of the bond matter without a referendum. Governor Pillsbury called that body to meet on October 11. The bondholders were ready and anxious to accept fifty cents on the dollar. A bill to issue new 10-30 four and one half per cent. “Minnesota state railroad adjustment bonds,” to a sufficient amount, was passed after some contention as to details. A companion bill devoting the proceeds of the 500,000 acres of internal improvement land was passed, and under constitutional requirement submitted to the electors in November, 1884. The vote stood: Yes, 31,011; no, 13,589. The presidential vote of the state in 1880 was 150,484. This vote, therefore, did not indicate so much a change of sentiment among the people as a willingness to have the old bond controversy quieted. The state’s power to borrow at reasonable interest had never been affected. Good judges were of opinion that the bondholders fared very well and could afford the liberal expenditures made to secure the legislation. The amount of new bonds issued was $4,253,000, of which Mr. S. Chamberlain received $1,992,053.70. Governor Pillsbury closed his third term by signing them, a duty he performed with great satisfaction. With this he retired from office, except that he served on the board of regents of the university till his death in 1902, the legislature having by special act created him an additional regent during his good pleasure. He had been on that board since 1863.

CHAPTER XVIII
FAIR WEATHER

Whether Governor Pillsbury could have been nominated for a fourth term may be questioned, but when he publicly declined a fortnight before the Republican convention, it was evident that among the aspirants to the succession the favorite was the gallant colonel of the Fifth Minnesota, General Lucius F. Hubbard. The nomination was his on the first ballot. He brought to the office a ripe experience in legislation and public affairs and a worthy ambition to promote the public welfare. He was easily accorded a reëlection in 1882, and, by reason of a change made in the official year of the state, remained in office a fifth year. It was a period of marked prosperity, not greatly diminished by the commercial depression of 1883-84. The population of the state rose from 780,773 in 1880 to 1,117,798 in 1885, an increase of forty-three per cent. The urban communities had an excessive increase of nearly eighty per cent.; Minneapolis increased from 46,887 to 129,200. Twelve hundred and sixty-nine miles of railroad were added.

Governor Hubbard’s interest in organizations and institutions for promoting the public health, improving the administration of the penal and charitable institutions, and the relief of superannuated soldiers was deep and continuous. With his hearty approval the legislature of 1883 enlarged the powers of the state board of health, which had been in existence for ten years with powers and resources much too limited. The executive secretary of the board for nearly the first quarter century was Dr. Charles N. Hewitt, whose conception of the state’s interest and duty in preserving the health and increasing the physical efficiency of its members was in advance of his time.

It had been the policy of the state to intrust the care of her penal and charitable institutions to separate boards of citizens serving without pay. To secure uniformity of administration and to enable these separate bodies to profit from one another’s experiences, a state board of charities and corrections was authorized by law in 1883. To the working secretary of this board for fourteen years, Mr. Henry H. Hart, must be accorded high praise for such unstinted and intelligent devotion to his duties that Minnesota’s institutions of charities and corrections were accorded a place in the front rank. The state lost one of her most valuable servants by his deserved promotion beyond her borders.

Following Governor Hubbard’s earnest advice, the legislature of 1885 established “The State Public School” for neglected children, which under wise management by different officials has rescued from lives of crime or dependence many hundreds of homeless waifs. The reformatory for youthful delinquents and the Soldiers’ Home, commended by him to the legislature, were established under the succeeding administration. His repeated recommendation that all moneys coming into county treasuries should be “covered in” through the county auditor’s office fell on deaf ears, and that needed reform in our public accounting still remains to be wrought.

The sanction of the granger laws by the Supreme Court of the United States had established the principle that states have the constitutional right to regulate railroads; but Minnesota had not exercised the right in any vigorous or comprehensive way, partly because the companies had of their own motion moderated charges, improved their administration, and shown a disposition to treat the public with some respect. Still, complaints of extortion, unjust discrimination, and insolence were frequent, and by many believed to be well founded. Governor Hubbard in his first two messages urged the legislatures to take up these complaints and endeavor to frame a comprehensive statute which should secure to the companies their just rights and immunities, and at the same time protect the people in theirs. The result was the railroad law of 1885, chapter 188 of the session laws of that year. This act, judiciously drawn, met the purpose of its framers so fully that amendment has been necessary only in points of detail. The historian at some far-off day will marvel that in the closing years of the nineteenth century it was necessary to compel common carriers by law not merely to serve the public at just and equal charges published in advance, but to provide common decencies and accommodations in the way of platforms, waiting-rooms, fire-extinguishers, and toilet-rooms.

Another measure successfully pressed upon the legislature by Governor Hubbard was that of public state grain inspection. The precarious and conflicting grades fixed by individual and associated buyers were the source of incessant dissatisfaction and complaint. Chapter 144 of the General Laws of Minnesota, 1885, established that system of inspection and grading since known and approved on both sides of the Atlantic. A warehouse receipt for a certain quantity of grain of a certain Minnesota grade became a definite asset. Because grain inspection necessarily involved the regulation and control of elevators, which in turn were closely related to railroads, the law placed the control of the system in the hands of the Board of Railroad Commissioners. The title of the board was changed to Board of Railroad and Warehouse Commissioners, and its powers were much extended and fortified.

Annual sessions of the legislature had ceased with that of 1879, but elections continued to be held annually till 1886, from which year all United States, state, and county officers have been elected in the even-numbered years. All state and county terms of office begin on January 1; the fiscal year begins August 1.

Governor Hubbard called to the important office of state superintendent of public instruction David L. Kiehle, who, like his predecessor, had received a clerical education and had had slight experience in school work, but like that predecessor was able to throw himself unreservedly into the public school cause. During the seven terms (1881-93) he remained in office he labored with great fidelity and success to improve the schools of all grades. Institutes and summer training schools were promoted and a state tax of one mill was established to increase the efficiency of the common schools. By an act of 1885 school attendance was made compulsory for twelve weeks in each year.