commissioners, trustees of state charitable institutions, regents of the agricultural college, normal school, state university, and police commissioners. The law stipulates the compensation of the members of these several boards and commissions. It devolves upon the legislature to provide payment. An estimate of the amount required to meet this liability is included in the report of the auditor, except the amount due the police commissioners. There are six cities of the first class, commissioners for which were appointed April 1, 1889.

PERMANENT SCHOOL FUND.-Included in the aggregate of receipts for the two fiscal years 1889 and 1890, are the following amounts received by me from the general government, transferred to the state treasurer, and placed to the credit of the permanent school fund: November 23, 1888, $26,700.95; February 23, 1889, $93,653.93; March 25, 1889, $39,395.04; July 30, 1889, $43,790.32; August 21, 1889, $139,836.30; June 5, 1890, $69,923.55. Since the close of the last fiscal year, I received from the general government, and, on the 25th day of November, 1890, transferred to the state treasurer, $160,067.51, which has been credited to this fund. This, added to the amounts named, makes a total of $573,367.60 addition to this fund from the general government during the last two and a half years. The permanent school fund, on the 31st of December, 1890, amounted to $5,593,639.83, of which $5,574,168.73 is invested in bonds, leaving an uninvested balance of only $19,471.10. The school fund commissioners, upon whom devolves the duty of investing this fund, have shown commendable care and good judgment in keeping it securely and closely invested.

VETERINARY FUND.-Referring to the report of the state auditor, I find a balance, in what is named the "veterinary fund," of $18,226.10. In this connection, I desire to call your attention to the provisions of sec. 6798, General Statutes of 1889. Therein it. is made obligatory on the governor, by and with the consent and advice of the senate, to appoint a veterinary surgeon. I made the appointment during the session of the legislature of 1889, which was promptly confirmed by the senate. The salary of the veterinary surgeon is fixed by law at $2,500 per annum. The legislature, however, failed to make an appropriation to meet this salary, and ever since the 30th of June, 1889, the veterinarian has devoted his time and borne his own expenses, in the performance of the duties of the position, and is equitably entitled to the com

pensation provided by law. I recommend that an appropriation be made for this purpose, out of the "veterinary fund."

STATE DEBT.-The aggregate bonded debt of the state amounts to $801,000, of which $12,500 becomes due in 1894, $36,500 in 1895, $70,000 in 1896, $200,000 in 1897, $220,000 in 1898, $159,000 in 1899, $18,000 in 1908, and $85,000 in 1909.

The auditor's report shows that $536,000 of this amount is owned by the permanent school fund, and $9,000 by the state university fund, leaving amount of bonds owned, outside of the state funds, $256,000.

Under an act of the legislature of 1887, whereby the state assumed the payment of certain guerilla-raid claims, certificates of indebtedness, the principal of which aggregates $352,963.91, have been issued by the auditor of state. This, less the first installment of $35,296.39 paid, with the bonds before mentioned, constitutes the total state debt.

BOUNTY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR.-By the act of 1887, as amended by the act of 1889, provision was made for payment of a bounty on sugar manufactured in this state, from beets, sorghum, or other sugar-yielding canes, or plants, grown in Kansas, to the amount of two cents per pound, but no appropriation was made to carry out the provisions of the act. Under this law, claims against the state have been filed with the auditor by a number of companies, for the years 1889 and 1890, which will be presented to the proper committees of your respective bodies, for such adjustment as good faith requires.

While the purpose of the legislature was doubtless wise at the time, in view of the late act of congress revising the tariff schedules and giving a bounty of two cents a pound on all sugars manufactured in the United States, as an equivalent for the duty removed, the question is presented whether the bounty offered by this state should not be repealed.

MUNICIPAL INDEBTEDNESS.

The auditor's report exhibits the municipal indebtedness of the state in detail, county, city, township, village, board of education, and school district, the grand total on the first day of July, 1890, being $37,119,977.33. This is divided among the several municipalities, as follows: County bonds and warrants, $15,231,604.87; township bonds and warrants, $8,080,130.22; city bonds and

warrants, $7,900,764.26; school-district bonds and orders, $5,907,477.98. The amount in sinking funds July 1, 1890, was $628,316.95, leaving a net total municipal indebtedness on that date of $36,491,660.38.

On the first of July, 1884, the municipal indebtedness of the state amounted to $15,951,929.86. On the first of July, 1886, it was $17,779,299.42. On the first of July, 1888, it had increased to $31,107,646.90. On the first of July, 1890, it had reached the sum of $37,119,977.33, less the amount in sinking funds, as above stated.

Notwithstanding the warnings contained in every executive message for the past six years, this form of indebtedness continues to grow at a rate and with a persistency well worthy of serious legislative consideration.

It has been stated, and is doubtless approximately correct, that 80 per cent. of all our county, township and city bonds has been issued in aid of railroad construction; and the legislature of 1887, by an act more wise than timely, perhaps, reduced the limit of such aid from $4,000 to $2,000 a mile. It would seem that the time had arrived when further restrictions should be laid in the same direction, and the power of these various municipalities to incur indebtedness in any manner very materially reduced and better guarded.

LOCAL TAXATION.-Municipal indebtedness suggests local taxation, a burden voluntarily contracted by the people of the various municipalities in bonds voted to aid railroads and other public improvements. The amount of taxation levied for all purposes on the assessed valuation for 1889 was $13,432,319.95, as follows: State, $1,535,784.80; county, $4,145,234.20; city, $2,054,745.60; township, $1,457,570.71; and school, $4,238,984.64; or an average of $3.72 upon each $100 of assessed value.

Thus it appears how largely our tax burdens are local and self-imposed. And it is gratifying to note how small are the demands for state purposes, compared with the tribute annually levied for the support of county, township and city government, especially when it is remembered that the state is annually expending large sums in the erection and extension of public institutions, not alone for present use, but for future generations.

Our system of local government is entirely too complicated and expensive; and, while imposing wise and wholesome limitations

upon the power of municipalities to incur indebtedness, as recommended, it will be well to inquire whether the ordinary expense of conducting their affairs may not be reduced by improved methods and the enforcement of that rigid economy which should ever characterize the administration of government, whether local or general.

EDUCATIONAL.

Your attention is urgently invited to the very elaborate report of the state superintendent of public instruction, exhibiting in detail the condition of our common schools, and discussing in an able and suggestive manner our whole educational plan. Nothing short of a careful reading of this report can give an adequate conception of the condition or extent of our grand system of popular education.

The receipts for the school year ending June 30, 1890, including balance from previous year, from district taxes, county school funds, sale of school bonds, and all other sources, were $5,696,659.96. The disbursements for the same time for teachers' wages, incidentals, library and school apparatus, sites, buildings and furniture, and all other purposes, were $4,972,966.86; leaving a balance in hand of district treasurers, June 30, 1890, of $723,693.10. This vast expenditure annually made in behalf of popular education, and derived very largely from direct taxation, demands the greatest possible results, and your attention is directed to the numerous suggestions of the state superintendent of public instruction for the betterment of our common-school system.

HIGHER EDUCATION.

The higher educational institutions are not quite so close to the popular heart as the common schools, but they are, after all, a part of our general plan of education, and the obligations of the state respecting them are expressly defined and well understood. Hundreds of our young men and women are availing themselves of the opportunity for higher education which they offer even to the humblest who may aspire, and their continued growth and prosperity should be the desire of every citizen.

THE UNIVERSITY.-The history of the university during the past two years has been somewhat eventful, but on the whole its present condition is extremely gratifying. Early in this administration, Chancellor J. A. Lippincott, after years of honorable and

efficient service, voluntarily tendered his resignation, to take effect the first of September, 1889. Pending the selection of a successor, W. C. Spangler, Esq., was made vice-chancellor, and discharged the duties of such position with marked ability and fidelity. After much anxious inquiry and casting about for a worthy successor to Dr. Lippincott, Prof. F. H. Snow reluctantly consented to accept the position, and was accordingly selected as chancellor by the unanimous voice of the board, his term commencing July 1, 1890. Professor Snow has been connected with the faculty since 1866, and conspicuously identified with the upbuilding of the institution. He has, by long years of unselfish labor and ripe scholarship, contributed much to the present success of the university; and by his thoughtful and valuable efforts in behalf of the practical interests of the state, he has become well and favorably known to the people. He is a Kansas man, and the board acted wisely in putting him at the head of the University of Kansas.

Assisted by the present faculty, which, in experience and ability, compares favorably with the instructors in the best colleges of the east, with a liberal policy on the part of the state, there is every reason to believe that Chancellor Snow will soon make the University of Kansas what it was designed to be.

The university belongs to the people, and the report discloses the encouraging fact that its students come from every walk in life, over forty per cent. of them being the sons and daughters of farmers and artisans. The attendance is steadily gaining in numbers year by year, with increasing facilities and growing reputation for efficient work. The last legislature made an important departure from the former method of granting specific appropriations for the support of the university, by an act which practically appropriates in bulk the proceeds of a certain levy. This, in a manner, leaves the disbursement entirely with the board, free from the usual legislative supervision; and too much care and prudence cannot be exercised in the premises. Enthusiasm for the university must not be permitted, as often happens, to result in extravagance. It should be tempered with a due regard for the condition of the tax-payers of the state, and restrained by a rigid observance of business principles.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.-During the past two years this institution has continued to grow and prosper in every material respect. It has been for the past ten years, as now, in charge of