POSITION AND EARLY HISTORY.

Geography and Topography—First European Visitations—A French Dependency—Early Explorations—Roman Catholic Mission—First Permanent Settlement—Territorial Sovereignty—Part of the State of Virginia—Claims of Massachusetts and Connecticut—General George Rogers clarke—The Western Reserve—Civil Jurisdiction of the United States.

The State of Michigan occupies a position approximating the center of the North American continent, and is embraced between the parallels 41° 45’ and 48° 20’ north latitude, and the meridians of 82° 25’ and 90° 34’ of longitude west from Greenwich. The center of the State is marked by the position of Carp Lake, in Leelanaw Country, which is 670 miles in a straight line from the city of New York. The land area of the State consist of two natural divisions, known as the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, and adjacent islands. The Upper Peninsula has its greatest extent from east to west, and the Lower its greatest extent from north to south. The following exhibits the length and breadth inn miles, and the number of square miles, and number of acres, in each peninsula:

Divisions. Length. Breadth. Sq.Miles. Acres. Upper 318.104 164.286 22.580 14,451.456 Lower 277.009 259.056 38.871 21,677,184

The total length of the lake-shore line is 1,620 miles, embracing, or enclosing the entire Lower Peninsula with the exception of less than 200 miles on its southern boundary, and entire of the Upper Peninsula except its western boundary. To this should be added the numerous bays and rivers available for flotage and navigation, connecting with the larger waters. The State also has within its bounds, but unconnected with the great lakes, over 5,000 smaller lakes, having an area of 712,864 acres.

The history of Michigan is essentially modern. As compared with many countries having a written history, it is as but of yesterday. The earliest European visitations are placed at about the middle of the seventeenth century, up to which time its only inhabitant were the aborigines, of which the Chippewas or Ojibuays, the Hurons or Wyandots, and the Ottawas, were among the principal tribes. The territory now comprising the State of Michigan was a French dependency, forming a part of what was originally known as New France, the seat of government of which was at Quebec. In 1669 or 1670 explorations were undertaken under authority of the French viceroy or intendant, with which the names of De St. Lusson and La Salle are connected. These explorations were chiefly confined to the great waterways, extending as far as Lake Superior, and from thence by La Salle down the Mississippi River. To aid in his work, La Salle, in 1679, built a small vessel of sixty tons burthen, which he named the Griffin, with which he made the tour of the upper lakes, the first vessel, more pretentious than the Indian canoe, that ever sailed those waters. The official explorations were preceded by some years by the Jesuit missionaries, who were also contemporaneous with them. Among the names prominently appearing in this connection are those of Mesnard, Allouez, Hennepin, and Marquette. there are intimations. not fully verified, of visits by the French navigator, Champlain, to the lake region, as early as 1612.

The first permanent settlement of Europeans in Michigan, having the elements of civil life and municipal regulation, was that 014 2by Cadillac, at Detroit, in 1701. The French sovereignty was terminated by the surrender of Detroit to the British in November, 1760, as the result of the triumph of the British arms over the French in the war that had been waged for some years between the two nations, for supremacy in the western hemisphere. The British occupation continued until July 11, 1796, when the British garrison retired from Detroit and the flag of the Union was raised over Fort Shelby. Detroit was at that time the gateway to the northwest territory, and by its occupancy the sovereignty of the United States was established over the entire territory between the great lakes on the north and the Ohio River on the south. Although this territory was conceded to the United States by the peace of 1783, which terminated the war of the revolution, the occupancy of Detroit and Mackinac Island was continued by the British under various pretexts.

Under the French and British rule the Northwest Territory was politically associated with the Canadas, but became a part of the territory Virginia upon its occupancy by the United States. Both Connecticut and Massachusetts, however, asserted a color of title to portions of the territory now embraced in the State of Michigan. Connecticut claimed from the 41st parallel of latitude to 42° 2’, and Massachusetts from the last named line to the 45th parallel. These claims were based upon their original charters, which defined their northern and souther boundaries as above given, running from the seaboard west, and presumptively as far west as the possessions of the English crown, from which their charters were derived, extended. Without discussing the subject, it would seem that these claims were more fanciful than real. But for the action of a Virginian, Gen. George Rogers Clarke, the entire Northwest Territory would have been lost to the United States, and the national boundary ie would have bee fixed at the Ohio River instead of the great lakes. Gen. Clarke was commissioned by the State of Virginia to undertake a campaign against the British posts in the northwest, and was granted a small appropriation for the purpose. His success secured the Northwest Territory to the United States in the peace settlement, which thereby became a part of the State of Virginia. This was the opinion held by the late Judge Charles I. Walker, of Detroit, who was consulted by the writer on the subject. Judge Walker had made the subject of northwestern history a study, and no one was better qualified than he to give an opinion with judicial fairness. However, in the cession of the Northwest Territory to the United States, the three States of Virginia, Connecticut and Massachussetts were severally parties. The land embraced in what is know as the Western Reserve, in Ohio, was conceded to Connecticut in consideration of the release of her claimed sovereignty. That is, she “reserved” so much land, reserving title to it, while relinquishing her claim of political sovereignty over the boundaries above described.

A brief reference to the history of the general government in its relation to territorial possession seems appropriate in this immediate connection, especially in view of the recently acquired foreign possessions. The constitution of the United States was adopted in convention in 1787, and the government went into effect under it, through its ratification by the requisite number of States, in 1789. Up to that time the general government was simply a confederation of sovereign states, with very limited powers, and cumbrous in its mechanism. It had, strictly speaking, no territorial jurisdiction. It did not, and could not, exercise sovereignty over a foot of land that was not included in some one of the States. Territories, as bodies politic, were unknown. But by the cession of the Northwest Territory, above referred to, a territorial condition was created, and for the purpose of government the ordinance of 1787 was adopted on July 13 of that year. This ordinance was framed in conformity to the acts of cession, and provided for the ultimate division or organization of the territory into 015 3not less than three nor more than five States, of which the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin are the product. This assumption of territorial sovereignty by the congress of the confederation was special, and under early defined terms, and its exercise was expected to terminate with the erection of the territory into States. The constitution adopted in September of the same year had in view the ceded territory when it provided that “The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.” The use of the words “territory or other property” leaves the clear inference that the word “territory” had reference only to so much of the soil as might be the “property” of the United States, and not to the exercise of political sovereignty over limitless areas of the earth's surface. This view of the matter is strengthened by clause 16, section 8, of the first article of the constitution, which gives to Congress exclusive jurisdiction over such site as might be ceded by any of the States not exceeding ten miles square (now the District of Columbia), as the seat of the general government, and over such sites as might be acquired with the consent of the States in which located, for government uses. By this specific grant of power the inhibition of similar power outside of it must be preserved. But the right of the government to acquire and exercise jurisdiction over outlaying territory has passed beyond discussion. If not conferred by the constitution, it is a right acquired by use and acquiescence, if it be not a right forcing itself upon a growing nation as a necessity. The subject has been so far treated, however, only for the purpose of showing how radical a departure from early traditions has taken place.

TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.

The Ordinance of 1787—The Governor and Judges—A Landed Qualification—A Legislative Council Provided for—The Territory to Be Formed Into States—First Seat of Government—The Five States of the Northwest—Michigan as a Separate Territory—Large Grants of Land to Revolutionary Heroes—Comparative Influence of Cities—The Landed Qualification Abrogated.

The Congress of the Confederation, by the ordinance of July 13, 1787, provided that for the purposes of temporary government the acquired territory should “be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.” Until such time as the district should contain five thousand free male inhabitants of full age, the government and the making of laws was committed to a governor and three judges to be appointed by Congress. The governor must be the possessor of a freehold estate “in one thousand acres of land.” The judges, and a secretary whose appointment was provided for, must each have an estate of five hundred acres. When the district should contain the requisite population, a representative assembly and council was provided for, analogous to a house of representatives and senate. The members of the assembly must have a freehold estate of two hundred acres, and only those possessed of a like estate could vote. The members of the council must each have an estate of five hundred acres. No time or place is specified in the act or ordinance when or where the government thus provided for should go into effect.

Article 5 of the ordinance provides for the ultimate division of the territory into States, as previously noted. After the organization of the government under the constitution, an act was passed August 7, 1789, vesting the appointment of the Governor and Judges in the President.

The first seat of government of the Northwest Territory was at Chillicothe, in the now State of Ohio. By act of Congress of May 7, 1800, the territory was divided, preparatory to the admission of Ohio into the Union 016 4as a State, and the “Indiana Territory” was erected, with the seat of government at Vincennes.

By the act of January, 1805, the Territory of Michigan was set off from the Indiana Territory, the same system of government being continued as originally provided, the seat of government being established at Detroit. By this act the southern boundary of Michigan was fixed by a line drawn due east from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan until it intersect Lake Erie, and the western boundary a north and south line through Lake Michigan to the northern boundary of the United States, the British possessions forming the northern and eastern boundary. This included on the south the strip of territory that was subject of dispute with Ohio, and did not include the northern or Upper Peninsula. By act of Congress February 3, 1809, the territory now forming the States of Illinois and Wisconsin was detached from the Indiana Territory and given a separate territorial organization. Upon the admission of Illinois into the Union as a State in 1818, the Wisconsin portion was made a part of the Michigan Territory, but was detached in 1836 and given a territorial government by itself. It was made a State in 1848, thus completing the quintet of States as contemplated by the ordinance of 1787, Indiana having been admitted in 1816.

Aside from the mere narration of events in connection with the government of the Northwest Territory and its organization into States of the Union, the property qualification required as a condition of holding office and voting will strike the citizen of the present day forcibly, to say the least. No matter what the position or standing of the person might be, or what the value of his possessions other than land, he must be possessed of so much land in the district. But the condition, imposed at the time, was by no means a strange or unusual one. Our civil polity was inherited from England, where the landed proprietors were the governing class. The interests of the realm were deemed safer in the hands of this class than in those of the city denizen. The influence of cities in fact, even in the older countries, had not reached the magnitude to which it has since attained. There is perhaps another reason by which this landed qualification may be explained. Large grants of land had been made to individuals in consideration of their services in the war of the revolution, or secured by other means. The act of Virginia in ceding the Northwest Territory contained a stipulation that a tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres in one body should be assured to Gen. George Rogers Clarke and the soldiers of his command in recognition of their services in the war of the revolution, and that other grants should be assured to other persons for similar services. It is a fair presumption that those holding these grants were influential in securing the adoption of the landed qualification in the governing act, in order that they might thereby wield the political power. But the territory became rapidly settled by small proprietors as well as by those without holdings of any kind, and in the organization of the new States the property qualification was not imposed. It is worthy of mention, however, that in the earlier days of the republic a property qualification was the rule in most of the States, and is no doubt still the practice in some of them. Another fact is worthy of special note, namely, that by the growth of the cities the political power has become largely centered in them, with a corresponding diminution of influence and power on the part of the rural population.

The landed qualification for holding office and voting necessarily governed in Michigan until it was changed by act of Congress. In the matter of choosing a delegate to Congress from Michigan there was an authorized departure from the terms of the ordinance. The latter provided that the delegate should be elected by the Legislative Council, but Congress, by act of February 16, 1819, authorized the election of a delegate from Michigan by popular vote, all white male citizens twenty-one years of age, who had resided in the territory one year, and who had paid a county or territorial tax, being entitled to vote for such delegate. By a subsequent act the right to vote at all elections, and to hold office, was similarly conferred.

ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT.

The Right to Statehood—Adoption of the Constitution and Election of State Officers—Meeting of the Legislature—Election of United States Senators—The Disputed Boundary—Objections to the Admission of the State—Judge Campbell's View of the Case, and Other Authorities—Terms Proposed by Congress—Military Demonstrations—A New Territorial Governor Appointed—The Slavery Question a Factor—Two Conventions of Assent—Final Admission of the State—Calender of Events Leading Up to Statehood—Seat of Government and State Capitol.

The resident population of Michigan, other than Indian, when it came into possession of the United States, was very small. It is given as 551 in the year 1800; 4,762 in 1810; 8,896 in 1820, and 31,639 in 1830. The last named decade shows a marked increase as compared with the one immediately preceding. But the ratio of increase was greatly exceeded during the next decade, 1830 to 1840, when the population had reached 212,267. The increase was so marked up to the middle of the decade (87,273, according to a census taken by authority of the Legislative Council in 1834), that steps were taken for the organization of a State government. This step the people of the territory, represented by their Legislative Council, had a right to take, without an enabling act by Congress, as has been the custom with reference to inchoate States other than those forming part of the Northwest Territory, and as was done also in the case of Illinois. The ordinance of 1787, as has been heretofore stated, provided that the territory should ultimately be formed into States, one or two of which should be north of a give line.

Congress had already (1835), and long before that time, organized three States south of the line, though encroaching upon territory north of it. It had organized one Territory (Michigan) north of the line, with defined boundaries, and there was no moral question but that this territory would form one State, and that the remaining territory north of the line would form another State. Michigan, therefore, acting under the clause of the ordinance which provided that when any State should have sixty thousand free inhabitants it should “be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government,” and be admitted as a member of the confederation on a perfect equality with the other States, took steps in the year 1835 for assuming full statehood. An act was passed by the Legislative Council January 26, 1835, for an election to be held on Saturday, the 4th day of the following April, for the choice of delegates to a convention to frame a State constitution. The convention was to meet at the capitol in Detroit on the second Monday of May, with power to adjourn its sitting to any other place within the Territory. The convention met on the second Monday of May and concluded its work in Detroit. The constitution framed by it was submitted to a vote of the people on the first Monday of October, State officers and a legislature being chosen at the same time—the election of the latter to have effect only in case of the ratification of the constitution by popular vote. The constitution was, however, adopted by a vote of 6,299 in its favor to 1,359 against. The Legislature met and organized on the first Monday of November, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were duly installed (Stevens T. Mason, known as the boy Governor as Governor, and Edward Mundy as Lieutenant Governor), and the wheels of the State government were formally set in motion. One of the earliest acts of the Legislature was the election of two United States senators, John Norvel and Lucius Lyon being chosen. Isaac E. Crary had been elected member of the lower house of Congress at the October election. Thus far the new ship of state (to use a metaphor) had proceeded on its voyage without a ripple, but breakers were ahead.

The constitution of the State, and her application for admission as a State of the Union, were submitted to the United States Senate December 9, 1835, in a message from President Jackson. A motion to admit the senators 018 6from Michigan to seats on the floor of the Senate met with opposition. The constitution of the State, as adopted, placed its southern boundary on the line designed by the ordinance, namely, on “an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan.” This would include a strip of land some ten miles in width then belonging, or claimed to belong to Ohio, and including the city of Toledo, and a strip of greater width in Indiana, from the Ohio line to Lake Michigan. If the principle were admitted also, that the exact terms of the ordinance were to govern, it would rob Illinois of a broad strip on her northern border, including the city of Chicago, which would have gone to Wisconsin. The admission of Michigan, therefore, with her claimed boundary, was resisted especially by the three States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. It was also objected that she had assumed State sovereignty without the assent of Congress previously obtained in the form of an enabling act. This, as has been shown foregoing, she had a right to do, and this right is conceded by President Jackson in his message before mentioned.

It would be outside the purpose of this sketch, and exceed its prescribed limits, to trace the history of the controversy or the evidence on which the conflicting claims were based. Judge Campbell, in his “Outlines of the Civil History of Michigan,” treats the claim of Michigan as conclusive, both in law and justice. But the three States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois had previously had the sanction of Congress, either direct or implied, to their northern boundary lines. they had at least title by possession. The gordion knot was cut so far as Congress was concerned, by the passage at the session of 1836, of an act fixing the southern boundary of Michigan as now established, and giving her the Upper Peninsula in consideration of the surrender by her of her claim of title to the disputed strip, and providing for the admission of the State upon her acceptance of the same. The merits of the controversy are discussed at some length by Judge Campbell, and the whole subject is quite fully treated in a monograph, with many citations of authorities, by Annah May Soule, of the State University, published by the Michigan Political science Association. There is a collection of pamphlets in a bound volume in the hands of the State Librarian (the only one in existence so far as known), that gives much valuable information on the subject in the form of official documents.

The subject of the northern boundary of Ohio was agitated at the time of her admission into the Union, and her right to the claimed line was called in question. It attracted the attention of the Michigan authorities as early as 1820, as appears from communications of Gov. Woodbridge (then secretary of the Territory and acting-Governor), addressed to Gov. Brown, of Ohio, and to John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State of the United States. When it was proposed to form a State government in Michigan and to assert jurisdiction over the disputed territory, the Legislature of Ohio, acting under the advice of Gov. Lucas, passed acts asserting jurisdiction, and looking to military measures to support the claim. Counter steps were taken by the Legislative Council of Michigan, and military forces were mustered on both sides of the border, but without coming into actual collision. Stevens T. Mason, as secretary of the Territory, was then acting-Governor, and it was under his advice and direction that these steps were taken. His action not being approved by President Jackson, the President in August, 1835, appointed Charles Shaler, of Pennsylvania, to succeed him. Mr. Shaler having declined the appointment, John S. Horner, of Virginia, was appointed on September 15. He reached Detroit a few days later, but was coolly received. The people looked forward to their coming statehood as the solution of their civil status, and regarded a change in the territorial executive at the time, which they deemed could be for but a few weeks, as unnecessary if not offensive. Gov. Mason made no objection to 019 7Mr. Horner assuming the nominal duties of acting-Governor, but the latter performed no official acts of importance. By direction of President Jackson he refused to recognize the State officers after they were elected, and under other circumstances a conflict of authority might have occurred. But he perhaps thought prudence the better part of valor, and removed to Wisconsin, which was still a part of the Territory of Michigan. Here he could execute the functions of Governor of Michigan, with Michigan left out.

The interests of the then slave States entered more or less into the problem regarding Michigan. Up to the time of which we are writing and for some years subsequently, the effort was continued to maintain a sort of “balance of power” between the free and slave States. They being equal in number, the study was to keep them so, so that each section would have equal representation in the United States Senate. Michigan would, of course, be a free State. Arkansas, lying south of Missouri, and forming a part of the Louisiana purchase, was prepared to enter the Union as a slave State. Her population was much less than that of Michigan, but it was within the power of Congress to admit a State regardless of the number of inhabitants. The acts, therefore, for the admission of both States, were made concurrent, but with the difference that the admission of Arkansas became at once a fact, while the admission of Michigan was made contingent upon the condition elsewhere spoken of.

The Legislature, by act of July 25, 1836, ordered an election to be held for delegates to a convention to act upon the terms proposed by Congress. The sentiment of the people, without party division, was generally adverse to accepting those terms, and the delegates elected reflected this sentiment. The covention, which met at Ann Arbor September 26, voiced the popular sentiment by rejecting the proposed condition. This has been called the first convention of assent, though it was more properly a convention of dissent. The people, however, had become impatient and restive under the delay and the uncertainty of their position. The administration at Washington was democratic, and members of the Democratic party in Michigan desired a completed statehood to be in harmony with the national administration. Democratic conventions in Wayne and Washtenaw Counties had declared in favor of another convention, and acting upon this demand several gentlemen, members of the Democratic party in Detroit, united in a call for a convention to be held at Ann Arbor on December 14. An election for delegates was held December 5 and 6. The convention met and agreed to the terms proposed by Congress. The whole proceeding was irregular, but met a sort of silent acquiescence as the solution of a troublesome problem. Some protest was made in Congress by reason of the irregularity, but the existence of the State government was formally recognized by the admission of its Senators and its one Representative January 26, 1837.

The following calendar shows the order in which the several steps leading up to the admission of the State into the Union were taken:

Jan. 26, 1835: Act of the Legislative Council providing for an election of delegates to a convention to frame a constitution.

April 4, 1835: Delegates elected.

May 11, 1835: Convention met; adjourned June 24.

Oct. 6, 1835: Constitution ratified by popular vote; Legislature and State officers elected.

Nov. 3, 1835: Legislature met; State officers installed.

Dec. 9, 1835: Constitution and application for admission submitted to Congress by the President.

June 15, 1836: Act of Congress (with condition of boundary) passed for admission of State.

July 25, 1836: Act of Legislature authorizing first convention of assent.

Sept. 12, 1836: Election of delegates to convention.

Sept. 26, 1836: Convention met—declined terms proposed by Congress.

Dec. 5-6, 1836: Delegates elected to second convention of assent.

Dec. 14, 1836: Convention met—assent given.

Jan. 26, 1837: State formally admitted by action of Congress.

The first constitution (1835), provided that the seat of government should be permanently established by the Legislature not later than the year 1847. It remained in Detroit up to this time, the capitol building 020 8being the former territorial capitol, located on what is now known as Capitol Park. The building and site ultimately passed into the hands of the Detroit Board of Education, and, with considerable additions, was used for school purposes up to January, 1893, when it was destroyed by fire. The Legislature of 1847, in obedience to the constitutional requirement, passed an act establishing the capital at Lansing. There was much difficulty in agreeing upon a location. Nearly every interior town of much consequence in the State was proposed, only to be rejected. Lansing was finally agreed upon as being a point central to the then settled portion of the State. The locating act is probably one of the shortest public acts every passed. After the enacting clause it provides “that the seat of government of this State shall be in the township of Lansing, in the county of Ingham.” A supplementary act was passed, however, providing for the removal. This act provided for the laying out of a village plat to be designated as the town of “Michigan,” in which the capitol should be located. “Michigan” was therefore the name of the capital of the State for one year, until, by act of April 3, 1849, the name was changed to Lansing.

Commissioners were selected to locate a site within the town of Lansing, and the site of the present city of Lansing was chosen, partly because it was a “school section,” there being but a single settler in the immediate vicinity. A frame building, costing, with an addition subsequently made, bout $22,500, was erected during the summer of 1847, and occupied by the Legislature on the first of January, 1848, and continued to be used as the “State House” until 1877. At the legislative session of 1871, an act was passed providing for the erection of a new State capitol. A “Board of State Building Commissioners” was provided for, who solicited competitive designs for the new capitol, the preference being given to the design furnished by Mr. E. E. Myers. The cost of the building and incidental expenses was limited to $1,200,000, $100,000 payable in 1872, $200,000 in each of the years 1873, 1874, 1875, and 1876, and $300,000 in 1877. A preliminary appropriation of $10,000 was made for plans, etc., in 1871, and in 1875 special appropriations for heating and ventilating, for changes and improvements, roofing, cornice, etc., were made, amounting to $175,000. The length of the building, exclusive of porticoes, is 345 feet; width, 191 feet; height of lantern, 265 feet. The edifice accommodates the Legislature, State offices, Supreme Court, State Library, etc. The cornerstone was laid on the second day of October, 1873, and the contract time for its completion was the first of December, 1877. It was completed and occupied by the State during 1878, the Legislature holding its first session in the new edifice in 1879.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY HISTORY.

First Constitution and Statutes Similar to Those of New York—Method of Choosing State Officers and Judges—Time of Elections—Process of Amendment—Senators and Representatives, How Chosen—Salaries—Constitution of 1850—Legislative in Its Character—Variances from the First Constitution—The More Important Amendments—Constitutional Convention of 1867 and Constitutional Commission of 1873—The Work of Both Rejected by the People—Subsequent Votes on the Question of Ordering a General Convention—Legislative Authority Under the Territory—Compilations of the Statutes in 1822 and 1833—Revised Statutes of 1838 and 1846—Compilations of 1857 and 1871—The Howell Compilation—The Miller Compilation—Reprint of Territorial Laws.

The first constitution of the State was, in many of its features, modeled after the constitution of New York. The general statutes and polity of the State also reflected those of the State of New York, from which the migration to the State during the 1830 decade, forming the great bulk of the population, was largely drawn. The only elective State officers provided for by the constitution of 1835 were the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The administrative officers were either appointed by the Governor or chosen by the Legislature. Judges were appointed by the Governor, subjected to confirmation by 021 9the Senate. Late in the 1840 decade, however, the constitution was so amended that judges and State officers were made elective. The general elections were held two days—the first Monday and Tuesday of November, following in a measure the practice at that time in New York, where the elections were held three days. A person entitled to vote at a general election could vote at any poll in the county in which he resided. Amendments to the constitution had to be approved by two consecutive Legislature, and then submitted to popular votes. As the Legislature held annual sessions, the process of amendment was less dilatory than might otherwise seem. An amendment proposed by the Legislatures of 1843 and 1844 changed the time of the general election to the first Monday of November. State Senators were elected by districts composed of several counties each, the term being two years, but so classified that one-half were chosen each year. Representatives were elected in the counties at large. The fixing of salaries of all State officers and judges was left to the Legislature, the pay of members of the latter being limited to three dollars per day, as at present.

The constitution of 1850 was a radical departure in some of its features from the instrument that is superseded, without, in all cases, being an improvement. Legislation under the first constitution had in view a prudent economy in the fixing of official salaries, an economy that was every way commendable in the infancy of the commonwealth with an immigrant population struggling to make homes for themselves and to develop the State. The framers of the constitution of 1850 seem to have assumed that these salaries were fixed for all time, and for a State grown to opulence, with a population numbered by millions. The salaries that had been fixed by legislation were by them made constitutional and unchangeable except by amendment to the fundamental law. In many other respects the new constitution became legislative in its provisions. It also restricted or forbade legislation on many subjects. The first constitution contemplated in express terms internal improvements by the State. Its successors forbade them except in the expenditure of grants to the State. Among the inhibitions upon legislation by the constitution of 1850 were: The granting of special charters, other than municipal; granting extra compensation to public officers or contractors; against special legislation in certain cases; against granting licenses for the sale of liquor—subsequently expunged.

Many amendments have been made to the present constitution, the more important of which are summarized following:

Banking corporations: Amending section 3 of article 5 so as to make stockholders ratably liable for obligations to the amount of their stock.

Legislative sessions: Under the constitution, as first adopted, legislative sessions were limited to forty days. The amendment limits the introduction of bills to fifty days, but places no limit upon the duration of the sessions. (1860.)

Removals from office: Amending section 8 of article 12 so as to empower the Governor to remove public officers in certain cases. (1862.) This amendment was adopted by a vote of 3,180 in its favor to 1,273 against, the vote in favor being only about two per cent. of the voting population of the State.

As to banks: Under the constitution, as first adopted, banks could be organized only under a general law. By the amendment, the Legislature was empowered, by a two-third vote, to create “a single bank, with branches.” (1862.) The organization of the U. S. banking system rendered this provision wholly nugatory.

Regents of the University: Providing for the election of eight regents in the State at large instead of one from each judicial district. (1862.)

As to soldiers voting: Providing that Michigan soldiers in the field may be authorized to vote at elections. (1866.)

Railroads: Authorizing the Legislature to fix maximum rates for transportation so as to guard against discrimination, and forbidding the consolidation of competing lines. (1870.)

Salaries: Increasing the salaries of circuit judges to $2,500 per annum. (1882.) Increasing the salary of the Governor to $4,00 per annum. (1889.)

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Amendments proposing an increase in the salaries of State officers have been submitted at various times, and have been uniformly rejected except as above. Noteworthy under this head was an amendment voted upon in 1891 increasing the salary of the Attorney General. The vote as returned to the Board of State Canvassers was 69,622 in favor to 68,385 against. Suspicions of fraud or error arose, and a recanvass was ordered by the Supreme Court, showing 69,248 for and 69,651 against. A proposed amendment voted upon in 1893 made a general increase in the salaries of State officers. First reported adopted, 64,422 to 62,601. A recanvass for reasons similar to those above stated gave 59,317 in favor to 70,772 against. Fraud was so manifest in the matter that prosecutions followed, and a conviction in one case in Wayne County, but there was no sentence, and the matter was for some reason allowed to drop.

Improving roads: Authorizing the creation of county and township boards and the contraction of loans for improving highways. (1893.)

Liquor traffic: Propositions submitted under this head will be found in the chapter on that subject.

The constitution provides that every sixteenth year, beginning with the year 1866, “and at such other times as the Legislature may by law provide, the question of the general revision of the constitution shall be submitted to the electors qualified to vote for members of the Legislature, and in case a majority of the electors so qualified, voting at such election,” shall vote in favor, the Legislature shall provide for the election of delegates to a convention for the purpose of framing a revision. In 1866 the vote was in favor of a convention. The convention met in 1867 and framed a revision, which was voted upon at the April election in 1868 and rejected, 71,733 to 110,582.

At the legislative session of 1873 a joint resolution was passed for the appointment of a commission, two from each congressional district, to prepare amendments to the constitution, to be submitted to the Legislature at a special session or at the next regular session. The members of the commission were appointed by Gov. Bagley, and reported the results of their labors to him on the completion of their work October 16, 1873. It was by the Governor submitted to the Legislature at a special session in March, 1874. It was considerably changed by the Legislature from the form in which it was reported to them, and was submitted to the people at the November election in a single joint resolution as “amendments” to the constitution. It was to all intents and purposes a revision, and the manner of its preparation and submission was irregular and outside of any process contemplated by the constitution for making amendments, and there is little doubt but that it would have been held illegal by the courts. Had it been approved by a clear majority of the voting population it might have been sustained as the latest expression of the popular will, but with a bare majority of those voting, it could hardly have stood the test. It is doubtful if the people who voted upon it realized to any great extent its questionable character. Its failure may be credited largely to the liquor dealers, who opposed it through a State organization and to the railway interests, who looked upon it with disfavor. It was disapproved by a vote of 39,285 to 124,034.

In 1882, pursuant to the constitutional provision, the question of calling a convention for the purpose of a revision was voted upon and the proposal failed by a vote of 20,937 to 35,123. The same question was submitted by the Legislature at the general election in 1890 and again in 1892. It failed in the first instance on a vote of 16,431 to 26,261, and in the other case it carried by the small margin of 703 votes, there being 16,948 for and 16245 against. But although the proposition had a majority of the votes in its favor, it did not receive the majority contemplated by the constitution. An amendment to the constitution may be ratified by a majority of the votes cast for and against the particular proposition, but a convention for the purpose of a general revision must receive a majority of all votes cast at the election at which the question is voted upon. Not having such majority, the Legislature of 1893 took no action in the matter. At the election 023 11in 1898, the third recurring sixteenth-year period, the question of calling a general convention was again voted upon, receiving 162,123 votes in favor to 127,147 against. With this large margin in its favor it still failed, not having a majority of the total vote cast, the total vote- at that election being 421,164.

A brief reference to the history of the statutes of the State will appropriately follow a sketch of its constitutional history. Under the first territorial organization the Governor and Judges were both the makers and administrators of the law. Later the Legislative Council became the law making power. A revision and compilation of all acts in force was ordered by the first Legislative Council and printed in 1822 in a volume of some 700 pages. A further compilation was made and printed in 1833. With the organization of the State government came the necessity for adapting the laws to the new order of things. By act of the Legislature of March, 1836, William A. Fletcher was appointed a commissioner to prepare and arrange a code of laws for the State. He was then one of the territorial judges and was soon after appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State. The double labor delayed the preparation of the code until November 9, 1837, on which day the Legislature met in adjourned session for the purpose of acting upon the report. Their session continued into the regular session of 1838, and the Revised Statutes of 1838 was the product. E. B. Harrington and E. J. Roberts were appointed commissioners to supervise the publication. In a preface it is said:

“In the change from a Territorial to a State government, great inconvenience was experienced in adapting the territorial laws under the State constitution. They consisted of enactments of a period of more than thirty years, commencing with those adopted and published by the Governor and Judges, a part of which had been re-enacted by the first legislative council of the late Territory of Michigan. Each subsequent council passed its additional quota of acts, seemingly without any regard to former enactments, and they appear in many instances without date of approval. Several repealing acts had been passed without designating the acts or parts of acts intended to be repealed, and frequent legalizing and explanatory acts, all serving to confuse rather than explain. These various acts were scattered through loose and fragmentary publications, commencing in the year 1805.”

The statutes of 1838 are comprised in a single volume of 688 pages, exclusive of index, which is quite full. The work is admirably arranged and the mechanical execution excellent.

The next (and last) revision of the statutes is that of 1846. The work was begun in 1844, under an act of the Legislature of that year, by Judge Sanford M. Green. The revision was passed upon by the Legislature of 1846, and Judge Green was commissioned to superintend its publication. The work is in one volume, but little larger than its predecessor, although of much closer print. It is not out of place to mention that this work was printed on the first power printing press brought into Michigan, and it is believed the first one ever used west of Rochester, N.Y.

By the State Constitution, adopted in 1850, it is provided that no general revision of the statutes shall be had, but that “when a reprint becomes necessary the Legislature in joint convention shall appoint a suitable person to collect together such acts and parts of acts as are in force, and without alteration, arrange them under appropriate heads and titles.” Under this provision the late Judge Thomas M. Cooley was appointed in 1857, and the Compiled Laws of that year were the result. They are in two volumes, with consecutive section numbers running through the whole, giving great convenience of reference, with marginal notes referring to decisions bearing upon the matter of the text. The next compilation, that of 1871, by Judge James S. Dewey, has nothing specially to distinguish it from the former compilation.

024 12

In 1882 the Legislature authorized the purchase and official use of Judge Andrew Howell's work, “The General Statutes of Michigan in Force,” popularly spoken of as Howell's Annotated Statutes. The original work is in two volumes, with very full notations, and a supplementary or third volume published subsequently.

A new compilation was ordered by the Legislature in 1885, and Lewis M. Miller was appointed to the work. The publication of the work was delayed for some months pending a suit at law in behalf of Judge Howell, who alleged an infringement of copyright. The case was, however, decided adversely to Judge Howell, and the work has since been published in three volumes, with an index forming a fourth volume.

In 1873 a reprint of the territorial laws was ordered by the Legislature, which is comprised in three volumes.

THE JUDICIARY.

Judges and Courts Under the Territorial Government and Under the First Constitution—Associate Judges in the Counties—Increase in the Number of Circuits—County Courts—The Supreme Court—When Provided for and Organized—Provision for a Fifth Judge—Circuit Court Commissioners and Master in Chancery.

The “Governor and Judges,” as the law-making and law-executing power under the first territorial organization, have been elsewhere referred to, the civil machinery was aided by inferior courts. By act of the Governor and Judges, July 27, 1818, a Court of Probate was established in each county. A system of County Courts and of District Courts was also in vogue. A “Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace” was provided for by act of November 25, 1817, composed of the justices of the county courts and the justices of the peace of each county. They were required to hold four stated sessions per year, their duties being similar to those of the board of supervisors as now constituted. Judicial officers (other than the federal judges), including justices of the peace, were appointed by the governor. Under the later territorial regime the federal judges became simply judicial officers, subject to the laws enacted by Congress and by the Legislative Council. By act of the Council of April 13, 1827, the three judges were constituted the Supreme Court of the territory, with two sessions of such court each year. The judges were, however, made judges of the Circuit Courts to be held in the counties. This plan was followed in organizing the courts under the State government, the judges being appointed as judges of the Supreme Court (one of them as Chief Justice), but assigned to the several circuits as presiding judges. The County courts were composed of a chief justice and two associate justices. They had jurisdiction in civil cases of all matters not cognizable by justices of the peace up to one thousand dollars, and concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Courts in criminal cases, except capital crimes. The office of master in chancery existed, with powers analogous to those of Circuit Court commissioners at the present time.

By the constitution of 1835 it was provided that “the judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such other courts as the Legislature may from time to time establish.” It, however, provided for the election of judges of probate, for judges of County Courts, and for associate judges of Circuit Courts. The provision as to judges of County Courts was obsolete, as no County Courts existed at that time, it having been abolished by the territorial law some years before and its functions transferred to the Circuit Courts.

The judicial system, under the constitution, was instituted in 1836. The appointment of judges of the Supreme Court was provided for, the judges being assigned to hold courts in the circuits. Two associate judges were elected in each county, who sat with the presiding judge in the trial of causes, thus continuing 025 13a practice established under the territorial regime. These “side judges,” however, as the were called, were found to be more ornamental than useful, and they were dispensed with in 1846. The State was first divided into three circuits, which had increased in number until by the constitution of 1850 it was provided that the State should be divided into eight circuits, the judges being elective. The number of circuits has increased until there are now thirty-six, with six judges in the Wayne circuit and two each in the Kent, Saginaw and St. Clair circuits, a total of forty-four judges. A Court of Chancery was established in 1836, but was abolished ten years later and its powers and functions transferred to the Circuit Courts.

A County Court (which held no relation to the territorial court by that name, which had been discontinued as previously stated), was provided for by statute in 1846. A judge and second judge were to be elected, each for a term of four years. The second judge was to act only in cases where the judge was a party in interest or in cases of absence or disability. The court was to sit in term on the first Monday of each month, and during such part of the month as might be requisite for transacting the business before it. This court was the fruit of a reform agitation largely centering in Washtenaw county, which demanded cheaper and more speedy means of securing (or trying to secure) justice for the average citizen or poor litigant than was afforded by the Circuit Courts. It was not a popular institution with the lawyers, who dubbed it “the one-horse court.” It went out of existence with the adoption of the constitution of 1850. The circuit judges, sitting together, constituted the Supreme Court of the State until the system was changed as hereafter noted.

Section 1 of article 6 of the constitution provides: “The judicial power is vested in one Supreme Court, in Circuit Courts, in Probate Courts, and in justices of the peace,” with authority on the part of the Legislature to establish municipal courts in cities. It was provided that after six years the Legislature might provide for what was popularly termed an independent Supreme Court, “to consist of one chief justice and three associate justice,” to be elected by the people. This power was acted upon by the Legislature of 1857, and judges were elected at the spring election in that year, the court being organized January 1, 1858. The term of the judges was eight years, and they were so classified that their terms expired successively every second year. It is provided in the constitution that the court, when established, should not be changed for eight years. To what extent changes might be made after eight years may be a matter of construction. In 1867 the Legislature so far departed from the letter of the constitution as to provide that the judges should be elected as judges or justices of the Supreme Court, without designating any person as chief justice, and that the senior judge in service should be chief justice. An even number of judges was found to work great inconvenience, because on some questions of importance there was an equal division, and hence no decision. In 1885 a bill was introduced in the State Senate by Senator Hubbell, providing for an additional judge. An examination of the convention debates of 1850, made at his request, showed quite clearly that the intention was to have a bench of four judges only. Whether this was his reason for not pressing his bill is not known, but no action was had upon it at that session. At the next session a bill was passed for a fifth judge with a ten-year term.

It was provided by constitution that the Legislature should, as far as practicable, abolish the distinction between law and equity proceedings. The office of master in chancery was abolished, and the election of officers known as Circuit Court commissioners was authorized.

COLONIAL AND INDIAN WARS.

First Conflict on Michigan Soil—One Thousand Indians Slain—Decisive Campaigns Elsewhere—Conspiracy of Pontiac—Battle of Bloody Bridge—Massacre of Mackinac.

The first encounter of hostile forces within the Territory of Michigan, of which we have any record, was between the French and their Indian allies on the one hand, and the Indians in sympathy with the British n the other hand. The French and their allies were besieged in their fort at Detroit, May 13, 1712, but the besiegers finally decamped and entrenched themselves at Windmill Point, at the foot of Lake St. Clair. They were followed and themselves became the besieged party. After four days they surrendered, and all but the women and children were slain. The loss of the French and allies was sixty Indians killed and wounded. The enemy lost a thousand. * The French, in their dealings with the Indians, were more fortunate (or more politic) than their English neighbors. Their policy was one of good fellowship, of conciliation and fairness, thus avoiding much of the friction from which the English colonists suffered.

* Judge Campbell's History, p. 84.

The fate of nations is many times determined by battles fought outside of their own territory. This has been the case twice, at least, in the history of Michigan it came to the British as a result of the wars between the two nations, 1754-63. The successful campaign of Gen. George Rogers Clarke against the British posts in the northwest during the war of the revolution secured Michigan and the Northwest Territory to the United States.

But the soil of Michigan, like that of every other part of the habitable globe, has drank the blood of those who stood in its defense. The conspiracy of the famous Indian chief, Pontiac, in 1763, is detailed in all of the histories. It is said that a council of Indians was held, which was addressed by Pontiac. He told them that it was the design of the English to drive the Indians from their country, and that they were their natural and inveterate enemies. Whether the last be true or not, whether the first was true, as a matter of design, the aggressive chieftain was a prophet of his race. The Indians have been most effectively driven from their country. Pontiac drew to his standard the Ottawas, the Chippewas, the Miami, the Pottowatomies, and others. Their military operations extended along the entire line of the waters of the lower lakes. They attacked the posts of Le Bœuf, Venango, Presque Isle, Mackinac, St. Joseph, Miami, Green Bay, Ouiatonon, Pittsburg and Sandusky. * Detroit was the pivotal point to which the campaign was directed. It began substantially on May 1, 1763, and the first act in the drama occurred some days later, when the plot to capture the fort and garrison by surprise was betrayed to the British commandant, Major Gladwin. Pontiac and party of his warriors, having been admitted to the fort under pretext of a conference, found the garrison under arms and prepared to receive him, and was confronted with the evidence of his treachery. There was thenceforth a well understood declaration of war. The Indians, as they passed out of the fort, turned round and fired upon the garrison, upon which they made successive attacks, more annoying than dangerous, * Lanman, p. 44. 027 15 and committed various acts of cruelty and barbarism.

A regular state of seige was established, the fort was effectually blockaded and it supplies cut off. A vessel with reinforcements and supplies was sent from Niagara. Reaching Point Pelœ, the officer in command, apprehending no danger, made a landing and encamped. They suffered an earning morning attack from the Indians, by which two-thirds of the command were made prisoners, the balance escaping to Sandusky. The Indians compelled their captives to man the boats, in which they proceeded up the river to Hog Island (now Belle Isle), where they were massacred, except two who made their escape. There was a practical termination of the war with the battle of Bloody Bridge, or Bloody Run, July 31. Although this encounter was a costly one for the English, they had been so fully reinforced by men, arms and supplies that they were beyond immediate want or danger. Intelligence of the treaty of peace between France and Great Britain placed thee French inhabitants in the position of non-combatants, even were they inclined to be anything but friendly. The Indian force, unsupported, had gradually lost strength and confidence, and the British occupancy thereafter met with no serious resistance. The massacre of the British garrison and post at Mackinac, June 8, 1763, formed one of the tragic scenes of the Pontiac conspiracy, but can only be mentioned in passing. No battles were fought on Michigan soil between the American and British forces during the war of the revolution, although Detroit was made the base of operations by the British for some of their military enterprises during the war.

THE WAR OF 1812.

Indian Discontent—Tecumseh and His Brother, “The Prophet”—The Hull Surrender—Massacre at the River Raisin—Perry's Victory on Lake Erie—Battle of the Thames and Death of Tecumseh—British Occupancy of Detroit—A British Provisional Government—Joint Proclamation by General Harrison and Commodore Perry—Capture of Mackinac Island by the British.

Michigan enjoyed comparative exemption from wars and rumors of wars until during the first decade of the present century. Discontent with the Indian tribes then began to manifest itself under the leadership of Tecumseh, a Shawanese chief, who seems to have been endowed with an organizing power equal to that of Pontiac. His plan was to surprise the posts of Detroit, Fort Wayne, Chicago, St. Louis and Vincennes, and to unite all of the tribes east of the Mississippi. He had a valuable ally in a brother, called the Prophet, whose mission was to work upon the superstitious fear of the Indians. He repeated the warning of Pontiac, that the design of the whites was to push the Indian steadily backward and to occupy his land. But except some case of lawlessness and violence, the agitation seemed to bear no worse fruit than as a preparation on the part of the Indian tribes for becoming the allies of the British in the war which was then threatened and which became a fact in 1812.

Gen. Wm. Hull was then governor of Michigan, and the defense of the territory fell to his lot. Troops were mustered in Ohio and dispatched to the territory. Among them the name of Lewis Cass appears as a colonel. After various manœuvers and skirmishes on the frontier on both sides, the British forces under Gen. Brock crossed the river from Sandwich on August 16. Advancing up the river, they were preparing to engage the American forces, when a flag of truce displayed by order of Gen. Hull stopped their progress and the disgraceful surrender of the town and of the American army without a shot being fired, became a matter of history. Comment upon the transaction and upon the character and motives of Gen. Hull would be entirely out of order in this connection. He was tried by court-martial for treason and cowardice, but was acquitted on the first 028 16charge and convicted on the other, and sentenced to be shot. He was pardoned by the President in consideration of his former services in the war of the revolution.

The massacre of the River Raisin was the next notable event in the progress of the war immediately affecting Michigan. To recover the ground lost by the surrender of Detroit and to give the British forces ample occupation, three armies were organized, threatening the Canadian frontier, that of the west being under Gen. Harrison, whose base was to be at the head of Lake Erie. An advance division of the army, composed of recruits from Kentucky, reached Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, January 13, 1813. On January 22 they were surprised and attacked by a force of British and Indians from Malden, now Amherstburg. A sanguinary battle ensued, resulting in the surrender of the American forces, with a guarantee of protection from Indian barbarities. The stipulation on the part of the British may have been intended in good faith, although in view of the well-known cruel instincts of the commander, Proctor, this supposition may be taken with much allowance. The American prisoners were placed under guard, most of them being confined in two houses, and Proctor, with his regulars and Indian allies, took up a return march to Malden, the ice affording passage way. Next morning many of the Indians returned, most of them drunk and decked with war-paint. The sequel hardly needs to be told. The houses in which the prisoners were confined were set on fire and the inmates burned within them. Others were cut down and tomahawked, until the massacre was complete.

The naval command of Lake Erie now became a necessity for recovering Detroit, which was the key to the northwest. This was effected by the victory of Commodore Perry, September 10, 1813. This was soon followed by the evacuation of Detroit by the British. The water route to Canada being made clear by the victory of Perry, the American troops, under Harrison, occupied Malden, September 27. The place had been abandoned by Proctor and the fort and storehouses burned. On September 30 Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, afterwards Vice-President under Van Buren, reached Detroit by a land march, with a division of Harrison's army. The British occupancy of Detroit continued from August 16, 1812, to September 28, 1813, substantially thirteen and a half months. During the time many of the leading citizens were compelled by the British commandant, Proctor, to leave, because he feared, or pretended to fear, their influence in opposition to his rule. The citizens were subjected to many other hardships for which, however, they were amply repaid by events soon to follow.

Proctor, in his retreat, had taken a position on the Thames river, near Lake St. Clair, in Canada, his force consisting of some nine hundred regulars and fifteen hundred Indians under Tecumseh. He was pursued and given battle by Gen. Harrison, with a force of about twenty-seven hundred, largely young Kentuckians, who were burning to avenge the massacre of their fellows at the River Raisin. The battle, which occurred on October 5, was decisive in its results. Proctor was defeated and his soldiers, other than the Indians, were made prisoners. Tecumseh was killed, and by his death the Indian power in the northwest was broken.

During their occupancy of Detroit, the British, having virtual possession of the northwest, established a provisional government. Upon their return to Detroit, after the victory over Proctor, October 18, 1813, Gen. Harrison and Commodore Perry issued a joint proclamation for the better government of the territory, and guaranteeing to the inhabitants their rights of property and the enjoyment of their ancient laws and usages.

With peculiar alertness, those in command of the British forces in Canada dispatched a body of troops to capture the island of Mackinac, immediately upon the breaking out of hostilities. These troops, supported by a thousand or more Indians, were the first to apprise the American garrison at Mackinac, 029 17consisting of a mere handful of men in charge of a lieutenant, that war had been declared. The alternative was presented to the garrison of a peaceful surrender or a massacre as the price of an assault, and as resistance would have been hopeless, the prudent course was adopted from necessity. An unsuccessful effort was made in July, 1814, under Col. George Croghan, to recover the island, but as its possession was of little importance with Detroit secure to the American arms, it was thereafter suffered to remain in the undisputed possession of the British till the close of the war.

THE SHADOW OF TWO WARS.

The Toledo War—A Bloodless Campaign—The Patriot War—Canadian Refugees in Detroit Local Sentiment in Sympathy With Them—Efforts of State and Government Officials to Maintain Neutrality—Invasion of Canada at Windsor—Its Disastrous Failure—Participants Hanged and Transported—John H. Harmon—Dr. E. A. Theller.

Two wars that cast brief shadows over the borders of Michigan are usually adverted to by writers with more or less of lightness, bordering on the ludicrous. The campaign undertaken by Michigan, known as the Toledo war, to assert her just claim to the strip of land in which the city of Toledo is situated, was one fully justified by the condition of affairs at the time. The land unquestionably belonged to Michigan, and Michigan had a right to assert her claim to it by force of arms as a last resort. A military force was regularly mustered and dispatched for the purpose. Had the expedition resulted in a sanguinary battle, it would have been dignified in the histories, but as its greatest recorded exploit was a charge upon a melon patch, it has been regarded as a burlesque. The peaceful issue was more to the honor of the chief actors than a bloody battle would have been.

The “Patriot War” was of another stamp. The occasion of its was a revolt on the part of certain Canadians against British authority, and an effort to wrest Canada from the British crown. The first outbreak was on the Niagara frontier, but the scene soon changed to the west, and was the cause of a local agitation for over a year. In December, 1837, large numbers of refugees sought asylum in Detroit. The general sentiment of the people was favorable to them and their cause, but internationally comity required at least a show of neutrality. It should be borne in mind that at that time popular feeling in the United States was specially hostile to everything British. It could hardly be characterized by any term short of bitter, and was not modified by any refinement of sentiment among a people whose environment compelled them to wrestle with the stern realities of a life on the border. The spirit of ‘76 was still very much alive in the hearts of the Americans, and the recollection of the war of 1812 was still vivid with many. Hence, while officially there was a sincere effort to preserve neutrality, the popular voice favored the so-called partiots. Arms designed for the local militia readily found their way into the hands of the patriots. Steamboats on the river were either stolen or otherwise impressed into their service, and they were given aid and comfort by means of supplies and in various other ways. The patriots planned to establish a base of operations against Fort Malden at Gibraltar, a point on the river a few miles below Detroit. They occupied Fighting Island, and were shelled by the Canadians with considerable loss. In the winter of 1837-8 a small company openly paraded at Pontiac, receiving some recruits there. The United States and State authorities co-operated in the effort to prevent overt acts that would compromise the country, although largely no doubt sympathizing with the patriots. The last desperate cast was made December 4, 1838, when a band of two hundred or more boarded the steamboat Champlain (which had doubtless been left in a condition to be so taken), crossed the river to a point a short distance above Windsor, and 030 18burned the barracks. Their march was quickly cut short by the British regulars. They suffered as loss of over twenty killed, with many prisoners, and in their efforts to recross the river a number were frozen to death. Among those who were of the party, and who escaped, was the late ex-Mayor John H. Harmon, of Detroit, then a young man about twenty years of age. Several who fell into the hands of the Canadians during the imbroglio were hanged, but the greater number were transported. The agitation was kept up for some time after this tragic ending. Dr. E. A. Theller, who had been taken prisoner during the early part of the trouble and confined in a prison at Kingston, had escaped, and was a resident of Detroit. in the winter of 1839-40 he was publishing a paper devoted to the patriot cause, entitled “The Spirit of ‘76.”

THE WAR WITH MEXICO.

Causes Leading to the War—The Annexation of Texas—Michigan Troops in the War—General Taylor—General Scott—Alleged Political Scheming.

The war with Mexico came as a consequence of the admission of Texas as a State of the Union. The Territory of Texas was a part of Mexico, but the northern portion of it was settled by emigrants from the United States, who set up an independent government. The government of Texas was recognized by the United States as a sovereign power, but was not recognized by Mexico, although she had probably little hope of ever recovering the territory. It was the general expectation that the annexation of Texas, which had been agitated for some years, meant war with Mexico. Among the last acts of the twenty-eighth Congress, in the expiring days of the administration of President Tyler, was the act for the admission of Texas as a State of the Union, in 1845. Thereupon ensued a political game of chess. President Polk's administration expected war, but did not want to begin it. Mexico would probably have swallowed the annexation pill, even though a little bitter, if the River Neuces had been made the southern boundary. But the United States claimed to the Rio Grande, and Gen. Taylor, with the “army of occupation,” was ordered to the north bank of that river, metaphorically with “a chip on his shoulder.” The Mexicans crossed the river in force and gave him battle at Palo Alto. May 8, 1846, suffering a defeat, however. On May 13 Congress declared that “by the act of the republic of Mexico a state of war exists.” In this way the war with Mexico came about. The record, so far as it affects Michigan directly, is a brief one.

The first requisition for troops for the war was for a company of dragons for the regular army, which was soon raised. Gen. Andrew T. McReynolds, who died at Grand Rapids during the last months of 1898, was captain, and the men were recruited under his direction. A company of infantry was also raised for the regular array, and an additional company for garrison duty. A full regiment of infantry was subsequently raised, with T. B. W. Stockton as colonel, A. S. Williams as lieutenant-colonel, John V. Ruehle as major, and J. E. Pittman as adjutant. This regiment was made a part of the force with which Gen. Scott made the campaign from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico.

A word as to the course of the Mexican campaign. Gen. Taylor had won every battle in which he had encountered a foe in Northern Mexico, and in every case with greatly inferior numbers. The Washington authorities changed the plan of campaign, placing Gen. Scott in command of the principal army that was to march against the City of Mexico, by way of Vera Cruz. The greater part of Gen. Taylor's force was withdrawn to help make up the army under Gen. Scott. It was charged at the time that this was dictated by political considerations. The national administration was Democratic, and Gen. Taylor 031 19was understood to be a Whig in politics. It was alleged that the principal campaign had been diverted from Taylor and his force decimated, lest his continued success should give him a prestige that would make him a dangerous rival in the next presidential campaign. But Gen. Scott, to whom the main command was given, was also a Whig and a presidential possibility, and if there was any politics in the deal the more reasonable presumption would be that it was designed by Gen. Scott himself to prevent the rise of a rival in his own party. There would seem to have been good military reasons for the change, however. The land march from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico was less than half what it would have been by an overland campaign from the north.

THE GREAT CIVIL WAR.

First Steps Taken in Michigan—First Troops Raised—Successive Calls for Troops—Ready Response on the Part of the State—Enlistments, Drafts and Commutations—Whole Number of Troops Sent to the Front from Michigan—Table of Enlistments by Counties—Bounty Jumpers—“We are Coming, Father Abraham”—Southern Refugees in Canada—C. L. Vallandigham—Capture of the Philo Parsons—Bennet G. Burley—“Michigan in the War”—A Brief Summary—Tabular Exhibit of Michigan Regiments in the War—The Artillery Service—Col. C. O. Loomis—Grand Army of the Republic.

As we reach the greater military epoch in the history of the State and nation, the record must needs grow proportionately less as to detail. A reference to the history of political parties will show the trend of events leading up to the armed conflict which raged for four years, beginning with the capture of Fort Sumter, April 4, 1861. For full details of the part borne by Michigan in the great struggle, reference is made to the work entitled “Michigan in the War,” a volume of over 1,000 pages, compiled by Adjutant-General John Robertson, under authority of the Legislature, from which this sketch is mainly compiled.

The first act in the drama directly appealing to Michigan was in response to the requisition of President Lincoln, calling for a regiment of infantry from the State. A conference, suggested by Gov. Blair, was held in Detroit, April 16, 1861, at which financial pledges were made on which the necessary work could be undertaken, there being no available fund in the State treasury for the purpose. By proclamation of the governor, the work of raising the ten companies of infantry was at once begun. The Legislature was called to meet in extraordinary session May 7, at which a war loan of one million dollars was authorized. For such specific information as can be given regarding the forces raised and sent to the front by the State during the war, reference is made to the tabular exhibit which appears in another place.

The troops first raised were for a three months’ service only, it being believed and hoped that the war would be of short duration. The requisition for one regiment was, however, soon followed by a call for three additional regiments. The enlistment of 500,000 volunteers was authorized by act of Congress, August 3, 1861, under which the quota of Michigan was 19,500. Quoting from the work above cited, page 20: “Michigan, in response to this requisition, continued constant recruiting, sending regiment after regiment to the field, and up to December, 1861, had sent to the front thirteen regiments of infantry, three of calvary and five batteries of light artillery, with a total strength of 16,475 officers and men. In addition to this, thirteen companies had gone into service in regiments of other States, failing to find service in those of their own.” Reports made to the adjutant-general's office in July, 1862, showed a total enrollment of 24,281 officers and men,since the commencement of the war, to which, adding those gone outside and others incidentally mentioned, gave a presumed total of 27,000. Recruiting was continued energetically and systematically. The conference 032 20of loyal governors at Altoona, Pa., had advised President Lincoln to further steps for increasing the effective force, and on July 2, 1862, a further call for 300,000 troops was made, of which the quota of Michigan was 11,686. The next call for troops was for 300,000 to be raised by draft, the quota from Michigan being the same as under the last preceding call, 11,686. Not to follow up the various calls, the last of which was on December 19, 1864, for 300,000, the Annual Cyclopedia for 1865 gives the total under all the calls during the war at 2,759,049. Of this total, Michigan furnished, in round numbers, 90,000; 4,281 having been raised by draft at different times, the others by enlistment. Under a law of Congress, drafted persons were allowed to commute by a money payment of $300, and of the number drafted 1,982 are reported as having commuted, paying into the United States treasury the sum of $594,600. Without being exact, it is near enough for the purpose to say that the State had sent to the front, before a draft was ordered, say 30,000. The remaining 60,000 of the total of 90,000 demanded of the State would presumably have been raised by draft in default of enlistments. So that of the 60,000 that might have been raised by draft, only 4,281 were so raised; the remainder offered their services by enlistment. Of this number (over 55,000), there is no means of knowing what proportion was impelled by a patriotic sense of duty, and what proportion by the large bounties offered. It is presumed, however, that, obedient to the patriotic spirit then prevalent, a sense of duty was the controlling, if not the only, motive, with most of them. Toward the close of the conflict, it is said in “Michigan in the War,” page 60: “With the great increase of government, State and local bounties in 1864, commenced the decrease of patriotism to a great extent among those enlisting, and which continued to lessen and lessen, and at the commencement of 1865 it was not held out as any inducement to enter the service. Enlistments had become a matter of bargain and sale, dollars and cents almost entirely ruling the action.” With this class the mercenary was the impelling motive, and many of them, after securing the bounty fled to Canada, so that the term “bounty jumper” became a current and most expressive, as well as opprobious one. In many cases the same person, after securing the bounty, would skip and re-enlist in another place, not unfrequently repeating the performance two or three times. Along the Canadian frontier, especially, this was a comparatively easy matter. Very many of the recruits in eastern Michigan were drawn from Canada, although there is no warrant for saying that bounty-jumping was any more common with this class of recruits than with any other class.

As showing the sentiment that prevailed with the people of the north during the war, and their determination to prosecute it to a finish, the following song, inspired by one of the earlier calls for troops, is worthy of reproduction:

THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND MORE.

We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more, From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore; We leave our ploughs and workshops, our wives and children dear, With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear; We dare not look behind us, but steadfastly before; We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more.

If you look across the hilltops that meet the northern sky, Long moving lines of rising dust your vision may descry; And now the wind, and instant, tears the cloudy veil aside, And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride, And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour; We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more.

If you look all up our valleys where the growing harvests shine, You may see our sturdy farmer boys fast forming into line; And children from their mothers’ knees are pulling at the weeds, 033 21 And learning how to reap and sow against their country's needs; And a farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door; We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more.

You have called us, and we're coming, by Richmond's bloody tide, To lay us down, for freedom's sake, our brother's bones beside, Or from foul treason's savage grasp to wrench the murderous blade, And in the face of foreign foes its fragments to parade. Six hundred thousand loyal men and true have gone before; We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more.

Canada was a land of resort for the southern people during the war. Many southern families who were accustomed to spend the summer months at the north, chose Canada rather than the popular resorts in the northern States for their summer abode. These were sojourners rather than refugees. The refugees, however, formed much the larger proportion of the southern contingent in Canada. These were made up of refugees from the border States and of Confederate soldier-prisoners escaping and taking refuge in Canada.

Clement L. Vallandigham was an Ohio man, and an ex-Congressman. He was by conviction an ultra State Rights Democrat, and could not give his assent to a war which (if successful) must be fatal to the State Rights doctrine. He was outspoken in his views, was arrested by military authority while martial law was paramount, at the place of his residence, and was transported across the border into the Confederate lines. He made his way into Canada and took up his residence at Windsor, where he was, so to speak, the lion of the day, receiving many calls form prominent men of Michigan, who, while not sympathizing with his views, felt, at the same time, a degree of admiration for his spirit. The Democratic national convention in 1864 met in Chicago, at which Mr. Vallandigham was in attendance, having braved whatever danger there might have been of a re-arrest. This reference to a single fact of history is not with the view of recalling the causes of the partisan differences that existed forty years ago. It was inevitable that members of the Democratic party, of strong convictions, should look with little favor upon this war, although it was beyond the power of man to avert it. Mr. Vallandigham was one of these. He was a man of marked ability, honesty and sincerity. A reference to his tragic end will be pardoned in this connection, though not strictly germane to the matter in hand. He returned to his home and resumed the practice of the law. He was defending a man who was on trial for a murder alleged to have been committed with a pistol. In endeavoring to show how the shot might have been accidental, he placed a pistol in his pocket, and as he drew it out for the purpose of illustration, the weapon was discharged, the ball taking effect in his abdomen.

During the war there were rumors at various times of plots, originating with the southern refugees in Canada against Detroit and other points along the border. One of these rumors was to the effect that a plot existed for firing the city on the night of October 3, 1863. It occasioned a whirl of popular excitement, the fire department and the local military companies were cautioned to be in readiness for any emergency, and a special citizen police was organized. Other rumors looked to the seizure of arms in the State armory at Detroit and in the government arsenal at Dearborn. There was but one plot, however, that came to a head. This plot contemplated the seizure of the steamboat Philo Parsons, then plying between Detroit and Sandusky, the capture of the United States revenue cutter Michigan, the liberation of the Confederate prisoners on Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie, and the prosecution of such further enterprises as, by the fortunes of war, might come in the way of the projectors. The scheme was undoubtedly a part of the plan of campaign projected or approved by the Confederate government at Richmond, and Jacob 034 22Thompson, who had been a cabinet officer under the administration of President Buchanan, was regarded as its chief organizer and promoter in Canada. Those who were to be the active agents in the work held commissions from the Confederate authorities for both naval and land service. On the morning of September 19, 1864, Bennet G.Burley, who held a commission as an acting master in the Confederate navy, with several others, took passage on the Parsons at Detroit and were joined at Sandwich and Amherst burg, in Canada, where the Parsons called on her route to Sandusky, by others, some thirty in all. When near Middle Bass Island, in Lake Erie, those in command of the Parsons were made prisoners, and the boat was taken possession of by the plotters. They also captured the steamer Island Queen, with some twenty-five United States soldiers on board. Failing to receive the signal of co-operation that was looked for nearing Sandusky, the conspirators put about on a return course, touched at Lighting Island, and landed their prisoners, and came to dock at Sandwich, where they abandoned the Parsons, and the boat was subsequently reclaimed by her owners. Burley was arrested by the Canadian authorities, and was in due course surrendered to the United States and brought to Detroit from Toronto, where he had been confined. It was found that there was no law of the United States under which he could be tried for any offense. But his offense having been committed on the waters of Lake Erie, within the jurisdiction of Ohio, he was a disagreement of the jury under the charge of the judge, that Burley, holding the commission of the Confederate States, his act was an act of war and not a common felony. Pending a second trial, Burley escaped from jail and returned to Scotland, his native country. *

* Letter of Hon. Alfred Russell, Michigan in War, p. 137.

With the close of the war, the Michigan troops were the first to receive homing orders, the first to arrive being the Twentieth regiment, June 4, 18655, and the last the Third and Fourth, June 10, 1866. A welcoming address, in the form of a proclamation, was issued by Governor Crapo.

The annexed tabular exhibits of the organization and service of Michigan regiments in the war give much information in condensed form, and will be found of interest.

REGIMENTS. Place of Rendezvous. Colonel Commanding. When Mustered In. Left for the Front. No. of Battles and Skirmishes. Killed and Died of Wounds. Officers. Men. Died of Disease. When Mustered Out. First Regiment Detroit T. F. Brodhead Sept. 13, 1861. Sept. 29, 1861. 11 15 138 251 Second Regiment Grand Rapids Wm. C. Davis, Lt. Col. Oct. 2, 1861. Nov. 14, 1861. 70 2 68 268 Aug. 17, 1865 Third Regiment Grand Rapids F. W. Kellogg Nov. 1, 1861. Nov. 28, 1861. 25 3 32 379 Feb. 15, 1866 Fourth Regiment * Detroit R. H. G. Minty Aug. 29, 1862. Sept. 26, 1862. 92 3 44 328 July 1, 1865 Fifth Regiment Detroit Jos. T. Copeland Aug. 20, 1862. Dec. 4, 1862. † 5 117 236 Sixth Regiment Grand Rapids George Gray Oct. 13, 1862. Dec. 10, 1862. † 7 113 266 Seventh Regiment Grand Rapids Wm. D Mans Feb. 20, 1863. † 4 71 247 Eighth Regiment Mt. Clemens John Stockton May 2, 1863. 39 1 30 290 Sept. 22, 1865 Ninth Regiment Coldwater James I. David May 19, 1863. 55 2 26 153 July 9, 1865 Tenth Regiment Grand Rapids Thaddeus Foote Nov. 18, 1863. Dec. 1, 1863. 53 2 29 240 Nov. 11, 1865 Eleventh Regiment Kalamazoo Simeon B. Brown Dec. 10, 1863 Dec. 10, 1863. 56 4 24 114

Cavalry Regiments.

* Capture of Jeff Davis under Lieut, Col. Pritchard, May 10, 1865. † In December, 1862, the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh regiments were formed into a brigade at Washington, under Col. Copeland as Brigadier General. The First regiment was afterwards added. The brigade is credited with having participated in 55 battles and skirmishes. After the close of the war a portion of the brigade was sent west to aid in quieting Indian troubles. 035 23 REGIMENTS. Place of Rendezvous. Colonel Commanding. When Mustered In. Left for the Front. No. of Battles and Skirmishes. Killed in Battle and Died of Wounds. Officers. Men. Died of Disease. When Mustered Out. First Regiment, 3 months Detroit (Ft. Wayne) Orlando B. Wilcox May 1, 1861. May 13, 1861. 2 3 3 4 Aug. 7, 1861 First Regiment, 3 years Ann Arbor John C. Robinson 46 15 135 93 July 9, 1865 Second Regiment Detroit J. B. Richardson May 21, 1861. June 6, 1861. 41 11 194 116 July 29, 1865 Third Regiment Grand Rapids Daniel McConnell June 10, 1861. June 13, 1861. 36 4 143 77 June 20,1864 Third Regiment * Grand Rapids M. B. Houghton Oct. 15, 1864. Oct. 20, 1864. 2 1 1 156 June 10, 1865 Fourth Regiment Adrian Dwight A. Woodbury June 20, 1861. June 25, 1861. 53 12 165 96 June 19, 1864 Fourth Regiment * Adrian Jarius W. Hall Oct. 14, 1864. Oct. 22, 1864. 3 7 141 June 10, 1866 Fifth Regiment Detroit (Ft. Wayne) Henry D. Terry Aug. 28, 1861. Sept. 11, 1861. 38 16 216 166 July 5, 1865 Sixth Regiment Kalamazoo Fred'k W. Curtenius Aug. 30, 1861. 21 2 64 476 Sept. 5, 1865 Seventh Regiment Monroe Ira R. Grosvenor Sept. 5, 1861. 37 11 160 157 July 5, 1865 Eighth Regiment Grand Rapids Wm. M. Fenton Sept. 27, 1861. 36 12 194 197 Aug. 3, 1865 Ninth Regiment Detroit (Ft. Wayne) Wm. W. Duffield Oct. 15, 1861. Oct. 25, 1861. 10 2 18 272 Sept. 15, 1865 Tenth Regiment Flint Charles M. Lum Feb. 6 1862 April 22, 1862. 29 7 81 211 Aug. 1, 1865 Eleventh Regiment White Pigeon Wm. J. May Sept. 24, 1861. Dec. 9, 1861. 15 5 81 199 Sept. 30, 1864 Twelfth Regiment Niles Francis Quinn March 5, 1862. Mar. 18, 1862. 9 1 50 380 Feb. 15, 1865 Thirteenth Regiment Kalamazoo Chas. E. Stuart Jan. 17, 1862. 24 5 70 316 July 25, 1865 Fourteenth Regiment Ypsilanti Rob't P. Sinclair Feb. 13, 1862. April 17 1862. 18 1 48 198 July 18, 1865 Fifteenth Regiment Monroe John M. Oliver March 20, 1862. Mar. 27, 1862. 24 3 66 268 Sept. 1, 1865 Sixteenth Regiment Detroit T. B. W. Stockton Nov. 16, 1861. 52 12 203 128 July 25, 1865 Seventeenth Regiment Detroit Wm. H. Withington Aug. 27, 1862. 30 7 124 152 June 3, 1865 Eighteenth Regiment Hillsdale Chas. E. Doolittle Aug. 26, 1862. Sept. 4, 1862. 6 13 297 June 26, 1865 Nineteenth Regiment Dowagiac Henry C. Gilbert Sept 5, 1862. Sept. 14, 1862. 12 7 88 142 June 13, 1865 Twentieth Regiment Jackson A. W. Williams Aug. 19, 1862. Sept. 1, 1862. 29 13 210 176 June 9, 1865 Twenty-First Regiment Ionia Ambrose A. Stevens Sept. 4, 1862. Sept. 12, 1862. 13 3 71 294 June 13, 1865 Twenty-Second Regiment Pontiac Moses Wisner Aug. 29, 1862. Sept. 4, 1862. 8 3 79 292 June 26, 1865 Twenty-Third Regiment East Saginaw Marshall W. Chapin Sept. 13, 1862. Sept. 18, 1862. 25 4 55 228 June 28, 1865 Twenty-Fourth Regiment Detroit Henry A. Morrow Aug. 15, 1862. Aug. 29, 1862. 20 13 156 144 June 30, 1865 Twenty-Fifth Regiment Kalamazoo Orlando H. Moore Sept. 22, 1862. Sept. 29, 1862. 28 1 34 131 June 24, 1865 Twenty-Sixth Regiment Jackson Judson S. Farrar Dec. 12, 1862. Dec. 13, 1862. 29 3 98 158 June 16, 1865 Twenty-Seventh Regiment Ypsilanti Dorus M. Fox April 10, 1863. April 12, 1863. 29 8 206 203 July 26, 1865 Twenty-Eighth Regiment Marshall Wm. W. Wheeler Oct. 26, 1864. 2 1 4 123 June 5, 1865 Twenty-Ninth Regiment Saginaw Thomas Taylor Oct. 3, 1864. Oct. 6, 1864. 5 1 5 65 Sept. 6, 1865 Thirtieth Regiment Detroit Grover T. Wormer Jan. 9, 1865. On home duty only 18 June 30, 1865 Colored Regiment, 102d U. S. Detroit Henry Barnes Feb. 17, 1864. Mar. 28, 1864. 10 2 9 129 Sept. 30, 1865 First Regiment Sharpshooters Kalamazoo Chas. V. DeLand July 7, 1863 23 6 107 150 July 28, 1865 Engineers and Mechanics Marshall Wm. P. Innes Dec. 11, 1861. Dec. 17, 1861. 9 342 Oct. 1, 1865

Infantry Regiments.

* Re-organized.

A number of the regiments were organized under special authority by well known citizens, who did not accompany them to the field. Among them were: Tenth, E. H. Thompson; Seventeenth, James E. Pittman; Eighteenth, Henry Waldron; Twentieth, Fidus Livermore; Twenty-First, J. B. Welsh; Twenty-Third, David H. Jerome; Twenty-Fifth, H. G. Wells; Twenty-Ninth, John F. Driggs. The regiment of Sharpshooters and of Engineers and Mechanics, though not properly Infantry regiments, are given that classification as matter of convenience.

036 24

The First Regiment of Light Artillery was formed under Col. C. O. Loomis, of Coldwater. The regiment consisted of twelve batteries, to which two were afterwards added. The regiment never served as a unit, the several batteries being assigned to service in various commands. Hence the facts of their history cannot well be tabulated. The regiment carried on its rolls 3,333 officers and men. Battery “A,” of the regiment, was the famous “Loomis battery,” renowned for the effectiveness of its service, its dramatic history and the equally dramatic history of its commander. The story of the gruesome travels of the commander's remains after his death makes a pathetic chapter in the history of the war.

Michigan furnished forty-five regiments during the war. These, with an average of one thousand to each regiment, would represent only one-half of the 90,000 credited to the State. But a number of the regiments were reorganized with an entire new enrollment, while many others received additions to make up for losses so as to keep their numbers good. Some of the regiments had on their rolls at different times over three thousand names. This will explain the apparent discrepancy between the number of regiments and the whole number of soldiers supplied by the State. In “Michigan in the War,” page 62-3, is a tabular exhibit showing the number of troops apportioned to each county under the several calls, and the number supplied by enlistment and by draft.

As supplemental to any history of the civil war, a reference to the Grand Army of the Republic—familiarly designated by its initial letters, G. A. R.—cannot well be omitted. The organization was first proposed by Major B. F. Stephenson, of Springfield, Illinois, and was perfected at that place in 1866. Its objects are officially stated to be:

1. To preserve and strengthen those kind and fraternal feelings which bind together the soldiers, sailors and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion, and to perpetuate the memory and history of the dead.

2. To assist such former comrades in arms as need help and protection, and to extend needful aid to the widows and orphans of those who have fallen.

3. To maintain true allegiance to the United States of America, based upon a paramount respect for, and fidelity to, its constitution and laws; to discountenance whatever tends to weaken loyalty, incites to insurrection, treason or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the efficiency and permanency of our free institutions; and to encourage the spread of universal liberty, equal rights and justice to all men.

In September, 1866, Gen. R. A. Alger went to Pittsburgh, Pa., and was made a member of the order. In many, 1867, at a gathering of soldiers and sailors in Detroit, an organization was perfected and Gen. Alger was chosen department commander. He several until March 28, 1868, when, at an encampment held at Detroit, Gen. Wm. A. Throop was elected to that office. At Lansing, January 27, 1869, at an encampment held, Col. Wm. Humphrey was elected. In 1870 Col. C. J. Dickerson, of Hillsdale, was elected, and during this administration the order in Michigan virtually disbanded, as it did in several other of the western States, said to have been because of politics entering the counsels of the order.

The supplement to the last published journal of the encampment, held at Port Huron in June, 1898, is introduced by this paragraph:

“In March, 1878, the Provisional Department of the Grand Army of the Republic in Michigan, barely exited. There were supposed to be in existence four posts—in reality there were but two that showed any life.”

From this it would appear that a provisional organization existed, with a view to the formal reconstruction of the order in the State. This was undertaken by Col. C. V. R. Pond, of Quincy, Branch Company, who was appointed by the commander-in-chief of the national organization as “Commander of the Provisional Department of Michigan.” The formal reorganization was effected at a meeting held in Grand Rapids, January 22, 1879. Col. Pond was elected department commander and was elected for a second year in 1880. The annual gatherings of the order are known 037 25as encampments, the last one having been held at Petoskey, June 21-22, 1899, being the twentieth annual encampment under the reorganization. The order is distinctively military in its official nomenclature and in its forms and methods. Subsequent department commanders have been: A. T. McReynolds, Byron R. Pierce, O. A. Janes, R. J. Shank, Chas. D. Long, John Northwood, L. G. Rutherford, Washington Gardner, Michael Brown, H. M. Duffield, C. L. Eaton, Henry S. Dean, J. H. Kidd, Louis Kanitz, S. B. Daboll, Wm. Shakespeare, A. T. bliss and Alex L. Patrick, Russel R. Pealer was chosen at the Petoskey encampment in 1899. Col. Pond has been for some years past the assistant adjutant-general and practically in charge of the executive work of the order, having an office in the capitol building at Lansing. The order has official recognition in various acts of the Legislature, and its reports are addressed to the governor. The number of posts in the State June 30, 1899, was 385, and the total membership 15,287.

THE WAR WITH SPAIN.

War Loan Authorized—Mobilization of the National Guard—Regiments Mustered In—Summary of Their Service—Gen. Henry M. Duffield—Col. Cornelius Gardner—The Naval Reserves.

Early in the year 1898 a conflict of arms between the United States and Spain became inevitable. The legislature being in session, a loan of $500,000 was authorized to meet the exigency that was expected to arise, and to enable Michigan to act promptly in meeting any demand that might be made upon her for troops for the national service. On April 23, 1898, President McKinley issued his proclamation calling for 125,000 volunteers to engage in the war with Spain. Michigan's quota of this number was 4,104, to consist of four regiments of infantry of 1,026 officers and men each. On the following day General Order No. 5 was issued for the mobilization of the entire Michigan National Guard at Island Lake April 26, 1898, and the work of re-forming the Michigan National Guard to meet the exigency of the call made upon it by the President, was undertaken. The four regiments were designated as Thirty-first, Thirty-second, Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, following in numerical order the infantry regiments of the civil war. On May 25 an additional regiment from Michigan was called for by the President, and was numbered as the Thirty-fifth. The five regiments were mustered as follows:

Regiments. When Mustered. Colonel Commanding. Thirty-first May 10. Cornelius Gardener. Thirty-second May 11. Wm. T. Mcgurrin. Thirty-third May 20. Chas. L. Boynton. Thirty-fourth May 23. John P. Petermann. Thirty-fifth July 25. E. M. Irish.

The Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth Michigan formed part of the expedition under command of Gen. Shafter against Santiago, and bore their full share of the hardships and dangers of that expedition. *

* Adjutant-General's Report, 1898.

Col. Henry M. Duffield, of Detroit, was appointed a brigadier-general of volunteers May 27, 1898, and was in command of a brigade embracing the two regiments last named and the Ninth Massachusetts. He was the only general officer appointed to a command in the volunteer service from Michigan during the war.

While the Thirty-first, Thirty-second and Thirty-fifth regiments were never under fire, they were ready and eager for active service when the bugle sounded. After American rule was established in Havana, the Thirty-first regiment was one of those chosen for the policing of the island in order to prevent lawlessness and possible insurrections in the interior. The Thirty-second and the Thirty-fifth never left the soil of the United States. The Thirty-first lost 17 men who died of disease in the service. The Thirty-second lost 20. The Thirty-third lost 61, three of whom 038 26were killed by a bursting shell at Aguadores. The Thirty-fourth suffered most from yellow fever and lost in all 88 men. The Thirty-fifth lost 24.

When the government decided to increase the forces engaged in putting down the Philippine rebellion, Col. Cornelius Gardener and a large number of his men re-entered the service and left for the seat of war in September, 1899.

The Michigan Naval Reserves, consisting of 11 officers and 270 men, were detailed on the auxiliary cruiser Yosemite and saw service at Havana, Santiago, Guantanamo and San Juan de Puerto Rico, in all situations winning the approval of the regular naval authorities for the admirable manner in which they discharged their duties, and winning the respect and gratitude of Michigan for the honor conferred upon the State by their conspicuous gallantry in actual warfare. *

* Adjutant-General Report, 1898.

THE STATE MILITARY.

Early Laws on the Subject—General Trainings—Derivation of the custom—Fell Into Disfavor—Independent Volunteer Companies—Absence of Military Spirit—A Marked Revival Preceding the Civil War—A Demand for Legislation Favorable to the Military—Revision of the Militia Laws—The State Troops—Re-organization After the War—Encampment—Home Service of the State Troops—Michigan National Guard—The Naval Militia—General John E. Schwarz and General John Roberston.

To persons of middle age and under, the early military history of the State will be scarcely less entertaining than a romance. The constitution of the United State confers upon Congress powers to “provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia.” On May 8, 1792, Congress passed an act “more effectually to provide for the national defense, by establishing an uniform militia throughout the United States.” It provided for the enrollment of all free white male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, except those exempt by law, and that each person so enrolled should “provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints and a knapsack; a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot pouch and powder horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder, and shall appear so armed, accountred and provided, when called out to exercise or into service, except that when called out on company days to exercise, he may appear without a knapsack.” The act required the militia thus enrolled to be “arranged into divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions and companies, as the Legislature of each State shall direct.” Each battalion was required to have at least one company of grenadiers, light infantry or riflemen; and for each division at least one company of artillery and one troop of horse. There were specific provisions for officering and ordering the militia forces thus organized.

The Legislative Council of the Territory, by act of April 23, 1833, after repeating the act of Congress, provided for carrying it into effect. The act is quite elaborate, covering, together with the act of Congress, some twenty-six pages of print. A company muster, “for the purpose of improving in martial exercise,” was required to be held on the first Tuesday in May of each year, and a regimental muster, or “general training,” once a year in the month of October. The officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, and the musicians, of each regiment, were required to hold a three days’ drill in the month of October of each year. A court-martial was provided for, to try offences and delinquencies, and a schedule of fines was prescribed, ranging from nominal up to one hundred dollars, according to the character of the offense and the rank of the offender. Fines for non-attendance at musters ranged from two to five 039 27dollars, and for appearing at musters without the required arms, one dollar, with twenty-five cents for lack of bayonet and belt, pouch, spare flints, knapsack, etc.

The early militia trainings were an inheritance from earlier times. They had their counterpart in the ancient wappen-schaw (or weapons show), of Britain, which was a mustering of the yeomanry and gentry with their weapons of offense and defense, for the purpose of practice and review. The armament, either by voluntary act or by requirement of law, became necessity in colonial days, as the best and only defense against the Indians. It became a patriotic duty no less than a necessity in the war of the revolution and the war of 1812, and it was continued as a matter of pride with the citizen-soldiery for many years thereafter. It was, in short, but a legacy from the ages, when war, or the means of prosecuting war for the purpose of offense of defense, was the chief study of the race. The arms, be it noted, were not furnished by the State, but each person was required to furnish his own. As early as 1840 the system had fallen into disfavor. The musters were held, but there was no pretense of complying with the law regarding equipment. Men appeared in the ranks armed with sticks or with any kind of bludgeon that came handy, and many times in grotesque costumes. The whole tendency was to throw the system into ridicule and contempt, into which it had in fact fallen. It finally gave way, and with it the crop of colonels, majors and captains that had grown upon it. What had for years, if not for ages, been a system invested with dignity, evoking the pride and eliciting the respect of the people, became a burlesque and a by-word, the best evidence, perhaps, that it had outlived its day.

The act of 1833 provided for the organization of independent companies, but left the equipment to the members. Amendments were made to this act in 1838, 1840, 1841, 1844 and 1845. A revision of the militia law was made at the Legislative session of 1846 (page 241 of the session laws of that year), by which the act of 1833 was superseded. By this act the general parades or musters of the militia were dispensed with, but the organization was continued under what may be termed a skeleton form. The militia was divided into two classes: The “enrolled militia,” embracing all who were liable to military duty not belonging to volunteer companies, and the “acting militia,” embracing all thus belonging. The volunteer companies were to be provided with arms and equipment by the State, but were to provide their own uniforms. They were required to parade on four Saturdays in May, and to hold a rendezvous or encampment for three days, beginning on the second Tuesday, in June. There was no provision for paying the expenses of such gatherings.

Gen. John E. Schwarz had been adjutant- general of the State for many years, but after the political revolution of 1854 he was retired, and Col. F. W. Curtenins, of Kalamazoo, was appointed to the place. In his report for the year 1858 he deprecates the apathy that had prevailed in military circles, and states that when he first entered upon his duties in the year 1855, of the ten or twelve volunteer companies having a nominal existence, there were but three that were entitled to recognition. All the others had been disbanded, and of the three it was said that they were made up of foreign-born citizens. But he reports that since the year named “an unusual flow of military spirit has abounded,” and that there were then (1858) thirty-three companies on the muster-roll. A speculative thought may be indulged here, as to whether this outcrop of the military spirit was in any way prophetic of the storm that burst in 1861. Was it stimulated by a certain inner sense of something to occur, but which was undefined and unexpressed at the time, for it is said that “coming events cast their shadows before?”

A convention of those actively interested in the military was held at Kalamazoo, November 30, 1858, for the purpose of memoralizing the Legislature in favor of certain changes in the laws. Some ten points on which legislation 040 28was asked were formulated, the more important of which were some provision for raising a military fund, and a restoring of the provision for courts-martial and courts of inquiry, which had been abolished by the act of 1846. The Legislature, at its session of 1859, responded to this memorial by Acts No. 54 and 169. A military fund of $3,000 per year was provided for, and also a State military board, with other changes designated to add to the efficiency of the service. The volunteer uniformed companies went practically out of existence during the early days of the war. They formed the nuclei for the organization of the active force which took the field in behalf of the government in response to its call for troops.

The Legislature , at its special session in 1862 (Act. No. 16), revised the militia laws. The uniformed companies that had before been known as the “acting militia” were given the name of “State Troops.” The offices of adjutant-general and quartermaster-general which had been discharged by one person, were made separate, and the office of inspector-general was created. It was provided that the State Troops should have “so many parades, encampments and other meetings of instruction, and full dress parades in each year, not exceeding ten full days, as may be prescribed by the State military board.” One or more camps were authorized to be held each year, to continue not more that five days. The necessary expenses of transportation were to be paid by the State, and thirty-five cents per day to offices and privates alike for subsistence. The adjutant-general (Gen. John Robertson), in a special report to the governor, November 27, 1866, states that up to that time only three companies had been mustered into the service under the act of 1862. In 1872 nine companies were reported. In 1874 there were two regiments of eight companies each, which had increased to three regiments in 1876. In 1886 there were four regiments of eight companies each, forming a brigade, with a total force of 2, 489. In 1898 there were the same number of regiments, but two of them with twelve companies each, making forty companies in all, being the statutory limit.

Prior to 1860 regimental encampments had been held, but somewhat irregularly. After the close of the war the force did not reach a point in numbers calling for such an assemblage until in the early seventies, when regimental encampments were held at different times and places during the decade. Beginning with 1880, brigade encampments have since been held each year, except in 1881 and 1885. In the former year, instead of the encampment, six companies were detailed to attend the centennial celebration at Yorktown, Va., commemorative of the surrender of the British force under Cornwallis, October 19, 1781. In 1885 the encampment was deferred in apprehension of some disturbances in the State at which the services of some of the force might be required. The first brigade encampment was held at Kalamazoo in 1880. Since that time these encampment have been held at Island Lake, a point on the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Northern railroad, near Brighton (omitting 1881 and 1885, as above), except as follows: 1888, Mackinaw Island; 1889-90, Battle Creek; 1891. Whitmore Lake.

The State troops have been called out to guard against popular disturbances on several occasions. The first was in 1877, during a general prevalence of unrest throughout the country. Regiments were ordered into camp at Jackson, Grand Rapids and Detroit. The order was simply to go into camp, without reference to the possibility of their active interference being required (as it proved not to be), but the precaution doubtless averted violence that would very likely have followed some acts of lawlessness that had been committed. In July, 1885, in consequence of disturbances threatening possible violence in the Saginaw Valley, four companies, at the request of the sheriffs of Saginaw and Bay counties, were ordered by Gov. Alger on duty in that locality. In 1894 similar disturbances in Gogebic county induced Gov. Rich 041 29to order a rendezvous of four companies at Ironwood. Fortunately, in neither case, was the active interference of the military called for.

Act No. 198, Public Acts, 1893, made a number of changes in the law of 1862. The “State Troops” (so denominated by the last-named act), are, by the act of 1893, to be known as the “Michigan National Guard,” and a per capita tax of four cents on each inhabitant of the State is provided, in place of fifteen cents on the voting population, as by the prior act. The National Guard seems to have been effected by the Spanish was very much as the volunteer militia were by the civil war. The adjutant-general, in his report for 1898, says: “The National Guard, as it existed at the outbreak of the Spanish war, does not now exist. It must be built up again de novo. Of the members of the National Guard on the rolls, it was found, upon examination, when they were called upon for service in the field, that twenty-three per cent. of them were phyically unfit. The adjutant-general recommends “a complete and thorough reorganization of the National Guard, to the end that only those free from bodily defects and mental infirmities may become members.”

By Act. No. 184, Public Acts, 1893, the organization of a naval force as part of the military equipment of the State, is authorized. It provides for the enrollment of those engaged in the commercial marine, similar to that required as to the land forces, and they are similarly classified. Those unconnected with any corps are to be known as the “reverse naval militia,” and the organized force is to be known as the “Michigan State Naval Brigade.” The provisionss of the act follow, as nearly as may be, the same lines as the law governing the land forces. Three companies or divisions of the naval militia have been organized—two at Detroit and one at Saginaw. The naval militia made a record in the war with Spain, which is noted under another head.

John E. Schwarz was appointed adjutant-general in 1836 (the first under the State government), and held the place for four years, until the political revolution of 1839-40. He was reappointed in 1844, holding the place until 1855, when he was retired by another political change, but having served in all fifteen years. John Robertson was appointed in 1861, serving until the time of his death in 1887, a continuous service of twenty-six years. No apology is needed for mentioning these two veterans, where it would be impracticable to enumerate other officers of the State militia.

EARLY AND CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEES.

The Ordinance of 1787—Land Grants by Congress—Provisions of the State Constitution—First Superintendent of Public Institution—A Comprehensive System Outlined.

Whatever interpretation may be given to the clause of the ordinance of 1787, which speaks of “religion, morality and knowledge,” the pledge and solemn injunction that “schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged,” has been scrupulously observed, both by Congress and by those who have been called to administer the affairs of the States concerned.

Liberal grants of land have been made from time to time by Congress for the endowment and support of universities, colleges and schools. The University of Michigan was established by act of the governor and judges of the territory, although not definitely located and organized until a later day by the State. Acts granting charters to local colleges and seminaries form a prominent feature of early legislation under the State government, institutions of this class, however, having largely given place to the modern high school, which covers a much wider field. The act of 1805, organizing the territory of Michigan, reaffirmed the provision of the ordinance, and the territorial authority, as early as 1827, enacted laws for the establishment of schools in accordance with the intent. In 1828 Congress placed the school lands under the supervision of the governor and council, to protect and lease, so as to make them productive. The act of Congress of June 23, 1836, making certain propositions to Michigan as conditions of her admission into the Union, declared: “That section numbered 16 in every township, of the public lands, and where such section has been sold or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to the State for the use of schools.” The constitution of the State declares: “The proceeds from the sales of all lands that have been or hereafter may be granted by the United States to the State, for educational purposes, and the proceeds of all lands or other property given by individuals, or appropriated by the State for like purposes, shall be and remain a perpetual fund, the interest and income of which, together with the rents of all such lands as may remain unsold, shall be inviolably appropriated and annually applied to the specific objects of the original gift, grant or appropriation.” Another provision of the State constitution largely augments the primary school fund through specific taxes received from corporations. Through the measures enumerated (and others that might be mentioned), it will be seen that the early condition is being religiously fulfilled, with an added and accumulating interest (speaking in a financial sense), as if in gratitude for the wisdom and foresight that imposed the beneficent obligation.

The first constitution of the State (1835) contemplated the organization of the educational forces into a complete system. The appointment of superintendent of public instruction was provided for. While the superintendent has a general supervision of all educational institutions in the State, the primary schools (which include as well the graded and high schools) are the more especially under his superintendence. The first superintendent was Rev. John D. Pierce, a minister of the Congregational church and a man of broad and comprehensive views. The act of the Legislature defining the duties of the superintendent, required him, among other things, to submit to the Legislature “all such matters relating to his office and the public 043 31schools as he may think proper to communicate.” The duty was devolved upon him of preparing a system for common schools and a plan for a university and its branches. In his first report to the Legislature he submitted his plan, which defined the rights, powers and duties of school districts; the duties of district officers, of township officers, school inspectors and townships; proposed the establishment of libraries, and plans for school houses; the establishment of academies as branches of the university, and a method of organization for the university. The officers of the system proposed for school districts were moderator, vice-moderator, director and assessor, and three township school inspectors, with the township clerk as clerk of the board. *

* Public Instruction and School Law—F. W. Shearman, Supt. Pub. Inst., 1852.

THE STATE UNIVERSITY.

Act of Congress, 1804—Judge Woodward's Pedantic Scheme—Second Act of Establishment, 1821—Branches—Local Academies—The Branches Abandoned.

The University, as standing at the head of the educational structure, is properly given first place under the general head, “Education.” The initiative of the University may be traced to the Act of Congress of 1804, by which a township of land was reserved to each of the divisions of the Northwest Territory, as prospective States, for seminary purposes.

The first act looking to the establishment of a university in Michigan was by the governor and judges, in the year 1817. The act was drawn by Judge Woodward, one of the judges of the territory, a pedantic personage, with a fondness for airing his Latin. To the mind accustomed to the use of plain English in the affairs of life, the phraseology of the act is ludicrous, to say the least. The document is reproduced in the University Semi-Centennial (1887), with note, stating the copy as published * has “apparently many errors of transcription.” The University copy is said to be “an exact transcript of the draft in the handwriting of Judge Woodward, now preserved in the University library.” Any verbal variances between the two copies may perhaps be accounted for on the theory that the act as adopted differed more or less in its wording from the manuscript copy.

* Public instruction and school law, 1852.

But little progress was made in the establishment of the “Catholepistemiad,” beyond the erection of a small building and the opening of a school, nor is there any record that the lottery authorized by the act ever materialized. That a lottery should at the time be deemed a legitimate means of promoting a higher education in which religion was to play a prominent part, stands in contrast to the sentiment of the present time, when lotteries are outlawed by both the State and national governments.

In 1821 the Woodward scheme was superseded by act of the governor and judges, entitled “An act to establish a university.” The institution was to be located in Detroit and to be under the management of twenty-one trustees, of whom the governor of the territory, for the time being, should be one, the others being appointed by the governor and judges. The corporate name of the institution was “The Trustees of the University of Michigan,” and they were empowered to establish, from time to time, such colleges, academies and schools, depending upon the said University, as they may think proper, and as the funds of the corporation will permit.” They were given control of the land grants, and were empowered to receive gifts or dedications of money or property. The work begun under the Woodward act was continued under the new regime, but with no great progress. Some local academies may have been established, which subsequently became branches of the University. There was at Pontiac a two-story frame building, with a cupola, known as the Academy, in which a school was 044 32taught, presided over by Prof. Geo. P. Williams, subsequently and for many years an honored member of the faculty of the University. This school was in operationn in 1837 (if not earlier), and must have antedated the organization of the University under a board of regents, and its establisbment at Ann Arbor in the year mentioned. There was also a building at Ann Arbor, the counterpart of the one at Pontiac, and similarly designated, with manifestly an equal antiquity. Whether these buildings were the work of the trustees under the act of 1822, or whether they were built as local academies by local enterprise, there should be records to show. They may have had their origin through both agencies cooperating. But under whatever auspices, they undoubtedly suggested the idea of branches of the University, as recommended by the superintendent of public instruction, and incorporated in the organic act of 1837. But however the idea of branches of the University may have originated, the system was practically abandoned in 1846.

THE UNIVERSITY UNDER STATE CONTROL.

Organic Act of 1837—Located at Ann Arbor—Proposed Separate Departments for Females—State Loan for Building Purposes—First Opened in 1842—The First Professorships—Financial Embarrassment—Elements of Hostility—First Graduating Class—Dismissal of Members of the Faculty—Professor Ten Brook's Work.

The real history of the University dates from the year 1837. By the organic act of that year, the government by trustees was superseded by a boardof twelve regents and a chancellor, to be paid appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The chancellor was made ex-officio president of the board. From the language of the act it would seem that the chancellor was to be appointed in the same manner as the twelve regents, but by a subsequent section the twelve were to be classified by equal divisions, to serve one, two, three and four years, and there is no further mention of the chancellor in the act. The governor, lieutenant-governor, judges of the Supreme Court and the chancellor of the Senate were made ex-officio members of the board. The “chancellor” first spoken of should not be confounded with “the chancellor of the State,” an officer standing at the head of the Court of Chancery, subsequently abolished. On March 18, 1837, the names of twelve persons as regents were sent to the senate by Gov. Mason, but there is no mention of a chancellor. The organic act was approved and went into effect March 18, 1837. By a subsequently act, March 20, the location of the University was fixed at Ann Arbor, and by a still further act passed at the special session, June 21, it was provided that the chancellor should be elected by the board of regents (not being one of their own number), and that they should have power to prescribe his duties. The Governor was also made president of the board, and in his absence the board was empowered to elect one of their own number president pro tem. From this action, it is not altogether clear what the functions of the chancellor were to be—possiblly such an officer was looked to prospectively as the executive head of the several departments when they should be organized. The discussion or mention of the matter is perhaps unimportant except as a reminiscence and as bearing upon a slight tempest subsequently raised, and to which reference is made farther on. Three departments of the University were provided for: That of literature, science, and the arts, of law, and of medicine. A provision that will read a little curiously at this time contemplated, that in connection with each branch of the University “there shall be established an institution for the education of females in the higher branches of knowledge, whenever suitable buildings shall be prepared.” The manifest intent being that the branches being for males only, a separate institution, though under the same management, should be provided for females.

045 33

In the discussion attending the organization of the University, there was a manifest unwillingness on the part of some to encourage the establishment of private seminaries, and a disposition to withhold charters from some that were proposed, the controlling thought being to center evrything in the University and its branches. The conferring of degrees was reserved to (or at least strongly contended for), as the exclusive prerogative of the State institution.

The land for the immediate site of the University was donated by the people of Ann Arbor, and consisted of forty acres lying to the eastward of the then village. By act of the Legislature, April 6, 1838, a loan to the University of $100,000 was authorized, in the form of twenty-year bonds of the State, at six per cent., the interest and principal, as they became due, to be taken care of by the University. The proceeds of this loan were employed in building the first University buildings, consisting of a main building (which served the several purposes of students’ dormitories and study rooms, recitation rooms, library, and apartments for apparatus and museum), and four dwellings for professors. The University was opened in its present home September 20, 1842, in charge of two professors—Prof. Williams, before mentioned, and Rev. Joseph Whiting, both having been principals of branches. The former was an Episcopalian, and the latter a Presbyterian. They were each allowed a salary of $500 per annum and occupancy of one of the dwellings. Dr. Douglass Houghton, then the State geologist, had a couple of years previously been appointed professor of geology and mineralogy, but with duties wholly voluntary and without salary. Dr. Asa Gray had held the chair of zoology and botany on terms similar to those of Dr. Houghton, and on his resignation Dr. Abram Sager was appointed to succeed him. In 1844 Rev. Edward Thompson was appointed to the chair of intellectual and moral philosophy, and one tutor was employed. This comprised the working force of the University at the time of its first commencement. There was no graduating class until the year following, but class exercises were held in 1844 and one of two degrees were conferred upon examination.

But details in connection with the subject matter must necessarily be cut short. During the first years of the active work of the University, four principal chairs were established, and the policy attained to select, for these chairs, men representing the leading Protestant religious denominations. There were some feew appointments to chairs in the natural sciences that were made irrespective of religious predilections.

The ten years following the opening of the University in 1842 may be regarded as the first period of its history. The report of the regents to the Legislature in 1843 represents the institution as under great embarrasment financially, with the necessity staring them in the face of suspending the work both of the University proper and the branches. The work struggled along, however, and in 1844 some remedial legislation was had, not in the way of direct appropriations, but by accommodation transfers of liabilities, so that in 1845 the regents say in their report:

“It affords the board the greatest pleasure to express the deep and grateful sense of obligation under which they feel themselves placed under the very efficient and opportune aid extended to them by the last Legislature. * * * Happily, all ground of fear and cause of complaint have been removed by the Legislative enactments.”

There was more or less of complaint against, and hostility to, the University, manifested in various ways, during the decade. Demonimational colleges were contesting the ground, and the localities that they represented felt a direct interest in promoting them at the expense of the University. Secret societies among the students crept in, and were a source of irritation. * * “American State Universities and the University of Michigan,” Ten Brook, p. 192 and following. 046 34 The Medical department was opened in 1850, and some feeling grew up between the two faculties. There was no common head, no chancellor or president having been appointed, and some feeling of jealousy between the two faculties was unavoidable. The first graduating class in 1845 numbered twelve members, the number graduated each year up to 1852 varying, sometimes above and sometimes below that number, the highest being twenty-four, in 1849.

The first election of regents under the constitution of 1850 was at the April election in 1851, the regents then chosen entering upon their duties January 1, 1852. The retiring board, however, at their final session, December 30, 1851, vacated the principal chairs in the literary department, those of natural philosophy and mathematics, of logic, rhetoric and history, and of the Greek and Latin languages. The reason for this action was recited in a resolution, namely: “That in view of the duty devolving upon the board of regents-elect to reorganize the faculty of arts in the University, and to appoint a president, it is expedient that the board provide for that contingency by determining the terms of the existing members of said faculty,” etc. The terms were made to terminate at the close of the then academic year, June, 1852. There were reasons, however, lying back of the one given that influenced the action. The record is given in the work of Prof. Ten Brook, one of the deposed professors, previously referred to in note. The other professors removed were Williams, Agnew and Whedon. Prof. Williams was subsequently reinstated by the incoming board, and Prof. Ten Brook was again connected with the University as librarian, 1864-67. Dr. Louis Fasquelle, professor of modern languages and literature, was undisturbed in his seat, as were also the five members of the medical faculty. The enumeration here given comprised the working force of the University at the beginning of the year 1852, with some possible tutors and assistants.

Prof. Ten Brook's work gives brief sketches of persons serving as regents up to 1852, among whom the clergy are quite well represented, and it is said of Martin Kundig, regent 1841-44, that he was a Catholic priest, and the only one ever on the board. The first elective board consisted of nine members, and so far as appears the clergy were not represented, the membership being composed wholly of professional and business men. In surrendering their trust, the outgoing board adopted a memoir, prepared by Dr. Zina Pitcher, one of its members, giving a partial resume of the work of the regents under the organic act of 1837. Its more salient feature, however, is an argument against homeopathy, which was then clamoring for popular recognition and knocking at the doors of the University for admission.

THE UNIVERSITY UNDER THE NEW REGIME.

First Elective Board of Regents—President Tappan—A Feeling of Unfriendliness Toward Him—Tempest Over the Term “Chancellor”—Other Carping Allegations—Fruits of Dr. Tappan's Work—The Astronomical Observatory—The Law Department—Remission of the University Loan—Dr. Angell's Tribute—Removal of Dr. Tappan—President E. O. Haven—Acting President Henry S. Frieze.

The first elective Board of Regents, as before stated, entered upon their duties January 1, 1852. On August 12, 1852, Dr. Henry P. Tappan was chosen as President of the University. The administration of President Tappan may be regarded as the second stage or period in the history of the institution. Dr. Tappan was a minister of the Congregational denomination, though his work had been mostly that of teaching and authorship. He was at the time a resident of New York City. A feeling of unfriendliness met him at the threshhold. His appointment had been disapproved by the regular school of medicine 047 35because of his understood preference for the homeopathic practice. In his inaugural address he assumed the title of “chancellor” instead of President of the University. It will be noticed that prior to the adoption of the constitution of 1850 the term chancellor had been uniformly used in the statutes as defining the prospective head of the University. What term was used in the appointment as made, or in the notification to the appointee, only the records would show. Dr. Tappan had most likely read the organic law, which provided for a chancellor, and quite as likely had not read the constitutional provision, which provided for a president. The error was one which should have been explained and rectified in a friendly spirit, if that had been the desire, which it was not on the part of his opponents. In his inaugural he also dwelt upon the “Prussian system” as the model after which the Michigan educational work was patterned. In this he had the authority of the first Superintendent of Public Instruction, by whom the Michigan plan was outlined. His utterances, however, were seized upon as evidence of his sympathy with something foreign and monarchical, rather than American. He was regarded as pompous and aristocratic, in harmony with his predilections, and his assumption of the title of chancellor, which was derisively Germanized as “kanzler,” was heralded as evidence conclusive that he was a Prussian, with the mistake of having been born in America. A fairly liberal liver, he was not averse to the decent use of wine, and fell under the ban of the ultra temperance folk as a wine bibber.

In contrast with what was laid at his door, should be placed the record of what he accomplished for the University and the progress which it made during the ten or eleven years of his presidency. When this is done he must be written down as a man of broad and comprehensive views, of marked executive ability, and of equal energy and force of character. This estimate of Dr. Tappan will be approved by those who were students under him at the University, of whom the writer was not one. A very fair and quite lucid analysis of Dr. Tappan's character will be found in Prof. Ten Brook's work, page 229 and following.

The astronomical observatory owes its inception and its completion and equipment to Dr. Tappan. The first direct State aid to the University came through his efforts. Up to 1853 the University interest fund had been charged regularly each year with the sum of $6,000 as interest upon the bonds authorized in 1838. In 1853 an act was passed remitting this interest for two years. Similar acts were passed in 1855 and in 1857, and in 1859 the remission was made without limitation of time, thus making the $100,000 loan a virtual gift to the University. The law school was opened in 1859 and a building for its use was erected a year or two later. The law school was part of the general plan, and was not original with the president, but its establishment at the time was made possible by the added resources due to his efforts. The fruits of Dr. Tappan's work are epitomized by Dr. Angell, in his oration at the semi-centennial of the University, in these words: “When Dr. Tappan closed his official career, after eleven years of service, the literary department had more than quadrupled the number of students it had on his accession to office, the medical department had two hundred and fifty students, the law school one hundred and thirty-four, the total attendance was six hundred and fifty-two, and the University was recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as a great and worthy school of liberal learning.”

Some of the stimulants to an increase in numbers were not felt during the 1850 decade and up to 1863, as they have since been felt. The influence of the high schools as feeders to the University had hardly begun to be felt during that time, and the financial ability of the people had not received the impulse that it did as a consequence of the flush times occasioned by the war in the early sixties. At the close of the June commencement 048 36in 1863, by a vote of the regents, Dr. Tappan was removed from the office of President of the University, and from the chair of philosophy which he held. The episode cannot, from the necessity of the case, be enlarged upon. Efforts were made for his reinstatement by the new board which came into office the following January, but without avail. Dr. Tappan subsequently published a pamphlet covering a statement of his connection with the University and the causes attending his removal. No copy of this statement is to be found in the State Library, and any person having a copy can do the State a service by placing it in the hands of the Librarian. The same may be said of a book or pamphlet by Dr. A. J. Sawyer, of Monroe, giving a history of the contest for the introduction of homeopathy into the University. Dr. Tappan, soon after the question of his reinstatement was finally settled, took up his residence in Switzerland, and died there in 1881.

The Rev. E. O. Haven, a minister of the Methodist Church, who had formerly held a professorship in the University, was appointed to the presidency at the time of the removal of the former president. He held the position until 1869, when he resigned to become president of the Methodist College at Evanston, Illinois. He was afterwards made chancellor of Syracuse University, New York, was made a bishop of his church in 1880, and died at Salem, Oregon, in 1881. Prof. Henry S. Frieze was made provisional president on the retirement of Dr. Haven, serving as such until 1871. He also served as acting president during the absence of President Angell as United States Minister to China, 1880-82, and died at Ann Arbor Dec. 7, 1889.

THE UNIVERSITY UNDER PRESIDENT ANGELL.

Appointment of Dr. Angell—His Diplomatic Service—Acting President Hutchins—Incidents in the History of the University—Admission of Women—Introduction of New Schools and Extension of Courses—The Semi-Centennial and the Quarter Centennial of President Angell's Administration—A Comparative Summary—A Metrical Prophecy—Homeopathic Medical College—Annual Revenues—List of Acts Relating to the University.

The appointment of the present president, Dr. James B. Angell, was made in 1871. He has held the office continuously for a period of 28 years. He was relieved from duty during his absence as minister to China, 1880-82, and again as minister to Turkey, during the collegiate year 1898-99. The duties of the presidency were filled during this latter absence by Prof. H.B. Hutchins, dean of the law faculty.

The history of the University, for a score and a half of years has been without marked incident of a disturbing character, if we except the homeopathic agitation, which is briefly treated of farther on, and an imbroglio connected with the administration of the chemical laboratory during the latter half of the 1870 decade.

The more important events of Dr. Angell's administration have been the establishment of the Homeopathic Medical School, the admission of women to equal privileges in the University, the addition of the College of Dental Surgery and the School of Pharmacy, the establishment of advanced degrees in the several departments, and the extension of the law and medical courses to three years each.

The semi-centennial of the University was celebrated at commencement time in 1887, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of President Angell's administration was fittingly commemorated in 1896. These two events form milestones in the history of the University. The two professors in 1842, with their $500 of salary, have given place to some two hundred professors and assistants, with salaries fairly proportionate to the service. The number of students has risen from a score (residents of the State) to three thousand and more, representing every State in the Union 049 37and every country on the globe. The expenses of maintenance in 1843 (report of Regents), of $1,260 per year, with total receipts of $9,946 reach for the former, in 1897, as “current expenses,” $397,452, with total resources in round numbers of $430,000. The small library of less than 4,000 volumes has grown to 130,000. The one college building for all uses is supplemented by a score of buildings devoted to special uses, which, with libraries and appurtenances, are valued at near $2,000,000, while the graduates of the institution, to the number of 15,000, are found in all the useful walks of life, and in all parts of the world, barring those who may have paid the last debt in the natural order of things or have fallen martyrs as missionaries in foreign lands, or as heroes on the field of battle. And here it may be stated parenthetically that the University supplied a large contingent from its membership to the armies of the Union during the war of the States, and a due quota during the late Spanish war. It may not be amiss to close this paragraph with a prophecy contained in a poetical effort that lays claim to no further merit than its good intentions:

From this Imperial Temple has gone forth An army potent, east, west, south and north— They hold in nation counsels honored seats— They mould the structure of new-forming States— Within the State that doth the Temple own, Their thought inspires the parliament and throne. Its revenues are ample and secure— Its life and usefulness will long endure, With broad'ning and expanding energy, ‘Till the whole continent shall bow to its decree.

Reference is made elsewhere to the Homeopathic question as connected with the University, and to the antagonism of the regular practice to its introduction. There seems nothing to be gained by tracing the struggle which eventuated in the establishment of the “Homeopathic Medical College” in 1875. It is regarded as a branch of the University separate and distinct from the Medical Department proper, a distinction which seemed necessary to avoid a complete rupture with the latter, the controversy having previously caused the resignation of two of its professors. There is an annual appropriation of $6,000 in aid of the Homeopathic College. It has a faculty of eight members, which was the number of its graduating class in 1898.

The financial receipts of the University for the academic year 1897-8 were approximately as follows:

University interest fund $37,139 45

1-6th mill tax 189,500 00

Annual appropriation and miscellaneous 18,937 28

Tuition fees 177,383 62

$422,960 35

The item of $189,500, income from the 1-6th mill tax, will be swelled in future years to $280,000 by the Act of the last Legislature fixing the tax at 1-4th mill on the dollar.

The following list of acts relating to the University, beginning with the organic act of 1837, will be found convenient for reference. The figures refer to the number of the act in the printed volume of Session Laws for each year, respectively:

1. Organic Act—Act No. 55, 1837.

2. Act locating the University—Act 70, 1837.

3. Act relative to the disposition of University and Schools lands—Act 104, 1837.

4. Act relative to appointment of Chancellor—Act No. 4, special session, 1837.

5. Act amendatory of Act relative to University lands—Act 13, special session 1837.

6. Act releasing certain lands to United States—Act 44, 1838.

7. Act to extend time for payment on lands—Act 103, 1833.

8. Act authorizing loan of $100,000—Act 118, 1838.

9. Act for payment certain expenses Regents—Act 11, 1839.

10. To extend time of payment on lands—Act 16, 1839.

11. To provide for sale of certain lands to settlers—Act 64, 1840.

12. To amend Act to extend time, etc.—Act 87. 1840.

13. To reduce price of University and School lands—Act 67, 1841.

14. Same object as last cited—Act 26, 1842.

15. To provide for sale of certain lands—Act 16, 1842.

16. For relief of certain n settlers on University lands—91, 1843.

17. Authorizing receipt of State obligations for University lands—20, 1844.

18. Fixing price of University and School lands—68, 1844.

050 38

19. For relief of University—83, 1844.

20. Relative to department of natural history—122, 1846.

21. Relative to amount due fund from Lenawee County—50, 1847.

22. Setting apart specific taxes to pay interest on fund—107, 1847.

23. Joint Resolution relative to amount due on mortgages—24, 1847.

24. Authorizing sale lands near Toledo—26, 1848.

25. Authorizing sale lands in Berrien County—86, 1848.

26. For relief of purchasers University lands—34, 1851.

27. Remitting interest on loan for two years—69, 1853.

28. Remitting interest on loan for two years 73, 1855.

29. Requiring establishment Homeopathic chair—100, 1857.

30. Remitting interest on loan for two years—56, 1857

31. Regents to be elected in new judicial districts—5, 1858.

32. Remitting interest on loan without limit—143, 1859.

33. Geological specimens, etc., to be deposited in library—206, 1859.

34. Amending Act relative to report of Regents—219, 1859.

34. Joint Resolution for transfer of scientific works to—5, 1861.

35. For election and classification of Regents—143, 1863

36. Act to extend aid to, with Homoeopathic condition—59, 1867.

37. Homoeopathic condition of Act last cited eliminated—14, 1869.

38. Concurrent Resolution favoring admission of women—7, 1869.

39. Appropriation $75,000 for new hall—30, 1871.

40. Amending Act relative payment for lands—67, 1873.

41. Appropriating $25,000 for hall and $13,000 to cover deficit—7, 1873.

42. 1-20th mill tax in place of aid Acts of 1867 and 1869—32, 1873.

43. Requiring appointment of two Homoeopathic professors—63, 1873.

44. Appropriating $6,000 annually for Homoeopathic department—128, 1875.

45. To provide water supply for University—74, 1875.

46. Appropriating $13,000 to pay outstanding warrants—113, 1875.

47. Appropriating $3,000 for two years for Dental School—186, 1875.

48. For establishment School of Mines in University—205, 1875.

49. Appropriating $7,500 for hospital and equipment—23,75.

50. Proceeds from land sales to go into State treasury—23, 1875.

51. Incidental provisions as to lands, Acts 23 and 124, 1875.

52. Appropriating $49,000 for sundry purposes University—185, 1877.

53. Resolutions relating to defalcation in chemical laboratory.

54. Appropriating $40,000 for museum—56, 1879.

55. Appropriating $35,000 for various purposes, including Homoeopathic hospital—122, 1879.

56. Bodies for dissection to be sent to University—16, 1881.

57. Appropriating $160,000 for general purposes—60, 1881.

58. Supreme Court Reports to be sent to library—116, 1881.

59. Dependent children to be treated at hospital—138, 1881.

60. Appropriating $62,000 for general purposes—96,

61. Amending Act relative to dissection—83, 1885.

62. Appropriating $107,000 for general purposes—191, 1885.

63. Appropriating $155,000 for general purposes—243, 1887.

64. Appropriating $206,789 for general purposes—145, 1889.

65. Providing for treatment of paupers at University hospital—246, 1889.

66. Appropriating $185,000 for general purposes—25, 1891.

67. Reports of veterinary associations to be sent to medical library—56, 1891.

68. Relating to dental students and dental college—98, 1891.

69. Property of Women's Association exempt from taxation—143, 1891.

70. Authorizing Faculty to grant teacher's certificates—144, 1891.

71. As to inventory, etc., of property of State institutions—146, 1891.

72. Act for 1-6th mill tax instead of 1-20th mill—19, 1893.

73. Time and manner of payment of mill tax—53, 1893.

74. Authorizing Regents to receive bequests, etc.—36, 1895.

75. Trust funds to be paid to State Treasurer—140, 1895.

76. Providing for admission to practice of law department graduates—205, 1895.

77. For treatment of indigent poor at hospital—42, 1897.

78. Providing for analysis of waters at University 43, 1897.

79. Amending Act cited in No. 76—93, 1897.

80. Amending Act relating to dissection—119, 1897.

81. Amending Act relative to treatment dependent children—233, 1897.

82. Relative to investment of bequests, etc.—86, 1899.

83. Increasing annual income to ¼th mill on the dollar—102, 1899.

84. Relative to issue of diplomas to medical students—151, 1899.

85. Amending Act relative to subjects for dissection—193, 1899.

86. Authorizing incorporation of loan-fund associations for the benefit of students—250, 1899.

OTHER STATE COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS.

The Agricultural College—The Normal Schools—College of Mines—Schools for Deaf Mutes and the Blind—Educational and Reformatory Institutions.

The Constitution of Michigan provides that “The Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, provide for the establishment of an Agricultural School.” In pursuance of this provision, the Legislature, in 1855, passed an act “for the establishment of a State Agricultural School,” which provided that the college should be located within ten miles of Lansing, on not less than 500 acres of land in one body. The location was made June 16, 1855, on a farm of 676 57-100 acres, three and one-half miles east from the capital. About three acres only were cleared of timber at the time of purchase. The soil is very varied, there being hard clay, clay loam, peaty soil, sand, sandy loam, alluvial plats, etc. The Red Cedar river runs through the farm. The college was opened to students May 13, 1857, and has been in uninterrupted operation from that time. It opened in charge of the State Board of Education, with seven professors and instructors and sixty-one students. The management of the institution was in 1861 transferred from the State Board of Education to a State Board of Agriculture. This board is a body corporate, consisting, besides the governor of the State and the president of the College, who are ex-officio members, of six persons, who are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.

The immediate management of the institution is committed to a faculty consisting at the present time of a president and thirty-six professors, instructors and foremen, exclusive of the secretary, who is a member ex-officio of the faculty.

The law provides that “The Agricultural College shall be a high seminary of learning, in which the graduate of the common school can commence, pursue and finish a course of study terminating in thorough theoretic and practical instruction in those sciences and arts which bear directly on agriculture and kindred industrial pursuits,” and requires that “the full course of study shall embrace not less than four years.” A full course of study is laid out, requiring four years to complete it, although students are received for shorter periods, for the study of select branches. The College is authorized to confer degrees. The law also provides that the institution “shall combine physical with intellectual labor,” and it requires that students shall, with some exceptions, labor three hours each day. This labor is required on each afternoon of the week excepting Saturdays and Sundays, and is paid for according to its value at a maximum rate of ten cents an hour. The institution is conducted on the plan of making the expense to students as small as possible. Most of the students board in the College, and the law provides that “in assessing the price of board it shall be so estimated that no profit shall be saved to the institution.” Tuition is free. The average attendance is over 400. The College has graduated 728 students, and has a library of 20,000 volumes.

The State Normal School at Ypsilanti was established in 1859. Its object is the training of teachers for educational work. The number of instructors is given in the latest report at 42. Number of students or those attending during the year, 958. This number is made up, to a considerable extent, by local attendance. The whole number of graduates since the establishment of the school is given as 3,198. Number of volumes in library, 17,500. By Act of the Legislature, 1897, the title of “Michigan State Normal College” was authorized to be used in official reports of the institution, and by Act 52, laws of 1899, the name of the institution was changed to correspond.

The Central Michigan Normal School, at Mt. Pleasant, was established in 1895, by the purchase of the properties of a then existing private institution. The published reports given 11 instructors and a membership 052 40of 196. As in the case of the Ypsilanti school, the membership is no doubt to a considerable extent, local. The Normal students proper, or those who design to make teaching their occupation, are apportioned to the Legislative districts and admitted upon the recommendation of the members representing the districts.

By Act No. 51, laws of 1899, a third normal school was established at Marquette, to be known as the Northern State Normal School, with an appropriation of $25,000 for buildings and $10,000 for operating expenses.

The establishment of a third normal school may be regarded as the development of a “Normal School System,” of which the State Board of Education has the general management. The position of President, as the executive head of the system, has been recently created, to which Dr. Albert Leonard, of the Syracuse (N. Y.) University, has been appointed, with his official residence at the State Normal College at Ypsilanti.

The College of Mines was established by Act of the Legislature in 1885. Its special function is instruction in mining and metallurgy. Fifteen instructors are reported, with an attendance of 139, and a library of 12,500 volumes.

The character of the School for the Blind at Lansing and the School for Deaf Mutes at Flint, will be sufficiently understood from their tiles. The State Public School at Cold-water receives only dependent and neglected children who are free from physical taint or criminality, and gives them care and instruction until homes can be provided for them. The Industrial School for Boys, at Lansing, and the Industrial Home for Girls, at Adrian, combine educational with reformatory features. These institutions all report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Some general statistics of all State institutions will be found tabulated under another head. There are some forty private and denominational colleges and schools, business and medical colleges, and one law school, that also report to the superintendent.

The “Industrial School for Boys” was first established as the “House of Correction for Juvenile Offenders,” to which girls as well as boys were committed. Its title was afterwards changed to that of the “State Reform School,” and later to the name that it now bears. It was originally built with barred windows and other prison features, but the later policy has been to divest it of these marks of degradation, under the belief that boys can be more easily reformed and trained for usefulness in life by moral means. The inspiring thought has been that if a boy be once impressed with the conviction that he is a criminal and an inmate of a prison, the taint of criminality will remain with him as a detriment to whatever good intentions he may have. The evolution of this institution from its first conception to its later status is worthy of especial notice, as showing a marked change in public sentiment as regards the method of dealing with youthful waywardness. The theory that punishment, by the rod of the parent or by the arm of society, was the best corrective, has given place to the conviction that it is wiser to cultivate the good in the young than to stimulate the bad tendencies by harsh treatment. There is still an element of restraint in the discipline of the institution, but it is manifested only where the conduct of the inmate shows the necessity for it. The boys necessarily go there under sentence either for truancy or criminality, but when there their treatment differs but little from that of boys in a well-regulated family.

THE PRIMARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS.

Views of the First Superintendent—Views of Governor Mason—Development of the High School—Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor—Teaching of Foreign and Classical Languages in the Schools—Changes in the School Laws—Comparative School Statistics—Former Superintendents.

Some of the thoughts expressed by the first Superintendent of Public Instruction with reference to primary schools (or common schools, as they were then called), are worthy of reproduction after more than sixty years have passed, and the plan then inaugurated has grown and developed to its present proportions, preserving, however, the one feature of universality and equality that was then urged in its behalf. Quoting from the report previously referred to:

“It has been said, and rightly too, that common schools are truly republican. The great object is to furnish good instruction in all the elementary and common branches of knowledge, for all classes of community, as good, indeed, for the poorest boy of the State, as the rich man can furnish for his children, with all his wealth. The object is universal education—the education of every individual of all classes. The great thing that has rendered the Prussian system so popular and efficient, which has so strongly attached it to the hearts of the people, and made it an essential element of the social state, is its truly republican character. * * * It is this feature of free schools which has nurtured and preserved pure republicanism in our own land. In the public schools all classes are blended together—the rich mingle with the poor, and are educated in company. In these schools the poor are as likely to excel as the rich, for there is no monopoly of talent, of industry, or acquirements. * * * It is this system which brings forward and elevates to places of distinction, a due proportion of that class of citizens which the Romans called new men—men who owe nothing either to birth or fortune, but all to the free schools and their own exertion. * * * Let free schools be established and maintained in perpetuity, and there can be no such thing as a permanent aristocracy in our land, for the monopoly of wealth is powerless when mind is allowed freely to come in contact with mind.”

The conceptions of the first superintendent, verging as they did somewhat on the enthusiastic, clearly indicate the theory on which the public school system has proceeded. Whether the system has realized all that was expected of it, must be judged by results. The term rich, as descriptive of worldly possessions, has a meaning quite different now from what it did fifty years ago. The rich of today can send their sons to be educated in the most expensive private institutions, which the rich of the earlier time could not do. The wealth of today can command to its service the best brain power of the land. How far, therefore, the educational system, or any system yet devised, has proved, or can prove, a certain security against class distinctions, is a problem for the political and social economists to solve.

It is due to Governor Mason to refer in this connection to his messages to the Legislature, in which the educational mechanism of the young State was commended to the careful attention of the law-making power. The necessity for the general diffusion of knowledge as the best or only security for popular institutions, and the influence of a common educational system in preserving and perpetuating a sentiment of social equality so essential in a democratic State, were dwelt upon by Governor Mason in terms equally forcible with those of his Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The initiative of the modern high school in the State, it is believed, belongs to Ypsilanti. Among the earlier efforts at founding seminaries, one was begun at Ypsilanti under the name of the Union Seminary. A building of moderate pretensions was built and the school ran along in an indifferent way during the 1840 decade but eventually failed entirely. The public school authorities of Ypsilanti then became possessed of the building, 054 42which was far more pretentious than the average school building of the time. The style of the structure and the association connected with it possibly suggested that the school to be established within its walls should be of a higher character than the average common school had up to that time attained, and an advanced course of study was introduced. This summary statement is made on the strength of the recollection of the writer, who was then a resident of the neighboring city of Ann Arbor. There was at the time a considerable feeling of rivalry between the two towns, Ann Arbor having on school of equal pretensions with that of her neighbor. The Ypsilanti school had, in fact, quite a wide reputation because of its advanced character. It is recalled that about the year 1851 or 1852, at the annual school meeting in Ypsilanti, the sum of $2,500 was voted for an addition to the school building. This was commented upon in Ann Arbor as a piece of unprecedented extravagance, but as evidencing the enterprise and liberality of their neighbors in the matter of education. Early in the 1850 decade the people of Ann Arbor began to agitate the question of what was at that time termed a “union school.”

It should not be inferred that their action was prompted by a desire to eclipse their neighbors, although it may have been stimulated by a comparison that was unavoidable. The impelling thought was that in the town that was the seat of the State University there was no intermediate step between that institution and the common school, and that one ought to be supplied. The result was the erection, about the year 1855, of a school building, at the cost of some $30,000. It is recalled that the first Republican State Convention, for the nomination of judges of the Supreme Court, was held in the third story of the building, which was designed as the general assembly-room or auditorium before it was finished off, in the spring of 1857. Soon after the completion of the Ann Arbor building the Ypsilanti edifice was burned, and in rebuilding care was taken that the new structure should surpass that of the neighboring city.

There seems an especial appropriateness in the fact that the high school should have thus taken its rise in the neighboring towns, one the seat of the University and the other of the Normal School. The example was contagious, and other towns soon followed—an evidence, it may be presumed, that the time was ripe for such a development. The plan of “branches,” as part of a University system, had been abandoned long before the time in question. The numerous private or corporate institutes or seminaries had proven failures, in most cases, at least. That there was a deficiency in the educational system was apparant, and the high school came into existence to supply the deficiency. That the system has the approval of the mass of the people is presumed to be above question. And yet the fact is recognized that there are those who doubt its wisdom. The office of the annalist is, however, to present facts, and not to espouse or combat theories. The growth of the system was not without objection and legal contest. Suit was brought in the earlier years of its history by the late Senator Charles E. Stuart to restrain the school authorities of Kalamazoo from teaching foreign and the classical languages in the schools of that place, on the plea that English being the official language of the State, money collected by taxation could not legally be applied in payment for teaching languages other than the English. The case was decided by the Supreme Court adversely to Mr. Stuart. *

* 30 Mich., 69.

Probably no feature of our State policy has been subjected to so many changes in the governing statutes as has the public school system. In this connection, an extract or two from early State papers seems appropriate. Governor Barry, in his message to the Legislature in 1842, said: “Above all others, the laws on the subject of common schools should be plain, simple and easy to be understood. Such, however is not the present condition of our legislation on this important subject. The enactments are various and are scattered through many volumes, and it is with difficulty 055 43that even their meaning can, in all ceases, be ascertained.” Franklin Sawyer, J., succeeded Mr. Pierce as Superintendent of Public Instruction. In his report, as such, in 1842, he makes this comment: “A law is hardly known in many districts before it is repealed or amended, and it not unfrequently happens that while the original law governs the official acts of one portion of a township, amendments to it, or even amendments to the amendments, regulate the conduct of another portion of the same township.” Reference has been mad to the first superintendent (Mr. Pierce), and to his fitness for the position. No less can be said of his successor, Mr. Sawyer. He was a New England man, and by profession a lawyer, although his tastes inclined more to the literary than to the legal field. The educational system was fortunate in being thus ably represented in the days of its infancy.

There have been seventeen Superintendents of Public Instruction. Under the first Constitution they were appointed by the Governor and Legislature. Since 1851 they have been elected, except where appointments were made to fill vacancies. Ira Mayhew was appointed in 1845, serving until 1849. He was subsequently elected for two terms under the Republican regime (1854 and 1856), giving a total service of eight years. John M. Gregory served three terms, 1859-65, and Ornamel Hosford four terms, 1865-73. Superintendents, other than those mentioned, have been: Oliver C. Comstock, 1843-45; Francis W. Shearman, 1849-54; Daniel B. Briggs, 1873-77; Horace S. Tarbell, 1877-79; Cornelius A. Gower, 1878-81; Varnum B. Cochran, 1881-83; Herschel R. Goss, 1883-85; Theodore Nelson, 1885-86; Joseph Estabrook, 1887-91; Ferris S. Fitch, 1891-91; Henry R. Pattengill, 1893-96. Jason E. Hammond is the present superintendent, having been first elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1898.

More current statistics are of little value in a work designed for the future as well as for the present. For the purposes of reference and investigation they are the more readily found in the annual reports. But as showing the comparative progress in the matters covered by the data below, the annexed figures are given”:

1865. 1898. Number of townships in the State reporting 713 1,284 Number of school districts in the State 4,474 7,157 Number of volumes in town libraries 58,653 158,033 Number of volumes in district libraries 95,577 604,377 Number of teachers employed 8,792 15,673 Total wages of teachers for the year $ 720,251 $ 4,146,449 Total wages of school houses and lots 2,355,982 17,977,447 Total number school houses 4,495 7,885 Number children between 5 and 20 years 298,607 703,730 Number attending school 228,629 496,025 Average number months at school 6.2 7.22 Amount of 2-mill tax * $281,770 $650,973 Amount of primary school fund 137,354 950,080 District taxes for all purposes 473,908 4,524,995 Receipts from all other sources 201,541 331,884 Total resources for the year 1,237,524 7,867,646 Amount paid for building and repairs 175,471 621,194 Paid for all other purposes 170,600 1,387,932 Total indebtedness of the districts 221,703 2,007,874 * 1-mill tax, the amount now provided to be raised for library purposes.

THE TRUST FUNDS.

Origin of the Trust Funds—First Loaned to Private and Local Interests—Absorbed Into the State Treasury—Constitutional Provision—Tabular Exhibits—Are the Trust Funds a Debt?

The messages of the Governors of the State usually contain a reference to the “trust funds.” The reports of the State Treasurer and the Auditor-General exhibit the state of the accounts current between the State and the trust funds. The trust funds have accrued from the sales of lands granted to the State for educational purposes. Reference is made to the land grants and the conditions attached to them under the heads respectively of “Educational” and “Government Land Grants.” In accepting the grants under the conditions attached, the State became a party to a contract. The covenant on the part of the State was that the income from the grants should be devoted in good faith to the several purposes for which the grants were made. The State thus became a trustee, but necessarily 056 44with a wide discretion as to the manner in which the trust should be administered. The plan of leasing the lands and relying upon the rental as income, which was at first proposed, was soon abandoned. The next most feasible plan was to sell the lands and invest the proceeds, applying the interest to the purpose for which the grant was made. This plan was adopted in 1837, and the sale of the lands placed in charge of the Superintendent of Public Instructions. The proceeds were to be loaned to supposed responsible parties upon adequate security, and in some instances loans were made to counties. But ordinary business sagacity soon discovered what it should have seen beforehand, that this was a very cumbrous, uncertain and unsafe way of administering a great trust, and one opening a vast field for fraud and jobbery. Whether any of these results followed the experiment, is immaterial. In 1844 the plan was abandoned. The sale of the lands was placed in the banks of the Commissioner of the Land Office, and the proceeds turned into the State treasury. The proceeds from the sales constituted an accumulating fund, on which the State agreed to pay, and has ever since continued to pay, interest at the rate of seven per cent. per annum. Two objects were thus secured: The State treasury was replenished by so much, and the people to that extent relieved from taxation in their then impoverished condition, and the fund was relieved from the uncertainty and insecurity of being loaned in small sums to Tom, Dick and Harry. The lands were sold, and are being sold, on part payments, the sums paid going into the treasury and being credited up to the proper fund, thus adding to the principal indebtedness on which annual interest is paid while the interest on the unpaid portion is credited up to the interest fund, which is drawn upon in behalf of the beneficiary and a balance struck each year. There are thus two accounts kept, as, for example, with the primary school fund. The primary school fund proper never suffers any diminution, but is steadily being added to, as the lands are sold. The primary school interest fund is made up from interest on the principal sum, from interest received on account of part paid lands, and from specific taxes, and is apportioned semi-annually to the counties, and through the counties to the townships and school districts, according to their population of school age.

Section 1, article 14, of the Constitution, provides: “All specific State taxes, except those received from the mining companies of the Upper Peninsula, shall be applied in paying the interest upon the primary school, University and other educational funds, and the interest and principal of the State debt, in the order herein recited, until the extinguishment of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, when such specific taxes shall be added to, and constitute a part of the primary school interest fund.” A table in the Auditor-General's report for 1898, page 100, shows the amount of specific taxes received during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, to have been $1,028,832.40. This sum was apportioned as follows:

Interest on Normal School Fund $ 3,957 59

Interest on Agricultural College fund 41,234 34

Interest on University fund 37,139 45

Interest on Primary School fund 309,518 52

$ 391,849 90

Surplus to credit of Primary School interest fund 636,982 50

$1,028,832 40

It thus appears that the receipts from specific taxes pay the entire interest on the several trust funds, and also leave a munificent surplus to the credit of the primary school interest fund. This surplus ($636,982.50), together with $309,518.52 to the credit of the fund as interest, gives a total dividend to the primary schools of the State $946,501.02 for the year, equalling in the year 1897 $1.44 per capita of the children of school age. The apportionment is made semi-annually, in May and November.

In the following exhibit the first column shows the total amount paid from the State treasury as interest on the several trust funds since the organization of the system up to 057 45June 30, 1898, and the second column shows the receipts by the several funds from interest on part paid lands:

Interest Trust Funds. Int. pt. pd. Lands. Primary School fund $17,506,115 54 $2,075,982 90 University fund 1,347,135 85 512,771 57 Normal School fund 125,116 07 67,537 36 Agricultural College fund 541,461 28 231,724 77

The amounts to the credit of the several funds on which interest is payable at the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1898 was:

Primary School, 7 per cent $3,859,738 52

Primary School, 6 per cent 833,612 96

University, 7 per cent 532,556 81

Agricultural College, 7 per cent 625,790 98

Normal School, 7 per cent 66,125 12

$5,917,824 39

There will be no substantial increase in the University fund, as only forty acres of the lands remain unsold, as shown elsewhere, and the same is relatively true of the Normal School fund. The other funds, however, will be considerably increased by further sales.

The question has been raised, are the trust funds a debt? This may be answered both ways. If the funds had been loaned out as was first proposed, there would certainly be a debt due from the borrowers to somebody. But the State used the money, and does it owe somebody for it? As regards the State-supported institutions, the question answers itself, because if there were no revenue from an endowment fund, it is presumed that the State would increase it appropriations to an extent to equal the sums-total required. But with the primary school fund it is different. If the districts received no dividend from the State, they might or might not add to the local tax voted by them for the support of their schools each year the $1.44 per capita now received by them from the State. So it seems clear that his fund is a debt due from the State to the districts in an amount at least equal to an equitable annual interest on say $4,000,000, more or less. On the other hand, it may be held that the whole matter is merged by the Constitutional provision. But the Constitution may be changed, and yet the obligation would remain.

RELIGIOUS TEACHING IN STATE SCHOOLS.

Early Sentiment on the Subject—The Historical Ordinance—Condition of an Early Land Purchase—As Related to the Primary Schools—As Related to the University—Views of President Angell, Professor Frieze and President Tappan—The Select Bible Readings.

In view of an agitation comparatively recent, growing out of the introduction into the public schools of Detroit of a text book known as the “Select Bible Readings,” and the decision of the Supreme Court in a case brought thereon, an historical reference to the subject of religious teaching in the State schools will be read with interest. In the early schools of the country the teaching of religion was an essential function. It may be said, in fact, to have been the primary object. In Great Britain, from which our earlier population and manners and customs sprang, the church and the state were one. As the State was founded upon religion, as represented by an established or state church, the support of religion became of the first importance, as giving strength to the state. While, in our governmental structures, there was a formal divorcement of church and state, the thought and belief of the dependence of the one upon the other remained. Hence religious teaching in the schools was either ordained by the early statutes or established by custom.

The same sentiment, unquestionably, inspired the ambiguous language of the ordinance of 1787, which declares that “Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of man-kind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” This has been construed by some as pledging the States formed from the Northwest Territory to the encouragement of some form of religious worship or belief, by means of teaching through State-established schools; or if not 058 46some one form, then of all forms—the latter, of course, not presumable. This claim, however, seems inconsistent with a prior declaration of the same ordinance. After prescribing the method of civil administration in the ceded territory, the ordinance lays down certain “fundamental principles,” of what may be termed civil ethics, beginning as follows: “And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religion liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws, and constitutions, are erected,” etc.., “the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States, and the people and the States in the said territory.” Religious liberty could not well be maintained under a State where some form of religion was established, or encouraged, to the disfavoring of other forms. Possibly a compromise construction may be reached by interpreting the ordinance to mean that in a State in which knowledge is disseminated by means of schools, the people, in the broadest exercise of their “religious liberty,” will be naturally led to embrace that form of religion most conducive to “good government.” The preceding was written before the opinion of Judge Carpenter (referred to later on) was rendered, or had come under the eye of the writer. In this opinion the same view is expressed in the following language: “It is an expression of the faith that I was taught as a child, and that I, in common with many others, still hold, that, as you increase the efficiency of schools and other means of education, religion, morality and knowledge will prosper.”

In the year 1787 a purchase of a million and a half acres of land, including what is now the city of Cincinnati, was made (or at least negotiated for), by Judge John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, on behalf of a company. It was stipulated that the tract should be surveyed under the government system, and that section 16 of each township should be set apart for educational, and section 29 for religious, purposes. This would seem to have been a stipulation in behalf of a company, rather than a covenant which the government would have interested itself in enforcing. It was most likely an enterprise on the part of some religious society.

One of the topics on which information was asked for from school districts, by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in 1841, was “the religious instruction” imparted in the schools, and the answers were summarized by the words “that sectarianism was not taught, while a certain amount of religious instruction was encouraged.” The first Superintendent of Public Instruction, in outlining the plan of the University, says: “It is not to be expected that the study of theology, as a profession, can ever be made a separate department of the University. There is no connection, and it is devoutly to be hoped there never will be, between church and state, under our government. We have, therefore, no establishment, and consequently no ministry to provide for it. But * * * the basis on which Christianity has reared its stupendous fabric, and founds its claims to the confidence and affection of the world, would be fruitful topics for the predilections of such a professorship as is proposed to be established. Besides, it will be found to be essential to the prosperity of the University. Without something of the kind it would be abandoned by all religious denominations.”

The religious character of the University (having reference more specifically to the system of religion represented by the Christian cult), has been dwelt upon the emphasized by chairs in the University, notably by President Angell, in his inaugural address. It may be said to have been authoritatively stated by Prof. Frieze, who was designated to give the leading address at the University semi-centennial, June 26-30, 1887, his theme being “The University in Its Relation to Religion.” The following extract from the address is given:

“In its future it (the University) must be expected to maintain the same position as heretofore. Until Michigan shall cease to be a Christian State, its University cannot cease 059 47to be a Christian school of learning, for it is governed and controlled by the people through regents of their own choosing; and, therefore, its teachers must in general represent the religious opinions of the people as a whole. But to believe that Christianity is ever to lose its grounds in the State is to throw up our faith in its Divine Author. On the contrary, His word cannot fail; His good work must go on and prosper; the people must become more and more imbued with His spirit, and make that spirit to be more and more manifest in the character and working of their institutions. And we have in this a sure promise that the University will never cease in the future to maintain that reasonable and strong position, as a Christian institution, of a Christian commonwealth, which, as a historical fact, it has held throughout the half century this day completed.”

Dr. Tappan, the first president of the University, in an address before the Christian Library Association, June 22, 1858, used language strongly implying that no system of religion should be taught or represented, as by authority, in a State institution. A few of his sentences are appended:

“But egregiously do those mistake the character and ends of this institution who imagine that because it belongs to no sect or party in particular, it therefore belongs to all sects and parties conjointly, and of equal right. It not only does not belong to any sect or party in particular; it belongs to no sect or party at all. It is a purely literary and scientific institution; it is in no sense ecclesiastical. It is designed for a single purpose—advancing knowledge and promoting education. The State is not composed of religious sects, but of the people. And the institutions of the State do not belong to the sects into which the people may chance to be divided by their opinions and practices, but to the people considered as the body politic, irrespective of all such divisions. The right of prescription, interference, or of any control conceded to one religious body, would involve a concession of the same to all similar bodies. What is conceded to the Protestants, the Catholics may equally claim. What is conceded to Methodists or Presbyterians, all other Protestant sects may equally claim. Nay, what is conceded to religious sects must be conceded also to those who belong to no sect. The only practical alternative is that of committing an institution of learning to one sect, or to none at all. State institutions, of course, are committed to none at all.”

A liberal view would certainly not object to the teaching in the State schools of the history and tenets of all religions, as matter of information, without teaching any one of them ex-cathedra, leaving it to the intelligent student to determine in his own mind which is the right one or the preferable one. A study of this character, however, would not be adapted to the primary schools, and it is here that the greatest friction has arisen. The Roman Catholics, more especially, have claimed that religious instruction should be concurrent with that of a secular character. The same view is held by many of the Protestants, but in view of the difficulty of introducing any religious teaching without offending persons of some one or more sects or of no sect, there has been a general concurrence in the propriety of omitting religious instruction from the public schools.

A case involving the right of the Board of Education of Detroit to introduce the so-called “Select Bible Readings” into the schools of that city was decided by the Supreme Court of the State, December 6, 1898, (Pfeiffer vs. Board of Education of Detroit). This case was before the court for many months before a decision was handed down, showing the extreme care exercised by the judges before reaching a decision. The contention of the relator, Pfeiffer, was that the Select Bible Readings, being a religious book and intended for religious instruction, their use in the schools was violative of sections 39, 40 and 41, article 4, of the State Constitution, as follows:

Sec. 39. The Legislature shall pass no law to prevent any person from worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of his own conscience, 060 48or compel any person to attend, erect or support any place of religious worship, or to pay tithes, taxes or other rates for the support of any minister of the gospel or teacher of religion.

Sec. 40. No money shall be appropriated or drawn from the treasury for the benefit of any religious sect or society, theological or religious seminary, nor shall property belonging to the State be appropriated for any such purpose.

Sec. 41. The Legislature shall not diminish or enlarge the civil or political rights, privileges and capacities of any person on account of his opinion or belief concerning matters of religion.

It was contended by the Board of Education, in its answer, that the book was not introduced into the schools as a book of religious instruction, but as a reading exercise, valuable for its moral precepts. Its use was defended on this ground, and his was the ground on which the right of the school authorities to place it as a text book in the schools was affirmed.

The case was first brought in the Wayne Circuit Court, and Judge Carpenter, of that Court, in a very elaborate opinion, decided in favor of the relator, Pfeiffer, and against the use of the book in the schools. His decision was reversed by the Supreme Court on writ of error, four of the judges—Montgomery, Grant, Hooker and Long—concurring, Judge Moore filing a dissenting opinion. The spirit of the decision in the case is fairly represented by the following extract from the opinion handed down by the four judges:

“No interference, by way of instruction, with the views of the scholars, whether derived from parental or sacredotal authority, is shown. The Bible was used merely as a book in which instruction in reading was given. But reading the Bible is no more an interference with religious belief than would reading the mythology of Greece or Rome be regarded as interfering with religious belief or affirming the pagan creeds. A chapter in the Koran might be read, yet it would not be an affirmation of the truth of Mohammedanism, or an interference with religious faith. The Bible was used merely as a reading book, and for the information contained in it, as the Koran might be, and not for religious instruction. If suitable for that, it was suitable for the purpose for which it was selected.”

Virtually, therefore, the opinion would deny the right of the school authorities to prescribe any form of religious teaching for the schools.

In his dissenting opinion Judge Moore quotes the opinion in full of Judge Carpenter, in the lower court, from which the following extract is taken:

“It is no answer to the charge that the contemplated use of ‘Readings from the Bible’ is teaching religion, to say that the book also teaches morality. What religious book could not be taught in the schools, if the morality of its doctrines were to determine its use? Teaching religion at the expense of the taxpayers is forbidden by the constitution, and teaching morality is not commanded by it. Nor is it possible to take a middle ground, and insist that the religion of the Bible can be taught in the schools, and other religious teachings excluded. It is impossible to frame an argument which, under our constitution, will permit respondent to carry out its proposed action, which will not permit it to teach any religion it may choose to teach. The constitution prohibits all religious teachings in the public schools, or it prohibits none.”

Judicial decisions ar supposed to be reached upon the law as it is found to exist, independently of popular opinion.But an advancing tendency in popular opinion, running through decades, comes to be recognized by the courts, and assumes the form of law. Had the same issue been tried fifty years ago, as in the case cited, it is a safe assumption that it would have been decided much more promptly and with an added emphasis. The history is of value, as showing the evolution of thought on the special line indicted.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS BY THE STATE.

Fanciful Schemes of the Earlier Days—Prophetic of What is Now Seen—Work Projected—The Five Million Loan—Views of Governor Barry—Sale of the Railroads—Abandonment of the System.

Under the territorial government a number of complaints were chartered for building railways and for improving the interior waterways, although but little progress was made in construction. At the time of the organization of the State government immigration was at high tide. Everybody was wealthy in imagination. Visions of a magnificent future filled the public eye. And if a thought verging on the fanciful may be pardoned, it is that our visions are real while they exist. Castles in the air are real castles until they are blown away. So our predecessors in the thirties had visions and built air castles.

When the constitution of 1835 provided that internal improvements should be encouraged, the popular pulse-beat responded to it. Many schemes of internal improvement were undertaken, only to prove failures. But while the castles of those days may have been ethereal as to their then permanence, they were prophetic of what should come after. The improvements of the present day far exceed in extent and surpass in excellence the most fanciful dreams of the enthusiasts of the earlier days. Though these improvements have not been made directly by the State, they have been made by private enterprise fostered by the State. They have been made possible and have been made indispensable by the growth in population and wealth—factors, by the way, which the improvements themselves have been potent agents in developing. Let those who will, strike the balance between cause and effect. In passing, also, it may be noted that while the State entered upon an extended policy works in its infancy, only to abandon it later, there is now a rising demand for public ownership of public works, especially by municipalities, but not stopping short of the general government in its relation to the great transportation agencies.

In 1837 the State, pursuant to authority of the Legislature, entered upon an extended system of internal improvement, including three trunk railway lines—the Southern, the Central, and the Northern, the latter between Port Huron and Grand Rapids—and the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal, from Mt. Clemens westward to Lake Michigan. For carrying out these gigantic enterprises, whose cost at this day would exceed the hundred million mark, a loan of $5,000,000 was negotiated on the credit of the State. The full amount of the loan was, however, never realized by the State, a portion of the bonds having been negotiated with the Morris Canal & Banking Company, of New Jersey, and with the United States Bank, both of which became insolvent. The final settlement became a matter of compromise between the State and the holders of the bonds. It was a matter of history at the time also that $20,000 of the money received on account of the loan mysteriously disappeared on its way from New York to Detroit in the custody of the Michigan agents. Of the public improvements projected, Gov. Barry, in his message to the Legislature in 1842 said: “Our whole system of internal improvement, it will be seen, embraced about five hundred and ninety-six miles of railroad, about two hundred and fifty-three miles of canal, and the improvement of five rivers. The estimated cost of these improvements is $10,489,275.76, though probably their real cost, were they completed, would not be less than $15,000,000.” 062 50The Governor's estimate of the cost illustrates the want of knowledge at the time as to the cost of works of the character in question, while the nicety with which the probable cost of so comprehensive a system is figured down to centals in the first estimates is not a little amusing. The entire system of internal improvements was placed under a board of seven commissioners.

Some further comments of Gov. Barry in the message already quoted from are worthy of reproduction. Speaking of the scheme as a whole, he says: “The conception of the plan on a scale so magnificent, is to be attributed to the erroneous opinions of the wealth produced by a too redundant paper currency. The system was altogether too extended for our wants, and required expenditures beyond our means. It was projected at a time when things were too often viewed through a magnifying glass. Individuals embarked with confidence in enterprises which they now regard as extravagant and visionary. The spirit of the times unfortunately became the governing policy of the States, and Michigan projected a system of internal improvements which would have been a grand undertaking for the oldest and most wealthy States. This general delusion has now passed away. Men have returned to sober senses and rely on the realities of life.”

Gov. Barry recommended the abandonment of the system as a whole, while husbanding those works already completed, or nearly so. There was a growing sentiment, however, that the State should wash its hands of the whole business, and this sentiment culminated in 1846 in the sale of both the Central and Southern railroads. The former had been completed as far as Kalamazoo and the latter as far as Hillsdale. The purchase price of the Central was $2,000,000, and of the Southern $500,000, but it was paid by retiring so much of the $5,000,000 loan bonds. No work other than some grading and grubbing had been done on the northern route (Port Huron and Grand Rapids). Some work had been done on the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal, extending as far as Rochester in Oakland County, at an expense of $56,754.68, and various small sums had been expended for other improvements up to 1842. But with the sale of the two railroads the State cut loose from all work of the kind.

BANKING AND CURRENCY.

First Effort at Banking—Chartered Banks—General Banking Law of 1837, or “Wild Cat” Banks—Collapse of the System—Scarcity of Bank Currency—Canadian, Indiana and Illinois Notes—General Banking Law of 1857—State Banks of Issue Superseded by National Currency—Shinplasters and State Scrip—Savings Banks, State Banks and National Banks—Tabular Exhibits.

The first effort at banking in Michigan was under the auspices of Gov. Hull and Judge Woodward, who in 1806 established a bank in Detroit, of whose operations fabulous tales were old. The institution had no legal existence, and closed out at the end of two years. The Bank of Michigan was chartered by the Legislative Council in 1817, and did a prosperous business for twenty-four years, when it went under in the general financial collapse of the time. The Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank (1830), and the Michigan State Bank (1835), both of Detroit, both suffered the fate of their predecessor about the same time and from the same causes. The Michigan Insurance Company (bank) was chartered in 1834 and continued doing business until it was superseded by the national banking system. Aside from the Detroit banks mentioned, a dozen or more had been chartered and were doing business at interior points. In 1837 the speculative fever ran so high that the Legislature was overwhelmed with applications for bank charters, and in lieu of special charters the general banking law was passed, under which the brood of “wild cat” banks, so well remembered by the 063 51few now living who were then residents of the State, came into existence. Within a year and a half from sixty to seventy banks had been organized in the State. The collapse of the system was as sudden as its rise, carrying with it most of the chartered banks also. At the close of the year 1839 four chartered banks and four under the general law remained, and three years later the Michigan Insurance Company was the only association doing a banking business in the State. *

* T. H. Hinchman's “Banks and Banking in Michigan.” In the report of the State Treasurer for 1853 five banks are mentioned: The Bank of Macomb County, at Mt. Clemens; the Government Stock Bank, at Ann Arbor, and the Michigan State Bank, the Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank and the Peninsular Bank, at Detroit.

For a period of over twenty years the banking facilities of the State, so far as banks of issue were concerned, were mainly confined to a couple of banks in Detroit. In the early fifties a bank known as the Government Stock Bank was doing business at Ann Arbor, though under what charter right is not recalled. It was of a speculative character, and was not held in favor by the Metropolitan Bank, of New York, by which its notes were gathered up and presented for redemption before they became crumpled. This pressure forced it out of business. Several banks in the interior were revived and transacted business under old charters.

The present constitution, adopted in 1850, forbade special charters, and provided that any general banking law should be submitted to a vote of the people. The Legislature in 1857 passed a general banking act, which was approved by popular vote at the November election in 1858. Its provisions were such, however, that no banks were established under it so far as known. The business interests of the State had increased to an extent that the absence of banks of issue at which accommodation loans might be had was seriously felt, as was the scarcity of currency for ordinary business exchanges. In the eastern part of the State, Canadian bank notes were largely in circulation, and were valued for their supposed security and gold equivalent. Indiana bank notes were also in evidence. In western Michigan, Illinois currency was the more plentiful, but it was regarded with suspicion, and was sometimes characterized by the unpoetic term of “stump tail.” The embarrassment had become so great and the need for relief so pressing, that the Legislature of 1861 proposed an amendment to the constitution providing that the Legislature, by a two-thirds vote of each house, might establish a single bank, with branches. The amendment was adopted at the ensuing November election, and became part of the constitution. The system contemplated was similar to that on which the Indiana banks were organized. The establishment of the national banking system, however, made action under the amendatory clause impracticable, as all State banks of issue were soon merged into national banks. Private banks of banking offices for the purpose of discount and exchange had sprung up in many places where there was a demand for them during the dearth of other banking facilities.

During the wild cat period there was a suspension of specie payments by the banks, and silver coin for small change was unobtainable. To supply the need, private firms, and in some cases municipalities, issued fractional currency known as “shinplasters,” an experience that was practically repeated in the first years of the war of the rebellion, before the issue of the fractional currency by the general government. In 1841 an issue of State scrip was authorized, of which over $200,000 was put in circulation. The notes were paid out for all purposes required by the needs of the State government. No direct provision was made for their redemption, but they were made receivable for taxes. The financial credit of the State was at a low mark, and the notes were looked upon with distrust. They could be converted into coin only at a considerable discount, and were in many cases declined in matters of ordinary traffic except at a discount. Those who had 064 52taxes to pay, paid them in State scrip. If they did not have the notes, they bought them up at a shave from those who had them. The consequence was that in a year or two the scrip had substantially all been returned to the State in the way of taxes, and the State was without available means with which to meet its ordinary obligations.

Savings banks, at least in Michigan, are an essentially modern institution. The first law under which savings banks were organized was passed in 1869. The act was revised in 1889 so as to include discount and deposit banks for commercial purposes, as well as savings deposits. These banks are under the supervision of a bank commissioner, having his office at Lansing, who is required to make an examination of the affairs of every bank organized, at least once each year, similar to the examination of national banks required by the general government. Below is given some comparative statistics of State and savings banks, beginning with the year 1873, the reports up to that time being meagre and of little value. Up to and including 1888 the reports of “State banks” and “savings banks” are made separately. Beginning with 1889 all are reported as “State banks,” but the deposits are classified as “commercial” and “savings.” Trust companies are included in the number of banks—two in 1890, four in 1895, and three in 1898. The apparently large commercial deposits in 1890, 1895 and 1898, are swelled by deposit certificates, $6,000,000 to $8,000,000 in each case.

Comparative figures for the years given are as follows, omitting the centals:

Year. Banks. No. of Bks. Capital. Com. Deposits. Savings Deposits. 1873 State banks 13 $1,184,897 $2,266,477 1873 Savings banks 10 681,800 $4,102,401 1875 State banks 15 1,337,825 2,890,514 1875 Savings banks 11 805,660 4,828,968 1880 State banks 13 874,750 2,533,833 1880 Savings banks 15 1,160,000 114,926 8,236,094 1890 State banks 108 8,460,835 15,355,117 27,779,136 1895 State banks 173 12,518,117 24,927,315 41,192,483 1899 State banks 187 12,262,100 24,522,326 62,659,912

The first National Bank Act went into operation in February, 1863. But one bank was organized in Michigan and found a place in the report for that year. The progress of the national banking interest in the State is shown by the leading items in their transactions for the years given in the table below. The figures are given in thousands, thus—$32. for $32,000; $38,463. for $38,463,000:

Year. No. of Banks. Loans and Discounts. Capital. Surplus. Undivided Profits. Outstanding Circulation. Individual Deposits. 1863 1 $ 32 $ 75 $ 1 $ 52 1865 35 3 681 41,148 $ 160 241 $3,765 4,370 1870 41 9,655 5,585 1,520 502 3,897 6,282 1875 81 19,101 10,447 2,815 1,282 6,615 11,381 1880 79 19,938 9,335 2,591 1,358 6,108 18,205 1885 102 29,979 13,095 2,194 1,319 3,851 25,889 1890 410 48 856 15,515 3,356 2,268 2,732 38,659 1895 94 46,146 13,434 3,026 1,628 4,191 37,570 1899 80 46,504 11,530 3,153 1,303 4,142 50,765

RAILROADS.

First Railway in New York—Western New York Immigrants and Nomenclateur—First Railway Charter in Michigan—“Success to the Railroad”—The Trunk Lines—Sale of the Roads by the State—Wonderful Development of the Railway System—Methods in Early Construction—Land Grants in Aid of Railways—Local Aid to Railways—Railway Statistics.

The history of railroads in Michigan is coeval almost with the history of like enterprises in other parts of the country. The first railroad built in the State of New York (the Albany and Schenectady), was put in operation about the beginning of the 1830 decade. A large influx of population was then just beginning to pour into Michigan, mainly from Western New York. The local nomenclature of Oakland and Macomb Counties tells very clearly where much of the immigration to those sections came from. Rochester, Auburn, Avon, Troy, Utica, etc., at once suggest that the people who bestowed those names upon given localities came from the vicinity of places bearing like names elsewhere. These immigrants came, bearing with them the impulses that acuated the people of the regions from whence they came. 065 53It requires no stretch of the imagination to connect the active thought of those people with a new enterprise then freshly inaugurated, namely, the railway first mentioned. What the people of the Empire State had, the people who came from thence might have and ought to have; why not? They had brought with them the intelligence of the East. They had brought with them the spirit of the towns they had left—at least they had brought their names, and hoped in time to build the towns that should equal or surpass their patronymics. They had brought with them the enterprise of the East. Why should they not also bring its newest achievement, the railroad? That they desired and sought to do so may be read in the fact of the incorporation, in 1830, of the “Pontiac & Detroit Railroad Company,” by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan. No progress was made under the first organization, and in 1834 the corporation was succeeded by the Detroit & Pontiac Company, with authority to build a branch to Rochester. A track was extended toward, and perhaps reached the latter place, leaving the main line a little east of Royal Oak. There was some traffic by means of horse cars on the branch, but it was never honored by a locomotive, and fell into disuse and final abandonment. Among the incidents of the early railroad enthusiasm, the writer recalls having seen, when a small boy, a glass half-pint flask, with the inscription, “Success to the railroad.” The use to which the flask was designed was unmistakable, and it may be supposed that every one who took a drink from it voiced (without the trouble of expressing) the sentiment. It might be reasonably supposed that with the moral leverage of so many persons drinking “Success to the railroad,” it should have been a success, but it did not prove such to the fullest extent. It was opened to Royal Oak in the summer of 1838 and a year later to Birmingham, where it made a long halt, not reaching Pontiac until 1843. The subsequent history of this road merges it with the great railway systems of the country. The Oakland & Ottawa Railroad Company was chartered to build a road from Pontiac to Lake Michigan, and the two were eventually merged as the Detroit & Milwaukee, subsequently being reorganized as the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee. Its management fell into the hands of British capitalists who furnished the necessary means for its building and equipment, and it now forms a part of the Grand Trunk railyway system.

The next railway enterprise born in the State was the Detroit and St. Joseph, projecting a line from Detroit to the mouth of the St. Joseph River on Lake Michigan, a company for the purpose having been chartered in 1832. Some work in the way of surveys and grading was done as far as Ypsilanti, and possibly some track may have been laid on the eastern end, when the properties passed into the hands of the State under the internal improvement Act of 1837, the State paying the company for the work already done, the enterprise thereupon becoming the initial section of the Michigan Central line. A brief sketch of the progress of the road under State auspices is given under the head of “Internal Improvements.” Its history since passing into the hands of the company is the history of the progress and development of Central and Western Michigan and of the Northwest. As a State work it could not be carried beyond the limits of the State, and its western terminus was to have been either St. Joseph or New Buffalo, whence further progress for those westward bound must have been by boat across Lake Michigan or by such land transportation as they might find. But in the hands of a company no limit could be put to the extent of the line or its connections. It was urged by those who were negotiating for the purchase of the line from the State that it was designed to form part of a western system especially in Illinois. Northern Illinois was then but sparsely settled, and railway enterprises there were of doubtful utility so far as immediate returns might be concerned. It was argued that while the Michigan section might be remunerative, its returns would be 066 54expected to help make good deficiencies which were looked for for a time from lines farther west. As the Central passed into the hands of the company chartered for the purpose, the work of construction westward was pushed with all possible energy. Its objective point was Chicago. In this it had a competitor in the Southern, both roads reaching the Garden City about the same time in 1852.

The Southern road had its initiative as the Erie & Kalamazoo railroad, a charter for which was granted by the Legislative Council in 1833. The project was, however, absorbed by the State in its general plan of internal improvements, the work under the State auspices taking the name of the Michigan Southern. In its corporate character it was known as the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana, and through its eastern connection it is known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.

Previous to the opening of railway communication with the east, Michigan was effectually isolated during the winter months. The only routes eastward were through Canada or the more tedious one by the south shore, both by land carriage. The completion of the Great Western through Canada in January, 1854, opened the first direct railway route to the east. The Southern road had, however, some time previously, formed an eastern connection.

The route originally projected for the Northern railway from Port Huron to Grand Rapids, remained unoccupied for over thirty years. The section from Port Huron to Flint was eventually covered by the Chicago & Grand Trunk, opened in 1871. The present trunk line known as the Chicago & Grand Trunk was first built in four or five sections by as many different companies—the eastern section as noted, the section from Flint to Lansing by a company in the Vanderbilt interest, the section between Lansing and Battle Creek by a local company, and west of Battle Creek by other companies. The consolidation of the whole was effected in 1880.

Any detailed history of railways is, of course, out of the question in this connection. But those who care to take a backward glance may profitably indulge a thought as to the marvelous development of the railway system. How many are there who know or think that it is less than fifty years since Michigan was brought in social and commercial touch with the east during the winter season? Let the reader concentrate his mind on the railway system of the country. Let him view in imagination the moving trains crossing the continent in all directions. Let him enter the depots and yards in half a thousand cities and study the equipment and interlacing trackage. Let him enter the passenger trains and find them equipped with every comfort and luxury required for rest and refreshment. If one can conceive the whole panorama in fanciful view, there comes with the vision the thought as a verity that it is all the product of seventy years of time. There are those now living who had reached adult life before there was a single rail laid on the continent. But it is not within the province to dwell upon the wonderful or marvelous. The electric light has flashed upon the world, and maybe the next seventy years will throw the last in the shade, and hold him who should write of the past with wonderment, as a simplenton.

In some of the earlier experience in railroading the cars were drawn by horses on a wooden rail. This was only provisional, however. The strap rail was looked forward to as the ultimate and the perfect in railroad building. The strap rail was a wrought iron strap or plate of convenient length for handling, about half in inch thick and two inches or more in width. The ties were place on the roadbed, on which wooden rails were placed, and on these the iron or strap rail was fastened by spikes. Early passenger cars were modeled much after the stage coach, the resemblance being strictly in accordance with the law of evolution. Up to within a few years it was the custom to designate each locomotive by some name, but there came to be so many locomotives that there were not 067 55names enough to go around, and they are now known, like the convicts in a prison, by their numbers only.

Three of the important railways of the State owe their construction largely to government land grants; wholly so, it may be said, because without the land grants the roads would probably not have been built. The Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, running form Fort Wayne, Ind., to the Straits of Mackinac, a distance of 368 miles, like many other trunk lines, is the fruit of consolidations with several shorter lines. It received land grants from Congress aggregating 1,160,382 acres. The Flint & Pere Marquette Railway was originally projected from Flint to Pere Marquette on Lake Michigan, in aid of which a liberal grant of land was made by Congress. The Flint & Holly, extending from Flint to Holly, a distance of 17 miles, was built by the late Governor Crapo as a means of transportation for the lumber product centering at Flint, of which he was the largest manufacturer. It was absorbed in 1868 by the F. & P. M., under a hundred year lease. The Holly, Wayne & Monroe, road, running from Holly to Monroe and Toledo, was also consolidated with the F. & P. M. in 1871, giving a continuous line from Ludington to Monroe, 253 miles, and to Toledo, 273 miles, with a branch from Plymouth to Detroit, 25 miles, and other branches. The Detroit connection is, however, essentially a part of the main line. The Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw road extends from Jackson to the Strait of Mackinac, a distance of 295 miles. It was largely constructed upon the strength of a land grant made to the Amboy, Lansing and Traverse Bay Railroads, of whose franchises it became possessed.

The Mackinac & Marquette Railroad, which connects the Straits of Mackinac with the city of Marquette, and the Lower with the Upper Peninsula through connecting lines southward, owes its construction to a State land grant. In the later sixties, the city of Chicago enjoyed direct railway connection with the iron and copper districts of the Upper Peninsula, while the Lower Peninsula was entirely cut off from such communication during the winter months. The business interests of the Lower Peninsula felt themselves at a serious disadvantage by reason of this condition of things, and the necessity for a railway connection was apparent. The State had at its disposal a considerable portion of the land originally ceded by Congress to the State as swamp lands, but most of which were excellent agricultural lands as well as being valuable for their timber and mineral deposits. At the Legislative session of 1873, parties proposed the construction of a railroad from Mackinaw to Marquette on condition of a grant of these lands. A grant of ten sections per mile of road to be built was made in 1873, which was increased in 1875 to sixteen sections. The construction of the road was, however, not begun until 1879, it being completed to Marquette in December, 1881.

It should be stated in farther explanation that the land grants by Congress were to the State, but for the purpose more or less specifically set forth. And in so far treating of the several grants, the effort has been to touch as lightly as possible upon the history of the roads, that the work may not seem invidious toward other roads whose history cannot be given for obvious reasons.

The flush times, growing out of a redudant currency during the 1860 decade, as a fruit of the war, greatly stimulated railway enterprises in the State. There was a pressing demand for municipal or local aid to these enterprises. Their promoters desired authority on the part of townships and municipalities to vote such aid, to be represented by corporate bonds, and there was a marked willingness on the part of the people to respond to the demand. At the special Legislative session in 1864 and the regular session of 1865 a score or more of acts were passed authorizing the extension of such aid, which was in most cases willingly voted by the people. The plan was one which grew by what it fed on, and at the session of 1867 many additional measures were proposed on the same line, and 068 56a number of enabling acts passed both houses of the Legislature. Gov. Crapo, however, interposed his veto to check what he regarded as an unwise and dangerous course of legislation. There was a determined, though unsuccessful, effort pass the bills over the veto, and legislation on the subject was brought to a standstill. The constitutional of the acts that had been passed at previous sessions was called in question, and the Supreme Court of the State (20 Mich. 452), declared them unconstitutional, and the bonds that had been voted and issued in pursurance of such acts, null and void. Gov. Baldwin felt that the good name and credit of the State were involved, and he called a special session of the Legislature, which met July 27, 1870, at which he recommended the submission of an amendment to the constitution authorizing the payment of the bonds that had been negotiated in good faith. The amendment was according submitted by the Legislature, but was defeated by popular vote at the November election in that year. The matter went to the United States courts, however, and it was there held that bonds negotiated in good faith before the adverse decision of the State Court, were valid, and must be paid.

In the winter of 1873, the office of Commissioner of Railroads was established by the Legislature, and the value of that office in systematising railway management, as an agent between the corporations and the people, and in the collection of facts and statistics, is shown by the work of the department. The progress of railway construction in Michigan is practically shown by the following figures. The figures are approximations only up to the year 1873, since which time they are official through the office of the Commissioner of Railroads, and are designed to show the number of miles in operation at the beginning of each year given, namely: 1841, 138 miles; 1850, 342; 1855, 474; 1860, 779; 1865, 941; 1866, 1,039; 1867, 1,163; 1868, 1,199; 1869, 1,325; 1870, 1,638; 1871, 2,116; 1872, 2,214; 1873, 2,975; 1874, 3,253; 1875, 3,315; 1880, 3,823.95; 1885 5,247.48; 1890, 6,957.27; 1895, 7,608.61.

By the report of commissioner for the year 1874, thirty-four railway corporations were doing business in the State, representing 5,278.36 miles of track, of which 3,314.98 miles were within the State. By the reports for 1896 there were eighty-nine roads doing business in the State, including eight ore and forest roads, with a total mileage in the State of 9,958.15; of which 2,165.86 miles were sidings and spurs. During the year 1897 six new companies were formed, with a proposed track construction of 247 miles. The greatest track constructions on record in any one year was in 1872, being 901 miles. The least, since authentic reports were made, was 44.53 miles in 1877. The desparity between the two years forcibly impresses the effect of the financial depression beginning in 1873.

As part of the railway system of the State, the transfer ferries, by which entire trains are carried across Detroit river and the Straits of Mackinac, the tunnel at Port Huron, and the international bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, deserve mention.

The following statistics are taken from tables accompanying the report of the Commissioner of Railroads for 1898:

According to the report of the Railroad Commissioner for 1898 there were 7,816 miles of railroad in the State or 10,018 reckoned as single track. This was an increase of 57 miles over the previous year.

The paid capital stock of these roads amounted to $439,076,478, of which $10,811,799 was owned in Michigan. The total debt of these roads amounted to $664,861,718.

During the year 43,401,571 passengers were carried and the passenger revenue amounted to nearly $1 per passenger carried. In the same year 88,987,235 tons of freight were carried and the revenue aggregate $61,453,120.

GOVERNMENT LAND GRANTS.

The University Lands—Primary School Lands—Agricultural College Lands—Salt Spring Lands—Sault Ste. Marie Canal Lands—Swamp Lands—Railway Land Grants.

Michigan has not been overlooked in the matter of bounties by the general government in the way of land grants. The government became an extensive land owner by the cession to it of the Northwest territory. A controling motive in making this cession was to place the government in possession of a domain from which it might discharge in part its obligations incurred in the war of independence. In saying that Michigan has been liberally dealt by in the way of land grants does not imply that she has fared any better than other new States.

By Act of Congress of 1804 an entire township of land was set apart in each of the territories of the northwest “for seminaries of learning.” * This land was to be in one body, and the original intent was that it was to be leased, but not sold. No location of the section had been made up to 1819. Gov. Woodbridge, who then represented the territory in Congress, fearing that by reason of the rapid settlement of the territory an entire township of desirable land could not well be secured, agitated the plan of having the terms of the grant so changed that the land might be selected in detached tracts. The effort was successful in 1826, at which time land to the extent of an additional township was also granted. These two grants, with three additional sections of land secured by means of an Indian treaty negotiated at Fort Meigs in 1817, constitute the original endowment of the University Michigan. The lands have been sold, and the proceeds have gone into the State treasury, forming one of the “trust funds,” on which the State pays interest at the rate of 7 per cent, to the University, equal to about $37,500 per annum. Only forty acres of the University lands remain unsold. The University lands were of the choicest farming lands in the State. The minimum price at which they were to be sold, as by Act of March 21, 1837, was $20 per acre. The earlier sales averaged $22.85 per acre. A payment was required to be made at the time of purchase, but the greater part of the purchase price was allowed to remain for a term of years upon payment of interest. The financial stringency and industrial depression of the period came on, and in a number of cases easier terms were granted to some of the settlers. The minimum price of the unsold lands was finally reduced to $12 per acre. In brief, while an endowment fund of $1,000,000 had been looked for, only a little more than half that sum was realized. Prof. Ten Brook, in his work, analyzes the situation quite fully, with an implication of bad faith (or at least a want of prudent care), on the part of the Legislature, in administering the trust. The problem seems hardly worth considering. Had the expected sum been realized it would have brought $70,000 per annum, at seven per cent., as against $38,500, which the fund now receives. If, by the dereliction of the State, the annual income from the interest fund is $31,500 less than it should be, the difference is repaid more than six fold by present State appropriations.

* Public Instruction and School Law, 1852, p. 3.

The first formam dedication of land to educational uses was by ordinance of the Congress of the Confederation, May, 1785. By this ordinance Section 16 of each surveyed township was dedicated to the support of common schools. It would seem a little puzzling how Congress could make this dedication when it had no land to dedicate. The public lands at that time all belonged to the States in which situated. Congress became the dispenser of the public domain only by virtue of the ordinance of 1787, and it was perhaps in anticipation of what was to be that the action of 1785 was taken. Passing this query, however, the dedication or consecration of one-thirty-sixth of the public domain in the States of the west for the support of common schools, is a feature of their history as ineradicable as 070 58are their rocks from their geological structure. The Act of 1785 has been confirmed by various Acts of Congress under the constitution, and specifically as to Michigan in the Act providing for her admission into the Union June 23, 1836. About 1,070,016 acres of land accrued to the State by virtue of these Acts, of which some 190,000 acres remain unsold. The school lands are held at the minimum price of $4 per acre.

Congress, by an Act approved July 2, 1862, granted to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts, an amount of public lands equal to 30,000 acres for each Senator and Representative in Congress to which such State was entitled under the census of 1860. Under this grant Michigan received about 240,000 acres, of which about 80,000 acres remain unsold. The Legislature, by Act 221, 1875, granted to the Agricultural College all of the unsold swamp land in the townships of Lansing and Meridian, In Ingham County, and in the townships of Dewitt and Bath, in Clinton county.

Congress, by Act June 23, 1836, granted to the State of Michigan all salt springs within the State, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining or as contiguous as may be to each, for its use, the same to be selected to be used on such terms, conditions and regulations as the Legislature might direct. This would be equal to seventy-two sections, or two entire townships. March 3, 1847, Congress gave consent to the sale of the salt spring lands by the State. March 28, 1849, the Legislature appropriated ten sections of salt spring lands for the purpose of defraying cost of the erection and completion of the buildings for a Normal School and for the purchase of necessary apparatus and books, and for various other incidental expenses of the institution. By the same Act fifteen sections of salt spring lands were appropriated for an endowment fund for the Normal School. By act 187, Laws of 1848, eight sections of salt spring lands were appropriated for the erection of suitable buildings for the Michigan Asylum for educating the deaf and dumb and the blind, and the Michigan Asylum for the Insane. Act 282, Laws of 1850, appropriated ten additional sections for the same purpose. There remains unsold of the salt spring lands less than 1,500 acres.

By Act of Congress August 26, 1852, an aggregate of 750,000 acres of land in Michigan was granted to the State to aid the construction of the canal at the Sault de Ste. Marie, popularly contracted as the “Soo.” This grant was turned over to a company pursuant to Act of the Legislature in 1853, in consideration of the construction by them of the First Sault canal. The company kept an office in Detroit for a number of years for the sale of these lands, but it was closed many years ago, and if there are any of the lands remaining unsold they are controlled by agents of the company at the east.

By Act of September 28, 1850, Congress granted to certain States to enable them to reclaim the swamp lands within their limits by constructing the necessary levees and drains, the whole of the swamp and overflowed lands within their borders respectively remaining unsold at the time of the passage of the Act. By arrangement between the State and Federal Government the basis of the selection of such lands in Michigan was to be the field notes of the surveys as made by the surveyors and deputy surveyors employed by the general government. Lists of such lands were prepared by the surveyor general and submitted to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and by him to the Secretary of the Interior for approval or rejection. From lists approved by the Secretary of the Interior, patents were prepared and issued to the State. Michigan received, approximately, six million acres under this grant.

Many of the lands patented to the State as swamp lands were among the best farming lands in the State, having on them barely enough swamp to make a trace on the field notes of the surveyors. It was for a considerable time a question how the terms of the 071 59grant, which contemplated the construction of levees and drains, could be complied with. It was a work that the State did not want to undertake, even could it have been carried on by any practicable method. It was finally determined that the spirit of the contract, as implied by the terms of the grant, would be equitably met if the drainage and reclamation was effected by means less direct than by the State itself. This was the course substantially recommended by Gov. Bingham in his message to the Legislature in special session in 1858, that instead of the State doing the work, it should be the policy “rather to dispose of them (the lands) in all the districts where there are settlements, at such a low price as would justify the purchaser in making the necessary provision for their drainage and improvement.” Act No. 117, Laws of 1859, in a preamble, set forth that “In the opinion of the Legislature, the most efficient means of effecting that end (the drainage, etc.), is the construction of roads, with proper ditches and drains.” The Act provided for laying out ten State roads, the cost to be met either by money proceeds from swamp land sales or by lands direct. Later it became the practice to appropriate lands in specific quantities for the construction of roads on defined routes, or the improvement of certain water courses, and the session laws for a dozen years or more are replete with Acts for this purpose. Details of the legislation are necessarily out of the question. Grants of swamp lands have been made by the State in aid of railway construction as follows: To the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co., 141,647 acres; Detroit, Mackinac & Marquette R. R. Co., 1,327,041; Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon R. R. Co., 82,422; Menominee River R. R. Co., 144, 371. Of the 6,000,000 acres embraced in the grant, only about 100,000 remain in the hands of the State. This is certainly evidence of the original value of the lands and of the industrious manner in which the State has passed them out of its hands.

Under the provisions of an Act of Congress, June 3, 1856, lands were granted to the State of Michigan to aid in the construction of a railroad from Little Bay De Noquet to Marquette, and thence to Ontonagon, and from the last two named places to the Wisconsin State line. Also from Amboy, by way of Hillsdale and Lansing, and from Grand Rapids to some point on or near Traverse Bay, and from Grand Haven and Pere Marquette to Flint, and thence to Port Huron. By Act of the State Legislature, February 15, 1857, the grant was conferred upon various companies named in he Act, some nine in number. Under this Act a Board of Control, with the Governor as president, was created to manage and dispose of the grant, and do all things necessary to carry out the provisions of the granting Act. The Acts were several times amended by Congress and by the Legislature, and new Acts and joint resolutions were passed respecting the lands. The original companies in several cases never filed maps of location; others failed in whole or in part to comply with the requirements of the Act as to time of completion, and by consolidations others were absorbed into new corporations.

By the terms of the grants, the lands were to be confirmed to the companies proportionally, on the completion of their roads in twenty mile sections. Failure to construct within the specified time, with other lapses, wrought a forfeiture of right, and on March 2, 1889, Congress declared a forfeiture of all the land co-terminous with the uncompleted portion of any railroad in aid of which the Act of 1856 was made, and joint resolution 19 of the legislative session of 1889 authorized the relinquishment by the State of all lands certified for railroad purposes and unearned. This legislation practically closed one of the most perplexing and complicated grants over made by Congress. The total of lands certified to the State under the Act of Congress was approximately 3,776,590 acres. There is no ready means of ascertaining what portion of these lands passed into the hands of the railway companies before the Act of 072 60forfeiture. The principal beneficiaries were the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw (591,000 acres), the Flint & Pere Marquette and the Grand Rapids & Indiana, in Lower Peninsula, and in the Upper Peninsula the Chicago & Northwestern, the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon (now part of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic) and the Ontonagon & Brule River.

The data on which the foregoing is prepared has been largely supplied by Messrs. Loomis and Wilkinson, deputies respectively in the State Land Office and Auditor General's Office.

MINERAL RESOURCES.

Early Discovery of Copper—Later Explorations—Discovery of Iron Ore—Geological Survey—Dr.Douglass Houghton—Work on the Survey by Others—Copper and Copper Mining—Statistics of Copper Production—Ancient Mine Work—Iron and Iron Mining—Iron Ore Shipments—Saline Interests—Gold and Silver—Other Mineral Products.

It was deemed a hard bargain by the people of Michigan when they consented to the surrender of a strip of productive land on the southern boundary and the acceptance in its stead of a rock-bound and comparatively unknown region, as a condition of the admittance of the State as a member of the Union. It was a profitable exchange, nevertheless, as results have shown.

While iron and copper are not by any means the only minerals that are found, as the more important, they justly claim first mention. The first account of the occurrence of native copper on Lake Superior is in the work of “Lagarde,” published in Paris, in 1636, in which some interesting accounts are found concerning the richness of the country. He says: “There are mines of copper which might be made profitable, if there were inhabitants and workmen who would labor faithfully. That would be done if colonies were established. About eighty or one hundred leagues from the Hurons there is a mine of copper, from which “Truchement Brusle’ showed me an ingot on his return from a voyage he made to the neighboring nation.”

Father Claude Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, who visited the region in 1666, says: “It happens frequently that pieces of copper are found weighing from ten to twenty pounds. I have seen several such pieces in the hands of the savages; and since they are very superstitions, they esteem them as divinities, or as presents given to them to promote their happiness, by the gods who dwell beneath the water. For this reason they preserve these pieces of copper, wrapped up with their most precious articles. In some families they have been kept for more than 50 years; in others, they have descended from time immemorial—being cherished as domestic gods.”

Father Dablon, 1669-70, says: “After having reached the extremity of the lake there may be seen, on the south shore, by the water's edge, a mass of copper weighing 600 to 700 pounds, so hard that steel cannot cut it; but when heated it may be cut like lead.” On one of the islands near Chagnemegon bay, he relates that copper rocks and plates are found, and that he bought of the savages a plate of pure copper, two and a half feet square, weighing more than 100 pounds. He supposes that they have been derived from Menong (Isle Royal). He mentions the fact that the Ottawa squaws, in digging holes in the sand to hide their corn, find masses weighing 20 to 30 pounds.

In 1689, Baron La Houton, in a book relating to travels in Canada, mentions that “upon Lake Superior we find copper mines, the metal of which is fine and plentiful, there being not a seventh part base from the ore.”

In 1721, P. de Charlevoix describes the native copper deposits, and superstitions which the Indians had in regard to them, in considerable detail.

Captain Jonathan Carver visited Lake Superior 073 61in 1765, and in his account dwelt so largely on the abundance of native copper that a copper company was formed in England in 1771, which actually began mining operations on the Ontonagon river, under the direction of Mr. Alexander Henry, who seems to have been a better historian than miner; for he gives a detailed account of the winding up of his operations in 1772, and concludes, as the result of his unsuccessful experiment in mining, “that the country must be cultivated and peopled before the copper can be profitably mined.”

In 1819 Gen. Lewis Cass, under authority of the Secretary of War, directed an exploring expedition, which passed along the southern shore of Lake Superior crossed over to the Mississippi. This expedition had, among its principal objects, that of investigating the northwestern copper mines; and was accompanied by H. R. Schoolcraft in the capacity of mineralogist and geologist.

In 1831 an expedition was sent out by the United States government under the command of Mr. Schoolcraft, for the purpose of ascertaining the sources of the Mississippi. Dr. Douglass Houghton was attached to this party, and he subsequently speaks of the aid afforded by the observations made at this time in tracing the fragments of copper to their place in the rock.

The outline of the history of the discovery of the copper deposits here given is found in the report of T. B. Brooks, 1873, and in other published reports. Citations to original sources cannot well be given.

The date of the iron discovery is quite uncertain, but is much more recent than that of copper. In his geological report of 1841, Dr. Houghton says: “Although hematite ore is abundantly disseminated through all the rocks of the metamorphic group, it does not appear in sufficient quantity at any one point that has been examined, to be of practical importance.” At this date Dr. Houghton had traversed the south shore of Lake Superior five times, in a small boat or canoe, on geological investigations. It is, therefore, probable that up to 1841 no Indian traditions worthy of credence, in regard to large deposits of iron ore, had come to his knowledge. As there are, so far as known, no considerable outcrops of iron ore which come nearer than seven miles of the shore of the lake, it is plain that investigations, based on observations taken along the shore only, could have determined no more than its probable existence, which is plainly indicated in the extracts given. The United States surveyors, in the fall of 1844, officially established the fact that iron ore in considerable quantities existed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Steps had been taken with a view to an exploration of the copper region during the presidency of John Adams, but nothing was ever effected. The work of systematic scientific exploration was first undertaken by Dr. Douglas Houghton, the earliest State geologist, pursuant to Act of the State Legislature of February 23 and March 22, 1837. Dr. Houghton, in his annual report to the Legislature in 1841, presented the results of his labors up to that period in so able a manner that the attention of the world became directed to the Northern Peninsula with greatly increased interest. The Acts of the Legislature, providing for the geological survey, contemplated also the topographical, zoological and botanical features, embracing the entire State, but the two latter were discontinued in 1840. For the purposes contemplated by the original Act, Dr. Houghton was supplied with a corps of assistants, who were probably mostly amateurs without compensation, as may be inferred from the resignations of those in charge of the zoological and botanical departments in 1839. The first annual report, 1838, reasonably enough, was a brief one, but the one for 1839, comprising 153 pages, covers the several departments of geology, zoology, botany and topography. The third and fourth annual reports followed, having references more or less to localities in the Lower Peninsula, but treating more particularly of the Lake Superior region. For a full resume of the early geological 074 62work, with citations of authorities, see Prof. Winchell's report, 1860, from which synopses here presented are largely drawn.

The financial stringency in the early forties compelled a suspension of the work of the geological survey. Dr. Houghton's devotion to the work, however, inspired him to devise another means for its prosecution. An appropriation was secured from Congress in 1844 for connecting a geological and mineralogical survey with the linear surveys of the public lands of the Upper Peninsula, the former under Dr. Houghton and the latter under Wm. A. Burt, a name intimately associated with Upper Peninsula history. The work of one season had been nearly completed, when it was brought to an unfortunate termination by the death of Dr. Houghton by drowning, October 13, 1845. Mr. Bela Hubbard, a former resident of Detroit, and well known in literary and scientific circles, was associated with Dr. Houghton in the first geological work under State auspices. He was therefore chosen, in connection with Mr. Burt, to compile reports of the work of 1845 from the field notes of that year—Mr. Burt from his own notes and Mr. Hubbard from those of Dr. Houghton. “These two reports unfold in an admirable manner the geological structure of the trap and metamorphic regions of Lake Superior, and anticipate results which were subsequently worked out by the United States geologists.” *

* Prof. Winchell's report, 1860.

After the death of Dr. Houghton the names of Charles J. Jackson, Foster and Whitney, Prof. Alexander Winchell, Brooks and Pumpelly, Dr. Charles Rominger, Charles E. Wright, W. E. Wadsworth and Lucius L. Hubbard are associated with the survey, either under State or government auspices.

Copper mining on Lake Superior commenced in 1845. The discoveries of Lake Superior were of native copper, which was a novelty in copper mining and so improbable, according to all geological precedents, that much doubt was expressed by scientific men in regard to its reality. The facts were, however, abundantly proven.

In the report of Foster and Whitney, made in 1847, the copper region is divided into three districts, each with an estimated area as follows:

I. The Keweenaw Point district, embracing the country from the eastern end of the Point to Portage lake, 61,620 acres;

II. Portage lake to the Montreal river, including the Ontonagon district, 18,270 acres;

III. Isle Royale, 77,380 acres. This latter is a narrow rocky island, about 45 miles in length, lying northeast by southwest, varying in width from three to eight miles, and some of its hills have an altitude of three to four hundred feet. The island, although within the State of Michigan, lies much nearer the north or Canada shore, than it does to the American shore.

It is unnecessary to repeat (what is said in substance if not in terms elsewhere) that much of detail that would be of interest (but which may be found in print in other forms), must be passed over in these sketches. Some comparative statistics of the copper production are given: From 1845 to 1858 the total production of ingot copper was estimated at 27,910,000 pounds, of the value of $9,000,000. The production gradually increased from 7,000,000 pounds in 1858 to 35,000,000 in 1875. The highest price reached per pound during the period named was 55 cents in 1864, and the lowest 22 cents in 1870. The highest figure given was, of course, phenomenal during the war period, and has never since been reached. The lowest figure at any time was 9½ cents in 1894. The latest table accessible, showing annual production, is that prepared by Charles E. Wright, commissioner of mineral statistics, in 1878. The total number of tons of refined copper produced up to this time was given as 253,035, of an aggregate value of $123,394,000. It is not improbable that subsequent reports of the commissioner of mineral statistics may cover similar figures for later years, but these reports 075 63are not printed at Lansing, and are not properly State documents, so that they are not accessible for all years. The total dividends paid to stockholders of all copper mining companies is given in the report of the commissioner for 1898 at $79,641,375. Of this total, the Calumet & Hecla Company divided $52,850,000, or 65 per cent. of the whole. The total production in the United States in the year 1897 was:

Pounds.

Montana 231,902,796

Michigan 144,930,670

Arizona 80,592,049

Other sources 26,656,000

Total 484,081,515

The evidences of ancient mine work by a primitive and unknown rare are a notable feature of the Lake Superior mines. The discovery of this old work was the discovery of the mines.

In speaking of the ancient mines, Prof. J. W. Foster, in his late work on the Pre-Historic Races of America, says: “The high antiquity of this mining is inferred from these facts: That the trenches and pits were filled even with the surrounding surface, so that their existence was not suspected until many years after the region had been thrown open to active exploration; that upon the piles of rubbish were found growing trees which differed in no degree, as to size and character, from those in the adjacent forest, and at the nature of the materials with which the pits were filled, such as a fine washed clay enveloping half decayed leaves, and the bones of such quadrupeds as the bear, deer and caribou, indicated the slow accumulation of years rather than a deposit resulting from a torrent of water.”

At a deep inlet, known as McCargoes’ Cove, on the north side of the island, excavations extend in almost a continuous line for more than two miles, in most instances the pits being so close together as barely to permit their convenient working. The stone hammers, weighing from ten to even thirty pounds, the chief tool with which the labor was performed, have been found in cart loads. They are either perfect, or rare broken from use, and the fragments of large numbers of them are found intermingled with the debris on the edge of the pits, or at their bottom. The sample of mass copper noted as taken from the Minong mine is more remarkable for these stone-hammer marks upon its surface, than for its weight.

Though it is probable that not one-tenth of these ancient excavations have so far been revealed, some idea of their extent may be arrived at, from the statement of a gentleman familiar with the mines, who has calculated that, at one point alone on three sections of land toward the north side of Isle Royale, the amount of labor performed by those ancient men far exceeds that of one of our oldest copper mine on the south shore of Lake Superior, a mine which has now been constantly worked with a large force for over twenty years. Or, stated in another form, that it would have required a force of one hundred thousand men fifty years (with their means of working) to do an equivalent amount of work.

The practical working of the iron mines, commencing about 1845, is the period from which dates the chief interest in the subject. The first company was Michigan one, organized at Jackson, which gave the name to the oldest working iron mine of Lake Superior, the Jackson location and mine. Mr. P. M. Everett, then of Jackson, who formed one of the company, and was its treasurer and agent, writing November 10, 1845, from that point, speaks thus of his previous summer's explorations: “I left here on the 23d of July last, and was gone until the 24th of October. I had considerable difficulty in getting any one to join me in the enterprise, but I at last succeeded in forming a company of thirteen. I took four men with me from Jackson and hired a guide at the Sault, where I bought a boat and coasted up the lake to Copper Harbor, which is over 300 miles from Sault Ste. Marie. We made several locations, one of which we called Iron at the time. It is a 076 64mountain of solid iron ore, 150 feet high. The ore looks as bright as a bar of iron just broken.” *

* Geological Survey, 1873, page 14.

In the report of the Geological Survey, 1873, it is said that the “Marquette Iron Region” embraces all the developed iron mines of the Upper Peninsula. It is sid of the “Menominee Iron Region” that it has as yet sent no ore to market. Further, it is said: “The ‘Lake Gogebic an Montreal River Region’ (or Range) is so little known that it may be questionable whether it should have a place in this economic grouping; it embraces the country between Lake Gogebic and the west boundary of Michigan, and is 100 miles west of the Marquette region.” The subsequent development of this region shows the want of adequate estimate of it in 1873. Twenty-five years later the Commissioner of Mineral Statistics says of it (report, 1898): “The Gogebic range is one of the important ones of the State, and is the youngest in the order of discovery and development.”

Ore shipments from Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota mines on Lake Superior are reported as follows:

District of Range No. of Cos. Shipments 1897, tons Total shipments, tons Marquette Range, Mich. 82 2,711,505 49,258,759 Menominee Range, Mich. 54 1,799,856 21,788,278 Gogebic Range, Mich. 29 1,882,640 19,294,161 Menominee Range, Wis. 2 185,818 2,992,833 Gogebic Range Wis. 15 874,634 3,414,503 Messaba Range Minn. 25 4,280,868 12,355,446 Vermillion Range, Minn. 4 1, 278, 482 10,498,687 211 12,463,793 119,002,667

The cost of railway haulage from mines to lake shipping points ranges from 32 to 80 cents per ton, according to distance. Lake transportation to distributing centers is quoted, in one instance, as high as $2.75 in 1880, but ranging from 45 to 70 cents in 1897.

Of the production of pig iron, it is said in the report from which these statistics are taken: “All of the pig iron manufactured in Michigan is charcoal iron. There are no coke furnaces. The competition of the coke irons is so keen that but little profit remains to the Michigan smelters. The margin has steadily been growing less, and the present finds but little inducement for new stacks or improvements upon the old ones.” Furnaces are reported as at Mancelona, Elk Rapids, Ishpeming, Fruitport, Gladstone, Manistique, and three in Detroit, employing 763 men, and with an output in 1879 of 126,113 tons.

Next to iron and copper, ranks the salt industry of the State in the line of its mineral products. The first satisfactory evidence of the existence of saline water within the limits of Michigan, of a strength sufficient to make the manufacture of salt profitable, was obtained by Dr. Douglass Houghton, the first State geologist, previous to 1840. The first successful experiments in salt manufacture were in the Saginaw Valley, in 1859, under the auspices of the East Saginaw Salt Manufacturing Company. The fact is authoritatively stated that greater progress was made in the manufacture of salt in Michigan in four years than in the Kanawha Valley in fifty years, and greater progress in the former in five that at the Onondaga Salt Springs in forty-two years succeeding 1797. Much of this progress wa doubtless due to the policy of the Legislature in encouraging the manufacture by a small bounty, during the earlier years of the enterprise.

The salt manufacture of the State is under a system of inspection established by law, at the head of which is the State Inspector, with deputies at such points as may be required. There are four grades, marked as Fine, Packers’, Solar and Second Quality. The salt product of 1860 was 4,000 barrels. In 1861 it had reached 125,000 barrels, and showed a quite regular rate of yearly increase, until, in 1875, it had reached over 1,000,000 barrels. In 1880, 2,676,588 barrels; in 1885, 3,297,403; in 1890, 3,838,637; in 1895, 3,529,362.

The salt inspection is by districts, which are grouped as follows, with the number of 077 65barrels inspected in each district in the year 1897:

No. District. No. Establishments. Barrels. 1 Saginaw County 20 284,887 2 Bay County 15 340,894 3 St. Clair County 6 297,064 4 Iosco County 4 42,231 5 Midland County 2 34,056 6 Manistee County 11 1,827,427 7 Mason County 6 522,824 8 Wayne County 4 274,431 58 3,622,814

The price of salt per barrel in 1860 is given at $1.80. It has since undergone various fluctuations, until in 1897 it was 58¼ cents.

The Commissioner of Mineral Statistics speaks with no little confidence of the future of gold production. Throughout the whole Upper Peninsula, he says, “gold has been found in many places in the Huronian rocks, and numerous attempts at developing a paying lode have been made.” He attributes the lack of interest in the gold quest to the greater attention that the coarser metals have received. Several efforts at developing profitable mining are reported, resulting in a total product while in operation of $668,484. Silver is regarded as promising, but with the production so far but meager.

Other mineral productions in 1897 are given as follows:

Mineral coal, tons 122,850

Sandstone, cubic feet 120,338

Gypsum, tons 48,500

Grindstones, marble, slate, graphite, clay and mineral waters, each claim recognition in the report.

ROMAN CATHOLICS.

St. Anne's Church and Father Del Halle—Father Gabriel Richard—Diocesian Data—Statistics of the Church in Michigan.

In the religious, as well as in the civil realm, the Roman Catholics were the pioneers in Michigan. A brief reference is made to their work in a preceding page. The first official occupation of the territory by Cadillac in 1701 represented the trinity that was deemed essential to the founding of a State—the element of the civil, the military and the religious. With the founder of Detroit, with his civil commission, came also the martial array and the bearer of the cross. One of the first acts of Cadillac was the erection of a chapel for religious worship. This received the name of St. Anne's Church, a name still retained by one of the Roman Catholic churches of Detroit. One Father Del Halle was post chaplain and pastor of the church. He fell an innocent victim at the hands of some Ottawa Indians who had become involved in a brawl with some officers of the post, June 6, 1706. St. Anne's was the only church in the territory during the first century of its civil history. Passing over the century, Father Gabriel Richard appears as a time-mark, not only in the history of the Roman Catholic church, but in the social, civil and intellectual history of the territory as well. He came to Detroit in 1798 as pastor of St. Anne's Church. He brought the first printing outfit to the city in 1809. He was an earnest promoter of educational enterprises, and was elected as delegate to Congress from Michigan in 1823. He was esteemed alike by Protestants and Catholics. He gave his life and energies in aid of the cholera-stricken inhabitants of the city in 1832, and died of cholera September 13 of that year.

From Hoffman's Catholic Directory for 1899 the following statistics of the church in Michigan are taken:

Diocese of Detroit. Diocese of Gd. Rapids. Diocese of Marquette. Bishop 1 1 2 Diocesan priests 155 74 54 Priests of religious orders 44 12 8 Churches with resident priest 116 66 56 Missions with churches 76 70 24 Stations 36 40 64 Chapels 15 9 3 Seminary for secular clergy (Polish) 1 Students 155 Seminary of Religious Order 1 Ecclesiastical students for diocese 45 6 Colleges and academies for boys 8 Students 430 Academies for young ladies 4 2 1 Females educated in higher branches 350 Parishes and missions with schools 64 45 20 Pupils 17,200 10,383 5,440 Orphan Asylums 5 2 2 Orphans 500 220 90 Industrial School 1 1 †2 Inmates 12 110 House of Good Shepherd 1 Children in preservation class 125 Total of young people under Cath. care 20,000 10,600 5,500 Hospitals 4 4 4 Home for aged poor 1 1 Inmates during year 250 110 Infant asylum 1 Baptisms 7,600 4,074 Marriages 1,200 645 Burials 3,047 1,220 Catholic population, about 177,905 *17,836 60,000 † For Indians. * Number of families.

Michigan was erected into a Roman Catholic See in 1833, as the Diocese of Detroit, under Bishop Frederick Rese. He was succeeded in 1841 by Bishop Lefevre, and he in turn by Bishop Borgess in 1870, Bishop Foley, the present bishop, coming to the charge in 1888. The diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Marquette was established in 1857, comprising the Upper Peninsula, with the episcopal residence at Marquette. Rev. Frederick Baraga, D. D., was the first bishop, being succeeded on his death in 1868 by Rev. Ignatius Mrak, D. D., who in turn was succeeded in 1878 by Rev. John Vertin, D. D., who died February 26, 1899. Rt. Rev. Frederick Eis is the present bishop. The diocese 079 67of Grand Rapids was established in 1882, comprising so much of the lower peninsula as lies north and west of the counties of Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Clinton, Shiawassee, Genesee and Tuscola. The episcopal residence is at Grand Rapids—bishop, Rev. Henry Joseph Richter, D. D. A vicar-general and a secretary are a part of the diocesan staff, the Rev. F. J. Baumgartner exercising the office of chancellor and secretary in the Detroit diocese. The polity of the church, in the completeness of its organization, embraces many subordinate officials, not practicable here to enumerate.

PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS.

Rev. David Bacon—Early Methodist Missions—Dr. Nathan Bangs—Ministration of Father Richard—First Protestant Societies—A Couple of Anecdotes

The first mention of the appearance of a representative of the Protestant arm of the church places it a century later than the advent of the organized church under Cadillac. In the settlement of the northwest especially, this difference will be noted between the work of the two great divisions of the church: The Roman Catholic followed the waterways, establishing his posts at eligible points as he went, while the Protestant found the better field for his work where the settler had penetrated the interior and established a social community. This difference between the two divisions of the church, in their methods and results, is illustrated by the experience of the first Protestant missionary, Rev. David Bacon, a Congregationalist, who had been sent out by a society in Connecticut to establish a mission among the Indians at Mackinac and in the northwest, but “finding no opening among the Indians, stopped in Detroit,” where he preached a few times. * This was in 1801, and was the first Protestant service of which there is any record to be found, as a propagandist work.

* History of Protestantism in Michigan, Rev. E. H. Pilcher, p. 12.

In 1804 an itinerant Methodist minister from Canada, named Freeman, held services in Detroit. The first official visitation was by Rev. Nathan Bangs, Methodist, under authority of the New York Conference, in 1804.

The New York Conference, in the Methodist church polity, at that time, exercised jurisdiction over the whole country and Canada, and it was through Canada that the work to the westward was prosecuted. Dr. Bangs holds a prominent place in Methodist history, to which he was himself also a contributor. The following anecdote is worthy of record, as showing that the spirit of mischief was rife an hundred years ago as well as at the present day. Speaking of one of his sermons, Dr. Bangs wrote: “I preached in the old council house on a week-day evening. While preaching, there arose a terrible thunder storm; the lightning flashed, the thunder rolled through the heavens with awful noise. But I kept on preaching. I was afterwards informed that two young men sat trembling, fearing that God was about to strike them dead for what they had done, as they had put powder into the candles, in the expectation that they would burn down to the powder and explode during the sermon.” * Dr. Pilcher speaks of the inhabitants of Detroit at the time, who were almost wholly of French extraction, as “given up to pleasure, especially during the winter months, particularly to music and dancing, which tended to weaken the mind, vitiate the moral sensibilities, and to disincline them to religion.” Those who knew Dr. Pilcher as an ardent churchman will not marvel that he should have added: “The mere ceremonies of Romanism did not lay any restraint on the people in these respects.” Of Dr. Bangs’ work it is said that at the first meeting, quoting his words, “the light-hearted * Dr. Pilcher's work. 080 68 people” flocked to hear him, but at the third which was on the Sabbath, only a few children came. “So,” says the historian, “he left them, wiping the dust from his feet as a testimony against them.”

After the close of Dr. Bangs’ mission, in 1804, there is no mention of a renewal of the work until 1809, although the territorial government, presumedly Protestant in the personnel of its officials, was in operation. In 1807, Gen. Hull, the governor of the territory, with other Protestant gentlemen, in the absence of any Protestant service, invited Father Richard, the Roman Catholic priest, to preach to them in English, he and his flock being French. In accordance with this invitation, he held meetings at noon every Sunday in the council house, and gave instruction on “the general principles of the christian religion, the principles to be adopted in the investigation of truth, the causes of errors, the spirituality and immortality of the soul, and the evidences of christianity in general.” An amusing anecdote is told of him in one of his discourses. His command of the English language was but indifferent, and his aptness in translation apparently not the best, and in rendering the words, “Ye are my sheep,” he gave them savory flavor by saying, “Ye are my muttons.” *

* Dr. Pilcher's work.

The first Protestant religious society in Michigan was of the Methodist denomination, organized in 1810. It numbered seven members, including Robert Abbot, a name prominent in the civil history of the territory and in the early days of the State. The propagandist work was pursued with energy both in Michigan and in Canada, as it was a work that knew no territorial boundary lines, until it was interrupted by the breaking out of the war of 1812, to be again taken up after the close of the war. Up to this time, according to Dr. Pilcher, no other denomination had made an effort to gain a footing in the peninsula, other than the first feeble effort of Rev. David Bacon, before mentioned. After the close of the war the Methodist work was resumed by Rev. Joseph Hickey, his work extending as far as Monroe.

The first Protestant denomination to be represented in Michigan (except as above) was the Presbyterian. Rev. John Monteith, a fellow of Princeton College, came to Detroit in 1816. Although a Presbyterian, his mission took on a non-sectarian character, and a society was organized under the name of the First Evangelical Society of Detroit, and a church edifice was subsequently built, that being the first Protestant church erected in Michigan. The society, in the process of evolution, subsequently became the first Presbyterian Society, which is still in existence.

A couple of anecdotes are introduced in this connection as illustrating the changes that has taken place in the tone of pulpit utterances since the early part of the century. In 1817 a Methodist minister named Joseph Mitchell was preaching in Detroit. His church services and those of Mr. Monteith were held alternately in the council house, and in various ways to were brought into friendly conference. On one occasion Mr. Monteith said to Mr. Mitchell: “I wish to make an agreement with you not to preach doctrines.” He was met with the rejoinder: “What, not to preach the doctrines of Methodism! I am bound to preach them, for I believe every title of them to be true. Not to preach against Calvinism! That I am under the necessity of doing, for I believe it to be an erroneous system of doctrines.” The clergy at the present day give more thought to the good and welfare of mankind and to the ethics of life than they do to mere doctrinal abstractions. On a certain occasion, when the Governor and other officers and men of note were present in the meeting, the preacher, pointing toward each other one as he addressed them, exclaimed: “You, Governor! You, lawyers! You, judges! You, doctors! You must be converted and born again, or God will damn you as soon as the beggar on the dunghill.” The days of Rev. Mr. 081 69Mucklewrath have passed, and language of this kind is not now often heard from the pulpit. But it is said that Gov. Cass was so well pleased with the sermon that he sent the preacher a five-dollar note.

It would be out of the question to trace the history of any of the denominations with any minuteness of detail. The Methodist and Presbyterian denominations have been already adverted to. The Episcopal Church was first organically represented in 1824. The Baptists followed two or three years later. The Congregationalists had a number of organized societies in the early part of the 1830 decade, although, according to Dr. Pilcher, by reason of their union with the Presbyterians, they were not distinctively known in the Senate until 1842.

CHURCH DOCTRINE AND POLITY.

Methodist Episcopal—Baptist—Congregational—Presbyterian—Protestant Episcopal—Church Statistics.

The population of Michigan and of the country, so far as religious opinion is concerned, is properly divisible into three general classes: Roman Catholics, Protestants, and those of no religious profession. * Of the many sects of the Protestants, the five leading ones are the Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalist, Presbyterian and Episcopal. The term Protestant (literally protest-ant), was the term applied to those who led in the schism from the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century—that is, those who stood in protest against the dogmas and practices of the church—of whom Martin Luther in Germany, and John Calvin in France (later of Geneva, Switzerland), were the leading lights, not forgetting John Knox, in Scotland, a disciple of Calvin. In England the protest was more political than doctrinal, arising out of a disagreement between Henry VIII. and the Pope of Rome. From this sprang the Church of England, which is represented by the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. The organic structure of the Church of England adhered substantially to the Roman Catholic, which it supplanted. The Methodist Episcopal Church is an outgrowth from the Church of England, founded by John Wesley about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Its adoption of the word “episcopal” has reference to its organic features rather than to form and doctrine. In this sense both the Roman Catholic Church, as the parent, and the Episcopal and Methodist communions as offshoots, are all “episcopal,” each having bishops, with more or less of authority in their government.

* Referring to the mass of the population. The Jews are a religious people, with other minor cults.

The three denominations of Baptists, Congregationalists and Presbyterians, and doctrinally known as Calvinistic, basing their faith upon the system of theology formulated by John Calvin. They have no bishops, and governmentally their polity is of the popular rather than the centralized type. So much by way of generalization, leading up to a brief statement of the polity and status of the several denominations in Michigan.

The representative assembly of the Methodist Church is the conference, and the same term refers to the geographical division which the conference represents. The General Conference of the United States meets every fourth year. An annual conference is held in each conference district. There are two conferences in Michigan. The Michigan conference embraces the western half of the lower peninsula, dividing on the meridian line (the government basis for land surveys, a north and south line passing near the city of Jackson), as far north as Roscommon county. Leaving this county on the east, the district embraces everything west of it, including Charlevoix county, to the straits of Mackinac. The Detroit conference embraces the balance of the State, including the Upper Peninsula. While the Methodist conference corresponds 082 70in some respects to the Episcopal diocese, it has no resident bishop. Bishops are created by the General Conference, when there is a need for them, and they are given assigned fields of labor. Each annual conference is presided over by a bishop assigned to the work. The conference is subdivided into districts, each district embracing a number of charges, to which a presiding elder is appointed. Bay View, a locality chosen for the purpose and so named, on Little Traverse bay, is the favorite place of summer assembly for the Methodist people, but to which people of other denominations largely resort. Albion College is the educational center of Methodism in the State, and the denomination is journalistically represented by the Michigan Christian Advocate.

The Baptist denomination ranks next to the Methodist in point of numbers in the State. Their annual representative assembly is known as the convention, and is held in October of each year, usually about the middle of the month. A president is chosen, for the session, by the assembly itself. There are district associations of a purely advisory character. The Baptist denomination, in its governmental polity, is similar to that of the Congregational. It exercises no authority over individual churches. Their membership in its representative bodies is purely voluntary. Their assemblies have no further object than fellowship and mutual counsel and co-operation. Kalamazoo College, located at Kalamazoo, represents the denomination educationally. Hillsdale College is under the auspices of the Free Will Baptists, a denomination differing in tenets somewhat from the Baptists proper. The Christian Herald, published in Detroit, is the recognized organ of the Baptists of Michigan.

Congregationalism, in the matter of doctrine, differs but little, if at all, from Presbyterianism. The difference is in the matter of government and church polity. On this head the remarks foregoing relative to the Baptist denomination are applicable. The State organization of the congregationalists is known as the General Assembly, presided over by a moderator. Olivet College is the well-known educational center of the denomination in the State. The Plymouth Weekly, published in Detroit, represents the denomination in the field of journalism.

The State Assembly of the Presbyterians is the Synod. A subordinate assembly, of which there are nine in Michigan, is the Presbytery. The national body is known as the General Assembly, and meets every year. The Synod meets annually, and is presided over by a moderator. The Presbytery is the legislative body of the denomination. The Synod may propose measures to the Presbyteries in the form of “overtures,” and if approved by the Presbyteries, the measure is promulgated by the Synod and becomes the law of the church within the jurisdiction. This method is so nearly identical with the political machinery of the United States under the early confederation, that it would seem that the one must have been copied from, or suggested by, the other. The Presbytery exercises an advisory power over the settlement of pastors over the churches, and its consent is also asked as a matter of form upon the severing of the pastoral relation. This rule, therefore, differs from the Baptist and Congregational denominations, in which each church is the judge as to whom it will employ. Alma College represents the denomination educationally, as also a female seminary at Kalamazoo. The Tappan Association is maintained at Ann Arbor as a social and doctrinal center for students at the University. The newspaper organ is the Michigan Presbyterian, published in Detroit.

An annual convention is held by the Episcopalians in each Diocese, of which there are three in Michigan, with a resident bishop in each. The Diocese of Michigan embraces the eastern portion of the lower peninsula, as does the Diocese of West Michigan the western portion. The Diocese of Marquette comprehends the Upper Peninsula. These are presided over respectively by Bishops Thos. F. Davies, Geo. D. Gillespie, and G. Mott 083 71Williams. The Hobart Guild, so named in honor of the late Bishop Hobart, of the Detroit Diocese, is maintained at Ann Arbor as a center for students attending the University. The church has no denominational college in the State. The Detroit Churchman is its newspaper organ.

Dr. Pilcher gives the membership of the several denominations, presumably at the time of the publication of his work, in 1878, as follows:

Methodist 56,100

Presbyterian 13,348

Episcopal 8,969

Baptist 24,508

Congregational 13,935

116,860

The following statistics of miscellaneous religious organizations are compiled from the State census report of 1894:

No. of Organizations Seating Capicity. African M. E. 18 4,200 Colored Baptist 2 450 Christian Connection 43 10,210 Christian Adventist 5 1,100 Christian Reformed 56 26,245 Church of God 18 2,600 New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian) 2 400 Disciples of Christ 57 13,925 Dunkards (German Baptist) 13 4,150 Evangelican Adventist 2 450 Evangelical Association 116 30,455 Free Methodist 148 26,700 Free Will Baptist 72 17,810 Friends (Quakers, so-called) 15 3,625 Jewish 5 2,800 Latter Bay Saints (Mormon) 13 2,120 Lutheran 364 98,160 Mennonite 12 1,885 Methodist Protestant 41 7,785 Moravian 2 250 Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) 3 1,200 Reformed Church in America 50 20,270 Reformed Church in U. S. 9 2,325 Salvation Army 5 1,525 Seventh Day Adventist 82 16,790 Union 42 8,475 Unitarian 10 3,555 United Brethren 146 30,315 United Presbyterian 7 1,900 Universalist 26 7,250 Wesleyan Methodist 56 10,050 Miscellaneous 58 13,205

The whole number of organizations of all denominations in the State is given at 3,936; edifices, 3,715; sittings, 1,138,832; value of property, $20,775,156.

In the census report, from which the foregoing is taken, no mention is made of the Spiritualists, who have a considerable numerical strength in the State. They may be included under the comprehensive head of “Miscellaneous.” Their organic work has never developed any great degree of strength, although they maintain meetings at many places in the State, and have two places of summer assembly—at Pine Lake, near Lansing, and at Island Lake.

The following statistics are compiled from census reports as noted:

U. S. Census, 1850. U.S. Census, 1860. U.S. Census, 1870 State Census, 1884. State Census, 1894 RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. No. of Church edifices. Seating Capacity. Value of Ch. Property. No. of Church edifices. Seating Capacity. Value of Ch. Property. No. of Church edifices. Seating Capacity. Value of Ch. Property. No. of Church edifices. Seating Capacity. Value of Ch. Property. No. of Church edifices. Seating Capacity. Value of Ch. Property. Baptist 66 17,865 $84,050 123 37,865 $260,450 218 70,140 $1,029,630 252 80,536 $1,209,625 355 111,612 $1,997,910 Congregationalist 29 10,500 59,550 69 22,026 203,950 114 38,320 742,200 223 66,613 1,337,550 276 87,635 1,701,900 Episcopal 25 8,825 82,800 45 16,051 313,450 79 26,750 911,250 120 42,489 1,444,450 136 40,827 1,680,745 Methodist 119 33,855 142,850 247 71,005 483,000 469 140,290 2,356,906 660 201,140 3,047,585 993 294,614 4,263,835 Presbyterian 72 22,530 142,850 101 38,030 611,400 132 45,925 1,069,900 162 53,711 1,200,’50 226 81,195 2,318,850 Roman Catholic 44 10,122 159,775 88 27,915 241,600 148 62,991 2,087,230 244 93,449 2,161,075 352 150,369 4,539,380

POLITICAL PARTIES.

Derivation of Party Names—Early State Politics—Governor Mason—Woodbridge and Reform—Succeeding Democratic Rule—Governor Barry—Anti-Slavery Parties—The Van Buren Candidacy of 1848—Disastrous Whig Defeat in 1852—The Know-Nothing—Ex-President Fillmore—Bell and Everett—Formation of the Republican Party—Mergence of the Whig Organization—The “Silver Greys”—Anti-Chandler Campaign in 1862—The Prohibitionists—The Greeley Campaign of 1872—Ex-Governor Blair—The Liquor Traffic in the Campaign of 1874—The Greenback and Other Third Parties—Democratic-People's-Union-Silver Combination—Political Fusions Not a Success.

Partisan divisions in the early days of the State (as indeed they have usually done) followed national lines—Whig and Democratic. The term Whig is of British extraction. The Whig party of Britain was the Liberal party, as distinguished from the Royalists, or Tories. At the time of the revolution parties were known by these terms. After the revolution the Tory party was unknown, and parties were for a time known as “Whigs” and “Particularist Whigs,” the division being upon theories of government, as to whether the new government should be a strong, centralized power, or one of only partial and limited powers. In the organization of the government under the constitution, parties came to be known as Republican and Federalist. The Federalist party opposed the war of 1812, and went out of existence as a consequence. There was thereafter for some years substantially but one party, the Republican, the organization in time taking the name of “Democratic Republican,” and later that of Democratic. At the second election of Mr. Monroe to the Presidency, in 1820, he received every electoral vote cast. National politics was largely factional during the 1820 decade, the opposition to the Democrats being known as “Coalition” and “Republican,” with a contingent of anti-Masonry. The Whig party was revived (or a new party under that name was formed) in 1832, and these were the party divisions when Michigan entered upon statehood.

The first election for Governor was quite one-sided Governor Mason receiving 7,558 votes, to 814 for his opponent, John Biddle. The contest in 1837 was much closer Governor Mason's majority over his opponent, Chas. C. Trowbridge, being but 768 in a total vote of near 30,000. The financial and business depression consequent upon the collapse of the speculative and wildcat banking era brought a political revolution in 1839 under the cry of “Woodbridge and Reform,” which was the watchword of the Whigs in the campaign, Gov. Woodbridge winning by a majority of 1,158 votes. The result in 1840, under the memorable “log cabin and hard cider” campaign, varied but little in the relative vote from the preceding year. Times were not mended, however, when the election of 1841 came round, and the Democrats were successful, with John S. Barry as their candidate, by a plurality of 5,544. The “Liberty Party” (anti-slavery) made its first appearance at this election, with a vote of 1,223. The Democrats had things their own way, so to speak, for the next dozen years. The wise administration of Gov. Barry had lifted the State out of its financial embarrassment, and there was little disposition on the part of the people to try a new political experiment. The Democratic popular majorities up to 1852 ranged between the extremes of 3,807 in 1845 to 8,138 in 1852. The Legislature was preponderantly Democratic, and at one or two sessions almost solidly so. The Liberty party vote reached 3,639 in 1844. In 1848 the 085 73Liberty party had given place to the Free Soil party, which, with Martin Van Buren as its candidate, polled 10,393 votes. This movement was a diversion against Gen. Cass, the then Democratic candidate for President, and the increased vote (as compared with the Liberty party vote), was probably drawn about equally from the two other parties. Gen. Cass, however, carried the State by an ample margin—over 6,000. But the Democrats were in a minority of nearly 4,000 votes as against the combined Whig and Free Soil vote. This led to a coalition at the gubernatorial election in 1840, the two parties uniting upon Flavins J. Littlejohn as their candidate, but Governor Barry was again chosen by a majority of 4,297. The election in 1852 was contested on the same lines as in 1848, but the Free Soil party failed to hold its own, the vote being some 3,000 short of what it was in 1848.

But party politics had reached a crisis. The Whigs, at the election in 1852, carried but four out of the thirty-one States—Vermont and Massachusetts in the north, and Kentucky and Tennessee in the south. Plainly enough, the party was doomed. The anti-slavery sentiment at the north received a fresh impulse. The “Know-Nothing” party, a secret organization, came into existence. It combined equally opposition to Roman Catholic and to foreign immigrant influence in politics. It was the crystalization of a sentiment that had manifested itself in various forms, but chiefly known as “Native American,” for some years previously. The political disturbances in Germany, in 1848, had thrown a large German contingent into the cities. They were generally known as non-religious or infidel in sentiment, and were of free and convivial habits. As a German speaker at a political meeting was once heard to say, referring specially to this class of immigrants, “they love liberty and they love lager beer.” This class of immigrants, with their sentiments and habits, aroused a prejudice in the mind of the then average American. This sentiment was equally antagonistic to the two factors mentioned—the Roman Catholic and the German. The rapid growth of a party on the lines indicated was a phenomenon only comparable to its rapid decline. It succeeded, however, in securing a comparatively large and influential representation in Congress and in securing control of a number of the State governments. It was by no means sectional, finding as strong a foothold in Maryland and Tennessee as in Massachusetts. It held the balance of power in the lower house of Congress at its meeting in 1855, postponing the organization of that body for some weeks, and finally resulting in the election of N. P. Banks to the speakership. It was absorbed by the Republican party in the northern States, but at the south, under the name of the American party, as it was officially known, it continued as the only organized opposition to the Democrats, casting the electoral vote of Maryland for its candidate, ex-President Fillmore, at the Presidential election in 1856. In Michigan, at this election, an electoral ticket representing Mr. Fillmore's candidacy, was placed in the field, but rather as an independent movement than a partisan one, receiving 1,600 votes. The Know-Nothing party at the south was lost in the campaign of 1860, forming, as it did, a component of the “Constitutional Union” movement, under the candidacy of Bell and Everett, who carried the three States of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, the balance of the southern States, except Missouri, which voted for Douglass, going for Breckenridge, the seceding Democratic candidate. The Breckenridge vote in Michigan was only 805. As a reminiscence, it is worth the while to state in passing, that the only electoral votes received by Douglas were the nine votes of Missouri and three in New Jersey, through a combination with the Republicans, by which the vote of that State was divided, all the other Northern States going solid for Lincoln, resulting in his election. While the so-called Know-Nothing or American party did not come to the surface as a political 086 74factor in Michigan, it was strong in numbers and in influence, without the aid of which it is extremely doubtful if the Republican party could have scored its first victory in the State in 1854, with their then comparatively narrow margin of 5,000, and with ex-Gov. Barry again leading the opposition.

The repeal of the so-called Missouri compromise (a slavery restriction measure), 1853-4, gave a marked impetus to the anti-slavery sentiment at the North. The Free Soil party of Michigan held its State convention February 22, 1854, and nominated a full State ticket, with Kinsley S. Bingham at the head for Governor. The Whig party in the State was utterly hopeless and helpless, and an alliance with the Free Soilers was early sought. This took the form of a popular call for a mass State convention to be held at Jackson, July 6, 1854, with the well understood if not avowed purpose of forming a new party. There was an informal understanding with the leaders of the Free Soil party that if the new movement assumed a form that seemed to render such a step advisable, their ticket was to be withdrawn. The call was by circulars, which were liberally signed, the greater proportion of the signers being, as may well be presumed, members of the Whig party, with Free Soilers and a considerable contingent of Democrats. The convention met, as proposed, the new party was formed, taking the name of Republican, the Free Soil ticket was withdrawn, and a State ticket nominated, with Mr. Bingham at its head. George A. Coe, a man of character and ability, who had made a record as a Whig member of the State Senate, was named for Lieutenant Governor. The Whigs were further represented by Jacob M. Howard for Attorney General. The Democratic contingent was recognized in the nominations for Secretary of State and Auditor General, and the Free Soilers by the State Treasurer and Commissioner of the Land Office. The ticket thus formed was elected by a majority in round numbers of 5,000, carrying with it three out of the four members of Congress to which the State was then entitled, a working majority in both houses of the Legislature, and the County officers in most of the counties. The new party movement afforded an apt illustration of practical politics. The party had no local organization. The Whig committees took the initiative in calling conventions, but so worded their calls as to invite the participation and co-operation of all who disapproved of the legislation that had so stirred popular feeling at the North. It was a political drag net that worked out its purpose. The local conventions were held and nominations made regardless of former party affiliations. New local committees were named, but in their subsequent action they forgot that they had been appointed as committees of the Whig party, which ceased to be known. They became part of the Republican organization, which was thereafter to control the destinies of the State.

As part of the political history of 1854, the agency of the Whig party as a State organization should not be overlooked. The hopelessness of a campaign conducted on the old lines was apparent to all, but there was an influential minority in the party that was unwilling to fall in with the new movement. The Detroit Advertiser, which had been up to this time the leading newspaper organ of the party in the State (although its position as such was being contested by the Tribune), led the opposition. What the party should do, if it did anything, was earnestly debated. A convention was finally called, which met at Marshall with a light attendance, but with the large majority plainly bent on playing into the hands of the new party in some form. There was no proposition to endorse the Jackson nominations, but the next thing to doing so was to resolve not to make any nominations. And thus ended the history of the Whig party in Michigan. There was a comparatively small segment of the party that refused allegiance to the new regime, and who came to be known as the “Silver Grays.” These generally found refuge in the Democratic party. There was in Detroit an 087 75influential following of this class, who, at the election of 1860, published a manifesto announcing their support of Mr. Buchanan, the Democratic candidate for President. There were sixty-nine of the signers, who were thereafter known as “the famous sixty-nine.”

The Republican party, from its first success, went on increasing its majorities. In 1856 it had in round numbers 17,000, and in 1860, 22,000. It met a check in 1862, by reason of some hostility that arose to Senator Chandler. The ground of this hostility was perhaps threefold. With many, the anti-slavery sentiment that looked to the extinction of slavery in the South as the ultimate end to be reached as a result of the war, had not taken very deep root, and indeed there was much doubt as to how far and to what end the war should be prosecuted, and grave concern as to the future of the country. Mr. Chandler was thought by some to be too aggressive, and an unsafe leader. Then again there were those who thought that his habits were not such as to do credit to the State as its representative at the capital of the nation. Lastly, and possibly the more controlling consideration, was, that there were men in the party who felt that as professional men, whose ability and standing justly entitled them to leadership, they were being overlooked in the advancement of a man whose history, up to that time, had been bounded by the counting room. Whatever the motive, a movement was started by men influential in the Republican ranks, the purpose of which was avowedly to defeat the re-election of Mr. Chandler to the Senate. A mass convention was called, which met at Jackson in September, at which a State ticket was nominated. Byron G. Stout, a promising young man, who had been a member of the lower house of the Legislature, and its speaker, in 1857, was nominated for Governor. The Democratic State convention met in Detroit subsequently, and went through the formality of itself nominating the nominees of the Jackson meeting, although the action was by no means cordial on the part of many members.

The influence of the movement was, however, manifest in the reduction of the Republican majority of 20,000 in 1860 to less than one-third of the number in 1862, with Gov. Blair, the famous “war Governor,” leading the party hosts. It is perhaps profitless to speculate upon what might have been, but had the Democrats, in that campaign, given to the ticket a cordial, earnest and united support, the probable result would have been the defeat of the Republicans, and Senator Chandler and Gov. Blair would have contributed nothing further to the history of the critical time in which they were actors.

The Democrats were not much in evidence again during the war, although ex-Lieut. Gov. Fenton, a war Democrat, who had held a coloneley in the army, fell but 10,443 behind Gov. Crapo in 1864, when Lincoln's majority was 17,982. The Republican majorities ran up to 30,000 at the next two elections, although falling to 16,000 in 1870. The Prohibitionists made their first record as a political party in 1870, with a vote of 2,710, which dwindled to 1,231 in 1872, and reached 3,937 in 1874, but failed to assert itself at all at the next two elections.

An anomalous political condition arose in 1872. There was a “reform” impulse that precipitated itself in a gathering at Cincinnati at which several Michigan men of both parties were present. This gathering nominated Horace Greeley for President, who was also subsequently nominated by the Democrats. It was a bitter pill, which many Democrats could not swallow. They recalled Greeley's life-long hostility to everything that was Democratic in name. They treasured up his famous commentary that “all Democrats are not horse thieves, but all horse thieves are Democrats.” A protesting convention was held in Louisville, at which Charles O'Connor was named as a Democratic Presidential candidate. An electoral ticket and a candidate for Governor were named in Michigan, receiving but a light vote, less than 3,000. Mr. Greeley's vote was 77,000, in a total of 217,000. The party was paralyzed by the condition 088 76in which it was placed, and made practically no contest, many of its leading members, either tacitly or openly, giving aid and comfort to the Republicans, deeming their overwhelming success the best possible protest against the action of the Democratic convention in nominating Mr. Greeley. The Republicans accordingly scored a plurality of 56,644 for Gov. Bagley, with a few hundred less for Gen. Grant, who was running for his second term. Ex-Gov. Blair was the guber-natorial candidate of the allied Democratic and reform forces, and suffered not a little in the estimation of his former political associates for having placed himself, or having allowed himself to be placed, in that position. Gov. Blair was the Republican candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court at the election in 1881, and how far the feeling toward him contributed to the result at that time is of course matter of uncertainty, and at this day can only be judged of by comparative figures. The Democratic and Greenback coalition carried the State at that election on a light vote, Gov. Blair having 119,870 to 127,376 for his competitor, Judge Champlin. At the same election Judge Sherwood was elected to a vacancy on the Supreme bench by a vote of 124,639 to 122,330 for his competitor, O'Brien, showing a margin of 7,506 for Champlin over Blair, and of 1,309 for Sherwood over his Republican competitor. But whatever feeling may have existed may be supposed to have been buried with the honors paid to Gov. Blair by the erection of his statue in front of the capital at Lansing, which was unveiled in the summer of 1898.

The tide which carried Gov. Bagley into the Governor's chair in 1872 suffered a reaction in 1874. It was an off year, when a light vote is usually looked for. A practical revision of the constitution (as referred to elsewhere) the preparation of which had been a favorite measure with Gov. Bagley, was to be voted upon at that election. It was for some reason regarded unfavorably by those engaged in the liquor traffic, who for the first time in the history of the State, formed a State organization, the declared object of which was to agitate for the passage of a license law in place of the statutory prohibition then existing. This organization antagonized the proposed constitution, and with it Gov. Bagley, whose plurality shrank to 5,969.

Of the third parties that have sprung up from time to time, the Greenback party showed the most vigor. It made its first record in 1876, with Peter Cooper as its Presidential candidate, polling some 9,000 votes in the State. Two years later its vote reached 73,313, being only some 5,000 short of the Democratic vote. The combined vote of the two parties, however, exceeded the Republican vote by 25,000, the first time in the history of that party when it found itself in a minority on the popular vote. This led to an effort at the fusion or combination of the two parties, which was effected at the State convention held at Lansing for the nomination of candidates for Judge of the Supreme Court and Regents of the University, preparatory to the spring election in 1879. The movement was unsuccessful, Judge Campbell being elected for a third term, with the Regents the same way politically. In 1880, being a Presidential year, there was no effort at fusion, Weaver, the Greenback candidate, polling 34,895 votes. But two years later a combination on Josiah W. Begole, for Governor, who graduated from the Republican into the Greenback ranks, was successful in defeating Gov. Jerome. The success was only on Governor, the balance of the Republican State ticket being elected. Gov. Jerome's defeat was due to the cry that was raised against him that he was wedded to corporate interests, the catch phrase of “Railroad Jerome” adhering to him.

In 1884 the Republicans had a close call in the State against a combined opposition. Benjamin F. Butler was the candidate of the Greenback party for President, and under his advice the candidates for electors were proportioned to the Democrats and Greenbackers according to their numbers, 089 77thus forming but one electoral ticket. The combination on the State ticket was also complete, with Gov. Begole at the head. The Republican electoral ticket pulled through by the narrow margin of 3,308 with Gen. Alger a few votes short of 4,000 for Governor. A fusion was again effected in 1886, with Geo. L. Yaple as the candidate for Governor, against Cyrus G. Luce, the latter winning by 7,432. The Greenback party from this time on seems to have disappeared, its elements to a greater or less extent being represented by the term “Union Labor” in 1888, with a vote of 4,388, by the term “Industrial” in 1890, with a vote of 13,198, by the term “People's Party” in 1892 and 1894, polling respectively 21,417 and 30,012. At the two elections, 1896 and 1898, this elements in our party politics was merged with the Democrats under the title of the “Democratic-People's-Union-Silver” ticket.

In 1882 the Prohibition party was again in evidence, with a vote of 5,854, which reached 22,207 in 1884, 25,189 in 1886, and 28,681 in 1890, the highest reached at any time by that party. There was a factional division in the Prohibition ranks in 1896 not necessary to dwell upon. Other minor by-plays in the game of party politics must be passed over.

The results that appear as the fruit of fusions or combinations between political parties and factions are suggestive. The plan failed in 1849, in the Whig-Free Soil campaign under Littlejohn as their candidate for Governor. It failed in 1862 under the guber-natorial candidacy of Byron G. Stout. It failed most disastrously in 1872 under the Greeley-Blair auspices. It failed at the judicial election in 1879. It was successful on the Governorship in 1882 from special causes, but failed as to everything else at that election. It failed in 1884, in 1886, and in 1888. The election of Gov. Winans in 1890 was a Democratic and not a fusion victory, due to special causes then existing. An analysis would also show the fusion successes at the spring elections in 1881 and 1885 as due to special causes. It has achieved nothing in the elections of 1896 and 1898.

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

Historical Reference—Local Option Laws—Prohibition Laws—Non-license Clause of the Constitution of 1850—The Taxation Law of 1875—Rate of the Tax Under Different Acts.

Historically speaking, the sale and use of liquor was not regarded as an evil to be legislated against. The advocacy of temperance as a moral question is old enough, but the plan of enforcing temperance by legislation as differing from other sumptuary laws, is of modern conception. Whence arose the custom of “licensing” the sale of liquor? may be asked. Equally pertinent would it be to ask whence arose the custom of licensing hawkers and peddlers, hacks and omnibuses. Our customs are inherited largely from England. Anciently the rights of overlordship there would permit or forbid the carrying on of any kind of traffic. Hence a permit or license had first to be procured. Inns or taverns bore a special relation to the State and to the public. They were held subject to the quartering of soldiers in times of public need. They were liable to harbor persons of bad character, and hence the need for their regulation and for their prohibition except upon permission given, and this permission was simply a license. The fee to be charged was an incidental matter, governed by varying considerations. As inns and taverns were vendors of liquors, the custom of requiring a license from all places where liquors were sold arose naturally and logically.

In the earlier days of the history of Michigan, the license system attained. The municipal authorities could grant or withhold a license fix the amount to be paid where a license was granted. In many cases, especially in the smaller towns, liquor was sold not only by taverns, but by stores and groceries, 090 78openly and unreservedly, without license. Usually, in the smaller towns, when a license was granted, the fee was but nominal, say two, three or five dollars. In Detroit the minimum fee was usually ten dollars, but ranging from that up to thirty or forty dollars, according to location and extent of business.

During the 1840 decade legislation hostile to the traffic began to be demanded. In 1845 a “local option” law was passed, which provided for a popular vote at the spring elections in the cities, villages and townships, on the question of granting license during the year to ensure. As the majority voted, “license” or “no license,” so was it ordered for the year. This law died a natural death with the adoption of the constitution of 1850, which forbade the granting of license. Act 197, Public Acts, 1887, was the “local option” law of that year, made applicable to counties, to be determined by popular vote. This act was held invalid by reason of defective title, and inoperative for various reasons. But by Act 207, Public Acts, 1889, the same law was re-enacted with more elaborate provisions, which have been sustained by the courts.

The constitution framed in 1850 (the same with numerous amendments now in force) contained the following clause, which stood as Section 47 of Article 4:

“The Legislative shall not pas any Act authorizing the grant of license for the sale of ardent spirits or other intoxicating liquors.”

This provision, while it remained in the constitution, wrought only mischief and embarrassment. Just what the motive for its adoption was on the part of the convention which framed the constitution, it is difficult to determine from the debates, but in general it seems to have been the purpose to do away with or prohibit any further legislation on the subject of the liquor traffic. The temperance people (many of them, at least), supposed that without license, liquor could not be sold at all, while those favorable to the traffic (if there were any) concluded that if license was prohibited the traffic would be entirely free. Both labored under a delusion. Of course, with no law on the subject, the traffic would be free, but the temperance people, finding that no license meant free traffic, at once demanded prohibition.

The temperance agitation had in the early fifties taken the form of a demand for the so-called “Maine law,” or prohibitory law. Such a law was enacted in 1853 and submitted to a vote of the people at a special election held in June of that year, to determine when the Act should take effect. It was approved by a majority of over 17,000 in a total vote of 63,503. It at first promised to be effective in stopping the traffic, but soon came to be disregarded. The constitutionality of the law was also attacked on the ground of its submission to popular vote. Another law was passed in 1855, which stood the test of the courts, and remained on the statute books for twenty years, when, in 1875, the prohibition of license clause was stricken from the constitution. This law was repealed with the enactment of the taxation law in 1875.

In the summer of 1874 a movement was made for the repeal of the prohibition law and the enactment of some law recognizing and regulating the traffic. Under the prohibition law, no property right existed in liquors. Should the manufacturer or wholesaler sell to the retailer, he could not collect the bill by law. So long as the retailer remained undisturbed he paid his bills readily enough, but when prosecutive were sprung, the retailer found his ability to pay taken from his, and the wholesaler had necessarily to pocket the loss. To correct this evil was largely the impelling motive in the movement inaugurated in 1874. A State convention was held in August, and an organization formed under the style of the “Michigan License Association.” This organization demanded the repeal of the prohibition law and the enactment in its stead of a license or tax law.

The liquor taxation law of 1875 was the result of a well settled conviction of the part of the people that something should be devised 091 79to take the place of the prohibitory plan. The movement under the head of the Michigan License Association had little to do in shaping public opinion. It did, however, present the subject as a formal issue before the people and the Legislature, and to that extent was influential in securing legislation. The principal legislation of 1875 was embodies in three acts: The taxation law, the police or regulation law, and an Act fixing penalties for the adulteration of liquors. The taxation policy has since been adhered to, but with many changes in the law which it would be impracticable to trace in this connection.

The amount of liquor tax collected in the State in 1889 was $1,568,732, and in 1896 $1,839,960, the increase being partly or wholly due to the raising of the beer tax to $500 by the Act of 1895.

By earlier legislation there was a graduated tax on the manufacture of beer, $65 being the highest. The later legislation provides a horizontal tax of $65, regardless of the amount manufactured. By the present law, liquor and beer by retail are placed on the same footing. The wholesale liquor dealer is required to pay $300 additional, making $800 in all, if selling at retail. The payment of the liquor tax, both wholesale and retail, carries with it the right to sell beer also.

The amount of the tax imposed from times to time appears from the annexed table:

Retail Liquor. Wholesale Liquor. Retail Beer. Wholesale Beer. Mfg Liquors. Mfg. Beer. Act 228, Pub. Acts, 1875 $150 $300 $40 $100 $309 Act 197, Pub. Acts, 1877 150 300 50 100 300 Act 268, Pub. Acts, 1879 200 400 65 130 400 Act 156, Pub. Acts, 1881 300 500 200 200 500 Act 313, Pub. Acts, 1887 500 800 300 800 800 $65 Act 93, Pub. Acts, 1895 500 500 500 500 800 65

TABULAR EXHIBITS.

State Institutions—Population—Equalized Valuation—State Taxes—Comparative Farm Statistics—Farm Products at Different Periods.

STATE INSTITUTIONS.

The character of the several State institutions will be sufficiently indicated by their titles. The figures given in the table as to the amount of appropriations and value of property are taken from the report of the Auditor General for 1898, pages viii and ix. In the list of appropriations for asylums for the insane there is an item of $179,906 debited to “other asylums” than those enumerated. Omitting this item (which refers to maintenance of State patients in private institutions) gives a total of appropriations to all State institution since the organization of the State government of $27,134,938. The total value of plant for all institution is given on authority of the inventories at $9,573,300, omitting in all cases fractional parts of the dollar—the sum total representing both buildings and grounds and equipment.

The following table shows the several State institution by classes, where located, the time of their organization, aggregate appropriations, and value of property:

INSTITUTIONS. Where Located. When estab. Total of State appropriation. Value of Property. Educational University Ann Arbor 1837 $3,604,501 * $1,928,430 Normal College Ypsilanti 1849 1,296,042 * 329,633 Cen. Mich. Nor. Sch Mt. Pleasant 1895 38,400 48,102 Nor. State Nor. Sch Marquette 1899 35,000 Agricultural Col. Lansing 1855 1,019,448 * 416,947 College of Mines Houghton 1886 579,100 252,655 Educational and Beneficent. School for the Deaf Flint † 1854 2,265,772 522,281 School for the Blind Lansing 1881 610,224 155,106 State Public School Coldwater 1871 1,101,475 245,825 Home for Feeble Minded Lapeer 1895 291,265 132,299 Educational and Reformatory. Indus. School, boys. Lansing 1855 1,974,246 285,853 Indus. Home, girls Adrian 1879 823,067 191,971 Asylums for Insane Michigan Asylum Kalamazoo 1849 4,041,177 1,063,804 Eastern Asylum Pontiac 1877 2,803,981 881,682 Northern Asylum Traverse City 1885 2,284,542 787,498 Upper Pepin, Asy Newberry 1894 391,352 246,178 State Asylum Ionia 1885 645,885 205,937 Prison and Reformatories. State Prison Jackson 1839 1,482,408 838,574 House Cor. and Ref. Ionia 1877 1,486,170 438,992 Branch State Prison Marquette 1885 590,577 256,992 Soldiers’ Home Mich. Soldiers’ Home Grand Rapids 1885 1,200,397 225,205 * Exclusive of receipts from interest funds. See “Trust Funds.” † Included also care of the blind up to 1881. 092 80

POPULATION.

The population of Michigan up to 1840 is given on an earlier page. The population at each census period since 1840, as shown by both the United States and State census, was as following:

U. S. census, 1850 397,654

State census, 1854 507,521

U. S. census, 1860 749,113

State census, 1864 803,661

U. S. census, 1870 1,184,282

State census, 1874 1,334,031

U. S. census, 1880 1,636,937

State census, 1884 1,853,658

U. S. census, 1890 2,093,889

State census, 1894 2,241,641

EQUALIZED VALUATION.

In 1838 the total valuation of the taxable property of the State, as assessed by the assessors and equalized by the boards of supervisors of the several counties, was $42,953,495. There was a steady diminution in amount, the total in 1847 being $27,617,240, but increased to $29,384,270 in 1850. The constitution of 1850 required that the Legislature should provide for an equalization by a State board in the year 1851 and every fifth year. Pursuant to this requirement, the Lieutenant Governor, Auditor General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and Commissioner of the Land Office were made to constitute such board. They meet at Lansing on the third Monday of August of every fifth year, counting from 1851. Their duties are to equalize the assessed valuation of the counties for the purpose of apportioning State taxes. If they think that the valuation of any county is too low, they add to it, and vice versa. Their equalization for each quinquennial period has been as follows, including both real and personal property:

1851 $30,976,270

1856 137,663,009

1861 172,055,808

1861 307,965,842

1866 630,000,000

1876 $630,000,000

1881 810,000,000

1886 945,450,000

1891 1,130,000,000

1896 1,105,100,000

STATE TAXES.

The amount of the State tax levied each year since the organization of the State government is given on pages 438-41 of the report of the Auditor General for the year 1898. The amount in 1838 was $85,906, running down to $69,043 in 1847. In 1853 it was but $10,000, due to a divided surplus made to the States by the general government. The highest tax levy in the history of the State was in 1897—$3,379,907. The lowest rate of taxation (mills on the dollar), was in 1853, being .083. The highest rate was in 1848—5.039. The lowest per capita noted was 2c in 1860, and the highest $1.34 in 1895.

COMPARATIVE FARM STATISTICS.

The following figures are compiled from the U.S. census up to 1890 and from the State census reports of 1894:

Year No. of Farms. No. acres in farms. No. acres improved. Value of farm products. 1850 34,089 4,383,890 1,929,110 1860 62,422 7,090,831 3,476,296 1870 98,786 10,019,142 5,096,939 $81,508,623 1880 154,003 13,807,240 8,296,862 91,159,858 1890 172,344 14,785,636 9,865,850 83,651,890 1894 178,051 15,296,078 10,379,515 81,279,006

FARM PRODUCTS AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.

The annexed table of farm products for five census periods is compiled from the State census reports. The live stock will be understood to be the number reported for the census year, while grain, wool, etc., are for the year preceding:

Census of 1854 Census of 1864. Census of 1875. Census of 1884. Census of 1894. Wheat—acres harvested 473,451 843,881 1,134,484 1,709,535 1,672,483 Wheat—bushels raised 7,128,104 9,688,627 15,456,202 25,597,967 27,055,169 Wheat—average per acre, bu. 15.05 11.48 13.62 15.12 16 18 Corn—acres harvested, bu 327,642 427,529 641,329 866,144 958,763 Corn—bushels raised 7,685,478 11,007,293 20,792,911 19,421,938 40,556,871 Corn—average per acre 23 30 25.74 32.4 22.47 47.33 Potatoes—bushels 2,942,526 4,058,271 5,618,863 10,680,309 17,184,664 Hay—tons cut 496,351 848,346 1,134,077 2,288,147 668,593 Wool—pounds sheared 2,680,747 7,260,981 7,729,011 15,337,249 14,693,315 Butter—pounds made 7,926,552 13,835,452 27,972,117 43,494,211 Maple Sugar—pounds 1,642,250 4,048,099 4,319,793 1,945,863 85,234 Horses, number of 91,713 179,101 281,894 446,206 91,516 Mules, number of 106 1,115 3,908 4,820 55,332 Mules, number of 106 1,115 3,908 4,820 55,332 Work Oxen, number of 67,157 60,648 38,901 26,389 11,267 Milch Cows, number of 139,299 275,188 321,732 407,154 506,390 Other Cattle 141,316 210,785 307,554 485,181 312,352 Swine, number of 239,901 335,288 401,719 998,394 1,045,151 Sheep, number of 964,381 2,053,356 1,651,899 2,889,278 2,262,951 Sheep sheared 1,676,176 2,744,789 2,323,189