JOURNAL OF THE Door-keeper, and William Scott, Sergeant-at-Arms. And that the Speaker appoint a committee of three, to unite with a committee on the part of the Senate, to wait upon the Governor, and inform him of the organization of the two Houses, and that they are prepared to receive any communication he may be pleased to make. Whereupon, the Speaker appointed Messrs. Parsons, Jones, of Callaway, and Reid, of Jackson, said committee. On motion of Mr. The House adjourned until 2 o'clock, P. M. EVENING SESSION. The House met pursuant to adjournment. Thomas E. Turney, member elect from the county of Clinton, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified and took his seat. Message from the Senate, by Mr. McCracken, Secretary: MR. SPEAKER,-I am instructed by the Senate to inform the House of Representatives, that a bill of the following title has been introduced into the Senate and passed: An act to increase the salary of the Governor of the State of Missouri. On motion of Mr. Blakey: Resolved, That the Secretary of State furnish to each member of this House, for their use, a copy of the Revised Statutes of 1855, and the Journals of the House of the last session, containing the rules, which have been adopted for the government of the House for the present session. The committee, appointed to wait on the Governor to inform him that the two Houses had organized, and were ready to receive any communication from him, report that they have discharged the duties assigned them, and that the Governor will make a communication to both Houses immediately. The Speaker laid before the House the following communication, which was read: Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: In again addressing you on the affairs of our beloved State, it is a source of great gratification to me to be enabled to congratulate you on the high degree of prosperity with which a kind and protecting Providence has blessed our people, since the close of your last session. Abundant harvests have rewarded the labors of our farmers-our mining and manufacturing interests have flourished and have been greatly extended-our commerce has grown with the general rapid, but healthy growth of our State and its neighbors, and remunerative prices have encouraged all branches of industry. The health of all portions of the State has, also, been unusually good, and our citizens have not been plagued with any epidemic. diseases. you, in The report of the Auditor of Public Accounts will exhibit to detail, the state of our finances in the two last fiscal years, and their probable condition for the next two: it shows that the Treasury is not only in a satisfactory, but in a highly flourishing condition. The amount of revenue received in 1855, is......... Total amount received for the two years ending 1st October, 1856.................. The amount expended in 1855, is............ $393,704 74 478,113 98 Total amount expended for the two years ending 1st $489,130 19 517,983 34 $1,007,113 53 $871,818 72 The balance in the Treasury on 1st October, 1856..... $271,899 94 This sum includes, however, $200,000, set apart by the act of December 13th, 1855, for the payment of a like amount of State bonds. which became due on the first day of July last, and the available balance is, therefore, $71,899 94. The Auditor's estimate for the revenues to be received from all sources, during the fiscal period of two years, ending on the 1st of October, 1858, is $1,191,361 67. The ordinary expenses for the same period he estimates at $500,000, and the amount chargeable to revenues, for school purposes, at $297,840 41. If the actual receipts and expenditures correspond to these estimates, there will be a surplus in the Treasury, on the 1st October, 1858, of $422,374 29. By the act of 7th December, 1855, "to secure the prompt payment of interest on State bonds," the Treasurer of the State and Auditor of Public Accounts, were made commissioners to carry out the provisions of that act, to create a "State Interest Fund," and invest the same. They have, accordingly, invested $50,198 04 in Missouri stocks, having purchased for that sum, fifty-eight State bonds, of $1,000 each. Under the various acts of the General Assembly loaning the credit of the State to certain Railroad Companies, State bonds have been issued and delivered to those companies, to the amount, on 1st October, 1856, of $9,633,000, as follows: For the Pacific Railroad, (main trunk): Act to expedite the construction of the Pacific Rail- $2,000,000 Act to accept a grant of land made to the State of Total.......... 1,700,000 $1,700,000 For the Pacific Railroad, (South-West Branch):- For the North Missouri Railroad: 200,000 1,500,000 Act to expedite the construction of the North Mis- Total.... For the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad: Act to aid in the construction of the St. Louis and Total...... 1,000,000 $2,240,000 750,000 243,000 $993,000 These sums amount in all to $9,633,000, representing the extent to which, on the 1st October last, the credit of the State had been actually used by those companies. In addition, the State has authorized the issue of the following amounts, on compliance with the conditions imposed in the several acts of the General Assembly relating thereto : For the Pacific Railroad, (main trunk,).... For the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad..... $1,300,000 2,800,000 1,500,000 1,760,000 For the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad........ 2,007,000 Total unissued...... 250,000 $9,617,000 The act of 10th December, 1855, "To secure the completion of certain Railroads in this State," loaned to the North Missouri Railroad one million of dollars of State bonds, "to be expended by the Governor, or by an agent, to be appointed by him, for the purchase of the Railroad iron, necessary to lay the track of said Road between St. Charles and the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and the rolling stock for the same." I thought proper to appoint ISAAC H. STURGEON and ROBT. WALKER, the agents to carry out that provision of the act: first taking their bond to the State, in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, with ample security, for the faithful performance of their duty. Bonds of one thousand dollars each, for the whole amount, have been issued and delivered to the said agents; and they report to me that between two and three hundred thousand dollars have been expended for iron and rolling stock, and that the remaining bonds are yet unsold. Although our finances are in a sound condition, and the rapid increase of the wealth of the State will occasion a corresponding increase of her revenues, yet, further experience and reflection, only confirms me in the opinion expressed in my last biennial message, that it is inexpedient to reduce the rate of taxation now established by law. New objects of expenditure are constantly arising in a prosperous and growing community, and they require increased outlays. But even should a large surplus remain in the treasury, after providing for all just and reasonable expenses of the State, it can be most usefully employed in diminishing her indebtedness, or in otherwise maintaining and increasing her credit, either under the provisions of existing laws, (such as that for the creation of the State Interest Fund) or in such other manner as experience and the wisdom of the General Assembly may point out as the best adapted to that end. One of the most important subjects which will engage your attention is the proposed amendment of the State Constitution, authorizing the creation of new banks, based upon a specie capital and made liable to redeem their issues in gold or silver. Should this amendment not become a part of our organic law, I renew the recommendations made by me two years ago, in regard to the present Bank of Missouri, whose corporate existence was extended at your last session to the 2d of February, 1861. To allow its charter to expire without creating any new bank, would be practically to give to the neighboring, and even more distant States, the power to regulate our currency. Penal restrictive laws against the circulation of bank. notes of other States, unless of such a stringent kind as to be oppressively tyrannical, would, as all experience teaches us, be practically useless. Besides, however desirable in theory a currency may be which is composed exclusively of the precious metals, it is very injurious to the commercial and other interests of any community for it to attempt to isolate itself from the rest of the world, in so important a matter as its currency. Our commercial connections with our sister States being of the most intimate kind, we would be disadvantageously situated in our intercourse with them, if, while they were enabled to trade on their credit, in the shape of bank notes, we should persist in confining our commercial operations to the extent permitted by our actual capital in gold and silver. Therefore, if we could exclude from our currency all bank notes and confine it to coin, it would be bad policy to do so; and if it be good policy to increase our commercial facilities by the use of bank notes, it requires no argument to show that we should use all just and prudent means to have such a circulation furnished mainly, and if possible exclusively, from institutions in our own limits, subject to our laws and managed by our citizens. It is equally clear that to secure such a circulation we must take measures to have it furnished in an amount sufficient to meet our wants, without an additional supply from the banks of other States; and I am confident that no one acquainted with the vast and rapidly increasing commerce of Missouri, will consider a banking capital of five millions of dollars at all too large for an institution designed to furnish us a paper currency adequate to our necessities. Entertaining these views, I recommend (in the event of a rejection of the proposed amendment of our Constitution) an extension of the corporate existence of the Bank of Missouri, for such a period as the General Assembly may consider prudent, and the raising of its capital to the full B-H. amount authorized by the Constitution. And, although the present charter of the Bank does not expire until 1861, yet, if the policy above recommended should be adopted, it is better to enter upon it without delay. A two year's period of uncertainty relative to the ultimate fate of the Bank would be thereby avoided, and our commercial interests receive. promptly the aid they unquestionably need in this particular. But should the proposed amendment to our Constitution be adopted, a very delicate and important duty will be imposed upon the General Assembly, viz: that of organizing an extensive Banking system for the State. In compliance with the obligation imposed on me by the Constitution, I proceed to recommend to your consideration the measures which, in that event, I deem just and prudent. Experience and observation will have taught us all that, in framing a Banking system, two objects are to be kept constantly and prominently in view, viz: the granting of such reasonable advantages to the stockholders, as will induce capitalists to embark their funds in banking institutions, and the placing of such checks and guards upon their management, as will effectually secure the interests of their note-holders, depositors, or other creditors. A third object, and one, in my opinion, not less important in every government, particularly in one based on the principles of true republicanism, is to preserve such a prudent control of these corporations by the people and their government, as will prevent the acquisition of any undue influence by those bodies over the sovereignty which gave them being, or enable them to trammel that sovereignty in the exercise of its just powers; among which, one of the most important is the right to control its currency. One of the most violent political contests which this Union has known, arose from the necessity of freeing the General Government and the people from the overshadowing influence of a great moneyed corporation. It will be but prudent in us to guard against the future existence in our own State of any like necessity. A people is rarely more governed than when it is "corporation ridden." The inducements to capitalists to take stock in banking corporations consist mainly in the limitations of their personal liabilities, which are usual in joint stock companies of all kinds, and in the right to use, in addition to their capital, the credit of the institution in the shape of notes designed for general circulation, and to supply the place of specie in the currency. When these privileges are made very extensive, (as for instance, when the stockholders are not made individually liable for the debts of the bank, and its power to issue notes is unlimited,) it has been the habit of American legislators to require, as a compensation or bonus, the payment of an adequate sum into the State Treasury. The obvious objections to such a course are, that it presents the appearance of making sale of monopolising privileges to a few, and barters away for money the true principle which should guide in delegating to individuals the power to create money, viz: that they should be granted only such advantages as are absolutely necessary to compensate them for the risk and trouble of furnishing a safe currency. It makes the right to bank with profit the leading idea in the system, and puts up this dangerous privilege for sale, while that right should be entirely subordinate. to the right of the masses to a sound currency, and be granted only so |