Minnesota. soils, and building-stones of the State, and specimens of our forest trees and plants. State action They have succeeded by personal efforts in awakening a lively interest among our manufacturers. They express very emphatically their conviction that the occasion is one which should be met by the State as a State, and they recommend an appropriation of $32,000 for that purpose. They recommend us to follow the example of other Western States, and to erect a building to be exclusively used for the exhibition of our contributions. We are now at the beginning of the hundredth year of our National Independence. For one century the idea of self-government as embodied in our Constitution has been subjected to all the tests which try the stability of nations, and it has withstood them all. Foreign war, territorial aggrandizement, the canker of peace, the disintegrating influence of slavery, civil dissension ending in civil war, have by turns attacked our institutions with all their powers of destruction, only to leave those institutions firmer and more glorious than before. At Philadelphia, in 1776, it was pronounced that all men are created equal and that all governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, and it is now proposed that at that city in the year 1876 the nations of the earth shall meet in commemoration of that event and vie in exposition of the products of art and industry. This occasion is one which appeals for recognition to every patriotic heart. This commemorative act is to be performed at a time when our country is at peace with all nations; when the animosities of fraternal strife are nearly effaced by the sweet oblivion of restored love for our country; when statesmen from every State are laboring together to make the assurance of our future doubly sure; when no word is heard, no argument spoken, for dismemberment of the Union, when every thought is for its perpetuity; when the influence of education has suffused the very being of every citizen of the Republic; when art and science, keeping pace with the advance of our country in prosperity, exhibit their results on every hand, not only in the luxurious appliances of civilization, but also in the satisfaction of the daily wants of life. You will find upon inquiry that other States have made liberal appropriations with which to enable them to take their part in this historic pageant with dignity and propriety; and I trust that Minnesota will appear among her sisterhood in such guise that no comparison will put her to shame. EXTRACT FROM THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR JOHN S. PILLSBURY. January 7, 1876. It is difficult, in my judgment, to exaggerate the importance to Minnesota of a full presentation at the Centennial Exhibition, to commence in May next, of her varied and ample products. Of the event itself, it is no exaggeration to say that it will and ought to prove to Americans, at least, the most significant occurrence of the century. Other nations have had Industrial Exhibitions evidencing the achievements of the arts and sciences, and attesting the progress of the age. Ours will commemorate a nation created and a nation saved. It will exhibit not merely the progress of the original members of the Union, but the matured industries of new States. It will not only vindicate the character of popular institutions, but array the agencies by which the laboring man of to-day possesses more comforts than did the monarchs of past ages. Except for the use of steam, the most potent agency in material achievements, it is safe to say that the entire Northwest would yet have remained a wilderness. Is it not fitting that Minnesota should pay a tribute to the agency to which she owes her existence, and add to the display of a nation of which she is so prosperous a member? She should esteem it a privilege to bear part and lot in such an Exhibition. But from a more practical view, the opportunity afforded to encourage immigration, by State action. Minnesota. an exhibition of agricultural and industrial products, and of other evidences of the resources and attractions of our State, will be so extraordinary, that to neglect it will be, in my opinion, a grave mistake. Most of the neighboring States which compete with us for immigration are erecting separate buildings upon the Centennial grounds for the exclusive display of their own products. Would it not be a matter of policy for Minnesota to follow that example? As it is an event not likely to occur again within the lifetime of any person now in existence, so it is not likely that the century will furnish another occasion justifying so clearly an adequate expenditure for the realization of its highest purpose. The matter is commended to your consideration with a recommendation for such prompt and just action as will secure the end desired. Mississippi. MISSISSIPPI. ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MISSISSIPPI. AN ACT to provide for the efficient adjustment of the preliminaries to the Centennial Exhi- SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That the Governor shall appoint five citizens of the State of Mississippi who shall, in connection with the Commissioners and Alternate Commissioners of this State, constitute a State Centennial Board of Managers. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the State Board to organize the State in such a manner as to secure its thorough representation in the Exhibition. They will have the care and interests of the State and its citizens in matters relating to the Exhibition, to disseminate information about it, to issue invitations to participants, to receive and pronounce upon applications for space, to appropriate the same placed at its disposal among the exhibitors from this State, and to supervise such details relating to the representations of its citizens in the Exhibition as may from time to time be delegated to it by the United States Centennial Commission. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That after the election of one of its members as President, and one member to act as Secretary and Treasurer, they may establish an office for the transaction of their business in Jackson, or such other place as will best suit their convenience. SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage. [NOTE.-By Act of the Legislature, approved March 6, 1875, being the Act making appropriations for 1875, there was appropriated " For State Centennial Board, five thousand dollars ($5000.)"] EXTRACT FROM THE MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR ADELBERT AMES. January, 1876. At the last session of the Legislature an appropriation of five thousand dollars ($50001 was made for the use of the Centennial Board in preparing for a proper representation of the products of the State at the International Exhibition to be held in the City of Philadelphia this year. The Act of the Legislature making the appropriation provides that the Board shall make reports from time to time of their action in the use and expenditure of the same. A portion of the appropriation was applied to the payment of Centennial premiums at the recent State Fair. Other expenses have been incurred; a detailed statement of which will be furnished State action. in the report of the officers of the State Board. I recommend a liberal appropriation, that there may be a creditable exhibition of the products and interests of the State. Mississippi. ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MISSISSIPPI. Became a law by limitation, March 13, 1876. AN ACT to amend an Act entitled “An Act to provide for the efficient adjustment of the preliminaries to the Centennial Exhibition, and to create a Centennial Board of Managers,” approved April 6, 1874. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That an Act entitled "An Act to provide for the efficient adjustment of the preliminaries to the Centennial Exhibition, and to create a Centennial Board of Managers," approved April 6, 1874, be and the same is hereby amended as follows: Strike out the word "Governor" in the second and third lines of Section 1, and insert in lieu thereof the words, "the President pro tem. of the Senate," and after the word "appoint," in the third line, insert the following words: "four, and the Speaker of the House." SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That all appointments heretofore made under the provisions of the above-recited Act be and they are hereby declared null and void; Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be so construed as to invalidate any action of said Board heretofore had in accordance with the provisions of said Act. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That all Acts and parts of Acts in conflict with this Act be and the same are hereby repealed, and that this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. RESOLUTION OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MISSISSIPPI. A JOINT RESOLUTION in relation to the State Board of Centennial Commissioners. Whereas, The number of Centennial Commissioners may be increased without additional expense; therefore, Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That the Governor be authorized to appoint six additional persons as members of the State Board of Centennial Commissioners immediately after the passage of this Act. EXTRACT FROM THE MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR J. M. STONE. January, 1877. Agreeably to an Act passed at your last session, the Centennial Board of Managers for this State was re-organized. Fifteen gentlemen, representing various industrial pursuits and residing in different portions of the State, were commissioned. The former Board had already contracted for the erection of a building at Fairmount Park, intended as a headquarters for visitors from Mississippi. The new Board ratified the contract, and the building was ready at the opening of the Exhibition on the 10th of May. This building was erected by the "Mississippi Valley Industrial Company" of McComb City, and the lumber used in its construction represented sixty-eight varieties of timber grown in Pike and Lincoln Counties. I am informed by the Managers and many visitors that it was one of the most attractive State buildings in the Park. The limited time and the limited appropriation at the disposal of the new Board pre State action. vented a full exhibit of our State products and industries at the Exhibition: still, a creditable display was entered, and first honors were awarded the Mississippi Mills at Wasson, and the Whitfield Manufacturing Company at Corinth, for several classes of fabrics exhibited by those establishments. The Board of Managers will submit to you a detailed statement of expenditures pertaining to the Exhibition, and their report will show that although the appropriation was limited to five thousand dollars, a considerable portion was unexpended and has been returned to the State Treasury. Missouri. Montana, MISSOURI. MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR SILAS WOODSON. In November last I received a communication from the Hon. A. T. Goshorn, DirectorGeneral of the United States Centennial Commission, which I beg to lay before you, and ask you to take such steps in reference to the suggestions found in it as you in your wisdom may think best. The International Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, will perhaps equal, if it does not excel, anything of the kind that has preceded it in the annals of history. Not only will the States of the American Union strive to excel each other in the displays of their productions, skill, and genius, but our people as a people, for the first time under favorable auspices, will be brought into competition with the nationalities of the civilized world. An epitome of America will be presented at the Exhibition. In a word, our people, resources, productions, power, skill, genius, and capabilities are to be exhibited to the gaze of mankind. What our country really is, will for the first time be witnessed, known, and appreciated by the nations of the earth. From what is seen of us, and as exhibited at Philadelphia in 1876, we are to be known and judged from the centre to the extreme verge of civilization. I confess that I not only feel great interest in seeing the nation acquit itself with honor upon the occasion, but I am still more anxious to see Missouri occupying the front rank when brought into competition with her sister States. Missouri, if she wills it, can make a finer display, and win greater distinction in many respects, than any other State. Her mineral resources are more varied and richer than those of any other. The skill and genius of her artists are unsurpassed, whilst her agricultural products will scarcely be rivaled. It is for you to say what steps shall be taken to have our beloved State fairly represented upon the grand occasion to which your attention has been called. Herewith I send you the report of the Commissioner and Alternate of Missouri upon the subject. MONTANA. EXTRACT FROM THE MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR B. F. POTTS. The celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence will be held in the City of Philadelphia in the year 1876. A great International Exhibition of the products of the mines, soil, manufactures, and the arts will be a prominent feature of the celebration. The President of the United States has appointed a Commissioner and an Alternate to represent this Territory at the Exhibition. I recommend that you provide a sufficient appropriation to enable our citizens to place on exhibition such products of the Territory as will properly represent the great riches of our mines and soil. SPECIAL MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR B. F. POTTS. January, 1874. TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: I have the honor to submit for your information a letter from the Hon. Daniel J. Morrill, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the U. S. Centennial Commission, together with information for exhibitors, and a proclamation of the President of the United States announcing the time and place of holding the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufac tures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, in the year 1876. I commend this subject to your most favorable consideration, and trust you will not hesitate to provide by appropriate legislation for giving the products of Montana a prominent place at said Exhibition. I suggest the appointment of a Board composed of some of the most influential citizens of the Territory, to aid in the collection of the products of the Territory, to be forwarded as early as the autumn of 1875 to Philadelphia. Respectfully, B. F. POTTS, Governor. SPECIAL MESSAGE OF GOVERNOR B. F. POTTS. TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: January 5, 1874. I desire to again call your attention to the importance of making an appropriation to defray the expenses of placing Montana on an equal footing with the other Territories at the Centennial Celebration in 1876. The question is with you whether Montana shall be known in the Celebration. If the resources of Montana are properly represented, it will do more to make her wealth known to the world, and attract capital and immigrants, than anything else that is in the power of the Legislature to do. I respectfully request that you take favorable action on the subject. CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MONTANA. Approved February 13, 1874. Resolved, by the House of Representatives, the Council concurring, That the sum of five thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated out of any moneys in the Territorial treasury, not otherwise appropriated, to defray the expense of packing and transporting such articles as in the judgment of the persons hereafter named are appropriate and worthy to be exhibited at the International Exhibition, to be held in the City of Philadelphia in 1876, and to defray the expenses of arranging such department as may be assigned to the Territory of Montana at said Exhibition by the managers thereof, and that the Territorial Auditor be, and is hereby, authorized to draw his warrants on the Territorial Treasurer in favor of William H. Claggett, Patrick A. Largey, and Emma Bowen, or any one of them, upon the order of two of them, at such time or times as they may request, and in such sum or sums as they may desire, so that in the aggregate the foregoing sum is not exceeded, and the parties aforesaid occupying relations of trust in various capacities to said Exhibition and the connection of this Territory therewith, this resolution shall be interpreted and held to insure to the successors of the parties aforesaid, in said trust, or any of them, for the uses and purposes aforesaid. State action |