USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Voilume I > Part 77
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Fifteenth Amendment .- Although the 14th amendment to the Federal constitution guaranteed to the freedmen all the rights and immunities of citizens, it did not specifically confer upon them the right of suffrage. When Congress met on Dec. 7, 1868, a resolution was introduced in both houses on the first day of the session proposing another amend- ment to the constitution that would give to negroes the right to vote. After a long and acrimonious debate, the following amendment-which now appears as Article XV of the national constitution- was adopted by Congress on Feb. 27, 1869, and submitted to the state legislatures for ratification or rejection :
"Section I. The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
"Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce the pro- visions of this article by appropriate legislation."
The Kansas legislature was in session at the time the amendment was adopted by Congress, and before the final adjournment passed a resolution ratifying it, but, through an error, the resolution was defective. Gov. Harvey, in his message of 1870, called attention to this as follows: "The report of the secretary of state will show that there was a verbal inaccuracy in the recitation of the 15th amend- ment to the constitution of the United States, as incorporated in the resolution of ratification passed by the legislature at the last session. I recommend that you rectify the mistake and promptly ratify the amendment."
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Acting upon the governor's recommendation, the house, on Jan. 18, 1870, adopted a resolution of ratification by a vote of 77 to 12, and the next day the resolution passed the senate without a dissenting vote. The amendment was proclaimed effective on March 30, 1870.
Finch, a discontinued postoffice of Ellis county, is located on the Saline river, about 20 miles northeast of Hays, the county seat, and IO miles south of Natoma, whence mail is delivered by rural carrier.
Finances, State .- When the Territory of Kansas was organized in 1854, Congress appropriated $64.700, to be used as follows: For a capitol building, $25,000; legislative assembly, $20,000 ; salaries of gov- ernor, secretary and three judges, $10,500; for taking a census, $2,000; state library, $5,000; election of a delegate to Congress, $700; con- tingent expenses, $1,500. This was the first financial legislation affect- ing Kansas.
The first territorial legislature, which passed laws for the levying of taxes, exempted property belonging to widows and minors to the amount of $1,000. All other property was taxed, and there was a poll tax on all male citizens from 21 to 55 years of age. This poll tax ranged from 50 cents to $1. Opposition to this, as well as all other laws passed by the "bogus" legislature, resulted in very little revenue being collected. The Missourians who elected the members of the legislature went back across the river and paid their taxes in the State of Mis- souri, and the free-state settlers of Kansas resisted the enforcement of the laws. In the years 1856-57-58 the delinquent taxes amounted to $27,298, and the territorial authorities were compelled to use for other purposes the $25,000 appropriated by Congress for a capitol. When the free-state men gained control of the legislature in 1858, one of the first laws passed was an act to fix the tax rate, and in that act was a provision that no revenue obtained under the law could be used for paying the old territorial debts. From 1855 to 1860, inclusive, the total revenue collected amounted to $34,617.68, and under the acts making appropriations warrants were issued for $135,470.16, leaving a deficit of $100,852.48. But this was not all. During these years a number of claims were filed against the territory for various reasons. A claim commission directed the auditor to draw warrants for nearly $400,000 to satisfy these claims. The law limited the bonded indebtedness of the territory to $100,000, and upon the outstanding warrants bonds to the amount of $95.700 were issued, but these bonds were afterward repudiated. (See Claims.)
This was the financial condition of Kansas when admitted into the Union in 1861. The first state legislature found an empty treasury, and by the act of May 1, 1861, authorized a bond issue of $150,000 for current expenses. It was this issue of bonds that subsequently led to the impeachment of some of the state officers. (See Robinson's Administration.) Under the provisions of the Wyandotte constitution, the state is given authority to contract debts for certain specified pur- poses, but the public debt can never exceed $1,000,000, until the propo-
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KANSAS HISTORY
sition to increase the indebtedness beyond that figure shall have been submitted to the electors and ratified by a majority of the votes cast at some general election. The constitution also contains a provision that the state may borrow money "to repel invasion, suppress insur- rection, or defend the state in time of war," and as the Civil war began while the first state legislature was in session, an act was approved by the governor on May 7, 1861, authorizing bonds to the amount of $20,000 for the defense of the state.
During the next decade several issues of bonds were authorized by law. Following is a list of the principal bond issues of this period, with the date of the act, the amount authorized, and for what purpose : March 2, 1863, supplementary to the act of May 1, 1861, $54,000; Feb. 20, 1863, to fund the territorial debt, $61,600; March I, 1864, to build a peniten- tiary, $50,000; Feb. 22, 1866, for the penitentiary, $60,000; Feb. 19, 1867, for a deaf and dumb asylum, $15,500; Feb. 19, 1867, for a state capitol, $100,000; Feb. 26, 1867, for the penitentiary, $100,000; March 3, 1868, for the capitol, $150,000; for the penitentiary, $59,000, and for an insane asylum, $20,000; Feb. 9, 1869, to liquidate the indebtedness incurred- on account of the Indian troubles of 1868, $75,000; Feb. 26, 1869, for a military contingent fund, $100,000; March 3, 1869, for the capitol, $70,000, and for the expenses of the Nineteenth Kansas regiment, $14,000. Boyle, in his Financial History of Kansas (p. 37) gives the total amount of bonds issued by the state, up to and including 1869, as $1,373,275, upon which the state realized $1,233,679.41, the average rate.for which the bonds were sold having been 89 cents on the dollar.
Under a wise provision of the state constitution, every law authoriz- ing a debt "shall provide for levying an annual tax sufficient to pay the annual interest of such debt, and the principal thereof, when it shall become due; and shall specifically appropriate the proceeds of such taxes to the payment of principal and interest ; and such appropriation shall not be repealed, nor the taxes postponed or diminished, until the interest and principal of such debt shall have been wholly paid."
The heavy bond issues during the first nine years of statehood increased the state debt from $1.30 per capita in 1861 to $3.95 in 1869, and by the levying of taxes as required by the constitution the rate of taxation was more than doubled, having been 4 mills on the dollar in 1861 and 834 mills in 1869. Then began the reaction. By the act of March 5, 1875, the governor, auditor and secretary of state were made commissioners to invest the sinking fund in bonds of the State of Kansas, and by this move the state paid interest to itself instead of to foreigners. Most of the early bonds bore interest at high rates-gen- erally 7 per cent .- and as they fell due, if the state was not in position to pay them, they were refunded at a lower rate of interest. An instance of this character is seen in the act of March 3, 1887, which authorized an issue of bonds to the amount of $116,000, "or so much thereof as may be necessary," to refund the bonds due in 1888-89. The new issue was made payable in twenty years, interest at 4 per cent., and was taken
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CYCLOPEDIA OF
by the permanent school fund of the state. Another refunding act was passed on March 15, 1897. It provided for a tax of 4 mills on the dollar for the fiscal years 1898-99, the proceeds to be used to pay interest on the public debt and certificates for raid losses-not more than $5,000 in each fiscal year; for the payment of the outstanding $50,000 in bonds issued under the act of Feb. 19 and 26, 1867; and for the refunding of the $220,000 of bonds issued under the acts of March 3, 1868. At the same time the bonds issued under the acts of Feb. 26 and March 3, 1869, were ordered to be paid from the general fund when due, and an amount sufficient for that purpose was appropriated.
With the growth of population and wealth, the revenue-producing and debt-paying power of the state correspondingly increased, as may be seen from the following table :
Year
Assessed valuation
Total state revenue
1861
$ 24,737,563
$ 14,234 809,621
1870
92,528,100
1880
160,570,761
883,139
1890
390,815,073
1,515,423
1900
328,729,008
1,807,898
1910
2,511,260,285
3,139,075
The falling off in the assessed valuation of property between the years 1890 and 1900 was due to several causes. From 1880 to 1890 great progress was made in Kansas along all industrial lines. Land values increased from $87,500,000 in 1880 to $173,000,000 in 1889, and town lots during the same period went from $21,000,000 to $76,000,000, in round numbers. These were the boom days. The business depression that began in 1893 brought a reaction. Inflated values disappeared. In 1896 land values had declined to about $166,500,000 and the value of town lots to $59,000,000. The greatest assessed value of personal prop- erty during the boom days was in 1887, when it reached over $60,750,000. In 1896 it was only a little over $36,000,000. No doubt a large part of this decline in the assessed valuation was due to the inclination on the part of the owners of personal property to dodge taxes, and a disposition on the part of assessors to secure for their respective districts a low valuation. Since 1896 a more equitable system of assessments has been inaugurated, and the result is seen in the valuation of 1910, which shows an increase of more than 700 per cent. over that of 1900. The tax rate has been correspondingly lowered, that of 1910 being only about one- fourth the rate for 1900.
By the act of Feb. 25, 1901, bonds amounting to $150,000, held by the school fund, were refunded in one bond, due on July 1, 1911, and bearing 4 per cent. interest. On March II, 1903, Gov. Bailey approved an act to refund the $220,000 due in 1903 and the $159,000 due in 1904. According to the report of the auditor of state for the years 1909-10, the bonds outstanding at the close of the fiscal year on June 30, 1910,
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KANSAS HISTORY
were as follows: Issue of July 1, 1902, to provide for maturing bonds and claims under the act of Feb. 25, 1901, due on July 1, 1911, $150,000; issue of July 1, 1903, due on July 1, 1914, $220,000; issue of July 1, 1904, due on Jan. 1, 1916, $159,000, making a total of $529,000. All these bonds are held by the permanent school fund except $9,000, which is held by the state university fund, and all bear interest at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum. As an offset to the various bond issues, the state owns property, in the state capitol and the various educational, charitable and penal institutions, valued at nearly $14,000,000.
In addition to the ordinary expenditures, the erection of public build- ings, and the support of the state institutions, Kansas has always main- tained a liberal policy toward her industries. Encouragement has been given to the experiment of silk culture, and in the six years ending in 1896, nearly $100,000 were paid out in bounties on sugar produced in the state. Moreover, the state has lent its aid to private charitable institutions, beginning in 1870 with one such institution, and thirty years later there were more than a score receiving appropriations.
State treasurers for some years were in the habit of depositing the state funds in a bank that would pay interest, and appropriating the interest to their own use. Under this system some defalcations occurred, and to remedy the conditions section 51 of the general statutes of 1897 made it the duty of the state treasurer "to keep safely in the state treasury, without loaning, using or depositing in banks, or elsewhere, all public moneys of whatsoever character paid into such treasury," etc. By the act of March 4, 1905, certain banks may become state depositories by complying with the conditions of the law, and in these banks the state funds are deposited, the state drawing the interest for public use.
About ten years after the close of the Civil war a great craze for the expansion of railroads spread over the country. Kansas was not exempt, and during this era of speculation bonds in large amounts were voted by counties, cities and townships for railroad construction. In the decade ending in 1889, over 6,000 miles of railroad were built in the state, and a large part of the cost of construction was paid by the people through these municipal bond issues. Then came an era of internal improvement. Cities voted bonds for electric lighting plants, waterworks, public buildings, school houses, etc. Counties voted bonds for court-houses, jails, highways and bridges, and in many instances townships voted bonds for similar purposes. The auditor of state, in his report for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1910, states that the grand total of the municipal indebtedness at that time was $40,272,298. In a majority of cases the municipalities received full value for these bond issues in the way of civic improvements, and as a result the towns and cities of Kansas compare favorably with those of similar population in older states.
Findlay, a hamlet of Linn county, is situated in the western portion of the county on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas R. R. about 15 miles (I-41)
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CYCLOPEDIA OF
northwest of Mound City, the county seat. It has rural free delivery from Goodrich and in 1910 had a population of 25.
Fingal, a discontinued postoffice of Pleasant Dale township, Rush .county, is situated near the northeast corner of the county, about 20 miles from La Crosse, the county seat, and II miles from Otis, the nearest railroad station, from which place mail is received by rural delivery.
Finney County, in the southwestern part of the state, is the third county north from the Oklahoma line and the third east from Colorado. It is bounded on the north by Scott and Lane counties; on the east by Hodgeman and Gray; on the south by Gray and Haskell, and on the west by Kearny county. This territory was settled about 1880. but was traversed at early dates by Coronado (q. v.), Pike's Expedi- tion and the Santa Fe road. As proof of the presence of Coronado in Finney county, historians cite the finding of an old two-edged sword in the northeastern part of the county, with the name of Juan Gallego inscribed on it and the following motto, which the Spanish were accus -. tomed to put on their weapons: "No me saques sin razon. No me enbaines sin honor." As the two-edged swords went out of use about 1600, it must have been lost before that time. Fowler's Journal of Glenn's expedition for Oct. 30, 1821, says: "We camped on an Island Clothed with tall grass and Cotton Wood trees-the main Chanel on the north Some Small Islands on the South with out trees." Coues located this island about 8 or Io miles above Garden City. The last Indian raid ever made through Kansas, that of the northern Cheyennes under Chief Dull Knife, came through the eastern part of this county on their way northward in 1878.
The same year saw the first settlement, when William and James R. Foulton of Ohio located on the site of Garden City. Their houses were the only ones in the county except a section house at Sherlock and one at Pierceville. Very few people located in this region until about 1884-85. However, several consecutive years of rain and good crops brought settlers with a rush in 1885 and 1886. They were east- ern people accustomed to farming and living in ways which were entirely unfitted to the climate of Finney county, and as a consequence had to devise new farming methods and new implements suited to the soil had to be invented before much success was achieved. Many of those who lacked the capital or the courage to do this went back east in a few years, but those who stayed have been well paid for their efforts, and they have been joined by enough newcomers to make land valuable.
The county was organized in 1884 and named in honor of Lieut .- Gov. David W. Finney. It then covered a much larger area than at present, the counties of Kearny, Sequoyah, Grant, Arapahoe, Kansas, Stevens, Meade and Clark, as they existed prior to 1883, were dis- organized in that year to make Finney. In 1887 the area was reduced, so that it occupied less territory than it does now. In 1893 the present
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KANSAS HISTORY
boundaries were formed. In Gov. Glick's proclamation organizing the county, which was made on Oct. 1, 1884, Garden City was named as the county seat and the following officers appointed: Commissioners, H. M. Wheeler, A. B. Kramer and John Speer; county clerk, H. E. Wentworth. The census at that time showed a population of 1.569 inhabitants, 375 of whom were householders.
The building of canals was begun early. The first one was the Garden City canal, which was built in 1879. In 1881 the Farmer's ditch was dug; in 1882 the Great Eastern canal; and in 1887 the Amazon, with a capacity of 400 cubic feet and capable of irrigating 8,000 acres. These ditches are in use at the present time, and many of the farmers who do not have access to them irrigate with windmills. Many of them have learned to raise good crops of certain vegetables without irriga- tion, by cultivating in such a manner as to conserve moisture. A gov- ernment irrigation plant was built at Deerfield a few years ago at a cost of $250,000. The Arkansas river, which flows from west to east through the southern part, furnishes water for irrigation purposes.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. follows the course of the river through the county, running through Pierceville, Mansfield, Gar- den City and Holcomb. The Garden City, Gulf & Northern R. R. extends north from Garden City through Gillespie, Alfalfa and Tennis into Scott county. It is in process of construction south into Haskell county. There are but seven townships, the northeastern one being the territory which formerly comprised Garfield county. The town- ships are: Garfield, Garden City, Ivanhoe, Pierceville, Pleasant Valley, Sherlock and Terry. The postoffices are: Eminence, Essex, Friend, Garden City, Holcomb, Imperial, Kalvesta, Pierceville, Ravanna and Terryton.
The surface of the county is nearly level north of the Arkansas river, . and undulating prairie in the south, with a range of sand dunes. The bottom lands along the Arkansas average 4 to 5 miles in width. Nat- ural timber is very scarce, there being but a few cottonwood trees. The government has set apart 70,000 acres, which covers nearly the whole area south of the river as a forest reserve, and has planted the most of it to artificial forest. Magnesian limestone of a fair quality and sandstone are found in the northeast. Clay for bricks exists in various parts of the county and potter's clay and gypsum are found in small quantities.
The area of the county is 829,440 acres, about 300,000 of which have been brought under cultivation. The value of farm products is about $1,500,000 per year. The principal crop is sugar beets, which in 1910 brought $252,000. The next in importance is alfalfa. A great many of the farmers, after cutting their alfalfa two or three times, let it go to seed, and Finney county alfalfa seed took the gold medal at the Louisiana Purchase exposition at St. Louis in 1904. Other grains and vegetables are also raised in commercial quantities. Wheat, corn, oats, sorghum, broom-corn, barley, milo maize and Kafir corn are impor-
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CYCLOPEDIA OF
tant field crops. Live stock yields about $250,000 per year: Dairy products, poultry, eggs and honey bring nearly $100,000 yearly to the farmers. There is a very fine and well equipped county farm with seldom an inmate. The same is true of the county jail.
The assessed valuation of property in Finney county in 1910 was $13,906,521, and the population in the same year was 6,908, which makes the average wealth per capita a trifle over $2,000. The gain in popula- tion from 1900 to 1910 was 3,439, or nearly 100 per cent.
Finney, David W., farmer, miller and legislator, was born in Parke county, Ind., Aug. 22, 1839. He received a limited education in his native state, served through the Civil war as a member of Company A, Eighty-fifth Indiana infantry, and in 1866 became a resident of Woodson county, Kan. From the time he reached his majority he took an active part in politics as a Republican, and in 1867 he was elected on the ticket of that party to represent Woodson county in the legis- lature. He was frequently called upon to act as delegate to state or district conventions; was state senator from 1876 to 1880, represent- ing the district composed of Woodson and Coffey counties; was presi- dent of the senate when the first prohibitory law was passed; was receiver of the Topeka land office for about three months in 1877; was right-of-way agent for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad company for a time, and in 1882 was elected lieutenant-governor. The legislature of 1883 changed the name of Sequoyah county to Finney in his honor. After his term as lieutenant-governor he became the senior member of the firm of Finney & Co., operating a large flour mill at Neosho Falls.
Fish .- A large part of Volume VI of the reports of the geological survey made by the University of Kansas is devoted to the fishes of the Cretaceous era, giving a list and description of these specimens of the finny tribe found in Kansas. A list of modern fishes was prepared by Prof. F. W. Cragin and published in the bulletins of the Washburn College laboratory. That list includes, among others, several species of cat-fish, lampreys, long-nosed gar, buffalo, suckers and shad of dif- ferent varieties, black horse, dace, sun-fish, yellow, white, rock and grass bass, darters, big-mouthed black bass and pike, the last named having been introduced in Kansas waters by the fish commissioner. A. W. Bitting, a writer in Carter's Monthly for July, 1897, says: "While Kansas does not compare with many other states in the variety and quality of game fishes, yet there is in the state, picturesquely beau- tiful rock and tree bound streams and rivers that have bass of as fine a flavor and are as gamey in the taking as the most ardent Waltonian may desire."
The streams especially referred to by Mr. Bitting are the Walnut and Whitewater rivers in Butler county, and, in fact, any of the streams of southern Kansas east of Wichita, in all of which bass, croppie and channel cat are to be found in abundance. The Little Arkansas river is adapted to the propagation of bass, were it not for the fact that
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KANSAS HISTORY
the stream is lacking in those deep pools that afford that fish a safe hiding place. Of the native fish the cat-fish is the most numerous and grows to the largest size. J. L. Smith, later a judge at Kansas City, Mo., when a boy, caught a cat-fish in the Missouri river that weighed 165 pounds.
D. B. Long, who was appointed the first state fish commissioner under the act of March 10, 1877, in his report for the year ending on June 30, 1878, said: "The large territory comprising the State of Kan- sas, larger than all the New England States, with its long streams and numerous branches, gives to the fish culturist a vast field for labor. It requires time, patience, perseverance and money-with which there is no doubt of ultimate success in stocking our streams with a better variety of fish. Although an experiment to the people of Kansas, it is a reality to the people of the Old World. Fish farming has been in practice for over 2,000 years in China."
In stocking the streams with "a better variety of fish" the commis- sioner made some mistakes. The shad was introduced in June, 1877, and two or three years later the German carp was introduced. In his report for 1882 the commissioner said: "Of the ponds stocked in Kansas two years ago and one year ago, a number have reported that the carp have made from two to three pounds growth in one year and a number of them had spawned. They will spawn the second year if located in a proper pond. I expect to commence stocking the public streams with carp next year. The carp is well adapted to the waters of Kansas, and I predict a very favorable result from this introduc- tion."
Evidently the result was not as favorable as the commissioner anticipated. The carp multiplied rapidly, and by their habits drove away the game fish. On Feb. 18, 1905, the governor approved an act, section 10 of which contained the following clause: "Nor shall this act be construed to prevent the game and fish warden or his deputies from removing or destroying in any manner any German carp or other worth- less fish, for the purpose of protecting the food and game fish." (See also the articles on Fish Hatchery and Game Laws.)
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