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ENUE. which have been reserved for a particular purpose, as for education.
The old question about the location of the cap- ital again arose at the final session of the terri- torial legislature, but was not settled. At the fourth session of the state legislature, in POLITI- May, 1867, the matters of apportionment CAL EVENTS. and removal of the capital had to be de- cided, because they were included in the call of Governor Butler for the special session. Even
68
History of Nebraska.
as early as 1856 the census showed a greater population south of the Platte than north of it,1 and the sectional struggle for proper representa- tion finally resulted in a bill of the fourth legis- lature, by which the seat of government LOCA- TION OFwas to be removed to a place in either CAPI-
TAL. Seward, Saunders, Butler, or Lancaster
County. The governor, the secretary of state and the auditor, by whom the site was to be selected, chose its present location in Lancaster County, where a city was immediately commenced. The bill named this place Lincoln, in curious contrast to the name Douglas, which had been proposed by a territorial bill ten years before, when the popularity of Stephen A. Douglas was at its height.2 Of great importance in the political history of the State was the impeachment and trial of the first governor. The process of such a
IM trial is better discussed in the chapters on PEACH- MENT civil government, and the exact truth of ERNOR. the matter can only be ascertained by a OF GOV- careful study of the papers, diaries, letters, etc., of that time. Besides, in the case of a period so recent as even the first years of the history of this State, all matters of politics are best treated merely as facts, without inquiry into motives. 3
1 Cf. above, p. 51.
2State Hist. Soc. Pub., II., 66.
3 House Journal, 1871, pp. 392, 424, etc. Impeachment Trial of David Butler, Omaha, 1871. The impeachment resolutions were offered in the House on Feb. 28, 1871, and the trial by the Senate, sitting as a court, began March 14. The governor was removed from his office, although not found guilty of more than one of the charges.
69
The State.
The turbulent times of 1872, when the acting governor and the legislature were quarreling, were only steps in the departure of the State from disorder to system and law. The business of the public welfare soon became a more serious matter, and the acts of individual men became insignifi- cant, compared with the interests of a great
OTHER commonwealth. Few events of special POLITI- CAL political importance have happened since EVENTS that time. In 1876 the people of all parts of the Nation awaited anxiously the re- sult of a petition concerning one of the electoral votes of Nebraska, because the presidential con- test between Hayes and Tilden was very close. This matter, as well as the subject of citizenship involved in the Boyd-Thayer case of recent times, belongs to civil government.
70
History of Nebraska.
X-DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESOURCES OF NEBRASKA.
The great increase in the population of Ne- braska is not surprising, in view of the richness POPULA- of the soil and the large demand every-
TION. where for good agricultural lands. In 1880 little more than 450,000 people were found here, while in 1890 the census showed over a million.1 Accurate statistics concerning the growth of a state or nation are very useful and instructive, because they show what parts of the population are increasing most rapidly. The growth in the past reveals something of the fu- ture. For example, the city population of the United States now increases much more rapidly
than that of the country districts. In
GROWTH
OF 1890 there were in this State sixteen
CITIES.
cities of more than 2,500 inhabitants. Their total population was 290,000, or about two- fifths as many as lived in the country. Ten years earlier these same sixteen cities contained only about one-fifth as many. This opens the ques- tion of the cause of so much removal from the
1 For statistics concerning population, see Report of Ser., of State. Senate Journal, 12th-14th Sess., 879-80; State Agricultural Report, 1891, p. 76. The following are given :-
1855 1874
225257 | 1878 313748
1856 10716
1875 246280
1879 356410
1860
1876
257747
1880 .452542
1870 122993
1877 271561
1890 1058910
71
Development of the Resources of Nebraska.
country to the city.1 Nearly three hundred smaller cities and villages are scattered over the State, the
VIL- highest number in any county being nine.2
LAGES. Nebraska stands twenty-sixth among the states of the Union in population. It has even less people to the square mile than the nation taken as a whole.3 Density of population, how- RANK ever, is not desirable for many reasons, AMONG not the least among which is the fact that STATES. the problems of government grow more difficult as the population increases.
Farming, stock-raising and manufactures have kept pace with the rapid development of popula- tion. The adaptation of the soil to corn-raising AGRICUL- was well known to the Indians, and corn TURE. became the main crop as soon as farmers from the east began to turn the sod of their Ne- braska homesteads.4 In 1865, 53,000 acres were planted with corn, and 9,000 with wheat. The relative amounts of corn and wheat have CORN varied much in the quarter of a century AND
WHEAT. since that time, but on the whole much more land has been devoted to the former. For two seasons, 1871 and 1873, the amount of wheat was greater. Indeed, in the second of those years, the excess of wheat land was 31,000 acres. Since
1 John Fiske, Civil Govt., of the U. S., 119-120.
2 Saunders and Richardson counties have nine ench.
3 People to the square mile: Nebraska, 13.5; Minnesota, 16.4; United States. 17.94; Texas, 8.5; Rhode Island, 315.2; Nerada, 0.4.
4 The earliest homestead law of the United States was passed in 1862. A Nebraska pioneer by the name of Daniel Freeman secured the first homestead under this act. The place is about four miles west o Beatrice. Johnson, Hist. of Neb., $96.
72
History of Nebraska.
then, however, corn has been more in favor, the the ratio in 1891 being 45 to 12.1 Stock-raising and manufactures in Nebraska are intimately con- nected with farming. The growing industry of
RELA- making beet sugar depends wholly upon TION
OF farming, a large part of the stock-raisers
INDUS-
TRIES. are farmers who feed their own grain, and packing houses look to the stockmen for their raw material. Nebraska is not a mining region at all, so that large industries that have gained a foot- hold here, such as the smelting works in Omaha, get their ore from beyond the limits of the State. It is said that in the case of Colorado, never known to the American people except as a gold state, the value of farm products exceeds the value of ores that are mined. Happily little wealth in Nebraska is spent in mining, and the whole effort of the pro- ducer is put into agriculture. Nebraska does not compare favorably with other states in manufac- tures, because it has been settled so recently. In agriculture, however, the State has a good record. A comparatively small part of the land is now
1The following shows the number of acres of corn and wheat in the State :
ACRES
ACRES
ACRES
YEAR
YEAR
YEAR
CORN
WHEAT
CORN
WHEAT
CORN
WHEAT
1865
53636
9241
1874
350000
311983
1883
2813303
1772990
1866
71503
9917
1875
700000
346938
1884
3235298
1950280
1867
64583
33333
1876
850000
376521
1885
2526475
1755252
1868
139082
36451
1877
1013158
376000
1886
3 79123
1579727
1869
159952
56179
1878
1291000
1050000
1887
3865158
1642127
1870
172675
128333
1879
1522400
1154300
1888
4097067
1560021
1771
174168
177572
1880
1919600
1520315
1889
4007067
1404019
1872
200767
209836
1881
2149200
1958500
1890
4317682
1026421
1873
200000
231226
1882
2364120
1657000
1891
4538009
1223787
73
Development of the Resources of Nebraska.
under cultivation, yet in the crops of 1890, Ne- braska ranked ninth in corn, tenth in oats and twelfth in wheat. Who does not predict that when nearly all the available land of the State shall be tilled, here will be found the greatest yield to the acre and the largest harvests of farm products ? Already Nebraska has ranked first in the yield of corn per acre.
With such generous returns from the soil, the people of the State have not been slow to spend large sums upon schools. Among the forty-four states, Nebraska stood only thirteenth in the amount of money spent upon education in 1889-90. Since admission into the Union a complete system of schools has been built up, which affords free instruction, from the EDUCA-
TION. primary grades even to special graduate work in the University. Not only were two sec- tions of land out of each township set apart for the maintenance of the common schools, but the Uni- versity and Normal School are also similarly en- dowed. The enterprise that called forth numerous "colleges" and "universities" before the territory was over two years old, has finally resulted in a splendid plan of education.
PART II. Civil Government of Nebraska.
77
United States Land Survey.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF NEBRASKA.
I .- UNITED STATES LAND SURVEY.
The study of the origin of such divisions as states and territories belongs to civil government of the United States. The growth of civil insti- tutions, the long development from the family to the state, cannot here be traced. 'The subject of civil government in Nebraska treats only of the peculiarities of this State, and may properly begin with the Federal land surveys within our bor- ders.
Mr. Fiske has shown1 the various divisions of land for purposes of government, both in the eastern and in the western states. It is the latter that especially concerns Nebraska. In the colo- nies no order was followed in county lines or in the limits of smaller districts. But an excellent system of boundaries has been adopted for all BEGIN- the unsettled territory since acquired by NING OF
U.S. the nation. By a law of the old Con-
LAND
SUR-
tinental Congress in 1785, a plan of sur-
VEYS,
1785. veys was begun which used meridians and parallels as standards. The " first principal me-
1 John Fiske, Civil Government of the U. S., 71-SS.
78
Civil Government of Nebraska.
ridian" was drawn through the mouth of the Great Kenawha River, and afterwards became the western boundary of Ohio. As the public surveys were made further and further west, new meridi- ians were established at intervals across the coun- try, until the twenty-fourth was located near the Pacific coast. The " sixth principal meridian" is SIXTH the one which concerns Nebraska. It runs
PRINCI- through this State and Kansas, forming in PAL ME-
RIDIAN, Nebraska the western boundary of Jeffer- son, Saline, Seward, Butler, Stanton, and Wayne counties. On either side of it are guide meridi-
First Guide Meridian West.
Second Range West.
First Range West.
SIXTH PRIN. MERIDIAN. First Range East.
9
S
7
6
5
4
3
10
1
1
2
ix
Second Standard Par- allel North.
viii
vii
vi
First Standard Paral- lel North.
iv
iii
3rd Township North.
ii
2nd Township North.
i
BASE LINE.
FIG. 1. SYSTEM OF MERIDIANS AND PARALLELS.
79
United States Land Survey.
ans, forty-eight miles apart, one east and seven west within the State. This interval of forty-eight miles is further divided by seven intervening me- ridians, and the resulting eight strips of land six miles wide are called ranges. They are numbered both east and west, beginning at the prin- RANGES.
cipal meridians. The last range in the southeastern part of the State is numbered "xviii. east," and in the extreme western part the num- bers reach "Ivii. west." Base lines are parallels of latitude used as standards. Such a line for the surveys in Kansas and Nebraska is the fortieth parallel, the common boundary between the
BASE
LINES. two states. North of this, at intervals of PARAL- twenty-four miles, other lines are sur- GUIDE LELS. veyed called guide parallels, the interven- ing land being divided into strips six miles wide. The ranges are thus cut into squares measuring six miles on the side, which are numbered north- ward in every range, beginning at the
GRES- southern boundary. They are called con- CON-
SIONAL TOWN-
gressional townships, or sometimes, geo- SHIPS. graphical townships, to distinguish them from organized townships. The whole State, except on the large rivers, would be divided into townships of uniform size if the meridians were parallel. But they converge as they approach the poles. On this account corrections have to be made in the north and south lines, and some ir- regular pieces of land are formed, which are called fractional townships. These lines fixed by the
80
Civil Government of Nebraska.
government are not only of use in locating land, but they serve quite an important purpose in divid- ing the State into uniform districts for purposes of
6
5
4
3
2
1
7
8
9
10
11
12
18
17
16
15
14
13
19
20
21
22
23
24
30
29
28
27
26
25
31
32
33
34
35
$6
FIG. 2. NUMBERING OF SECTIONS IN A TOWNSHIP.
40
40
160
ACRES.
40
40
80
80
80
80
FIG. 3. ONE SECTION, WITH MINOR DIVISIONS.
administration. People of the country districts MINOR are familiar with the section, made by DIVI-
SIONS. still further dividing the township by lines one mile apart, and with the minor
81
United States Land Survey.
divisions called "quarter section," "eighty," and "forty."1
SUGGESTIVE TOPICS AND QUESTIONS.
1. Are all principal meridians numbered? See Encyclo- pedia at word principal meridian. .
2. Locate a piece of land described as follows : W 12 of N E 14, Sec. 16, T. 4 N., R. 7 West.
3. Where in a section would a farm be if described as S WKot NEK? EkofSWK? NYofSEK?
1 The manner of designating land by means of these lines is simple. T. 10 N., R. 2 E. means the tenth township north ( of the base line) in the second range east ( of the sixth principal meridian). A "W" instead of an " E" changes the location to one of the ranges west of the principal meridian. After the particular township is designated, in which a piece of land lies, the section is indicated by number, and the part of a sec. tion is shown by quarters or halves. Thus N W 1/4 would be north-west quarter, and $ 1/2, south half, etc.
6
82
Civil Government of Nebraska.
II .- THE SCHOOL DISTRICT.
The kind of organization with which students generally are best acquainted, except in cities and villages, is the school district. It is formed by the county superintendent, upon a petition from the people affected by the change. Unless there is some special reason for it, a district contains not FORMA- less than four square miles of land, and
TION.
extends not more than six miles in any
one direction. A school district, indeed, need not all be in one county, if the residents have pre- sented the necessary petitions to the superintend- ents of the two counties. There are about seven thousand of these small districts in the state.1 They are very irregular, each being formed ac- cording to the desire of the people con- SHAPE. cerned, or according to the situation with regard to rivers and streams.
All the people of the district are taken together as one body, of which the name is "The School District No . ... of. County." Like the county and the state, it is treated in law as one person, and is distinguished from an individual by being called a legal person. When a number
A COR- of persons are so organized into one body TIONOR as to be able to hold property which be- PORA- LEGAL PERSON. longs to all alike, and to sue in the courts, it is then called a corporation. Just as
1 In 1892.
83
The School District.
a bank corporation elects officers to represent it and to carry on the work for which it is organized, so the school district has its officers to represent it and to do the work connected with the schools.1
The district acts as one body at its annual meeting. It is not essential to its character as a corporation that all the individual members meet in one place. The county and the state are cor- porations, but a meeting of all the members of either would seldom be possible. In re-
ANNUAL
MEET- spect to its coming together to do busi-
ING.
ness, the school district reminds the stu- dent of the cities of Greece and Rome, in which all the citizens met in an open air assembly to make laws for the community. The annual meeting of each school district is held at the schoolhouse on the last Monday of June. Here the legal voters transact the business of the district. Who are the legal voters and what may be done at one
LEGAL of these assemblies ?"Any person of either
VOT- sex over twenty-one years of age, who ERS. owns either real estate in the district or personal property that was taxed in his name at the last assessment, or who has school children in the district, is entitled to vote. All matters that come before the district at the annual meeting are connected with education. The most import- ant power is the right to fix the amount of school tax. In a school district, as well as any-
1 The Supreme Court has decided that a school district is only a sort of corporation.
84
Civil Government of Nebraska.
where else in the state organization, the power
PUR- to take money is guarded with great OF THE care. The district elects three officers POSES DIS-
TRICT. to represent it. These three, moderator, director, and treasurer, form a kind of committee known as the school board. The moderator pre- sides at all meetings of the district, the treasurer cares for all money, and the director acts as a secretary of the district. They are best known
SCHOOL as the district school board, of which the BOARD. director is the most important officer.
He is a sort of chairman. The board looks after all things immediately connected with the school, such as hiring teachers, buying supplies,
Powers grading the school, and caring for the and
Duties. school building. Another important duty lately (1891) given to the board is the purchase Care of and care of school books.1 The power to Books. own property belongs to all kinds of le- gal persons, or corporations.
Not all school districts are of the same grade. When a district has one hundred and fifty school children, it may become a high school district, if the majority of the voters so decide at the
1 Consolidated Statutes, 1891 §§ 3758-3767. " District school boards, and boards of trustees of high school districts, and boards of educa- tion in cities of the first and second class, are hereby empowered and it is made their duty to purchase all text-books necessary for the schools of such district." A board may make contracts with publishers for a term of years, not over five, to purchase books at the lowest price at which they are sold. Parents can purchase books from the board at cost, A local dealer may be designated to håndle the books, with some in- crease in price on account of handling and transportation.
85
The School District.
annual meeting. This change increases to six
HIGH the number on the school board, which an-
SCHOOL
DIS- nually elects from its members a modera-
TRICTS tor, director and treasurer. A district of this kind may vote to establish a high school. Every city, sometimes with surrounding land at- tached, forms a school district. Cities having from
CITY 1,500 to 10,000 inhabitants have a board SCHOOL of six trustees, like the high school district, DIS-
TRICTS. ·but they are elected in a different manner. There is no "annual meeting" in a city, and the members of the board are chosen at the regular election. In cities of the first class1 nine mem- bers are elected for terms of three years. Met- ropolitan cities have school boards of fifteen members, of whom five are chosen each Boards. year. When the board of a city organizes, it elects a president, vice-president and secre- tary. A city school board itself estimates the
amount of the school tax, while in the high Tax. school and country districts the voters, in-
stead of the board, fix the amount of the tax.
SUGGESTIVE TOPICS AND QUESTIONS.
1. Make a map of your own school district :
2. Look up derivation of word corporation in a diction- ary. 3. Is there more reason why women should be allowed to vote on school matters than on other subjects ?
4. What advantages and disadvantages arising from a school district owning all books used in a school ?
1 For classes of cities, see p. 86, Note.
86
Civil Government of Nebraska.
III .- CITIES AND VILLAGES.
Scattered about over the State are more than three hundred cities and villages. These, too, are legal persons. Since the term municipal is applied to such collections of people, they may also be called municipal corporations. The classes1 MUNICI- of these are determined for the most part
PAL COR-
PORA- by population. Yet there is much freedom TIONS. of choice. A thickly settled community does not have to form any such organization at all. It may remain a country district, governed as a part of the county, and being a corporation, per- haps, only as a school district. A village or city may constitute an entire school district. In that case it is both a school corporation for education and a municipal corporation for government and administration. The school district of the city is often larger than the municipality, some of the adjacent land being added.
The law-making part of a village consists of a
1 Inhabitants required for each class:
1 .- Village. Consolidated Statutes, 1891, §§ 2861-2963.
(a) 200 to 1,'00.
(b) Over 1,500, if adopted by the people.
2 .- Cities of Second Class. Statutes, §§ 2721-2859.
(a) 1,000-25.000. (Session Laws, 1885, p. 156.)
(b) 5,000-25,000. .
3 .- Cities of First Class. Statutes, §§ 2483-2720.
(a) 10,000 to 25,000.
(b) 25,000 to 100,000.
4 .- Metropolitan ( ities. Statutes, §§ 2305-2482.
Over 80,000.
87
Cities and Villages.
board of five trustees elected annually. The chairman of this board somewhat resembles the mayor of a city. The powers of the board extend to all subjects connected with preserving THE the peace and good order of the village, VIL-
LAGE. but they include also the appointment of officers that are usually elected in cities. Among
these are clerk and treasurer. Violations of the ordinances of the village, as well as of the laws of the State, are tried before a justice of the peace belonging to the precinct in which the village is. Thus the village really has no separate judicial department. Likewise in the election of county and state officers and in the collection of taxes, it is a mere district of the county.1
Cities of the several classes have some features in common. A city always has a mayor, who is
THE chief officer and executive head. The body
CITY. that makes the laws is in all cases the coun- cil, although it varies in number and power. It is
usually made up of two members from each ward or district of the city. Metropolitan cities Wards. have from six to ten wards, and smaller cit- ies from two to six. In some cases2 only one coun-
1 Village Organization:
1 .- Board of Trustees: (a) Number, five; (b) elected by voters; (c) officers are (1) chairman and (2) clerk, who is city clerk; (d) pow- ers are very numerous, and extend to all matters connected with the welfare of the village. (Consolidated Statutes, 1891, §§2867, 2892-2900); these include taxation, and licensing or prohibiting selling and giving away liquor.
2 .- Village Officers: (a) clerk; (b) treasurer; (c) overseer of streets; (d) marshal. All appointed by board of trustees. Terms, one year. Salaries, $150 to $300.
2 In metropolitan cities and smaller cities of the first class.
88
Civil Government of Nebraska.
cilman is chosen from a ward, and other councilmen
Coun- equal in number to those representing par-
cil. ticular wards are chosen by the whole city without reference to districts. Those not repre- senting wards are called councilmen at large to dis- tinguish them from the others. All classes of cities agree in electing mayor, clerk, treas-
1
Elect-
ive . urer, and police judge. Further than
Officers. this the classes do not agree. In a large city the number of minor executive officers is very great.1 Some are appointed by the mayor directly, others are appointed by the mayor and
1 Metropolitan cities :
1 Area : Not over 25 square miles.
2. Wards: Number, 6 to 10; each divided into election districts if containing over 400 legal voters; each election district is a precinct of the county.
3. City elections: (a) Held on the first Tuesday after the first Mon- day in Nov. 1891, 1893, 1895, etc. Officers elected : mayor, treasurer, comptroller, city clerk, and police judge. See chapter ou elections.
4. Council: (a) Membership : onefrom each ward and anequal num- ber from the city at large. Bond $5,000. (b) Powers and duties : more nu- merous as the city becomes larger. Council and mayor levy taxes. For general purposes, not over 14 mills to the dollar. Council sits as a board of equalization to adjust the taxes of the city. Special taxes may be levied for sewers, paving, or any authorized public improvements. Among other purposes are fire, light, and police. Appointments madeby mayor and council together : engineer, attorney, city prosecutor, street com- missioner, inspector of buildings, boiler inspector, three members of board of public works, etc.
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