for the erection thereon of the state capitol. In addition
to this, the city gave toward the completion of the building
$30,000 in bonds, which have been redeemed.

On the fourth of March next, the state will have removed
from them all its movable property and have ceased to oc-
cupy them for the purpose originally designed. I recom-
mend that they be granted to the city of Omaha for a high
school on the condition that when they shall no longer be
used for that purpose they shall revert to the state.

Recurring to the above subject, in his message of January 6th, 1871, we have:

By the provisions of "An act to provide for the sale of unsold lots and blocks on the town site of Lincoln, and for the location and erection of a state university, and agricultural college, and state lunatic asylum," approved February 15th, 1869, the commissioners were authorized to sell all the unsold lots and blocks on the town site of Lincoln; to construct the dome of the capitol building; to erect a state lunatic asylum at a cost of $50,000, and a state university and agricultural college at a cost of $100,000. "On the 8th of November (1870) the [asylum] building was formally accepted, and on the 1st of December completely furnished and ready for the reception of patients. Orders were issued and the patients from the Iowa Hospital and the different jails throughout the state, in all numbering over thirty, removed to the asylum, where they are now receiving the best care.

The message of 1871 made mention of the State University:

This institution, established on a broad basis, and liberally endowed by your predecessors, is not as yet open for the reception of students. The board of regents have been appointed and organized, and have taken some steps preliminary to the selection of the faculty.

Our university building is a source of pride to the citizens of our state, and is a model not only in architectural beauty, but in its internal arrangements, and its adaptation to the purposes for which it is designed. Let me express the hope that the legislature may always be ready to foster its interests by wise legislation.

Having presented the necessity of a state prison in his official communication of 1869, that of 1871 reported progress:

The legislature, recognizing this necessity, made provision for the erection of a penitentiary, on lands previously

set apart for that purpose, about three miles south of Lin-
coln, and also for the sale of lands donated to the state,
by the general government, to aid in the construction of
such an institution. The contract for building the peniten-
tiary was awarded to Messrs. Stout and Jamison, at a con-
tract price of $307,950. They are executing their work in a
manner alike creditable to themselves and the state. The
labor of the convicts is hired to them at the rate of forty-
two cents per day, for each convict who is able to work.
I am pleased to notice that under the present arrangement
the condition of the prisoner is in every respect much im-
proved.

No such an amount of responsibility had been cast upon any previous governor, as to the material interests of the people of Nebraska. Butler's term of occupancy might properly be called the creative period of the state. Immigration was to be induced and fostered by all practicable means, education provided for their descendants, penal laws enacted for their protection from the vicious, and a state militia for safety from savages; constitutions framed, amended and adapted to constantly varying necessities; a capital city established as the home of the state, and so located as to become a great railway center. The wisdom of the location, and the general acceptability of administration, had to extinguish early prejudice and vindicate the propriety of original design.

The financial statement as given in the message of 1871, reported a balance in the treasury of $77,886. Said he:

I am pleased to note that the material wealth of the state has been rapidly increasing. The assessed valuation of 1868 was about $32,000,000. That of 1870 was over $53,000,000, thus showing the gratifying increase of $21,000,000 in two years.

The document concluded:

Invoking for your deliberation the guidance and blessing of Him who controlleth all things, I express the hope that your session may be productive of the highest public good, and honor to yourselves.

At the time of his first election, in 1866, Governor Butler, republican, had a majority of 145 votes over J. Sterling Morton,

democrat. In 1868 his majority over J. R. Porter, democrat, was 2,227. In 1870 the majority over John H. Croxton was 2,478. But in this, his third campaign, charges were made against him of great irregularities in administering the school fund of the state. His political friends claimed that no harm could come to the state from a re-election, as the legislature would be republican, and they would examine the case and do justice in the premises. Accordingly, by the sixth day of March, 1871, eleven articles of impeachment were presented by the house of representatives, to the senate as a Court of Impeachment, one of which charged Governor David Butler with having appropriated to his own use $16,881.26 of school fund, derived from the general government, and that "in this he had committed and was guilty of a misdemeanor in office." To all the articles he interposed specific denials, and affirmed the borrowing of the school fund and the placing on file a mortgage to secure the same about the first of January, 1871, which would be three years after the arrival of the money in the state treasury.

Three months after the convening of the court (June 1, 1871) he was found guilty of "a misdemeanor in office," and the sentence was that he be removed therefrom. The managers of impeachment were Honorables J. C. Myers, J. E. Doon and Dr. Forest Porter. Honorables Clinton Briggs, John J. Reddick and T. M. Marquette were counsel for the defendant.

On the day preceding the rendering of the decision the governor presented to the speaker of the senate a proposition for settlement as follows, but as the Court of Impeachment had no control of a settlement it proceeded to decide upon a "misdemeanor in office":

To the Honorable, the President of the Senate:

I take the liberty, on the re-assembling of your honorable body, to communicate with you upon the subject of the five per cent fund. Early in the spring of 1868, soon after the collection of that fund, I made a loan of the state of the sum of $16,881.26, and afterwards amply secured the same by bond of mortgage. This was done in perfect good faith and with the understanding that the transaction was perfectly legal. Many, however, of my fellow citizens differ

with me as regards the legality of the loan and the suffi-
iency of the securities, and while I am unchanged in my
opinion on the subject and conscious that I have at no
time done other than my duty in the premises, I am ready
and willing, in order that the subject of dissention may be
disposed of, to deposit in the state treasury the full amount
of such loan with interest from the 25th day of May, 1869,
the date of the arrival of the fund in Lincoln in charge of
the deputy state treasurer, and I ask the passage of an act
providing for the cancellation of the securities. I sincerely
trust that this proposition on my part may be received in
the same spirit in which it is made, and that harmony may
again prevail in the administration of our state govern-
ment.
DAVID BUTLER.

Executive Department, Lincoln, May 30th, 1871.
February 20th, 1873, a select committee made report:

We find the claim against ex-governor David Butler, amounting originally to $16,881.26, due the five per cent fund, which, together with interest now due, amounts to $23,664.84, in a very unsatisfactory condition, there being no securities properly on file in the state treasurer's office as security for the payment of this debt. Ex-governor Butler has submitted a proposition to your committee, to transfer to the state the residence and adjoining grounds, now occupied by him as a homestead, in payment of the above debt upon the following terms: For the house, outbuildings, 80 acres of ground, and furniture contained in the main building, the state to allow the sum of $30,000, to be paid as follows: Principal debt, $16,881.26; interest, $6,283.58; warrant on general fund, $6,835.16; total, $30,000.00. Your committee has the foregoing proposition under careful consideration, has visited the premises and carefully examined the house and grounds, and has reached the decision to strongly urge the passage of a bill for an act to provide for purchasing a governor's mansion.

Instead of adopting the committee's recommendation, the legislature passed an act, March 3rd, 1873, "To provide for the liquidation and settlement of certain claims with David Butler." And in accordance with said act, April 4th, 1873, a board of commissioners reported, "That we have examined and appraised 3,400 acres, the lands of David Butler, in quantity sufficient to liquidate the indebtedness of David Butler to the school fund of

the state of Nebraska," to which Governor Robert W. Furnas gave his official approval of the same date.

Eight years after the $16,881 had gone into the possession of Governor Butler, the legislature passed a resolution rescinding the verdict of removal from office; and since the settlement, on the supposition that the 3,400 acres of surrendered land had become valuable and the state could afford to refund the amount over and above the liquidated debt, a bill for that purpose was presented to the legislature, but has not been enacted into law.