honesty in distribution, and if the State would invest the pernianent school fund in relief bonds of counties, it would be safer and cheaper than outright appropriations; besides the State indebtedness had reached the constitutional limit. FINANCES. He declared the State's financial condition bad, inasmuch as there were outstanding warrants of two classes, equal to $608,538, with only $28,503 with which to pay. He found the property of the State $1,275,685,514, assessed at less than 15 per cent of its value. He demanded better security for State funds deposited with banks; and gave ample evidence of a painstaking and intelligent care over the investments of the permanent school fund. By securing obedience to the law requiring officers of state institutions to make semi-annual reports of receipts and disbursements, he was able to see order evolved from confusion and economy made the rule rather than the exception. While the monthly demand for coal at the Lincoln Insane Hospital under Thayer's administration for two terms was 546 tons, and under Boyd's 233 tons for one term, it was only 181 tons during the term of Mr. Crounse. It was his good fortune to have administered his term on $667,000 less of an appropriation than the allowance for the previous years. By allowing an officer of a prominent institution to retain position irrespective of politics, he honored the doctrine of promotion for merit, and said in his message: "Sound legislation should not be avoided for fear of the loss of some partisan advantage." In cases where malfeasance and embezzlement were suspected he promptly aided the officers of justice. In the matter of $236,364 he ordered suit to be brought upon a retired treasurer's bond. He was able to show a decided decline in insane hospital expenses in these words: These three hospitals, located at Hastings, Lincoln, and Norfolk, under the superintendency of Drs. Johnston, Hay, and Little, respectively, have been ably managed, and I desire to testify to the hearty co-operation and sympathy of these gentlemen, and the stewards under them, in my ef- IRRIGATION. In dealing with his immediate fellow-citizens and the outside world he was equally explicit and fair: The fact that nearly or quite half of the lands within the State lie west of the line of humidity sufficient to insure an unbroken succession of crops, renders irrigation necessary to protect the people against disaster in unusually dry years. The partial failure from drouth in 1890-92-93, and the almost total failure of 1894, has awakened the people to the necessity of providing for watering the growing crops by artificial means. The soil of western Nebraska, where, to some extent, want now prevails, is as fertile as that of any portion of the United States, and in the years past has yielded abundant harvests in response to the efforts of industrious settlers. RAILROADS AND BEET SUGAR. Thoroughly impressed with the fact of the State's adaptation to the cultivation of the sugar beet and of the value of that great industry, he suggested a bounty where a specific price had been paid the cultivator of the beet, but which should stop as soon as the United States government gave the sugar industry protection. He declared the court decision "disappointing and unsatisfactory," in admitting the constitutional power to legislate upon freight rates, and then nullifying the law for want of adaptability and the financial ability of the railroads, and sug gested an appeal to the court of last resort. During his administration he had specially received and turned into the state treasury $36,595. With a carefully prepared and condensed message, and in a spirit of kindness he made his official bow. CONCLUSION. In relinquishing an office which came to me in a manner highly complimentary I do so with the consciousness of having tried to be of service to the people of the State who have so frequently honored me. How well I have succeeded they must decide. I shall carry with me pleasant recollections of the kindly relations which have existed between myself and those with whom I have associated or had to deal with in an official way. GOVERNOR SILAS A. HOLCOMB. 1895-1897. Hon. Silas A. Holcomb was born in the state of Indiana in the year 1858, and is, consequently, 37 years of age, in this 1895. His early education was obtained in the common and Normal school before his 17th year, when he assumed the duty of teacher. During four years of teaching he was preparing for college; but his plans were seriously deranged on account of the death of his father in 1878. One year thereafter he arrived in Hamilton County, Nebraska, with his mother and younger brothers and sisters. Thoughtful, industrious and persevering, he accepted the first honorable opening for employment, work upon a farm, for one year, and in 1880 entered the law office of Thummel & Platt, at Grand Island, and came to the bar in 1882. In 1883 he removed to Broken Bow, and in 1891 was elected Judge of the 12th Judicial District. Though a populist and allied with the silver democrats, he was elected Governor in 1894, while the State went republican by pluralities of from twelve to twenty-five thousand. The election of Silas A. Holcomb, of the Populist party, in 1894, took place during the 40th year of our congressional representation (the limit of these sketches). He has been preceded by Burt of South Carolina, Izard of Arkansas, Richmond of Illinois, and Black of Pennsylvania, all democratic territorial governors, and Saunders, republican, from Iowa; also by elected governors of the State, Butler, Furnas, Garber, Nance, Dawes, Thayer and Crounse, republicans, and Boyd, democrat. Governor Crounse, his immediate predecessor, had been inaugurated by a populist legislature, while he was inducted into office by a republican one. In the great political upheaval of 1894 the populists lost the legislature and gained the Governor, while the republicans, losing the Governor, gained the legislature, and consequently the United States Senator, John M. |