Appendix to the Journals of the Senate and Assembly of the ... session of the Legislature of the State of California (Volume 1885v.1) online

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APPJilNDIX TO THE JOURNALS



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SENATE AND ASSEMBU'



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TNA/'ENTY-SIXTH SESSION



LliGlSLATUKH OF THE STATE OF CAiJlOKNlA.



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bTATE OFFICE JAMlCtJ J. AVKICS, .SCl-J;. t-TATi; i^Ri>Ti.\<i.

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21110



CONTENTS,



1 — First Bienuiul Messuije of Governor George Stoneruau.

2 — liiennial Report of the Secretary of State.

3 — liieiiiiiHl KojKiri of tlie Treaaiirer of tlie iSUile of I'alifornia.

4— liiennial EiejHjrl of the Controller of the State of (.'aiifuriiia.

5 — liieniiiul Knj)ort of the Attoruey-(Jeneral of the State of California.

6 — Biennial lle|>ort of the Ailjutuut-Genoral of the State of California.

7 — Uiduuial Report of the Surveyor-General of the State of California.

8 — Biennial Ileport of the Siijjerintendunt of State Priming,

9 — Biennial Ue})ort of the TrusteejJ of the State Library.
10 — Biennial lie]x)rt of the Directors and Sujjeriuteudent of the Insane Asylum of the Stuto of

California, at Stockton.
11 — Biennial KejHjrt of the TriiftteoB and llcsident Physiioian of the Ntipa SCuto Aayluin for the

Insane.
12 — Biennial lieport of the Sufierintendeut of Public Instruction.
13 — Biennial Uej)ort of the President of the University of California.
14 — Bie^nfal Uei>ort of the State Engineer.
16 — Biennial Ke|)orl of ihe Board of Stale liurhor Coniinissioiiers.



FIRST BIENNIAL MESSAGE



OF GOVERNOR



GEORGE STONEMAN,



LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA.



Twenty-Sixth Session,




SACRAMENTO:

STATE OFFICE JAMES J. A VERS, 8UPT. STATE PRINTING.

1885.



BIENE^IAL MESSAGE.



State op California, Executive Department, \
Sacramento, January 5, 1885. j

To the Senate and Assembly of the State of California :

Gentlemen: In accordance with custom, and in conformity to law,
I have the honor to hercM'ith transmit to you my first biennial mes-
sage.

As the Chief Executive of the State, it affords me great pleasure to
welcome j'OU to the State Capital. The many interests of this great
and growing commonwealth are so important, and the time fixed by
law for your sitting is so brief, that the office of member of the Legis-
lature is not one of ease or pleasure, but of laborious and responsible
employment. That you enter upon the discharge of your duties with
high hopes and patriotic motives, I have no doubt. That, when the
hour for your adjournment arrives, many laws which you will have
advocated as in(?ividual members, and which would redound to the
benefit of the State, will remain unenacted, is the experience of all
former Legislatures. Meeting upon a common level, our sole aim and
object should be to advance the common welfare of the people and
to promote their happiness and prosperity. To this higher plane of
patriotism it should be our duty to aspire.

So far as my knowledge and observation extend, I am able to
report that our people are in a reasonably prosperous condition. The
products of the soil have been abundant, but the selling prices there-
for are not as remunerative as formerly. Owing to unsatisfactory
prices, our warehouses are filled with wool, wine, and cereal products,
awaiting an increase in rates. While some of our industries are in
a languishing condition, the purchasing power of money for nearly
all necessary articles of food in our markets appears greater than for
many years past. The fructifying rain has again visited the State,
and we are assured of bountiful harvests and a revival of the mining
industry for the coming year. The soil, the climate, the seasons, the
agricultural, industrial, commercial, and manufacturing industries
which go to make a happy and prosperous people, are ours. Surely,
no people whom Providence has so much favored can come to want.

With this general statement of the condition of the State, I noAv
proceed to review the work and condition of some of the depart-
ments and institutions of the Government, and to make such sug-
gestions as I may think most pertinent to the necessities of each of
them.

expenses of the government.

The receipts and expenditures for the thirty-fourth and thirty-
fifth fiscal years, according to the report of the Controller, make,
when compared with those for the thirty-second and thirty-third



fiscal years, a most favorable showing for the present administration.
The receipts of the State during the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth
years amounted to a sum less by $380,230 29 than the receipts for the
two fiscal years preceding. The expenditures during the same
periods show even a greater difference in favor of the present
administration. They stand thus: For the thirty-second and thirty-
third fiscal years, $9,803,258 69; for the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth
fiscal years, $8,591,009 62, exhibiting the fact that the expenditures
for the first two fiscal years of this administration were less by
$1,212,244 07 than the expenditures for the last two fiscal years of the
preceding administration. In addition to the ordinary expenses of
the Government during the two years past, it will be remembered
that $163,000 was appropriated by the last Legislature for the erection
of an additional building for the insane at Stockton; that $40,000
was appropriated for a portion of the construction fund of the State
Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition Building at Sacramento;
that the Horticultural, Sericultural, and Forestry Commissions, and
Bureau of Labor Statistics, were created, and moneys appropriated
therefor ; that appropriations were made for the Veterans' Home, the
Old People's Homes, and that the number ©f orphans, insane
patients in the asylums, and convicts in the State Prisotis, is con-
stantly on the increase.

Keeping step with a decrease in the expenses of the Government,
there has been a decrease in the rate of State taxation. The rate of
taxation for State purposes in the year 1881 was 65.5 cents on each
one hundred dollars valuation of taxable property ;*in 1882 the rate
was 59.5 cents; in 1883, 49.7 cents, and in 1884, 45.2 cents, showing a
steadily decreasing rate for the past four years. The present rate of
taxation, 45.2 cents on each one hundred dollors, is the lowest reached
in the history of our State government, arid the above showing ought
to be a matter of pride and congratulation to every citizen of the
State.

STATE BONDS.

I call your attention to the fact that the State Capitol bonds, issued
in accordance with the Act approved April 4, 1870, for the benefit of
the Common School Fund, will be payable on the first day of July
of this year. All of the foregoing bonds, with the exception of $14,000
worth, are held by the State. According to the report of the Con-
troller there was to the credit of this fund on the first day of July,
1884, the sum of $270,443 47. There will be received into the fund
during the present fiscal year the further sum of about. $277,000, mak-
ing in all $547,443 47. The interest falling due up to the end of that
year will amount to $301,888, leaving $245,555 47 in the fund, which
will be about $5,000 less than will be necessary to pay these bonds.
In addition there will be needed, to pay the interest becoming due
on the first day of January, 1886, on the State Capitol bonds of 1872,
payable July 1, 1887, and the Funded Debt bonds of 1873, payable
July 1, 1893, the sum of $89,680. I recommend that the Controller
and Treasurer be authorized and directed to transfer from other funds
in which there is a surplus, to the Interest and Sinking Fund, an
amount which, with the amount already on hand, will be sufficient
to pay the bonds coming due on July 1, 1885, and the interest falling
due on the State Capitol bonds of 1872, and the Funded Debt bonds
of 1873. I estimate the amount which should be so transferred to be



about $95,000. This amount, if so transferred, should be included in
your tax levj'" for the next fiscal year, in order that the funds from
which the transfer is made shall not be impaired or diminished.

Provision should also be made for the payment or refunding of the
State Capitol bonds of 1872, due July 1, 1887, and the Funded Debt
bonds of 1873, due July 1, 1893. At the time each class of these bonds
was issued, a fund was created into which it was directed that an
adequate amount of money, to be raised by tax levies, should be
placed during each fiscal year, so that there would be funds on hand
to pay the interest when due, and the bonds at maturity, thus equably
apportioning the burden of payment through the years during which
the obligation extended. Owing, however, to the failure of each suc-
cessive Legislature to make the necessary provision for this purpose
in the levies, we now find ourselves with barely sufficient funds to
pay the principal and interest of the bonds first falling due.

LOSS OF STATE MONEYS,

The Controller, during his term of office, has discovered losses of
State moneys chargeable to the following persons, viz. :

C. D. Bunker, Commissioner of Immigration $24,903 66

T. C. Van Ness, Commissioner of Immigration 2,382 89

Grant I. Taggart, Clerk of Supreme Court 2.998 00

Frank W. Gross, Clerk of Supreme Court 2,880 20

J. W. McCarthy, Clerk of Supreme Court 2,104 60

Harbor Commissioners, preceding administration 91,678 95

Drury Melone, Secretary of State 8,900 00

D. M. Burns, Secretary of State 31,739 59

Making a total of $167,587 77

Of the above amounts, C. D. Bunker, after judgment, paid into the
State Treasury the sum of $20,156 60. J. W. McCarthy, when notified
of his deficiency, paid the amount due, in full, into the State Treasury.
I understand that actions are now pending for the recovery of the
sums specified above from the above named persons. In this con-
nection I would recommend that additional clerical aid be furnished
the Controller to enable him to prosecute inquiries in other direc-
tions, the force now allowed him by law being only sufficient for the
performance of the usual routine work of the office arising during
office hours.

The State Board of Examiners, at their counting of the State
moneys on the twenty-fourth day of November, 1884, discovered that
Arthur D. January, Deputy State Treasurer, had embezzled the sum
of $39,542 27 of moneys in the Treasury as special deposits, placed
there by various County Treasurers. The loss of this money, in my
opinion, will fall upon the County Treasurers and the sureties on
their official bonds.

TRANSFERS OF MONEY.

When the present administration came into office it was found
that during the thirty-fourth fiscal year his Excellency Governor
Perkins had transferred $98,387 04 from the State School Land Fund
to the General Fund, and that, in the early part of the thirty-fifth
fiscal year, an additional transfer of $100,000 had been made from
the former fund to the latter. These transfers the Governor is



authorized to make by virtue of an Act approved March 21, 1872
(Statutes 1871-2, p. 475); and in the instances cited were perfectly
legal, and, without doubt, for the best interest of the State. The
amounts named were returned to the State School Land Fund by
the present Controller as soon as the condition of the General Fund
permitted. Afterward, finding the General Fund again exhausted,
and a large amount of warrants outstanding, under the authority
above cited, and as a necessity to the proper administration of the
affairs of the State, I transferred the sum of §200,000 from the State
School Land Fund, the sum of $50,000 from the Harbor Improve-
ment Fund, and the sum of S30,000 from the Escheat Fund, to the
General Fund. These moneys will be returned to the several funds
to which they respectively belong as soon as the condition of the
General Fund shall justify such action. At the time these trans-
fers were made a large surplus existed in each of the funds drawn
upon, with no possibility that such surpluses would Iffe called for or
used before thej^ could be replaced from incoming taxes.

A FINANCIAL SYSTEM NEEDED.

In place of the several different laws and methods for paying out
money belonging to the State for the support of different institutions,
I would recommend that some general system for that purpose be
formulated and enacted bj^ your honorable body. All moneys belong-
ing to the State should be paid into the State Treasurj- as soon as they
come into the possession of State officers, and should be disbursed
only upon warrants from the Controller. By no other method can a
proper record be kept of the expenditure of State moneys. I would
therefore suggest that Section 8 of the law relating to the govern-
ment of the State Prisons be amended, so as to require the Wardens
to pay into the State Treasury all moneys collected by them, said
moneys to be placed to the credit of the State Prison Fund. Also,
should you find that the Asylums or other institutions are collecting
State moneys, that the same rule be applied to them. Whether or
not the Harbor Commission should be made an exception to this
general and apparently necessary plan, your own wisdom and inves-
tigation can best determine.

INVESTMENT OF THE SCHOOL LAND FUND.

By virtue of the power granted in Sections 680 and 682 of the Polit-
ical Code, as amended March 3, 1883, the State Board- of Examiners,
on the twenty -fourth day of November, 1884, bought one hundred
and twenty-six bonds, of the par value of one thousand dollars each,
issued on that day by the County of Sacramento, and maturing on
the first day of January, 1895, paying therefor the sum of 8126,000.
These bonds bear interest at the rate of four and a half per centum
per annum, interest payable semi-annually. The Board of Exam-
iners, in the exercise of the power conferred as above stated, have
experienced considerable difficulty, owing to the terms of the law
and the active competition of private capital, in investing the School
Fund profitably. The Board is limited by the law to the investment
of the School Fund in bonds of the United States, and bonds of the
State and of the counties. The bonds of the United States command
a high premium and bear a low rate of interest. In consequence of



this the Board have not considered it profitable or advisable to buy
such bonds. The bonds of the State in the hands of individuals
have not been offered for sale to the State by their owners. The
Board, further, encounter competition from private individuals in
the purchase of county bonds, which are issued by the counties in
only limited quantities. Meanwhile the School Fund from the sale
of State school lands and other sources is accumulating at the rate of
about $125,000 per annum. It will, therefore, be well for your honor-
able body to consider the advisability of extending the power of the
Board of Examiners to the investment of this fund in other securi-
ties than those now mentioned in the law. In some of the States the
Commission charged with investing the School Fund are authorized
to loan such moneys to private individuals and take as security for
the repayment thereof a mortgage upon real estate. A law, properly
framed and carefully guarded, authorizing the Board of Examiners
to loan such moneys upon mortgage would, no doubt, facilitate the
investment of this fund, and the State would at the same time be
amply secured in its recovery should the principal not be paid when
due. The Regents of the University adopted the above plan many
years since, and it has been found to facilitate the loaning of the
funds of that institution in a safe and profitable manner.

FEDERAL CLAIMS.

In reference to the several claims of the State alleged to exist
against the United States, I beg to report that the agent for this
State at Washington, D. C, under the executive authority heretofore
conferred upon him and duly ratified by the Legislature, has brought
to the official attention of the proper authorities and departments of
the United States, sundry claims of this State. While the reports
made by him from time to time in regard thereto show considerable
and favorable progress, still, only two of such claims have been
allowed and paid by the United States, namely, that of $495 72 on
account of the expenses incurred by the State in the year 1872 for
the transportation of arms to the northern counties during the Modoc
Indian war; and that of $38,180 80, on account of the rebate of the
fifteen per centum of the direct war tax levied upon and assessed to
this State under the Act of Congress approved August 5, 1861 (U. S.
Statutes, Vol. 12, p. 296).

The total amount of the Federal direct war tax levied upon the
State of California under the aforesaid Act of Congress, was $254,538
67. This the State assumed and made provision for its payment in
the Act of the Legislature approved April 12, 1862, and of the sum,
up to February, 1863, had paid $247,445 41. This left the amount,
still due from the State to the United States, $7,093 26.

It was claimed by the agent of this State that, though the State
failed to make her payment of this direct war tax within the time
prescribed in said Federal statute, and though she was in conse-
quence not legally entitled to the rebate of fifteen per centum thereof,
as described in Section 53 of 'said Act, this State, nevertheless, was in
equity entitled to said fifteen per centum rebate, since the collection
and payment had been made without any expense whatever to the
United States. By establishing this right in equity the agent suc-
ceeded in securing and collecting the rebate in the percentum men-
tioned.



8

In the settlement had between the United States and this State,
arising under the two claims mentioned, the proper United States
authorities deducted said sum of 87,093 26 then delinquent and due
the United States, and thereafter issued, in the name of the Governor
of California, a draft for the remainder, viz., $31,583 26, upon the
United States Sub-Treasurer at San Francisco. This amount, after
deducting the commission for collection as fixed by the joint resolu-
tion of the Legislature adopted March 3, 1883, was by me paid over
to the State Treasurer in the sum of $23,847 96.

In this connection I beg to report that under the belief that a proper
effort, made by a competent person, to collect from the United States
the old California Indian war debts would be crowned with success,
I have duly appointed Captain John Mullan, the present agent, as
agent also for such purposes, the appointment being subject to ratifi-
cation by the Legislature. I have authorized him to present all the
matters connected with the said w^ar debts, including the interest paid
by and due to this State on account of moneys heretofore expended
and guaranteed by this State on account of Indian and other hostili-
ties within its borders, to the proper United States authorities at
Washington, with a view to the favorable recognition and payment
of such claims. Such a presentation has been made by him, and the
State may expect through his efforts an eventually favorable action
in final adjustment.

The intelligence and fidelity displayed by Captain Mullan in the
matters described fully reflect the confidence reposed in him by his
selection for this special work, and I therefore recommend that the
Legislature confirm the executive appointment of Captain Mullan
made by me for the purposes above described.

THE NEW ORLEANS COTTON EXPOSITION.

At the request of the President of the United States, I appointed a
Commissioner from this State to the AVorld's Industrial and Cotton
Centennial Exhibition, selecting Colonel A. Andrews, of San Fran-
cisco, for that office, with J. H. Carroll as Alternate Commissioner.
Those gentlemen were thereupon commissioned by the President to
act in the capacities named. Their duties have been well performed.
Colonel Andrews, by his industry, has succeeded in collecting and
forwarding an exhibit which, considering the circumstances, is second
to that of no other State in the Union. By consulting the schedule
of goods exhibited, I notice that every leading industry and every
product of our soil is on exhibition, except our mineral products.
Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado display a complete collection of their
respective ores and mineral specimens. Our Commissioners requested
the privilege of forwarding the mineral collection of the State Min-
ing Bureau to the Exposition, to form part of the California exhibit
as a partial display of the mineral resources of this State, but legal
objections were found to exist against the removal of those minerals
beyond the limits of the State. The Commissioners and the State
Mineralogist desire authority from your honorable body to place this
collection on exhibition at New Orleans, and I heartily second their
request. The Commissioners also desire, should this request be
granted, an appropriation of three thousand dollars, which is the
minimum estimate of the cost of packing, opening, repacking, attend-
ing, and guarding the minerals if exhibited. Thus far the State has



been at no expense in making its display. The Southern Pacific
Railroad Company has generously transported all articles intended
for exhibition, without cost to the State or to individual exhibitors. •
The managers of the Exposition have advanced the sum of four
thousand dollars to the Commissioner to provide for incidental
expenses, without the expectation of any reimbursement from this
State. The pride of the State, the revival of trade, and the anticipated
immigration of a reliable class of citizens, are prospects which should
insure to the Commissioner all needed assistance in his endeavors to
make the best possible showing for the State at the Exposition.

QUARANTINE GROUNDS AND THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH.

It is very necessary that quarantine grounds be secured to the State,
in which persons arriving from foreign ports or other States, and
afflicted with infectious or contagious diseases, may be kept in seclu-
sion by the proper authorities until it is safe to permit them to mingle
with our people. The purchase of such grounds should be provided
for before all the eligible locations are secured by corporations or
individuals for other purposes. A location near the City of San
Francisco would be the most appropriate place for a quarantine
station.

In this connection I desire to urge upon your honorable body the
necessity of providing an appropriation, under the control of the
State Board of Examiners, or with such other safeguards as to you
may seem proper, for the use of the State Board of Health in pre-
venting the introduction of infectious or contagious diseases into the
State. Although our people have heretofore enjoyed a comparative
immunity from such diseases, a feeling of fancied security should not
prevent us from anticipating the future by providing against their
visitation. I call your attention to the fact that yellow fever has been
prevalent in the republic of Mexico for the past two years, and has
also prevailed to some extent during the same time in some portions
of the neighboring territory of Arizona. It is also a fact that some
portions of Europe are afflicted at the present time with a visitation of
cholera. Whatever be the truth as to the origin of these diseases, it
is a well established fact that they follow the lines of travel and are
spread by commercial intercourse between countries and States. The
constant communication by sea between California and the infected
localities of Mexico, as well as the continuous line of communication
by railroad, renders the State peculiarly liable to epidemic invasion.
In a more remote degree the same is true of the danger to this State
from the infected districts of Europe. The appropriation now at the
disposal of the State Board of Health is altogether inadequate to meet
such an emergency as may arise at any time. In making the above
suggestions I do not desire to excite needless alarm. To be prepared
for danger is the most effectual means for allaying popular appre-
hension. It is impossible to predict just how large an appropriation
will be Required for the purposes named, but being made, its expendi-
ture can be so provided for that only such an amount as is necessary