nt of the debt created by the old railroad bonds that
I have heretofore mentioned, the finances of the state have always been
in excellent condition. When the receipts of an individual or a state
exceed expenditures the situation is both satisfactory and safe. At the
last report, up to July 31, 1898, the receipts of the state from all
sources were $5,429,240.32, and the expenditures were $5,208,942.05,
leaving a balance on the right side of the ledger of $220,298.27. To the
receipts must be added the balance in the treasury at the beginning of
the year of $2,054,314.26, which left in the treasury on July 31, 1898,
the large sum of $2,184,612.53.

The original indebtedness arising from the adjustment of the state
railroad bonds was $1,659,000; other bonds, $300,000.00. This
indebtedness has been reduced by payments to the sum of $1,475,647.22,
on July 31, 1898, the date of the last report. If this debt had
matured, it could at once be paid by the funds on hand, leaving the
state entirely free from all indebtedness.

The taxable property of the state by last assessment, in 1897, including
real and personal property, was $570,598,813.

THE MONETARY AND BUSINESS FLURRY OF 1873 AND PANIC OF 1893.

It has been customary in the United States to expect a disturbance in
monetary and business affairs about once in every twenty years, and the
expectation has not been disappointed since the panic of 1837. I have
described the effect of the panic of 1857 on the Territory and State of
Minnesota, and the difficulties of recuperating from the shock. The next
similar event was not due until 1877, but there is always some special
disaster to precipitate such occurrences. In 1857 it was the failure of
the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, and in 1873 it was the
failure of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia. This house had been very
prominent in placing the bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company,
and in the construction of the road, and was relied upon by many classes
of people to invest their money for them, and when their failure was
announced, its effect in the East was disastrous, but here in Minnesota
it only affected us in a secondary or indirect way, in stopping railroad
building and creating general alarm in business circles. We had been
diligently at work for sixteen years, endeavoring to recuperate from the
disaster of 1857, and had to a great extent succeeded. Real estate had
partially revived, but had not