pleasure in saying that the affairs of the prison have been conducted with marked success in all the departments.

LAND GRANTS.

The elaborate and comprehensive report of the Register of the State Land Office, will present you the condition of the various land grants, which have been made by Congress at different times for the benefit of the State. It will be observed that many questions of an exceedingly complicated character have arisen from the conflicting claims of the parties interested in these several grants, the full and just determination of some of which may require judicial investigation. To settle these questions, however, so far as they can be settled by legislative action, will involve much thorough and patient labor. A large number of our citizens who have settled upon public lands in good faith under color of title, now find their homes jeopardized on account of claims insisted upon by corporations which have become the beneficiaries of those grants. These adverse claims, in most cases harshly insisted upon, will unless, some remedy is provided, ultimately cause great inconvenience and perhaps ruin to a large number of our enterprising and worthy settlers. It was evidently the intention of Congress in all these grants to preserve inviolate the rights of bona fide settlers, and allow them a fair opportunity to purchase at the minimum price. And the attempts now being made by these corporations to appropriate these lands against the rights of the settlers, are, in my judgment, a manifest departure from the spirit of the grants. I therefore earnestly recommend such legislation on your part, and resort to judicial tribunals, both of which I deem essential, as will speedily bring these conflicting interests to a full and final adjustment.

The difficulties existing in the adjustment of the Swamp Land claims in the Department at Washington are fully explained in the Register's report. I entertain the hope that these difficulties will be fully removed within a reasonable time, and that the counties will not be long delayed in procuring the allowance of their claims.

The law provides that where lands, afterwards proven to be Swamp lands, have been sold by the Government, the purchase money shall be refunded to the State, which goes to the benefit of the proper county. A large number of warrants for the indem

nity money have been issued by the United States Treasury, and forwarded to this office. Some of these warrants, without coming into my personal possession, have been improperly and illegally applied by parties through whose hands they have passed, and the counties to which the warrants belong, have, up to this time, failed to receive their money. This matter is of so grave a character, that I deem it incumbent on me to call the early attention of the General Assembly to it, and I therefore ask for the immediate appointment of a joint committee to investigate the facts.

JUDICIAL SALARIES.

Your attention is specially invited to the subject of judicial salaries. Chapter 19, Acts of the Extra Session September, 1862, reduced the salaries of District Judges to $1,300.00, and of the Supreme Judges to $1,800.00. When this Act was adopted we were in the midst of the rebellion, liable to extraordinary outlays of money for an indefinite period, and the reduction of salaries was then regarded by the Legislature as an important measure in the general policy of retrenchment. The wisdom of such a measure, however, at any time, may be seriously questioned, especially in regard to judicial officers; for it should not be forgotten that upon the purity, ability and independence of the judiciary depends to a great extent our stability and strength as a nation. These essential qualifications cannot well be secured or continued by a system of compensation which is inadequate to the proper support of judicial officers. Those best qualified for the bench must, under the most favorable circumstances, make great pecuniary sacrifices in becoming judges. This reduction of salaries in its application to the District Judges took effect in January, 1863, with the commencement of the present terms, but in providing for the reduction of the salaries of the Supreme Judges "after the several terms of office of the present incumbents expire," it may well be doubted whether the act takes effect until the close of Justice Lowe's term in January, 1868, inasmuch as his is one of the "several terms which will not expire until that time. Otherwise the anomaly would be presented of paying some judges less compensation than others of the same grade, and for performing the same service. This the General Assembly clearly never intended,

and it may well be doubted whether they could have done so under the Constitution. This view is sustained by two of the Supreme Judges and the Attorney General, whose opinions will be found in the Auditor's report. If, therefore, it be correct that the salaries of these judges have not yet been affected by the operation of this law, the constitutional provision against changing the compensation of judges during the term for which they are elected, will not be contravened by its repeal, which would leave the salaries of all the Supreme Judges at $2,000. But whatever view you may entertain as to the time of taking effect of this law, I trust you will perceive the expediency of its immediate repeal, as this cannot change the salaries of those now in office.

In my opinion the public interests would be clearly subserved by paying our District Judges $2,000 a year, and those of the appellate tribunal $2,500. A law increasing the salaries of District Judges would take effect in January, 1867, at which time the terms of the present incumbents will expire; but those of the Supreme Bench cannot be increased, if this view of the Constitution is sustained, until after all of the present terms shall have expired.

I recommend that you constitute the judges of the Supreme Court Commissioners of Legal Inquiry" in place of those contemplated by section 2675 Rev. 1860, making it their duty at the close of each regular term to report fully to the Governor, and also to the General Assembly at each regular session, upon any discrepancies or imperfections in the general statutes and code of procedure. These duties should be made imperative, and compensation provided. This is not now the case, and as a consequence no report of Commissioners of Legal Inquiry has ever been submitted. The trust is one of such delicacy and responsibility, that it would be appropriate to confer it upon those who hold the highest judicial position in the State. In this way we will be gradually enabled to systematize and perfect our laws and code of practice, civil and criminal, at the same time that we raise the pay of the Supreme Bench by constitutional means to something near a proper compensatory standard.

RAIL-ROADS.

The successful development of the vast resources of this State,

and its consequent prosperity and wealth, are largely dependent upon the facilities offered by railway communication. To encourage and foster our Railroad enterprises by every feasible means, is manifestly the part of wisdom. The financial disorders through which the country has passed have crippled the means and retarded the progress of these enterprises in Iowa. Largely dependent for aid upon foreign capital, which is proverbially timid in regard to mode of investment, the difficulties incident to the construction of Railroads through this State will be readily appreciated. All the Railroads leading from the Mississippi River, with but one exception, have made an extension of their lines since your last session. New lines running from Missouri northerly through this State are now projected, and at least one of them is already in process of construction. The importance of a Railway connection with St. Louis by which the products of the Des Moines, Iowa and Cedar Valleys will find a cheaper and readier exit to market, than eastern lines are able to afford, is being duly comprehended in enterprising and intelligent commercial circles. Experience has already sufficiently demonstrated the incapacity of existing lines of Railroads for conveying our immense agricultural productions to the eastern markets. And it is also equally clear that, whatever may be the capacity of these eastern lines, their immoderate thirst for monopolizing the avenues of transportation, and their exorbitant charges for carrying stock and grain, render them formidable enemies to our agricultural prosperity. For this, the only only permanent remedy is the establishment of competing lines. In this question the farmers of Iowa are deeply interested, and the time for prompt and decided measures upon their part has arrived. The projected Railway connecting us directly with St. Louis, and by this means affording us the advantage of navigation to the Ocean at all seasons, in spite of low water in summer and ice in winter, must be admitted as a commercial and agricultural necessity. Such a road leading up the Cedar Valley, and to St. Paul, would also bring us in more direct and certain connection with the pine regions of the North, enabling our rapidly increasing demands for lumber to be more readily and cheaply supplied.

But it is not to the East alone that we should look for our future commercial relations. Iowa occupies a central position, a pivotal point, between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The mountains and

the unproductive regions of the West must ultimately look to this State for a large portion of their agricultural supplies, while the Pacific States offer powerful inducements to our commercial enterprise. These vital considerations must not be disregarded.

Is

Every rational calculation for the future urges the great importance of immediately seizing the opportunities now offered of securing these natural and invaluable tributaries to our commerce. it not of the highest importance, therefore, that we take immediate steps to secure the extension of the Union Branch of the Pacific Railroad through this State? The General Government has already given aid to the construction of one branch of this road through Kansas, and it is certainly not too much to expect that Congress would be equally generous towards this State. This road must inevitably become one of the important military lines of the Government, as intelligent statesmen will not fail to perceive. But space will not permit me to discuss the importance of this enterprise at greater length. I, therefore, most earnestly recommend that you address a joint memorial to Congress asking the proper aid for extending this road from its terminus on the Missouri River to some practicable point on the Des Moines where it can be united with one of the lines running eastward from that point.

MILITARY.

Without extending this communication much beyond the proper limits, it will be quite impossible to present even a general outline of our military history. The faithful services rendered during the late war by the troops from this State and their admirable conduct upon all occasions have furnished themes for abler pens than mine. Their fidelity and heroism have been often and appropriately acknowledged by the distinguished generals under whom they have served. It was their fortune to have borne a conspicuous part in all the renowned campaigns of the Western division of the army, bravely participating in its bloodiest and most decisive engagements. When the history of this great conflict shall have been fully and impartially written, it will contain no brighter pages than those upon which the achievements of Iowa soldiers are recorded. A State which before the war was scarcely known except as a patch upon the map of the Republic, to-day has a name calculated to excite becoming emotions in every manly and patriotic breast.