FINANCE. The Constitution of 1957 prohibited debts for public improvement, and prohihited any State debt above $250,000. But an amendment in 1853 enabled the State to issue $5,000,000 of 7 per cent. bonds to lend to the railroads of the State under guaranty of first mortgage bonds. Less than half of these bonds were sold, the rail roads defaulted the interest on their mortgage bonds, and the State acquired their property by foreclosure. Nevertheless State was unable to meet the interest payment, and in 1860 the debt on these bonds was repudiated. The obliga tions were resumed in 1881, when the old bonds were exchanged for new ones at the rate of 50 per cent. This gave the State a debt of 84,2.i3, 000, which was quickly reduced in the eighties. amounting to $2,154.000 in 1991) and 52.009.000 in 1901. The original constitutional prohibition of State debts is in force and no further exten sion of the debt is possible. The budget rose rapidly from less than a million in 1970 to core than five millions in 1590, and in 1901 the re ceipts amounted to $5.901,194. and disbursements to $6,900.941, leaving'' a balance of $2,000.343. The receipts included the permanent school fond, $1.259.127; the general school fund. $1,906.670; the general university fund, $429.479; and the revenue fund. $4.457,708.
PoeuLATrox. The 1)01)111;160n of 'Minnesota by decades is ? is follows: 1830, 0077: 1560. 172,023; 1970, 439.706; 1990. 790.773: 1590, 1900, 1.751,394, The rank of the State has risen every decade. standing nineteenth in 1900. The largest absolute gain was in the decade 1980-90. From 1890 to 1900 the increase amounted to 34.5 per cent., as compared with 20.7 for the United States. During that decade every county in the State shared in the increase, but it was generally greatest throughout the northern ones, where the popnlation is still very sparse. The movement of the population turned toward Minnesota at a period when the immigration was still great and the Scandinavian peoples were just beginning to come in large numbers. As a re sult these elements are heavily represented. No other State contains so large a number of Swedes and Norwegians. In 1900 the foreign-born popu numbered 505,318. The colored popula tion numbered only 14,35S, of whom 4959 were negroes, 7411 'Indians taxed, :Ind 1768 Indians not taxed. As is common in newly settled States, there is a large excess of the nude sex. At the last census there were 22.1 inhabitants to the square mile. The State contains the two large metropolises of the Upper Mississippi Valley— :Minneapolis and Saint Paul—and the per cent. of urban population is therefore high for so new a State. In 1900 the 19 places which exceeded 4000 inhabitants each constituted 31 per cent. of the total population. The figures for the four
largest cities in 1900 were as follows: :Minneap olis, 202.71S; Saint Paul, 163,005; Duluth, 52, 969; Winona, 19,714.
REmmox. The noteworthy characteristic of the religious situation in Minnesota is the great predominance of the Roman Catholic and the Lutheran Churches. The strongest of the other denominations represented are the :Methodists, Baptists, Preshyterians, Congregationalists, and Protestant Episcopalians.
The census of 1900 reported 4.1 of the population ten years of age and over as being illiterate: for the native white population alone it was only 0.8 per cent. The average length of the school year in 1900 was 169 days, which was greater than that of any other State west of the Appalachians. The State has been very zealous in building up a complete and su perior system of public schools, and its success has been greatly aided by the large State en dowment. Minnesota has developed a system intended both to aid and to stimulate the schools to a higher degree of ellicienc•y. The apportion ment of the current school fund is based upon the number of pupils attending school forty days in the year, and in addition to this there arc State appropriations to such schools as attain a certain meritorious rank, the test of merit being the employment of teachers bottling the higher certiliente, and meeting the requirements of duration, of equipment: and of gradation. In 1900 aid was received by 115 high schools, 110 graded schools, 191 senti•graded schools, and (160 rural schools. The policy of causing the special appropriation to depend in part 111)011 OW grade of certificate held made it necessary to establish a uniform test. to secure which the State took over the examination of eandidates for that grade of certificate. The counties still examine the candidates for the lower certificates. The total number of teachers in 1900 was 10.586, of whom 8.534 were The State provides opportunity for pt-dagogical training at I he normal sellouts at Nlankato, Moor head, Saint Cloud, and Winona. The poliey of supporting summer schools for the benefit of leachers has been adopted. The Stale Univer sity, located at Minneapolis, is one of the fore most educational institutions in the West. The enrollment has reached about 3500. There arc also a number of small denominational colleges in the State. ln July, 1900, the total permanent school fund amounted to $12,546,599, the prin cipal sources of which were the sale of lands ($9,417,791) and the sale of pine timber (23, 1711,673). The permanent university fund of that date amounted to $1,240,817. The appor tionment for the current school fund in 1900 was $1,295,459. end the total paid to teachers amounted to $3,842,9:47.