favor the former by its report, made on or about the 10th of April, 1862, and the latter by its report, made on or about the 3d of March, 1863.

As a commercial measure, the execution of this project is no less a necessity. The products of the Northwest for exportation, have increased beyond example. The capacity of the present channels of commerce is insufficient to move them, while the cost of transportation is so great, that in some localities corn is used for fuel, and in most, is converted into pork and beef before it can be forwarded. The product of grain, for example, has increased; that of Wisconsin, from 36,000,000 bushels in 1860 to nearly 50,000,000 bushels in 1865; that of Illinois, from 155,000,000 bushels in 1860 to 230,000,000 bushels in 1865; that of Iowa, Minnesota and other Western States in proportion, quite or nearly as great, and yet only a mere fraction of the soil (estimated at oneeighth) is under cultivation. The increase for years to come can not be less than in the years last past; and with it the cost of transportation will be increased and the incapacity of the present channels of commerce become more apparent and more ruinous.

By the execution of this project, vast sums now paid to middle men will be saved to the consumer and producer; freights will be classified, giving to railways the exclusive control over certain classes of freight, and in quantity more than they can move. Railway capital can not be imperiled, but if so, better the corporations than that the people should suffer.

By its execution, the entire country is benefited, not less the East than the West; not more by the returns of commerce, than by developing avenues of intercourse into bonds of unity. The project which tends to unite, by friendly bonds, the remote parts of of a country, can be no less national in character than that which guards against outward foes.

Your memorialist respectfully suggests, that this work should be undertaken by the General Government. It can not be successfully accomplished by the States separately, and can not be undertaken by them even, as in most there are constitutional prohibitions against the incurring of State debt. As a national and military measure, its accomplishment is devolved, not upon the States, but

upon the General Government. The navigable waters which it is proposed to improve and develop, and the carrying places between the same, are common highways, declared to be such by the ordinance of 1787, and are of the class of navigable waters over which the General Government has invariably retained control, and to improve which it has long been its policy to make appropriations. Your memorialist respectfully suggests, that this work should be undertaken at this time, because the public debt is great. Its accomplishment will increase the wealth of the country, out of which the debt is to be paid, and will enlarge the incomes of the consumer and producer, by whom it is to be paid. At any cost, its early accomplishment is dictated by true economy. It will not

cost a sum equal to the saving over land carriage on the movement seaward of a single grain crop.

For those reasons, your memorialist invites your attention to this subject, and trusts it will receive early and due consideration. Be it therefore resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the Governor be and he is hereby authorized and requested to affix his official signature thereto, and forward a copy of this memorial to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each of our Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United States.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE OFFICE, MAR. 23.

Gentlemen of the Senate:

In reply to your Resolution March 18th, inquiring "whether the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad has accepted of the grant made to said company by Chapter 37 of the Acts of the Eighth General Assembly, as required by said Act," I have the honor to state that a formal, written acceptance, signed by the President and Secretary of said corporation, with the corporate seal affixed, was deposited with the Secretary of State, in compliance with the terms of the Act conferring the grant.

The second inquiry of your Resolution, "what portion of said road has been constructed within the limits of said land - grant," appeals to facts which are not in the possession of this office.--The map which was filed in the office of the Secretary of State, bears the date of December 26th, 1862; being a map of the original line, and no map of the modified line, indicating the present route of the road, has been deposited by the Company. Accordingly, I am unable to give any authoritative answer to this branch of your inquiry.

The amount of lands originally included within the grant made to the State for the use of the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad, was 775,717.67 acres. These were the lands which were embraced within the limit of fifteen miles on either side of the line of that road. By an Act of Congress, approved June 2d, 1864, an additional grant was made, conditional upon the impossibility of finding the amount of land first granted within the proposed limits. The Commissioner of the General Land Office estimates

the amount of land to enure to the Company, under this Act, at 123,370 acres. The same officer also estimates the whole amount of lands enuring to the Company, under all grants, embracing some lands which may or may not vest in the Company, a part of the lands being claimed under other grants, and the title being yet indeterminate, at 1,298,739 acres.

Information received from the Secretary of the Interior indicates that maps of the main line, and of the branch from the main line, to Onawa, have been filed in his Department. The modified line leaves the line, originally proposed, at Cedar Rapids. The branch alluded to, leaves the main line in Section 15, Township 78, Range 44, in Harrison county.

S. MERRILL