NUMBER XVII.

GEN. G. H. THOMAS.

JOINT RESOLUTION of Respect to the Memory of Gen. G. H. Thomas.

Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That it is with the profoundest sorrow and regret that we have heard of the sudden death of that noble soldier and true patriot, General George H. Thomas. That his gallant services in the defense of his country entitled him to the gratitude and esteem of every American citizen. That we recognize in his death a national loss, and as a token of our respect for his memory, that this resolution be entered upon the Journal of this General Assembly.

Resolved, That the flag on the capitol building be placed at halfmast during the remainder of the session. Approved, April 6, 1870.

NUMBER XVIII.

MONEY ORDER OFFICES.

JOINT RESOLUTION in Regard to Money-Order Offices.

WHEREAS, An increase of money-order offices by the Post Office Department would be a great convenience to the citizens of the State of Iowa; therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Iowa, That the Senators in Congress, from this State be instructed and the Representatives requested, to use their influence for the establishment of an additional number of money-order offices within this State.

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to forward to each of the Senators and Representatives in Congress a copy of

these resolutions.

Approved, April 6, 1870.

NUMBER XIX.

AMENDMENT TO THE STATE CONSTITUTION.

JOINT RESOLUTION, Proposing to Amend the Constitution of the State of Iowa.

Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That the following amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa is hereby proposed:

Strike the word "white" from section 4, of article 3, thereof.
Approved, April 12, 1870.

NUMBER XX.

ASKING LAND TO INDEMNIFY SETTLERS ON THE DES MOINES RIVER LANDS.

JOINT RESOLUTION Asking a Grant of Land to Indemnify Settlers upon the Des Moines River Lands.

Be it Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our Representatives requested, to use their influence to procure from Congress a grant of lands to the State of Iowa, to be used by said State to indemnify such persons as have purchased from the United States or pre-empted any of the odd sections lying along the Des Moines river, and whose titles have since been held invalid on account of the grants by Congress to the State of Iowa of August 8th, 1846, and the acts in extension thereof.

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of these resolutions to each of our Senators and Representaties in Congress.

Approved, April 12, 1870.

NUMBER XXI.

WATER COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AND THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

A MEMORIAL to the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States.

The General Assembly of the State of Iowa would respectfully represent:-That the question of "uninterrupted water communication, between the Mississippi valley and the Atlantic seaboard, has. become one of all-absorbing interest to the people of the whole country, and more especially the food-producing States of the northwest. It has been considered by the people, met in local, county, state, and national conventions; by boards of trade and other commercial associations; by city councils and boards of supervisors of cities and counties; by the legislatures and governors of States, and through the public press; and without exception, by resolution, memorial, message, and public discussion, all have united in recognizing its importance and imperative necessity, and urging the attention and action of Congress and the country in relation thereto. A few brief extracts will demonstrate how thoroughly and universally this subject has taken hold of the popular sympathies of the people.

The National Commercial Convention, which met in Chicago in 1863, one of the largest, most intelligent, and most influential popular assemblies which ever convened in the country, most emphatically affirmed the proposition, that "uninterrupted steam navigation from the Mississippi river by way of the Great Lakes' to the Atlantic seaboard, had become an imperative necessity." The following resolutions were adopted by a unanimous vote:

"Resolved, That we regard the enlargement of canals between the Mississippi river and the Atlantic, with canals duly connecting the lakes as of great national, military, and commercial importance; we believe such enlargement, with dimensions sufficient to pass gunboats from the Mississippi to lake Michigan, and from the Atlantic to and from the great lakes, wil! furnish the cheapest and most efficient means of protecting the northern frontier, and at the same time, will promote the rapid development and permanent union of our whole country.

“Resolved, That these works are demanded alike by military prudence, political wisdom, and the necessities of commerce. Such works will be, not only national, but continental, and their early accomplishment is required by every principle of sound political economy."

In the memorial addressed to Congress, the convention say: "The one great idea which your memorialists seek to impress upon Congress is the necessity of a great national highway in the form of a ship and steamboat canal between the Mississippi and the Atlantic. This great national highway is demanded alike by military prudence, the necessities of commerce, and [sound political wisdom.'

The commercial convention, held in the city of Dubuque, in May, 1864, by Delegates from nearly all the north-western States, in their resolutions to Congress say: "The increasing development of the vast agricultural, mineral, and commercial resources of the northwest, and more especially of the Upper Mississippi valley require and demand the opening, at the earliest possible periods, of a water communication between the Eastern seaboard and the Mississippi river, by the nearest, cheapest, most expeditious, and most practicable route."

A commercial convention of the people of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, held at the same place on the 14th and 15th days of February, 1866, in their report and memorial to Congress say: "Many of the great staples are nearly valueless; and never before, in the history of the country, did the fruit of the laborer produce so little comfort. Corn, in many places, is used for fuel; oats in the stack rot unthrashed; barley and rye cannot be moved; and wheat, except of the first quality, leaves no margin to the shipper. If animal products form an exception, it is only because of the scarcity war has produced, and their price will soon reach the low level of the cereals. In all this there is a great want, a sore need, and if no remedy can be found, production in this region must diminish, and the strongest arm of the nation must wither. But one means of relief can be afforded, which is to provide cheaper transportation to the markets of the world for our heavy products." ** "The good results to flow from the successful accomplishment of this great purpose can hardly be enumerated. They are as multiplied as the industries of the nation, and as huge as its wonderful resources,"

The commercial convention of delegates from all the States of the Mississippi valley, held at Keokuk, on the 7th day of September, 1869, in their proceedings say: "Uninterrupted water transportation from the Mississippi valley to the Atlantic ocean, is an indispensable, and an imperative necessity."

In a memorial to Congress, extensively signed by the people in the upper Mississippi valley, and forwarded to their respective representatives in 1866-7-8, they say: "The experience of the whole country for the last few years has most abundantly proven that new, cheaper, and more direct commercial communications must be speedily opened up between the East and West, or the expansion and consequent continued prosperity of the latter must very soon reach a limit beyond which it cannot pass; railroads are entirely inadequate to

supply that need. We confidently affirm that nothing but a continued water communication between the Eastern seaboard and the Mississippi can, by any possibility, obviate this difficulty." These memorials further say: "This region (the Upper Mississippi valley), will raise and send to market, this year, (1868) about seventy million bushels of wheat, or two million tons. There will also be imported hither at least one million tons of merchandise and other freight, making in all three million tons, besides beef, pork, and other agricultural products which must seek an Eastern market. The annual increase, for many years to come, will be about twenty-five per cent. A water communication, which will reduce the tariff from railroad to water-rates on these products and merchandise, will annually save, to this region alone, at least ten millions of dollars, which must otherwise be paid in freights in the land carriage from the Mississippi to the lakes, when, at the same time, the products of this whole region of country can be transported through such a route to New York City as cheap, and quite as expeditiously, as from any of the ports on Lake Michigan."

In a pamphlet compiled and published in 1868, by order of the president and directors of the James River and Kanawha Canal Company, at the request of prominent citizens of the West, the writer says: "Cheap transportation is the great necessity of the West. Its products exceed the means at command of cheap outlet to the seaboard. They press constantly upon the avenues of transportation, and millions of Western producers are thus placed under the power of carriers."

The city council of the city, and the board of supervisors of the county of Dubuque, in a memorial to Congress on this subject, say: "That upon the speedy completion of the great national thoroughfare from the Mississippi by the way of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, the Great Lakes, the river St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, to the tide waters of the Atlantic at New York City, depends in a very great measure the future development and continued prosperity of the entire northwest.'

The Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Iowa, in a memorial to Congress in relation to this question, say : "That the great want of our State is cheap transportation for our heavy products to the markets of the world. That the most feasible plan to secure this end is to provide a direct and continuous line of water communication between the Mississippi river and the Atlantic seaboard."

In another memorial to Congress on the same subject, but in relation to another route, the same legislature further says: "The products of the northwest for transportation have increased beyond example. The capacity of the present channels of commere 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."