would be at least 40,000. Should the increase continue at this rate, the arrivals of one year would, after the lapse of twenty more years, equal the total population of the most advanced provinces. Assuming that every immigrant increases the national wealth by 1,000 pesos fuertes, the total addition to the wealth of the country would, during the year 1869, amount to $37,000,000. The largest number of immigrants in 1869 came from Italy (22,420 persons), 7,980 were French; 3,406 Swiss. The largest number of immigrant-vessels came from Spain; in other countries, it was chiefly the ports of Bordeaux and Genoa which furnished a considerable contingent. Thus far the national Government had paid but little attention to this important question, and left it altogether to the central committee. But of late the press of Buenos Ayres and other cities has strongly urged this subject upon the consideration of the legislators, and with some success, as the budget of 1871 contains, among the expenditures, 200,000 pesos for immigration.

ARKANSAS. The Federal census of 1870 shows the population of Arkansas to be 486,103. During the past year the people of the State have shown a disposition to give their attention mainly to developing the resources of the soil, inducing immigrants to settle upon their surplus lands, and to organizing and directing the interests of the Commonwealth for the protection and improvement of the citizens. There are still about 12,000,000 acres of public lands unsold within the limits of the State, subject to entry and occupation under the homestead acts of Congress. The State homestead law is very liberal, providing that 160 acres of land, and $2,000 worth of personal property, shall be "exempted from sale on execution, or other final process, of any court, issued for the collection of any debt contracted after the adoption of the constitution" of 1868. It also provided, that "hereafter, the homestead of any resident of this State, who is a married man or head of a family, shall not be encumbered in any manner, while owned by him, except for taxes, laborers' and mechanics' lien, and securities for the purchase-money thereof. Every homestead not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land, and the dwelling and appurtenances thereon, to be selected by the owner thereof, and not in any town, city or village, or, in lieu thereof, at the option of the owner, any lot in a city, town or village, with the dwelling thereon, owned and occupied by any resident of this State, and not exceeding the value of $5,000, shall be exempted from sale on execution, or any other final process of any court."-Further, "the homestead of a family, after the death of the owner thereof, shall be exempt from the payment of his debts, in all cases during the minority of his children, and also so long as his widow shall remain unmarried, unless she shall be owner of a homestead in her own right.”

A Board of Immigration has been organized, and the commissioner has been active in sending abroad information and setting forth the advantages of the State as a place of permanent settlement-10,000 pamphlets in English, and 5,000 in German, have been published and disseminated throughout Europe. During the year 1869, and the spring of 1870, over 35,000 immigrants settled in the State, and the influx has been even greater during the latter part of the year. The Governor, in his last message to the Legislature, in speaking of the condition of the State, says: "The past year has been one of great prosperity. The crops have been most abundant, and the season for gathering and securing them remarkably favorable. The spirit of public improvement has awakened the liveliest interest among our people, and in many portions of the State has given substantial evidence of it, by the inauguration and rapid progress of important enterprises, which, when completed, will be of incalculable benefit to the State. Our population has been largely increased by a healthy immigration. The wealth of the State has been greatly augmented by the influx of capital from the older States, which our superior advantages and undeveloped resources have at length attracted to us. Our State credit has been established, comity and friendly relations exist between us and the other States of the Union, our relations with the Federal Government are harmonious and satisfactory, law and order, peace and security reign throughout our borders. Under the benign influence of our free institutions and the faithful enforcement of the laws, old feuds are rapidly dying out, old animosities are being forgotten, and old prejudices eradicated."

The financial condition of the State is represented to be "as prosperous and satisfactory as could be expected, taking into consideration the extraordinary expenses growing out of reconstruction and the reduced resources of the people." The following statement covers the period from July 2, 1868, to October 1, 1870: General Revenue Fund. Auditor's warrants and State scrip, issued from the 3d of July, 1868, to September 30, 1870... Auditor's warrants paid in United

$246,761 07

$1,413,999 36

States currency.. Auditor's warrants and State scrip received on account of the general revenue tax, etc., and cancelled by the Treasurer 688,370 10-935,131 17

Amount of indebtedness on account of the

Real Estate Bank, after deducting the available assets of the State October 1, 1870, amount of indebtedness on account of the State Bank.................

Total indebtedness on account of the State and Real Estate Banks Deducting the amount retained by the Treasurer of the United States, up to January 1, 1870, from moneys due to the State of Arkansas, to pay interest on the State bonds held in trust by the Smithsonian Institution and Chickasaw Indians......

Balance due on account of Real Estate and State Bank... Deducting the amount of old bonds exchanged for new ones under the provision of the Funding Bill... Amount of the principal and interest of old bonds outstanding....

Of this amount, the United States hold, in trust for the Smithsonian Institution and Chickasaw Indians

October, 1870, amount of principal and interest remaining in the hands of individuals, not funded..

into full effect the school law, which provides far better for popular education than any previous enactment. At the annual meeting of the board in January the consolidation of the schools established by the Freedmen's Bureau with those under the charge of the commissioners was recommended, an offer to assist in the matter having been made by General Howard. An important movement in the cause of 169.714 47 popular education was also set on foot by the following resolution:

2.624,725 00

1,562,225 00

$131,072 74

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to devise means by which a lecturer of acknowledged ability may be secured to visit the different parts of the State, to aid in constructing institutes and otherwise promoting the efficiency of teachers.

The charitable and penal institutions of the State have not yet been established on a very solid basis, though interest is shown for their improvement, and measures for their better management were recommended to the Legislature of 1871. In December, 1869, an agent was appointed by government to examine into the condition of the penitentiary and report the changes called for in the management. The number of persons under the charge of the institution in the course of the year was 346; of these, 165 were United States prisoners; 66 were released on the expiration of their term of confinement; 23 were pardoned; 45 escaped, and 13 died; leaving 199 within its walls at the end of the year. The support

of these convicts, under the present contractsystem, costs the State $128 a year for each person. It is now recommended that three commissioners be selected to take charge of the penitentiary, who shall reside at the capital, and have authority to appoint the superintendent and warden, and that they shall give the superintendent authority "to sublet the convicts for any kind of labor which can be performed within the walls of the building." No provision has thus far been made for the proper care of the insane. Those who are not under the protection of friends or cared for by private charity are confined in county jails like common malefactors. There is an institute for the blind, for which a new building has been erected, thoroughly adapted for its purposes. A similar building has been provided for the Blind Asylum, which is represented to be in a flourishing condition.

Considerable impetus has been given to railroad enterprises in the State by the operation of the act of the Legislature of 1868 granting State aid to different companies. In accordance with its provisions, aid has been awarded as follows:

To the Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company to the extent of 300 miles of its line, at the rate of $10,000 per mile; the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad Company to the extent of 120 miles of its line, at the rate of $10,000 per mile; the Little Rock and Helena Railroad Company to the extent of 30 miles of its line, at the rate of $15,000 per mile; the Mississippi, Ouachita, and Red River Railroad Company to the extent of 130 miles of its line, at the rate of $10,000 per mile; the Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and New Orleans Railroad Company to the extent of 120 miles of its line, at the rate of $15,000 per mile; the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company to the extent of 150 miles, at the rate of $10,000 per miles. State bonds have also been loaned to the following extent: To the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company to the amount of $800,000; to the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad Company $1,050,000; to the Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and New Orleans Railroad Company, $600,000; to the Mississippi, Ouachita, and Red River Railroad Company, bonds to the amount of $300,000. Partly as the result of this assistance, 20 miles of the Cairo and Fulton road have been completed. The Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad has been opened to Lewisburg, 50 miles, and 50 miles more have been graded and furnished with ties. The whole line, it is expected, will be completed by the 1st of January, 1872. On the Memphis and Little Rock road, 115 miles of track are already laid, and about 16 miles remain to be laid. A substantial bridge is in process of construction over White River. The whole line will be finished early in the year 1871. On the Little Rock, Pine Bluff, and New Orleans road work was begun in January, and at the close of the year 55 miles had been graded,

bridged, and furnished with cross-ties, and 16 miles of track were laid. Six hundred men are employed on the line, and it was promised that it would be open for travel from New Orleans to Pine Bluff in March, 1871. About 50 miles of the Mississippi, Ouachita, and Red River Railroad, commencing at the Mississippi, had been graded and bridged at the end of the year, and about 20 miles of track laid. It will probably be completed to Camden in June, 1871. Besides these, there are numerous other schemes on foot, with greater or less probability of success. The construction of a bridge across the Arkansas River at the city of Little Rock was authorized in July last, and a company has been incorporated to accomplish the work. The whole number of miles of levee work completed upon the rivers of the State is 53, and 167 miles are in course of construction, comprising levees, railroad beds answering the same purpose, cut-offs, and other works securing land from overflow.

Although there was no general election for State officers this year, considerable spirit was displayed in the canvass for the choice of members of Congress, and of the State Legisiature. Strenuous efforts were made by the Democratic party to displace the Republicans from power, who, it was claimed, had never represented a majority of the actual residents of the State. The claims of the two parties in the State are fairly represented in the resolutions given below.

The following were adopted by the Democratic Convention of the First Congressional District:

We, the Democrats and Conservatives of the First Congressional District, in convention assembled, declare as our deliberate conviction and settled determination:

1. That we consign the dead issues of the past to oblivion, and assert our willingness to meet the living issues of the day in a spirit of fairness and justice. 2. That we recognize the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as the law of the land, and will encourage obedience to them as well as to all other laws and the constituted authorities.

3. That ours is a government of law and order, and all changes must be peacefully made in accordance force and violence are unbecoming a free people, and should not be countenanced or encouraged.

with the constitution and laws of the land. That

4. That the rights of each citizen under the laws should be enforced by public opinion, and not by bayonets nor private violence.

the first duty of the citizen to be obedience to the 5. That for our people as for ourselves we proclaim laws.

6. That we encourage to come among us all good men who will assist us in developing the resources of the country.

all public officials are accountable to the people for 7. That we reiterate the time-honored principle that their stewardship, and not the people to their servants.

The following were adopted in a Republican Convention held in Calhoun County on the 30th of July:

Resolved, 1. That we accept the civil and political

equality of all men before the law. letter.

2. That we are in favor of enforcing the law to the

ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. The work of reducing the military force of the United States has gone steadily forward during the past year. On the 1st of July, 1869, the number of officers in the service was 2,746, increased by the appointment during the year. of 6 post chaplains, and 58 graduates of West Point, making in all 2,810. On the 16th of November, 1870, the whole number was 2,481, a reduction of 329. An act of Congress was approved on the 15th of July, making additional provision for the reduction of the army. The extent of the list of retired officers was thereby increased, and authority was given to the President to discharge at his discretion, with one year's pay, such officers as might apply therefor, and to transfer officers of the line to the list of supernumeraries. The Secretary of War was directed to appoint a board for the examination of the cases of officers reported by the department commanders as unfit for duty; and it was also enacted that all supernumerary officers remaining after the 1st of January, 1871, should be honorably mustered out of the service, with one year's pay and allowances. The time was afterward extended to July 1, 1871. Some of the examinations provided for by this act have taken place, and preparations have been made for carrying all its provisions into effect. The whole number of officers is ultimately to be reduced to 2,277, and the number of enlisted men to 30,000. On the 30th of November, there were still 211 supernumerary officers. The strength of the army at the same date was as follows: 1st cavalry, 1,023; 2d cavalry, 921; 3d cavalry, 986; 4th cavalry, 854; 5th cavalry, 1,123; 6th cavalry, 733; 7th cavalry, 1,094; 8th cavalry, 1,171; 9th cavalry, 962; 10th cavalry, 1,025; 1st artillery, 780; 2d, 944; 3d, 813; 4th, 801; 5th, 867; 1st infantry, 604; 2d, 718; 3d, 746; 4th, 600; 5th, 812; 6th, 664; 7th, 739; 8th, 558; 9th, 567; 10th, 828; 11th, 681; 12th, 831; 13th, 504; 14th, 657; 15th, 845; 16th, 665; 17th, 898; 18th, 472; 19th, 548; 20th, 810; 21st, 483; 22d, 778; 23d, 665; 24th, 431; 25th, 482; engineer battalion, 560; permanent and recruiting parties and recruits not available for assignment, 1,010; general service on duty in Bureaus of Department, 376; Ordnance Department, 706; West Point detachment, 261; signal corps, 82; hospital stewards, 333; ordnance sergeants, 121; available recruits at depots, 743; recruits sent from Fort Leavenworth to battalions of artillery, September 30 and October 7, 1870, 95. Total officers and enlisted men in the army, 34,870. Recruiting for every arm of the service has been carried on throughout the year. Many of the rendezvous were closed in February, 1870, owing to the nearly exhausted state of the recruiting fund. Congress, however, having made a special appropriation of $50,000 to defray expenses until the end of the fiscal year, recruiting was resumed under instructions issued on April 30th. By the 1st of July,

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1871, the army is to be brought down to the legal standard of 30,000 enlisted men, as pre scribed in the act of July 15, 1870, and in the mean time recruiting is to be continued only on a scale rendered necessary by casualties.

By an order issued in April, important changes were made in the military departments, and several of the commanders were transferred from one department or division to another. The Department of Alaska was broken up and added to the Department of Columbia, which includes the State of Oregon and the Territories of Washington and Idaho, with its headquarters at Portland, Oregon. The Department of Virginia was broken up and added to the Department of the East, which includes the New-England States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and District of Columbia, with its headquarters at New-York City. It is commanded by Major-General McDowell. The Department of the Cumberland was broken up. This department consisted of the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and the post of Jeffersonville, Ind. They are now all added to the Department of the South, which also includes the States of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, with its headquarters at Atlanta, Ga. The Department is under command of BrigadierGeneral Terry. Major-General Schofield, who was previously in command of the Department of the Missouri, was transferred to the command of the Division of the Pacific, vice Major-General Thomas, deceased, with his headquarters at San Francisco. BrigadierGeneral John Pope, previously in command of the Department of the Lakes, was transferred to the command of the Department of the Missouri. Brigadier-General Philip St. George Cooke, previously in command of the Department of the Columbia, was ordered to the command of the Department of the Lakes. Brigadier-General Canby, previously in command of the Department of Virginia, was transferred to the command of the Department of Columbia, in place of General Cooke. Major-General Meade remained in Philadelphia, General Halleck at Louisville, and Lieutenant-General Sheridan in command of the Division of the Missouri.

The act of Congress of July 15th prescribed a new system of regulations for the army, but its preparation was not completed by the War Department at the close of the year. It will probably be submitted to Congress at the present session (1871), and, if approved, go into operation at once.

During the year 58 cadets of the Military Academy have graduated and been appointed second lieutenants in the army; 17 have been discharged for marked deficiency in conduct or studies; 6 have resigned; 1 has deserted, and 4 have died. New cadets to the number of 65 have been admitted, and the corps at present numbers 228 members, divided, for