In 1865 the amendment lost by 14,651 to 12,135. In 1867 when a much larger vote was cast, due in part to the return of the soldiers, the amendment was again lost, by 28,794 to 27,479. In 1868 there was a clear majority in favor, 39,493 voting "yes" and 30,121 voting against the amendment. The word "white" accordingly dropped out of the constitution. In effect it would have done so two years later without the state's having amended the constitution, for in 1870 the fifteenth amendment to the United States constitution was adopted. 181

While proposals to the same effect, and even more sweeping ones, had been made earlier in the history of the state, the right of women to vote even upon school questions was not established until 1875.132 The amendment adopted in that year merely authorized the legislature "notwithstanding anything in this article" to provide for woman suffrage "at any election held for the purpose of choosing any officers of schools, or upon any measure relating to schools." This was not a direct grant of the suffrage to women, but required legislative action. The legislature in 1876 carried out the purpose of the amendment.133 By the same amendment and legislation women were given the right also to hold school offices. In 1877 an unsuccessful attempt was made to amend the constitution to authorize women to vote at any election upon "the question of selling, or restraining the sale, or licensing the selling, or of the manufacture, of intoxicating liquors."134

No further change was made in the provisions relating to the voting rights of women until 1898, when the constitution was altered in two respects.135 In the new section 8 adopted in that year, the right to vote for library boards and upon measures relating to libraries was extended to women; and at the same time the right to vote for school and library officers and upon school and library measures was established in the constitution and not left to depend upon action by the legislature.

Following this partial enfranchisement, the various woman suffrage organizations continued the propaganda for complete enfranchisement. The question was submitted to the legislature on a number of occasions by petitions and otherwise, but at no time did the legislature submit to the voters a constitutional amendment to establish complete woman suffrage. However, after the submission by Congress to the state legislatures of the Anthony amendment to the federal constitution, the governor called a special session

181 This amendment to the federal constitution provides that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

132 Sess. Laws 1875, ch. 2.

183 Ibid., 1876, ch. 14.

134 Ibid., 1877, ch. 2.

136 Ibid., 1897, ch. 175.

of the legislature in September, 1919, which ratified the federal amendment.186 This amendment has now been adopted by three fourths of the state legislatures. It is a part of the United States constitution and it in fact overrules the various state constitutional provisions relating to suffrage. It provides that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." As it relates to Minnesota the practical effect of this amendment is to render null and of no effect the word "male" in section 1 of article 7 of the state constitution. Women now have the right to vote on exactly the same terms

as men.

Aliens who had declared their intention to become citizens of the United States and who had established a residence in Minnesota were permitted to vote upon the same terms as citizens up to and including the election of 1896. The Legislature of 1895 proposed an amendment to the constitution forbidding alien declarants to vote.187 It was adopted at the 1896 election by a vote of 97,980 for the amendment to 52,454 against the amendment out of a total vote for governor of 337,229. Of the eight constitutional amendments submitted at this election this amendment attracted the least popular attention and received the smallest vote. Less than half of the voters voted upon the question and less than thirty per cent of the total vote favored its adoption. That the amendment has deprived a great many former voters of the suffrage is indicated by the election returns for the next year. The vote for governor in 1896 had been 337,229. In 1898 when the amendment was in effect it dropped to 252,562, a decrease of 84,667. This was over nine thousand votes less than 1888. The decrease cannot be explained upon the theory that the election of 1896 was a presidential election and drew a larger vote than normal, for in 1894, when there was an ordinary state election, the vote was 296,249 or over 40,000 more than in 1898.

Article 7 deals also with qualifications for office. The Minnesota constitution is unusually liberal in this matter in that it provides that every person who is entitled under the constitution "to vote at any election shall be eligible to any office which now is, or hereafter shall be, elective by the people in the district wherein he shall have resided thirty days previous to such election; except as otherwise provided in this constitution, or the constitution and laws of the United States." In view of the fact that the constitution itself contains very few special qualifications for particular offices, almost any voter is eligible to almost any public office in this state. A man without knowledge of law may be elected county attorney. A man or woman unable to obtain a teacher's certificate may be elected county superintendent of schools. The legislature in 1907 and again in 1911 proposed amendments to the constitution under which the legislature would have been authorized to establish

130 Sess. Laws, spec. sess., 1919, joint resolution no. 1, pp. 105-6. 187 Ibid., 1895, ch. 3.

educational qualifications for county superintendent of schools. 138 The amendment was defeated on both occasions though a very large majority of the voters voting on the proposition favored it in each case. The votes were 169,785 "yes" to 42,114 "no" in 1908 and 167,983 affirmative to 36,584 negative in 1912. In each case approximately 40,000 voters voted against the measure. Either they did not understand the measure or else they carried their ideas of democracy to the point of refusing to tolerate special qualifications for educational officers.

The last section of this article was adopted in 1883 for the purpose of establishing biennial elections.139

In 1913 the legislature proposed an additional section which was designed to establish the recall of elective officers in this state.140 It was a most sweeping proposal in that it applied to "every public official in Minnesota, elective or appointive." It would have permitted a petition of from twenty to thirty per cent of the voters in the district concerned to have instituted the recall and would have required a special election to be held upon the presentation of such petition. It made further provisions as to the details of the procedure. It failed to be adopted, but it received a total of 139,801 affirmative votes as against only 44,961 negative.

8. ARTICLE 8-SCHOOL FUNDS, EDUCATION AND SCIENCE. This article, which originally consisted of four sections, now contains seven, and one of these, namely section 2, has been practically trebled in length. In all there have been fourteen separate proposals of amendments to the article but five constituted duplications. Two different amendments were each proposed twice unsuccessfully and a third time successfully, and another was defeated once and adopted upon its second submission. Consequently all the amendments ever proposed to the article have ultimately been adopted. Five of the amendments which have been adopted have related to the proper investment of the school funds, one to the disposition of the swamp land fund, two to the proper administration of the state lands, and one to the appropriation of the income of the school fund.

It is interesting to observe how the provisions regulating the investment of the school funds have been added to and modified from year to year. The original section 2, which is a part of the present section, provides that the proceeds from the sale of school lands "shall remain a perpetual school fund to the state," and that "the principal of all funds arising from sales, or other disposition of lands, or other property, granted or entrusted to this state in each township for educational purposes, shall forever be preserved inviolate

188 Ibid., 1907, ch. 480; 1911, ch. 394.

139 Ibid., 1883, ch. 2.

140 Ibid., 1913, ch. 593.

and undiminished." There was no specification originally as to how this fund could be preserved inviolate and undiminished and some question arose as to how the moneys should actually be invested. In 1875 there was adopted the first amendment relating to this matter.141 By this amendment a proviso was added to section 2 that the legislature should provide suitable laws for the investment of the principal of the school funds "in interest bearing bonds of the United States or of the state of Minnesota issued after the year 1860, or of such other state, as the legislature may by law from time to time direct." This constituted a limitation of the powers of the legislature to invest the school funds. Thereafter such funds could be invested only in the bonds specified in this amendment. It will be observed that the school funds could not be invested in any bonds of the state of Minnesota issued previous to or during the year 1860. The railroad bonds of 1858 had not yet been adjusted and this proviso was necessary in order to prevent investment of the school funds in the then worthless railroad bonds.142

The school fund grew from year to year and it was necessary to find new forms of investment. On the other hand, the various municipalities and local subdivisions of the state were being compelled to borrow money from bankers and other private sources both within and without the state of Minnesota, and in some cases at higher rates of interest than they wished to pay. In 1885 the legislature proposed an amendment to the constitution to authorize the loaning of the permanent school funds to the counties and school districts within the state for the purpose of the erection of county or school buildings.143 The restrictions under which such loans could be made to counties and school districts were and still are especially stringent. There is a requirement for a compulsory annual tax upon all the taxable property of the county or school district concerned, which tax shall be fifty per cent in excess of the amount actually necessary to pay the principal and interest accruing that year upon any loan made from the school funds.

The other municipalities of the state, including cities, villages, and towns, were as yet unable to borrow from the state school fund. The Legislature of 1895 therefore proposed a new amendment under which any county, school district, city, town, or village in the state may borrow not only from the permanent school fund but also from the university fund upon its bonds.144 The loans must be approved by the state investment board and shall bear a rate of interest not lower than three per cent and shall run for a period of from five to twenty years. From 1896 to 1904 no loan could be made under this section to any municipality or county when such loan added to the outstanding

141 Sess. Laws 1875, ch. 3.

142 See pp. 185-87.

143 Sess. Laws 1885, ch. 1.

144 Ibid., 1895, ch. 6.

debt of the municipality or county concerned would make the total indebtedness exceed seven per cent of the assessed valuation of the taxable property of such county or municipality. During these years, objection was frequently raised to the seven per cent debt limit prescribed in the constitution. In 1899 and again in 1901 unsuccessful attempts were made to raise this limit to fifteen per cent of the assessed value of the taxable real property of the county, school district, city, town, or village.145 This amendment was proposed for the third time in 1903 and was ratified by the voters in 1904.146 Even then the constitutional provision was not satisfactory to everyone. Certain people saw no reason why, if the state had money to loan, it should not loan it to private individuals as well as to the local governments of the state. In 1911 a new section 6 was proposed, the object of which was to permit the owners of improved farm land to borrow state funds upon first mortgages.147 This amendment failed of adoption in 1912, was proposed again in 1913, failed once more to get the necessary majority in 1914, was proposed a third time in 1915 and finally carried in 1916.148 At present, therefore, section 6 provides not only for loans to counties and municipalities, but also authorizes the investment of the school and university funds "in first mortgage loans secured upon the improved and cultivated farm lands of this state." It is provided, however, that no such loan shall exceed thirty per cent of the actual cash value of the farm land mortgaged to secure said investment, and that the loan shall run for not less than five nor more than thirty years. By this amendment, it will also be observed, the maximum time limit for all loans of the school funds was extended from twenty to thirty years. The original constitution made no express provision for the investment of the proceeds from the sales of swamp lands nor for the appropriation of the income from such investments. An amendment was adopted in 1881 which took the form of an addition to section 2 under which it is provided that swamp lands shall be sold at a minimum price of one third less than that fixed for the sale of school lands, that the principal derived from the sale of swamp lands shall be preserved inviolate and undiminished to the commonschool fund of the state, and the remaining one half to the educational and charitable institutions of the state in proportion to their respective costs of maintenance.149

It was a long time before the state of Minnesota adopted any measures whatever for the improvement of its unsold lands and for the utilization of lands which were not fit to be sold. In 1913 there were proposed two amendments which indicated a renewed interest in the remaining portions of the state domain. One of these amendments became section 7 of this article of

148 Ibid., 1899, ch. 92; 1901, p. v.

148 Ibid., 1903, ch. 25.

147 Ibid., 1911, ch. 392.

149 Ibid., 1913, ch. 588; 1915, ch. 380.

140 Ibid., 1881, ch. 4.