Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1883 — Page 1

- THE DEMOCRATIC SENTINEL. r ~ A DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER. -t ’ ~ PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY, JAMES W. MCEWEN. BATES OF SUBSCRIPTION. One year tt-50 Six months. 1.00 Three months .60 narAdver l«tng rates on application.

MESSAGE

ALBERT A PORTER, QOYERHOB OP INDIANA, TO THE LEGISLATURE January 5, 1883. Senators and Gentlemen of the House of RkPBESENTATTVEs: The circumstances under which you assemble could not well be more satisfactory. The condition of the State has never been more prosperous During the year lust ended the products of our fields have been unusually abundant Our manufacturing and mining industries have yielded good returns. Within the past year 560 miles of railwayhave been built within the State—a larger number than in any previous year. Of the. ninety-two counties in the State, there are only four through which railroads do not pass, and three of these, happily, border on the Ohio river. More than 225,000 acres of land have, during the year, been brought for the first time into cultivation. The practice of underdraining soils charged with an excess of moisture has never been so energetically prosecuted. Along with it has come increased productiveness, and a lessening of all malarial disease* Our common schools, under the careful superintendence of a diligent and capable officer, have increased in usefulness and in public favor.

THE STATE DEBT. The State is indebted asfollows: Five per cent, certificates, Scate'stock $14,469.93 Two and one-halt per cent, certificates, State stock 2,355.13 Five per cent, bonds payable in New York, due Dec. 1, 1889, but payable at the pleasure ot the State after April irt*B4 655.000.90 Twenty-four internd improvement bonds, past due 24,000.00 Six 5 per cent, internal improvement bonds, due July 1,1886, held by the tin ted States 6,000.00 Total $631,825.12 The accumulated -intertifet übofa the twen-ty-four pld bonds above mentioned should be added, but the precise amount cannot now be stated. 1 . * The indebtedness of the State to the school fund is evidenced by' five non-negotiable bonds for the aggregate sum of $3,004,783.22, bearing 0 per cent, interest; arid the indebtedness to Purdue University istevitleaced by one bond tor #340,000, ’b*anngJß percent, interest, * RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES. At the beginning ot the fiscal year 1881, there was in the general fund cf the State treasury a balance of $504,804.94 There was received into the fund from all sources during the year... 1,408,025.08 Ufotal $1,912,920.02 The total disbursements from the fund during tlie fiscal year were... 1,634,691.80 Leaving a balance at the end of that year. .« $278,228.22 The estimate of expenditures for the support of the State Government for 1881, made In pursuance of law by the Auditor of State, In 1879, amounting to the aggregate sum of 1,206,676.0& These estimates were insufficient with respect to several important items. The expenditures on account of benevolent and penal •institutions exceeded the estimates by 166,878.28 Tile expenses of the Legislature consequent upon the extra session, made necessary by ihe revision of the laws, were in excess of the estimates in the sum of 26,620.50 The estimates did not include the following items of disbursement: A transfer from the general fund to the State House fund, pursuant to an act of thb General Assembly, V of TT .....' 100,000.00 A payment of remaining war loan bonds 139,000.00 A payment of an old internal Improvement bond, principal and interest 5 563.16 A payment of a 1% per cent cPr.ificate of State stock-. C 61.22 The salaries of five Commissioners appointed pursuant to aft act of the General Assembly, to aid the Supreme Court in bringing up its decisions in submitted cases 8,199.66 Expenses of Commissioner of Fisheries 600 00 Expenses relating to printing of Revised Statutes 516.69 Total $443,384.63 Deducting from the total di-burse-ments for the year 1881, which were, .as above stated.- $1,634,691.80 The uncstimated amounts above ■specified, viz 443,381.33 . A balance is left of. .1.? $1,191,307.47 This amount, itj will be perceived, is considerably below the Auditor’s estimate for that year. The balance in the general fund at the beginning of the fiscal year 1882 " (Nov 1,1831), was ..$ 278,228.22 The total receipts to tfie fund during the fiscal year were 1,260,401.64 Total amount of general fund .. s during the fiscal ye tr 1832 $1,538,629.86 Deduct disbursements during this year. ;... $1,136,900.63 A balance is left at the- end of the fiscal i ear 1882 of $ 101,729.21 The estimates of expenditure for the support of • the State Government for 1882, made by the Auditor of State in 1880, were - $1,174,470 O') The disbursements were ip fact 5». .. 1,436 900.65 Being in excess ofthe estjßftftfces.. ..$ 3 %480.65 This excels is explainfed- by 1 thfe following disbursements: ( *< * : There was transferred from the general fund to the State Houselup/fi. .$ 200,000 00 The expenditures on account of the benevolent and penal institutions exceeded the estimates $1,677.05 Printing the Revised Statues not estimated for.. 21,7167 J Other expenses connected with the revision not estimated for 2,127.35 Appropriations by . the General Asserubly to State University, Purdue University and the State Normal} ’'* School, in excess of estimates.!.... 11.500C0' Expense of Board of Visitors to the Normal Bphool not- estimated for.. 118.83 State Board ot Agriculture, regular annual appropriation and appropriation to pay Interest on its bonds..;... 7 10,700.00 Supreme Court Commissioners' salaries 'i .... 19,951.48 Department of Geology and Natural -■* •' Distory 4,510.30 Commissioner of Fisheries’ salary and expenses...... 808.88 Mine Inspector’s salary 1,5.0.00 Appropriation for removing a bar in Calumet river, caused by the construction of a State ditch 5,802.90 Expenditure under act of the General Assembly for the survey of Kankakee liver region ~ *3,980.34 Erroneous payments by County Treasurers 956.45 T0ta1.... ! I ,$326,295.42 Deducting from the disbursements for the year 1882, which are as above stated $1,436,900.65 The total amounts of the items last mentioned for which no estimates were made 325,295.42

Leaves .$1,111,605.28 This amount, it will be perceived, falls considerably below the estimateior 1882. The estimate required by law to be made by the Auditor of State to the General Assembly at each biennial meeting, of the ex-* penditures to be paid from the treasury for the ensuing two fiscal years, can not, of course, anticipate all the expenditures which may prove to be necessary. There are always, in the case even of items included in his estimate, appropriations which exceed the sums estimated, and there are always appropriations for other proper and necessary objects which naturally could not be foreseen when the Additor’s estimate was made. A chief purpose of the Auditor’s estimate is to enable the Legislature to perceive Within what limits other disbursements must be confined, in order to avpid the necessity of a higher rate of taxation. When appropriations, however?—haye been made by the Legislature' in excess of - sums estimated, or for objects jpot included within, the estimates, it is proper that thev shall be brought to public attention, in. order to undergo a fair-public scrutiny. It will be perceived that the receipts thi the general fund firom *£ll sources during the fiscal years 1881 and 1882 haye fallen short of like receipts during the fiscal year 1880. The receipts go the general fund jn 1880 wer® $1,477,609.92, and in 1882 were only $1,260,--401,64, a falling off of $217,268.28 during the latter year- The cause of this decrease is as follows: The appraisement of all taxable real estate in this State was, prior to the passage of the statute of 1881, required by law to be mads once in five years. The last appraisement

VOLUME VI.

was made in 1880. The next preceding one was in 1875, when the prices of real estate were yet inflated. The appraisement of 1880 fell below that of 1875 The assessed value of personal property in 1880 was also lees than in 1879 by #54,223,545. None of the taxes levied under this lower assessment were payable to the State Treasurer until in May, 188 L At that time half of the State taxes for 1880 were. required by law to be paid into the treasury. The other half was not required to be paid into the treasury until in January, 1882. The taxes collected for the fiscal year 1881 were one-half collected under the high valuation of real estate made in 1875, and one-half under the lower valuation of 1880. The taxes for the fiscal year 1882 were all collected under the lower valuation of 1880. The taxes received into the State treasury in 1881 fell short of the taxes received in 1879 for the reasons above stated #40,97427, and in 1882 fell short of the taxes received in 1879 #158,063.77. For the last two fiscal years, therefore, the State Government has nad to be conducted on less revenue than for several years preceding. Although, however, no new appraisement of the real estate will be made for purposes of taxation until the year 1880, the great Increase of personal property has begun to be apparent on the tax lists, and by 1884 will probably have swollen the total value of taxables to as high an amount as they have been in any period of the State’s

history. An addition to the revenues of the State will be apparent hereafter by thfe higher appraisement of the State' Board of Equalization, during the years 1881 and 1882, of the right of way and other property of railroad companies. The enlarged earnings of these companies were deemed to justify an average increase to the extent of 10 per cent, in the valuation of property returned by them for taxation. In addition to this increase there has been an increased assessment, through the vigilance of the Auditor of State, by securing an assessment of buildings and improvements, such as machine shops and other expensive structures, situate on what the courts have interpreted to be the “right of way”'"of these companies, which, since 1872, had, for the most part, escaped taxation. The revenue, however, from the taxation of such buildings and improvements would be still further augmented, without an infliction of injustice, by a requirement that they shall be appraised by local oflicers in the townships in which they are situate. The State Board of Equalization can never ascertain their value with satisfactory accuracy. * ' Under a loose interpretation given to our statute concerning vol untary associations the State’s revenues from insurance companies are being diminished, and an injury is being inflicted upon many communities by irresponsible and fraudulent insurance companies, from other States and at home, which are engaged in the transaction of business under the shelter of that enactment. These companies have so far affected the business of sound and responsible companies, doing a fair and legitimate business, and honestly paying their taxes, as seriously to diminish their earnings and to make some of them contemplate a withdrawal of their agencies from the State. There is need for a prompt adoption of such measures as will put a stop to fraudulent and speculative schemes which, sheltering themselves under the law of the State, inflict great injury upon our citizens, and bring reproach upon the State itself.

THE BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. The average daily number of inmates in the Hospital for the Insane during the last fiscal year was 1,070. The average cost per capita for maintenance, exclusive of clothing, is stated to have been $184.07. The number of pupils at the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, at the ehd of the last fiscal year, was 344. The average daily attendance is not given in the reports. The cost per capita is stated to have beeii $150.32. The number of pupils enrolled at the Institute for the Education of the Blind, during the fiscal year, was 126. The reports do not give the average daily attendance. The cost per capita is stated to have been $210,67. The number of pupils at the Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home and the Asylum for FeebleMinded Children, institutions under one roof and one government, is stated in the Superintendent’s report to have been as follows: Soldiers’ orphans present at • the end of the fiscal year, 137. Twenty other orphans are accounted for by the Superintendent’s state- ‘ ment that three have “eloped,” and that seventeen have failed to return after the summer vacation. Of feeble-minded children, eighty-one pupils are reported as having been present at the eiia of the fiscal year, and fourteen as discharged or away temporarily. The latter fourteen are said, in the Trustees’ report, not to have returned from the summer vacation. The cost of maintenance is stated by the Superintendent to have been $125 per capita The average daily attendance is not specified The two last-named institutions are not, with respect to the reports required of the Trustees and Superintendent, governed by the statute relating to the other benevolent institutions. The statute does not define with the same particularity what the reports shall contain. Nor does the statute relating to any of them define the mode of determining the cost per capita of maintaining their inmates. An examination of the reports of the several institutions will, I think, show that a uniform rule of ascertainment does not prevail, and that the mode of ascertainment in one or two of them, quite unintentionally, no doubt, is untrustworthy. I recommend that a common requirement be adopted with respect to what shall be shown in the reports of the Trustees and Superintendents of the several institutions, and that the manner in which the cost per capita of maintaining the inmates shall be ascertained shall be specifically defined bylaw. Your attention is specially invited to the recommendations contained in the report of the Trustees of the Hospital for the Insane, and which are strongly reinforced in the able and instructive report of the Superintendent of that institution. The capacity of the buildings erected by the State for the care of the insane, spacious and imposing as they are, is sufficient for little more than half of the State’s insane. Those who are unable, for, lack of room in the State’s Hospital, to be admitted as patients, suffer great, and often cruel,-neglect They, are confined In uncomfortable and Jomejamfjs shocking quarters in poorious6s, where they receive insufficient attention, or they i ire a burden upon poor fkindrecl who are unable to make adequate provision for them, and to whom they are a source of distressing anxiety, and often of danger. Our provision for the insane is so inaefequate that it falls quite below the provision made for the same class of sufferers by neighboring States. The mode suggested by the Superintendent for enlarging hospital accommodations is commended to your earnest consideration. The provision contained in our statutes for ascertaining the number of insane, deaf and dumb, blind and idiotic persons is imperfectly executed. Township Assessors are charged with the duty of ascertaining at the time of assessing personal property tlie number of.such persons in their respective townships* but this requirement is so frequently neglected that these lists furnish very imperfect information. A specific penalty should be prescribed for a neglect to perform this important duty.

The clause in the revised code which provides that a summons against an insane person who has no guardian shall, where such person is confined in a hospital, be served upon the Superintendent, is regarded generally by the legal profession as not being applicable to writs of summons issued in divorce cases, and against administrators and guardians in the course of the settlement of estates. The consequence is that inmates of the Insane Hospital are often greatly excited, and their recovery retarded, by a personal service upon them of writs. This clause of the statute should, it would seem, be made to include all writs of summons in civil proceedings. 1 recommend that, in the Department for Women in this Hospital, it shall be required by,law that at least one of the physibians shall be a woman. There are now in this State not a few women who bear diplomas from respectable medical colleges, and who are qualified by professional attainments and experience to fill places as physicians in public institutions with credit and usefulness: It would be peculiarly fit that their services should be sought in cases of insanity among members of their own sex. Tb#ee claims of considerable magnitude -are pending against the Htate for work and materials under contracts entered into with ■ tee Provisional Board of the Insane Hospital, it being the board charged by law with the duty of constructing the building for the department for women. Two of the claims hhve been refused. One has been allowed by a compromise with the contractor, subject to a condition that the legislature will make an appropriation for its payment, there being now no appropriation available for that use. The facts relating to the case, briefly stated, are these: The. Provisional Board advertised for bids for the brickwork of the building, the work to be executed and '*•'

The Democratic Sentinel.

paid for according to the plans and specifications of the State’s architect. The specifications provided for a measurement of the work in the wall as tie work progressed, according to the rule of mason measurement of work in the wall then in use in Indianapolis. The bid of the claimant, John Martin, was accepted. Before, however, a formal contract had been entered into with him, the State’s Superintendent of Construction, himself a member of the board, desiring that what were the rules of mason measurement of brick in the wall at Indianapolis should be precisely defined in the contract, requested the claimant to allow a clause to be inserted, providing that the measurement contemplated should be according to the printed rules of the master builders and contractors for brick work in this city. The clause having been inserted, the contract was reported to the board and signed on behalf of the State by Gov. Hendricks, the President, and by every other member. Before the allowance to the claimant was made,-for which he will ask an appropriation, the work was carefully measurea by the State’s architect and by two experts specially appointed by the board for that purpose, and their several measurements having agreed, the allowance was made in conformity thereto. It is perhaps due to Mr. Martin to state that in a report made to the Governor by the Superintendent of Construction, when the work was nearly completed, he referred to his work as having been prosecuted diligently, and in the most satisfactory manner, and added that he felt' it due to Mr. Martin to make a public record of the fact that he had “from the beginning manifested a constant, active and earnest interest in his work, with an evident purpose that it should be an honest job, creditable to the State as well as to himself. ” The capacity of the Institution for the Education of the Blind is now insufficient for the accommodatiop of more than half of the blind youth who, by law, are entitled to the benefits of the institution The edifice was completed for the admission of blind pupils more than thirty years ago, and has never been enlarged. Applicants are constantly refused admission to the institution on account of a want of room. Provision should be made by law for an enlargement of the building. The Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home and Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children should be regarded, on account of the character of both classes of pupils, with particular favor. It has had to struggle under the difficulty of narrow appropriations, find, during a part of its history, with other difficulties hardly less serious. The instructors have, however, been diligent and devoted to duty, and the progress of the pupils has been highly satisfactory. The soldiers’ orphans have been particularly proficient in their studies, and the success attained in unfolding and strengthening the faculties of the feebleminded children has been most encouraging. A sufficient appropriation should be immediately made to provide additional securities against fire. The means of escape, in case of a sudden fire are wholly inadequate. Outside stairways at the outer end of the main halls should be erected as soon as possible; and, as the building is already furnished with gas pipes, a gas generator should be erected so as to supply the building with a safe light for illumination, so that the use of oil lamps may be discontinued.

PENAL AND' REFORMATORY INSTITUTIONS. Your attention is particularly- invited to the report of the House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders. The average number of inmates during the year was 350. The expense of providing the equipments and instructors requisite for teaching the boys in this institution the most useful manual occupations has been fCund too great, in the opinion of past Legislatures, to warrant them in making the necessary- appropriations. A boy, as the case now is, though instructed in the simpler branches of education, leaves the institution, in most cases, little better fitted to earn a livelihood, so far as manual skill is concerned, than when he entered it. He is too apt, on that account, to fall back into a life of crime. A sy-stem of industrial education has recently found much favor, which, not professing to teach manual trades, gives boys a dexterity in handicraft which may be equally useful inxnany different trades. It instructs them in the use of what, it has been said, are the “half-dozen universal tools, viz.: the hammer, saw, plane chisel, file and square.” It is said that “in all "constructions a certain number of typical forms are found, which, being more or less modified, adapt themselves to special cases: These forms will also shape themselves into groups, each to be worked out in a certain way and with special tools; and the student taught to work out these forms, each in the best way and with the tools best suited for the work, will be far advanced in the skill which will make him available and useful in construction. ” A boy instructed in this way in a knowledge of forms, and, acquiring aptness and dexterity in the use of tools, would leave the institution with a feeling of capability and of self-confidence; could more readily obtain employment; and speedily qualify himseif for almost any of the various lucrative trades. One teacher, it has been found, can instruct thirty-two students at a time in this system, and, boys going through the exercises in separate classes at different times, the education can be imparted with very little cost either in implements or materials. I invite your attention to the schools that, at Boston, St. Louis and elsewhere, have recently entered upon this new system of industrial education for indigent boys, and to the propriety of such legislation as will give it a fair trial in our House of Refuge. Under the guise of committing children to this institution as incorrigible, or as juvenile offenders, children are often sent to it by the courts who are simply poor, or whose parents, desiring to get rid of the cost or care of i earing them, are willing to make them a charge upon the State. Children merely poor should not be allowed to be thrown into association with juvenile offenders, and the sternest vigilance should be practiced to prevent negligent parents from shifting upon the State the responsibility of maintaining and rearing their offspring. Beside, it is not possible to ascertain to whatiextent the class of boys intended to be Received into thin institution are reformed, if children not criminal or incorrigible are admitted. Sufficient provision should promptly lie made by law, against the abuse of admitting boys not belonging to the classes of criminal and incorrigible. The recommendation of the Superintendent that boys released from the institution upon tickets-of-leave shall be placed by law under the surveillance of the Township Trustees in the counties to which they are sent, seems to be a most judicious one. A knowledge by boys thus released that their conduct was’watched by persons of character, for an honest purpose of preserving their morals, would help to restrain them from turning to crime. The additional advantage would also be gained that, if they should fall again into a profligate life, they could promptly be returned to the institution for further discipline. The management of the Reformatory for Women and Girls deserves unqualified commendation. A desire to keep expenditures within the limits of appropriations, and to administer the institution with proper economy, has been constantly evident. The proportion of inmates who, after their return to their homes, lead correct lives is greater than the most sanguine might reasonably have expected. There is reason for regret that, in selecting a site for the Reformatory, more regard was not had to convenient facilities for sewerage. The only means of conveying the sewage from the buildings is by the current of a rivulet that, after passing through the grounds, runs through a populous part of Indianapolis. With all the care that can be exercised and an exhaustion of all means of purification, complaints are made of offensive odors. The stream, after passing through the grounds of the Reformatory, runs in part through, and in part near the edge of, the United States Arsenal grounds, and persons there employed have induced the authorities at Washington to cause a suit to be instituted in the United States Circuit Court at Indianapolis to enjoin the Trustees from allowing the sewage to be conveyed through said stream. Nothing but a belief that the present Legislature will, by a proper law, provide for building a sewer by which the waste from the Reformatory will be carried oil by other means than said stream has, it is believed, prevented an allowance of an injunction. Provision by law for the construction of a proper sewer i* imperatively necessary. An act was passed by the last General Assembly providing for the construction of such a sewer at the joint expense of the State and the city of Indianapolis; but, as the consent of the city to bear its proportion of the outlay was requisite before the work could be undertaken, the work fell through, the city not having given the needed consent. As the sewer will be of material benefit to the city, it is just that it should bear a due proportion of the expense. The necessity for a walled inclosure for the purpose of allowing a space for needful exercise for women sentenced for crimes, whom It would be unsafe to permit to be at

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 12,1883.

large upon open grounds, is evident, and an i appropriation of the comparatively small j amount asked for by the managers would | seem to be most proper. The State's Prisons at Jeffersonville and at ; Michigan City are more nearly self-support- i ing than they have been for several years. j The average number of prisoners at the former prison during the past year was 584 The average number of prisoners at the prison at Michigan City was 021. The Specific Appropriation bill, which failed at the last session of the General Assembly on account of Sts consideration having been deferred to too late a period of_ the session, contained an appropriation of #5,000 for building special wards at the prison at Michigan City for the use of insane prisoners, and for a transfer to that prison of all insane prisoners in the prison at Jeffersonville. I earnestly urge the appropriation of a proper sum of money for - the building of cells at the former prison for insane era, which shall be remote from the cells of other convict* The insane convicts are at present, for want of any other provision, kept in cells so near those of other prisoners that their cries at night disturb and frequently destroy the rest of these hard-worked man, whose condition at the end of each day’slaborrequires that they should have -undisturbed repose It is cruel and discreditable to require prisoners deprived night after night successively of needful sleep to perform the laborious daily tasks demanded of them by the practice of the prisons. Insane persons require, also, a very different attention from that given to the sane, and from that which necessarily they are now accustomed to receive. The abbreviation of the terms of sentences allowed by statute to prisoners for good conduct is believed not to be sufficiently liberal. No incentive to good behavior is found to be so strong with them as a knowledge that such behavior will shorten the term of imprisonment. I earnestly recommend legislation giving to prisoners whose conduct has been continually exemplary a large credit for good conduct on their sentence* The effect of such legislation would be followed, I have no doubt, by a great improvement in discipline and a lessening of expense in the conduct of the prison* Complaint is made by the city authorities of Michigan City that Jthe sewage of the prison at that city, which is conveyed into a small stream called Fish Lake creek, occasions a nuisance injurious to the health of the inhabitants. The growth of the city has recently been rapid, and its limits now extqpd beyond the point at which this refuse is conveyed into the stream. The necessity for the construction of a sewer by the State seems to be urgent EDUCATION. The number of persons in the State of school age, viz., between the ages of 6 and 21 years, is 709,424. The number admitted to the schools was, in 1882, 498,792. The average daily attendance of pupils last year was 305,513. The number of school teachers is 13 25ft The number of school houses in the State is 9,556, of which forty-eight are log, eighty-three are stone, 2,481 are brick and 6,944 are frame. The amount of the public school fund is #9,138,408.31. The addition made to it annually, taking as a basis an average of the past five years, exceeds #54,000. This sum does not include the large sum—about $260,000 a

year—received from particular licenses and other sources, and applied each year to tuition. The amount of tuition money derived from interest on the school funds in 1882 was $650,173.41. The whole amount received from State and local tuition taxes was $2,059,616.44. The proportion of the entire expense of tuition paid from taxes, State and local, was 57 per cent. It will thus be seen that, ample as our school fund is, three-fourths of the expenses of tuition are derived from public taxes. The fact that these taxes are paid without complaint is the highest evidence of the esteem in which the public school system is held.

The report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is replete with interesting facts and suggestions. The State Normal School is shown, by the report of the Trustees and Superintendent, to be in a highly flourishing condition. The average number of students during the last year was 302. The need for a moderate appropriation for the purchase of apparatus for instruction in the sciences is urgent. The important suggestions contained in the reports of the Trustees of the State University, and of the Trustees and President of Purdue University, will properly engage your most considerate attention. STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. The State Board of Agriculture has shown commendable zeal during the past yety in the discharge of its official duties. It is required by law to hold a meeting in the month of January of every year, together with the delegates from the several county societies, for the purpose of deliberation and consultation respecting the “wants, prospect and condition of agriculture throughout the State.” At this meeting reports from the county societies, required to be made annually, with regar d to the condition of agriculture in the several counties, are delivered, pursuant to law, to the President of the State Board It was doubtless the expectation of the framers of this statute that these county reports would furnish the chief basis for the deliberations and consultations of the board relating to the condition and prospects of agriculture in the State. If filed a proper time before the January meeting they doubtless would, but, not being delivered until after the meeting has begun, thev cannot be examined during the meeting with any care, and therefore form no basis for consultation or deliberation. The consequence is that they are, as a general rule, hastily prepared, contain little varied or specific information, and fail to present with fullness or vividness the condition of agriculture in the counties. If the reports were required to be delivered to the Secretary of the State Board by the Ist of December of each year, and it were made bis duty to present to the board at its January meeting a copious abstract of their contents, and to arrange and index them so that the several subjects could be readily referred to, they would soon form a oasis i'or the deliberations and discussions of the board, and their quality would be greatly improved It would be’ good policy for the State to offer a reasonable premium annually for the best county report. This would excite emulation, and in tiie end would make these reports of much value to

our farmers. Some of the professors of Purdue University—the State’s agricultural college—devote the greater part of every year to studies and experiments in agriculture. If these particular professors were made members of the State Board, they would impart much freshness and interest to its discussions, and give to it increased energy and spirit I recommend that two members of the Faculty of Purdue University be made ex officio members of the board. STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. This board was established by an act of the last General Aseembly. Twenty-six States had previously established like boards. The work of the board has been prosecuted with zeal. Its report, and the report of its executive officer, give a full statement of the work done since it entered upon the discharge of its duties. ATTORNEY GENERAL’S REPORT. The large collections made by the Attorney General of moneys received by various officers which were payable to the State, but had been withheld, and the result of important suits in which the State has been interested, as well as the condition of pending suits, are shown by his report The litigation involving the "title to the valuable tract of land near Indianapolis, purchased many years since as a site for the House of Refuge, but not used as such, consisting of 100 acres, has been decided in favor of the State, and the State has quiet possession of the land. PUBLIC PRINTING. , Br a reference to the report of the Secretary of State it will be seen that a deficiency has existed for several years in the appropriations for public printing. The work is done for a fair price, but the cost of what necessarily must be done exceeds somewhat the sums appropriated. In this connection I beg to call your attention to the fact that the law should define with more precision what printing shall be paid for out of the general appropriation. THE STATE MILITIA. Attention is called with pleasure to the energetic and successful efforts of the Adjutant General to increase the numbers and improve the discipline of our active militia The encampment held at Indianapolis last summer, at which some of the most prominent militia companies of the country engaged in a competition for prizes with our own companies, and with one another, drew to it a vast number of interested spectators, gave a renewed impulse to the martial spirit, and has been productive of excellent results. I take this occasion to render acknowledgments to the gentlemen composing my staff for their arduous and disinterested services on that occasion. Since the-encampment broke up, many new companies have been v .’\ .i-.vy.

formed, and a disposition to elevate | the standard of attainment in all military exercises has been manifest. The | recommendations Contained, in the Adjutant General’s report are commended to your careful consideration. I particularly urge upon vou the importance of passing a law, in conformity to his recommendation, to provide for copying into record books, to be procured for that purpose, the muster-in and muster-oat rolls of the Indiana soldier* These contain an account of the service of each soldier. When this record shall have been made, a frequent handling of original papers will be unnecessary, and the papers will thus be preserved from injury. It will be a reproach to the State if a performance of this duty shall be longer neglected. There is a necessity, also, that yon shall provide, without delay, a fire-proof vault for the purpose of securing these papers against the hazards of fire. Their destruction would do incalculable injustice to per\sous having the strongest claims t 6 grateful recognition by the State. revised statute* In conformity to a requirement contained in the act of 1881, concerning the publication of the Revised Statutes, I appointed the gentlemen composing the Board of Revision, Commissioners to prepare these statutes for publication, and to superintend the publication thereof. The last delivery of the copies required by law to be filed in the Clerks’ offices of the several counties was made in July, 18Sa The act of IS3I provided that the Commissioners should hold their positions until the first day of November of that year, and that the Commissioners and the Governor should, on the final adjournment of the General Assembly, advertise for bids for the printing and delivery of the statute* A clause required the *Commissionera to annotate the contents of the volume, so as to show, by Ser reference, the time when all statutes ided in the volume went into fqrce. A literal compliance with the act of 1881, with respect to the time for completing the work assigned to the Commissioners, and to the time for advertising for bids, was found to be impossible. The work assigned to the Commissioners could not, by the utmost labor they could bestow, be completed within the time prescribed, and no intelligent bid, or bid at all favorable to the State, could have been expected, had bids been solicited when the work was in the incomplete condition in which it was at the time of the adjournment of the Legislature. * Beside, the volume containing the session acts of 1881 was so large, on account of the bills brought before the Legislature by the Board for the Revision of Laws, that the printing could not be completed until a period much later than had been usual in the printing of session acts. • Hence, the annotation of the time when the acts passed at the session of 1881 took effect, could not be made as earlv as the Legislature had contemplated. When the time fixed for the expiration of the ojfices of the Commissioners arrived, they, therefore, from public motives, and at much personal inconvenience, .continued in the performance of their labor, without any provision for further compensation, until the work contemplated by law had been completed and the statutes were ready for delivery.

The act of 1881 prescribed with particularity with what kind of type and in what style the Revised Statutes should be printed The contract was let in conformity to the terms of the act. Had the volume, however, been prepared in that manner, it would have been most inconvenient and unsightly. Fortunately, the contractor was willing to print the volume in a much better type, and to bind it in a much more attractive style, at the price which had been named in the contract, and it was accordingly prepared in this manner, with the consent of the Commissioners and to the general satisfaction of the legal professfbn. It is a volume which the Commissioners have truly said is “a credit to the printers’ art.” The cost of the printing, binding and delivery was $22,233.76, being $2,766.24 less than'the appropriation for the purpose. The Commissioners, in their contract, took the precaution to provide that, as soon as the number of volumes prescribed by law had been printed, the stereotype plates employed in printing it should, without additional charge, be turned over to the State. No provisions having been made by law for securing a copyright, the Commissioners took out a copyright in their own names, which they promptly assigned to the State. In compliance with a request from them, I recommend the passage of an act formally

accepting the assignment. The stereotype plates can be used to advantage by the State, and could also be used by private parties, in printing separately for circulation, particular acts contained in the volume. I recommend that provision be made by law for a temporary use of the plates by private parties, for a proper consideration, at the discretion of the Board of Public Printing. For the laborious work performed by the Commissioners after the end of their term of office, I have no doubt it will be the pleasure of the General Assembly to provide a proper compensation. THE NEW STATE HOUSE. The progress of the work upon the new State House since the General Assembly last met has, on the whole, been satisfactory. While in 1881 the work did not proceed quite as actively as had been anticipated, it has during the year just closed been prosecuted as diligently as the most sanguine could well have hoped. Under the careful and vigilant supervision of the Commissioners, it is believed that it has been thoroughly well executed, and will bear the sternest testa It is a subject of great regret that the execution of the remainder of the work is liable to be retarded by a dissatisfaction on the part of the contractors, arising from losses said bvthem to have been necessarily incurred while they have been engaged in a" diligent and faithful performance of their contract. The cost of materials and the prices of labor have risen, as they claim, altogether above what they expected, or what might reasonably have been expected, when they entered upon their undertaking. If they should decline to proceed further under ‘ existing circumstances, a grave duty will be devolved upon you in determining what course will be wisest to secure an early and satisfactory execution of the unfinished part of the work. Provision was made in the contract that changes directed by the Commissioners, with the consent of the contractors, during the progress of the work, should not operate to discharge the liability of the sureties . upon the contractors’ bond, and in every instance where changes have been made they have been made with the consent of the contractors and in conformity to an opinion of the Attorney General, that the change would not release the sureties. THE KANKAKEE MARSH. At the last session of the General Assembly an act was passed empowering the Gov-, eriior to appoint a civil engineer to make a survey of Hie wet and swamp lands of the Kankakee region in this State, and to take levels, and make careful estimates, with a view of ascertaining the cheapest and most practicable outlets and routes by which to effect successfully a drainage of that vast body of fertile lands. An appropriation of $5,000 was made to enable the engineer to prosecute the work, and the Governor was empowered at his discretion to direct surveys to be made of other wet lands for a like purpose. Oh the sth day of May, 1881, I appointed as the civil engineer for the purpose contemplated in the act, Prof. John JL Campbell, of Wabash College, who had been successfully conducting the United States Geodetic Survey in this State. He accepted the appointment, and, having organized a corps of assistants, entered promptly upon his important work. I cannot too highly commend the manner in which he and hfe able corps of assistants have discharged their duties. His clear and exhaustive report should receive your most attentive consideration. The vast region of the Kankakee is shown to be one of the most fertile regions of the State, and, by the excavation of a nearly straight channel to conduct the water of the river, a sufficient fall can be obtained to effect a thorough drainage. The ease with which the channel can" be constructed is most gratifying, and the cost of effecting a drainage, however considerable it may appear, bears no sort of proportion to the’additional value which drainage will impart to the lands. These lands, on account of their proximity to Chicago, are covered by a net work of leading lines of railroads. The estimates of the engineer, who is of a cautious and conservative temper, may be regarded as being certainly above, rather than Delow, what would be "the actual cost of the work required to be done. It was hoped that the rocky bottom of the bed of the river, which begins in Illinois, two miles west of our State line, would not at that point oppose any obstacle to a thorough drainage, but the engineer believes that the water, flowing through its new channel, holding particles of earth in suspension, would be likely to deposit a sediment at that point and ‘make a bar which might render lands adjacent to the river liable to overflow. He thinks that for a distance of half the length of the contem-

plated channel the work of drainage can safely be prosecuted without delay, but that the resfc'of the work should await an acquisition of the right to remove for a specified distance the rocky obstruction re ferredto. A belief has been expressed, however, by some hydraulic engineers, that, until the new channel shall practically cease to.make the stream muddy, any tendency to create a bar at the point mentioned might probably be prevented by one of the small vessels needed at any rate to be maintained in the river for some time after the completion of the work, being fitted with simple mechanical appliances, enabling it to stir the sediment anajteep it in suspension until it can pass off in the current which flows freely over the rocky bottom of the river at that point. With respect to the manner in which this important undertaking shall be prosecuted, there will no doubt be found a diversity of opinion. The law of 18(19, which, was intended to provide a practical scheme for the accomplishment of the work, was repealed by the General Assembly soon after its enactment It was found that the effect of the law would be to subject to jjale for a non-pavment of assessments the lands of most o‘s the small proprietors. Such proprietors cannot pav any considerable assessments until an increase of crops, occasioned by a reclamation of their lands, provides them with the means of payment Some method must be devised, if they are to be protected, by which the work may go on and there may be a reasonable delay in the collection of the assessments. With respect to the portion of these lands included in the grant of swamp lands made to the State by the United States, the State engaged, when it sold them, that the proceeds of the sales should be applied toward draining them. It must be confessed that the engagement was imperfectly kept. The more sanguine proprietors have hoped that, in consideration of this fact, the State would, at its own expense, undertake to drain these lands. It does not, however, seem to be likely that the Legislature would be willing to charge the State with the expense of so considerable an undertaking. But the fact that the State so imperfectly kept its engagement should certainly ihcliue it to a course of liberal legislation. It is believed that it would be competent for the State itself to advance money, retaining a lien on the lands for a return thereof; but, if this should be deemed inexpedient, it might empower the counties to be benefited by the drainage to guarantee bonds to be issued in payment for the work, retaining a lien on lands benefited in analogy to the provision respecting aid to gravel road companies. The subject is one of so great importance that it should engage your early and most earnest attention. FEES AND SALABIES. For many years complaints have been made In the more populous counties that the fees and salaries of officers were too large for the services performed. It has also been asserted that the means to which there are often strong temptations to resort for obtaining nominations for offices so lucrative, ana for securing success at the polls, have a corrupting effect upon elections. Before the adaption of the constitutional amendments of 1881, the Legislature was deprived of the power of curing this supposed evil. In that year an amendment was passed which has removed the difficulty. This amendment was submitted to the electors of the State, and prevailed by a majority of more than 00,000 votes. A session of the Legislature has intervened since this amendment was adopted, but no act has been passed regulating the compensation of officers in the manner contemplated. Every officer should be adequately paid for his services,but it is due to the people that no greater sum shall be taken from them, in the way of fees and salaries, than is necessary to pay to the officer a fair compensation. Officers frequently, however, relinquish regular occupations to obtain, these places, under an expectation that the rate of fees prevailing when they were elected will be substantially. maintained. It might be just, therefore, to postpone the operation of the regulating act for a reasonable time after its passage. A bill properly regulating fees and salaries will require much thoughtful consideration, and should engage your attention at a very early period of the session. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS. The first section of the sixteenth article of the State constitution is in the following language;

fc Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in either branch of the General Assembly; and, if the same shall be agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such proposed amendments shall, with the yeas and navs thereon, be entered on their journals and referred to the General Assembly, to be chosen at the next general election; and if, in the General Assembly so next chosen, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each house, then it shall be the duty of tire General Assembly to submit such amendment or amendments to the electors of the State; and if a majority of said electors shall ratify the same, such amemtoaent or amendments shall become a part constitution,’’ At the special session of the General Assembly in 1881, several joint resolutions were introduced, which were passed by a vote of a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, proposing- certain amendments to the constitution. The titles of the several resolutions, and their numbers, were entered on the journals of the two houses, together with the yeas and naj's on the passage. An enrolled copy of each resolution, containing the amendment set out at full length, Avas signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, transmitted to the Governor, and filed by him, in conformity to law, in the office of the Secretary of State. In the canvass for the election of Senators and Representatives to the present General Assembly, the point, it is believed, was not raised yiat prop** steps had not been taken to enable the present one to consider the amendments. Since the election, however, the point has been raised, through the public press, that the proposed amendments are not in a condition to be considered by the present General Assembly, because, it is said, they were not entered at length in the journals of the two houses of the last General Assembly. Neither of the points raised has been’ settled in this State by any judicial decision. An executive construction Avas given, however, to one of them in a message of Gov. Baker, in the ease of what is knoAvn as the Wabash and Erie Canal amendment. That amendment Avas not entered at lengths tip on the journal of either of the twfl Houses. The resolution by which th™ amendment Avas proposed Avas referred to in the journal of each house by its title merelv, and the enrolled copy thereof was signed by the i>residing officer of each house, and was duly filed in the office of the Secretary of State. Gov. Baker maintained that this Avas a sufficient compliance -with the terms of the constitution. The constitution requires, in the case of bills, that upon the passage thereof the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and entered upon the journals of the two housea In a case where the point was urged that an act was not in force because no entry of the } eas and nays on its passage appeared in the ouraals, the Supreme Court held that the signatures of the presiding officers were conclusive evidence of the passage. The constitution is silent respecting the manner in which a proposed amendment shall be referred from the first to the second General Assembly. The main object, no doubt, is to get it before the second Assembly. If the genuine resolution passed comes before the second Assembly, and is acted on, the object of a reference would seem to have been attained, and the purpose of the framers of that instrument to have been carried out. There was, I believe, no formal reference of the amendments adopted in 1881 by the first to the second General Assembly. In the canvass last autumn it is said that some of the Senators and Representatives who were chosen at the November election publicly pledged themselves that, if they were chosen, they would vote at the present session to submit the amendments to the electors at a special election. Without swing anything respecting the merits of the several amendments, I can frankly express a belief that pledges upon which electors were induced to vote for gentlemen holding seats in either of the two houses of this Assembly Avill not be disregarded except for overwhelming reasons. CONCLUSION. The importance of the subjects which Avill engage your attention during the session, and the limited time allowed to you by the constitution for their consideration, will require you to enter early and vigorously upon your Avork. It will give me pleasure to supply you Avith such facilities for the performance of your duties as can be furnished by the Executive Department And I trust that, under the guidance of Divine Providence, error may be avoided, and the best interests of the people subserved. Albert G. Poster

NUMBER 50.

FARM NOTES.

The Cause of Bitter Milk. —Bitter ynilk is a matter of frequent occurrence every fall aDd winter, or soon after the cows are off from grazing. It is caused first by bitter herbs in the hay, such as mayweed, johnsworth, etc., and also by the use of too much over-ripe food, such as straw, corn, stover, or late-cut hay. It never ooours when cows are fed on good food and are thriving, or even holding their own, and are kept comfortably warm. Storing Honey.— Let all remember to keep their honey, whether extracted or comb, in a dry, warm room. It is best to keep extracted honey in open vessels, and, if to be shipped, in barrels or kegs; these latter should be ooated inside with paraffine or beeswax. Let. no one be in a hurry to sell bis honey. It should be thoroughly graded before it is sent to market. No pains should be spared to have the honey look neat, which will largely inorease the price it will bring. Important to Pork Makers. —Too little attention is paid to supplying hogs with plenty of water. We all know that they are pretty nasty, and eat and drink a good many nasty things; hut I am persuaded that they like a drink of cool, clean water as well as any person, and better than a great many c do, for they would be glad to have it oftentimes when many a man would not he satisfied without somethin considerably stronger and a good deal less wholesome. — Exchange. A Bad Investment. —In the opinion of the Grange Visitor a hadly-wom or broken-down farm implement of any kind is a bad investment. The loss of time from stoppage when work should be hurried is usually more expensive than the money cost of repairs. Too much repairing can not he afforded for an old implement, wagon or-other vehicle. The story is told of a man who said the worst luck that ever befoll him was finding a lynch pin. It was of no use until he had first a wheel and then a wagon, which being made in pieces proved twice as costly as the purchase of a new one.. Odds and Ends. —See that good insurance is on the farm buildings. Keep out the cold from all the barns, stables and house by banking with e rth, manure or even snow. Double windows are a great saving in food and fuel. It is a mistake to think that severe exposure makes animals hardy; they are far better off under cover during a storm. Plaster sprinkled on the stable floor will aid in keeping the air free from bad odors, and save valuable materials that would otherwise escape. Use the curry-comb and brush freely. Growing animals need comparatively more food than those fully grown. Water at the freezing point is not so healthful as warmer water, and it requires extra food consumed to heat it in the animal system. A shivering calf appeals to the pocket as well as the sympathy of the owner. The hen with warm food and a comfortable house will pay for her keeping, while one with no home and eat will be wintered —if she lives through, at. a loss. Small matt rs make up the sum of all comforts, and constant attention to them brings a great reward. The above is the sensible advice of the American Agriculturist.

Effects of Potato Culture on Soils. A correspondent of the Country Gentlemen speaks disparage ingly of the ultimate effect of the potato crop upon the fertility of the soil. He says: “Potato culture has nearly ruined many of our farms, and, while it has made many a father rich, it will and has made sons poor. The very reasons which make the potato crop such an excellent one for subduing the land also cause it to ruin the land in time. The crop demands our driest, best soils, and everything is removed from the ground. The tops amount to little or nothing toward maintaining the fertility or texture of the soil. Digging the soil up so loosely late in the fall, just before or during the fall rains, causes it to wash away much fertility, and, above all, changes the texture of the soil. Any one who has careiully watched will be compelled to admit that soils long devotod to potato cultui-e become incapable of enduring drought. The soil bakes into a crusty condition, much worse on old potato fields and farms even where a judicious system of rotation is pursued. Where no rotation is practiced the crop is ruined by adrought Avliicli barely injures the crop on new land adjoining. This I can see every year in my garden. I am a firm believer in the doctrine that land should always have a crop growing upon it, if possible, and that no fertile soil should ever be broken up or disturbed except for the purpose of growing a crop, and that a crop should | be planted or sown immediately after I pulverization, in order to benefit and preserve the soil, a 3 Avell as for the Brelfare of the crop. P tatoes mike a good preparation for a winter crop cf grain, if they are heavily manured, but in the long run they injure the land very much.

Largs Loss in Using Damp Fuel.— Burning wet or damp wood or coal, instead of dry, is much more wasteful and expensive than most people imagine, and the subject is worthy of attention now, when we are using much fuel, and are —or ought to be—providing a supply of wood for the rest of the year, where wood is used. An extensive series of experiments recently made at Bochum, Germany, shows that six toils of finely broken dry coal gives as much heat as about seven tons burned as it would be if water were dashed upon it and drained off fora short time. And this is the condition of much coal kept in dump vau ts, leaky sheds, or out of doors. The lesson is obvious—keep the coal in a dry place and condition, and sto 14 per cent, less, according to its fineness, will be needed to obtain the same heat. There is a good scientific explanation of this. Water, in changing to steam, or cold vapor even—that is, in drying off-con- | ceals, or makes latent, about 1,000 I degrees of heat. If - heated to 212 dej grees, the boiling point, the steam ! really contains about 1,200 degrees of i heat, although only 212 degrees are ] sensible, or are shown by the tlier ; mometer. The waste' of heat is still greater in burning green or wet wood. The sap or water uses up—that is, carries off in a latent state —a very large proportion of the heat produced by its carbon or its dry material. As mne i man and team power is required to haul three or four cords of g-een wood ns for six or eight cords of dry wood. The lesson is, ut the fuel and split rt as finely as it in to bo used, in the gr ve; haul it home when well dried, and keep it in a dry place for use. It will be

THE DEMOCRATIC SENTINEL Ora JOB POINTING OFFICE Has better facilities, than any offloe in Northwestern Indiana for the execution of all branches of jtob miisrTirffo. «T PROMPTNESS A SPECIALTY. Anything, from a Dodger to a Prioe-List, or from a Pamph’et to a Poster, black or colored, nlain or fane* JHT Satisfaction guaranteed.

worth far more for heating purposes than if burned green or wet, or damp even. The only exception to this advice is, when by reason of easier hauling on the snow, and on account of the leisure of men and teams in winter, it' may be expedient to haul the green wood home then; but in all cases let it he well dried before it is used.— Orang* Judd, in American Agriculturist.

INDIANA LEGISLATURE.

The thirty-third biennial session of the Legislature of Indiana began at Indianapolis on Thursday, Jan. 4 Rev. Ross G Houghton opened the Senate with prayer, and the new Senators wore sworn in by Chief Justice Wood, of the Supreme Court Albert J. Kelly, of Vigo county, was elected Principal Secretary over Robert B. Sears, of Vermillion county, Assistant Secretary of the last Senate. Henry a Hofstetter, of Lawrence county, was elected Assistant Secretary over Charles F. Robbins, of Marion county, and Vincent P. Kirk, of Marshall ' county, was elected Doorkeeper over Henry L Gordon, of Franklin county—all by a strict party vote of 138 Democrats to 22 Republicans. Immediately after the organization a bill was offered by Senator rown for the Democrats, taking away the Governor’s power of appointing Directors for the benevolent institutions and giving it to the Legislature, and a resolution offered by the same gentleman took away the Lieutenant Governor’s power of appointing committees and gave it to the Senate. .Both of these measures were adopted by a strict party vote, and the Senate adjourned after a wrangle with the House oonceming a committee to wait upon the Governor, in consequence of which his- Excellenov did not have an opportunity of reading his message on the first day of the session as he expected. The House was organized by the Secretary of State, Rev. Myron W. Reed invoking the divine blessing, and Justice Niblack, of the Supremo Court, administering the oath. William D. Bynum, of Marion county, was elected Speaker over A. J. Wright, of Grant county, by a vote of 53 to 42. 8. W. Edwins, of Madison countv, was elected Clerk over W. H. Hay, of Marion county, by 57 to 89. Will Peece, of Johnson county, was elected Assistant Clerk over W. H. Nichols, of Boone, by 5(1 to 40, and Henry Fry, of Grant county, was elected Doorkeeper over D. A. Roberts, of Jefferson county, by a vote of 5(1 to 41. A resolution was adopted instructing the officers of the House to prefer the claims of disabled soldiers in the matter of appointments. Appropriate resolutions were adopted regarding the death of Hon. H. 8. Perrette, of Floj'd county, who was elected Representative, and the House then adjourned out of respect for his memory. The question of etiquette between the two houses was settled on the sth inst. by the Senate receding from the position it had assumed and concurring in the appointment of a committee to wait upon the Governor. Resolutions were adopted setting apart Thursday for a sorvice in memory of the late Senator' Chapman, of Marion county. The question of the legality of the adoption of the Prohibition amendment bv the last Legislature was brought up bv a resolution of Senator Smith, Republican, directing the Secretary of Mtute to furnish a certified copy of officiul records in his office concerning the constitutional amendments Adopted in 1881, and also the one in relation to the Wabash and Erie canal, and as to whether the constitutional provision has been complied with requiring such proposed amendments, with the yeas and nays thereon, to be entered on tliotr journals and referred to the next General Assembly. A spirited discussion resulted, the Republicans favoring it, but the Democratic majority finally referred the matter to the Judiciary Committee. The Senate refused to appoint a special committee on the subject of woman suffrage. Ihe House, after the consideration of unimportant matters, adjourned until Monday, Jan. 8 Both houses met in joint session, Lieut. Gov. Hanna presiding, and Gov. Porter delivered his message.

The Utility of Drunkenness.

Darwin shows that the onward progress, the development, or what may be described as the collective prosperity of the. species, is brought by overmultiplication, followed by a necessary struggle for existence, in the course of a* Inch the inferior or unsuitable individuals are Aveeded out, and “the survival of the fittest” necessarily follows ; those superior or more suitable specimens transmit more or less of their advantages to their offspring, which, still multiplying excessively, are again and again similarly sifted and impi'oved or developed in a boundless course of forward evolution. In the earlier stages of human existthe fittest for survival were those whose brutal or physical energies best enabled them to struggle with the physical difficulties of their surroundings, to subjugate the cruelties of the primeval plains and forests to human requirements. The perpetual struggles of the different tribes gave the dominion of the earth to those best able to rule it; the strongest and most violent human animal Avas then the fittest, and he survived accordingly. Then came another era of human effort gradually culminating in the present period. In this, mere muscular strength, brute physical power and mere animal energy have become less and less demanded as we have, by the aid of physical science, imprisoned the , physical forces of nature in our steam boilers, batteries, etc., and have made them our slaves in lieu of human prisoners of war. The coarse, muscular raving, yelling, fighting human animal that formerly led the war-dance, the hunt and the battle, is no longer the fittest for survival, but is, on the contrary, daily becoming more and more out of place. His prize-fights, his dogfights, his cock-pits and bull-baiting are practically abolished, his fox-hunt-ing and bird-sliooting i»re only carried

on at great expense by a wealthy residuum, and by damaging interference with civilized agriculture. The unfitness of the remaining representatives of the primeval savage is manifest, and the survival is purely prejudicial to the interests and future progress of the race. Such being the case, we now require some means of eliminating these coarser, more brutal, or purely animal specimens of humanity, in order that there may be more room for the survival and multiplication of the more intellectual, more refined, and altogether distinctively human specimens. It is desirable that this should be effected by some natural or spontaneous proceeding of self-extinction, performed by the animal specimens themselves. If this self-immolation can be a process thht is enjoyable in their own estimation, all the objections to it that might otherwise bo suggested by our feelings of humanity are removed. Now-, these conditions are exactly fulfilled by the alcoholic drinks of the present day when used for the purpose of obtaining intoxication. — W. Matlien Williams, in Popular Science Monthly. ——T—i“" A CONVENTION of Baptist preachers was held at Pittsboro, N. C., a few days ago. On the opening day two . yontg clergymen were married, and afbceremony the bridegrooms before the "committee of arrange men ; > be assigned to temporary “home i t Pittslmro. The waggish me •hereof the committee, learning tbs' r»o had been married that m „ : signal the In'idos to ft hom; ;*r .• '• •« of' the town and their husband* to a homo at the other end.