Terre Haute Daily Gazette, Volume 1, Number 188, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 9 January 1871 — Page 1

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YOL. 1.

j^te (Bvetting (fiazctte

MONDAY. JANUARY 0, 1871.

3IESSAGE or

GOVERNOR CONRAD BAKER.

Delivered January C. 1S71.

LCOXCXUDED.]

WAIl C'l-AIM AOAI.VSr THE G3VF.RX.'T. ^Vlicit tlie conditioa'of these claims was reported two yours ago, the tenth installment thereof, amounting to$12o, i'2.1. 8), liiul not been passed upon by the Tiva-ury Department. Oil the 8lh day or Orcein oer, 1SJJ, I received a draft, or wunvul fro in tlie Treasury of the United

the

ceed jd in having the papers and proofs prep ued

nece.-sary

forces

for

.Stales,

the

(States, payable to my order in my olli-1 ami town lots are valued t.v a similar ciul capacity, for $11,412.15, allowed on tiiis installment, which I, on the same day, paid into the (State Treasury, and received a quietus for that am unit. The item- constituting the residue of installment were either disallowed or suspended f.»r further explanation or proof.

latter part oi April 1870, I suc

presentation

of all additional claim designated as the Twelfth lifttallment, for moneys advanced for tue purtlia-e of horses in ISfil, for the military service of the United

and amounting as presented to

S&i.iSii.lii. As the papers and forms of proof of this installment had been prepared by Gun. W. II. if. Terrell during hi- service as A ijiitant General of this Stale, and as he umlor.-tood and could explain the hems constituting the claim better than anv other person, I seiu all the papers to "him at Washington, and requested him to present and prosecute the claim in tne Treasury Department, assuring him a reasonable compensation for his services. The claim was accordingly presented by Gen. Terrell, and on the -1st dav of (September, 1870, I received a draft from the Treasury of the of the United States, tor $2 i.i!-53, payable to my order in my official capacity, and immediately paid the same into the State Treasury, ami received a quietus for the amount.

The items constituting the residue of this installment were either disallowed, or suspended for further information and proof.

The lltli installment of our war claims was for moneys expended by the (State in equipping and substituting State troops belonging to the Indiana Legion, while jn actual service upon the call of the Governor, during the rebellion. Under the act of Congress of March 2 "), 1867, Hon. John Droadhoad, Hon. 11. Flint, and Col. W. It. Kinney, were appointed Commissioners to ascertain the amount expended by this State in enrolling, equipping, subsisting, transporting and paying such State forces as were called into service in this Staie after January 1, 1832, to act in concert with the Unhed State*

in suppressing the rebellion. Said Commissioners met at Indianapolis in March, 1800, and did not complete their labors till the latter part of September or the beginning of October of the

.same

year, at which time they made a report awarding to the State $181,178.24, for moneys expended for the purpose.contemplated by said Act ot Congress. Of the amount thus awarded, the 'Treasury Department allowed the sum oi $1(H,!)23.21, and in June, 1870,1 received front the Treasurer of the United State.a drat't for that amount which was immediately applied trough the Board oi the State Djht Sinking Fund Commissioners, to the redemption of the outstanding foreign indebted of the State as suited in a former part of this communication.

The sums received from the Government since the report contained in the Menage delivered at the opening of tin General Assembly two years ago, amount jn iho aggregate to

^52lj,(yj.3i),

as tollows.

viz Uul'tli Installment 311,412 IS On lirh Installment On Utli Installment t)

Total

TAXATION OF RAILROADS.

At the last special session, I called attention in a message, which will be found at page 122 of the Senate journal, and at page 174 of the House journal, to some very glaring defects in the present law for tlie assessment and taxation oi vail roads, through which great injustice is done to the State and to the owners Jf other kinds of property subject to tux-

^iTiow respectfully call attention to that communication, and renew the recommendations made therein.

The 8th installment, amounting, apresented, to $t)U(j/j7lJ.ll,cannot be heard or adjusted by the Treasury Department until there is additional legislation au thorizing it. There is a bill pending in the Senate of the United States which, if it shall become the law, will provid» for the auditingof the claim. This claim is chiefly for interest paid by the Stab on her War Loan Bonds, issued foi inonev borrowed to aid in the suppression o*f the rebellion. I append to this communication a tabular statement which, with the one appended to the iart Message will, it isbeiieved, give full information as to the collections made on these claims, the application of the money, and the present condition of suet as are still unadjusted. I feel assured that, in the suspended and disallowed items of the different installments, there are very considerable sums thatare justly due to the State, the allowance of which .might be obtained by furnishing such additional proofs and explanations a:.Ltfi&ht be procured or made. It is, however, so difficult to procure an efficient prosecution of such claims without promising a large compensation for the service, thafl prefer that the General Assembly should act in the matter, rather than to Assume the responsibility myself.

TAXATION OF BANK STOCK. repeat the recommendation made at the ooening of the last General Assembly that provision be made lor taxing the'shares of stock in the National and other banks for municipal purposes, as pther property is taxable.

The opinion** then expressed as to the power and duty of thus legislating remain unchanged. ASSESSMENT, EQUALIZATION AND COL

LECTION OF TAXES,

The entire taxable property of theState for the vear 1868, as it appeared on the duplicates, was $5')l,9Ti),964.00. Under the operation of the new appraisement of real estate made in 180 ), if we treat .'the proceedings of the State Board oi

Equalization as binding, the duplicates of 186'J ought to have shown the aggre

gate

amount of the taxable property of the State to be $671,220,955 0U, or an increase of $79,240,981.00, If all this inorease had beeii Garried on the duplicates,

Jt is sufe to.s&y that eyei? then the figures 'Would not represent one-half of the real value of all tho property that is Usable under our l*ws. The IQW requires property to be valued at its true ea*h value. Tiijs language, as applied to the apr praisementot rtral estate for taxation, it ^construed to meau tbe sum that the

RISSW

property would command in gold at a forced sale, and by this construction the appraisement is reduced toie^s tlian onehalf, and in many instances lo less than one-third of the amount that the owner would be willing to take for the property, or than a prudent nian desiring to purchase would give for it. There seems also, in many cases to be a rivalry, not only between individuals, but between the officers of different counties to depreciate the value of their taxable.County officials take it for granted that the real estate in other counties will be appraised greatly beiow its true value ami. upon this assumption justify themselves in making a grossly insufficient appraisement as an act of noee.-sary selldelense to prevent an excessive contribution to the common burthens. Nor does the evil stop here The man who.-e taxables consi-t chiefly of per.-^wml property, justiiies him-eif in returning to the assessor one-third part of the value thereof because he sees that his neighbor's acres

standard. The practical effect of this is to depreciate the wealth and importance .of Indiana in comparison with other States, und a tendency is to keep immigration and capital from the State.

Worse than all this, however, is the fact that such practicesare inimical to public and private virtue, and give official sanction to fraud and falsehood.

I recommend that in imitation of the assessment laws of Michigan, an amendment shall be parsed declaring that the words ''cash value," nsappiiedto the appraisementfcOf property for taxation shad meau the usual selling price at the piace where the property is at the time of assessment, not at a forced sale, but at private sale. I trust that you will Ik-j able to devise some remedy to prevent tlie demoralizing practice of counties and individuals competing with each other in the valuation of their t-nxables at rates grossly disproportioned to their real value.

The action of the State Board.in equalizing the appraisement of real estate ha been disregarded in many if not all of tlie counties in which aper centum was directed to be added to tlie appraisement left by the District Board but, where a ''eduction was directed to be made, the County Auditors, as a general rule, have not been slow to execute the order in making out the Duplicates. By this failure comply with the action of the State Board, and by authoiized deductions not directed by that Bjard, the total value of all the taxable property of the State, as it stands on the duplicates is reduced more than fifteen millions of dollars below what it would have been if the action of the State Board had been carried out, and no such unauthorized deductions had been made.-

At the last special session, the attention of some of the members of each House was called to the fact that Dy the change in the boundaries of the Congressional District:*, the law as to the places of tiie meetings of the District Boards of Equalization in seven of the Congressional Districts had become impossible of execution, as the statute required each District Board to meet %viihin the District, and a place designated and this designated place had, by the change in tbe apportionment, been placed within the District to which it formerly belonged.

A bill'passed the Senate to remedy the difficulty, but was not acted upon in the House. The Auditor of State, by advice of the Attorney General, designated the places of meeting of the District Boards in the seven districts in which the law had become impossible of execution. The Auditor of Marion county, in making the duplicate of 1857, having failed to recoiluize the action of the Stale Board in directing an increased per centum to be added to the appraised value of the real estate of that county, the Attorney General, on the relation of the Auditor

State, commented a proceeding in the Marion Civil Court to compel the Auditor of Marion county to comply with the order of the Suite Board of Equalization.

The question was presented on its merits, two points being made in resisting the issuing of a mandate, viz: 1st. That the District arda mi at unauthorized places, and therefore were llegal bodies a ud could not appoint delegates to the State Board, and that the State Board having been mpoed of lelegates, a majority of whom were thus ippointcd, it also was au illegal body, .mil its acts were void. 2d. That the session of the State Board was, by the statute, limited to ten days that its meetings were continued beyoud the time limited, and that the order oJ equalization was made on the twelfth day after that on which the Board met and organized.

Tiie Circuit Court refused tbe mandate, and, although the case was prepared for the Supreme Court by a reservation of tiie proper exceptions, no appeal has oeen taken—Attorney General Williamson liaviug, as I am informed, come to the concnision that the judgment of tht Court below in relusing tiie mandate could not be reversed.

After examining the question, with some care, my own opinion is that, the objections made to the District Boards— though purely technical—are yet good technical objections and that the remedy for the evil is not by appeal, but by cur ative legislation. The necessity for such legislation is clear for, if the State Board was an illegal body, so also were the District Boards, and yet the action of the District Boards has been carried out by some of the County Auditors who repudiate that of the State Board.

I have caused a tabular statement to be carefully compiled from the .Report o! the Auditor of State for the year ISO1,), arranged by counties in alphabetical order, showing in separate columns what the aggregate value of the real estate and improvements would have been in each county if the action of the State Board had been carried forward lo the duplicates of 1860, with the increase or decreasn occasioned 'by the failure to follow the orders of the Board.

By this statement it will be seen that in some counties, otter deducting the per centum authorized by the State Board, large additional deductions have also been made.

I will cheerfully furnish copies of said tabular statement to the committees to which the subject miy be given in charge* it being too cx-tc.ided tomake.it apart of this communication.

In view of what has been said, I respectfully recommend that the meetings, organization and proceedings of the district boards be legalized that tlie proceedings of the State Boaid be thoroughly revised by a joint committee representing all parts of the State, and, so tar as these proceedings may be found to be ist and equitable, let them be affirmed and so far as they are found to be otherwise, let the appraisement be so altered as to make them conform to a, just standard and when the equalization is completed by the committee and approved by both Houses, let it be madfe effectual by proper enactments.

I further recommend that provision he made that future appraisement of real estate for taxation shall not Ijeeoiae elfeptuaL until they are submitted to, and revised and affirmed by the General Assembly at the tirst regular meeting thereof after the protor ti«ement after it has thus been affirmed,' ho may be

proceeded against by action on his bond, or by a proceeding for a mandate in the courts of Marion county. Whenever the interests of the State are injuriously affected by the official no, licence or oiflcia! misconduct of a county officer, such county officer should, in my judgment, be liable to an action in some court at the Capital of the State. The existence of such liability would prevent the delinquencies that are now so common.

Something should also be done to prevent the return of such large delinquent lists. Our delinquent list compares very unfavorably wiffh those of other States, partly because men are returned as delinquent from whom the taxes could be made if the proper time was allowed, and the proper effort made to collect, and partly becau.-e delinquencies are carried on theduplicates long after the possibility of their collection

has

ceased. Provision

of some kind should be made for purging the duplicates of this worse than useless matter, the placing ot .which on the ix rolls adds considerably to the county expenses, and gives a more unfavorable opinion of the willingness and rrbility of our people to pav their taxes than the truth would justify.

EDUCATION.

The report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction affords gratifying evidence of the progress of popular cduca-

Clfitf

TUfi

tion throughout the State. Thecounnon schools are continually growing in public favor, and were never so efficient as they now are in training our children for the high duties of American citizenship. I am sure they wi-il continue to deserve and receive tlie fostering care of tlie General As-embly.

As the State school tax, as well as the income of the Common (School Eund, is distributed among the several counties according to the number of children in each, it is highly important that the enumeration upon which this distribution is based should be free from the least suspicion of unfairness or inaccuracy. To this end thu law. should be so amended as to require not only the names of parents, guardians and heads of families to appear in the list, as is now. the case, but the names of the children belonging to each family (which is not now requirvd) should also be given and af.er the County Examiner has reported thcenumeration to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the original enumeration papers should be required to be filed in theoffi.ee of the County Auditor, to be preserved, and to be open to public inspection. Authority should also be given to the Superintendent of Public instruction to cause the enumerations to be revised, and, if found to be inaccurate, corrected before making the distribution and, also, to equalize in making subsequent distributions, within a reasonable time, to be prescribed by statute, any inequitable distributions which may have been made on an incorrect enumeration. Severe penalties should also be provided for official malfeasance in making the enumeration.

My attention has been coiled to the fact that some Township Trustees, instead ot keeping the school moneys in their hands separate from township funds, confuse the moneys and accounts, whereby school funds are applied to roads and otiier township purposes lo the temporary injury or permanent loss to tiie schools.

Such practices should he prohibited under proper penalties by plain statutory enactments, to be published as a part of the school law, and placed in the hands of every Township Trustee.

STATE U"IV1- USITV.

The State University "has greatly enlarged the sphere of its usefulness in consequence of the liberality of tiie last General Assembly, as well as the one preceding it. I commend the institution to a continuance of tbe favorable consideration of the General Assembly.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

In pursuance of the act of May 6th, 18(39, tiie College contemplated by the act of Congress of July 2, lb62, was in 1869, located in Tippecanoe county on a tract of land containing one hundred acres donated for that purpose and situated on the west side of the Wabash river, about one mile and a half from the city of L:iFayette. Mr. Purdue gave his bond to the State for the pavmentof the donation of $lo0,0J9 offered by him, the same being payable in annual installments in pursuance of his original proposition, rue Board of Trustees of the institution in accordance with the provisions oi iid act of May 6,1869, have assumed as their corporate style the name of "The Trustees of Purdue University." For the condition of the funds of the Institution and other information pertaining thereto, I respectfully refer you to the report of the Secretary and Treasurer of the Institution herewith submitted.

By the act of May 5th 1865, the Governor is made a member and President of the Board of Trustees. The land scrip having been disposed of and the money safely invested and tho College being located, no sufficient reason, in my judgment, now exists for the continuance of tlie Governor as a member of the Board. I therefore recommend the passage of an amendment providing for the appointment of an additional Trustee and relieving the Governor from serving as a member of the Board.

1"i"

NORMAL SCHOOL.

I have received no report from the officers of tiie State Normal School, and therefore have no definite information concerning its progress, condition or wants. I believe it is doing a good work, and is a necessary and important part of our common school system. To extend its benefits to those woo ought to enjoy them, it would seem to be necessary tuat some plan should be devised whereby the cost of living to those who attend its sessions from otiier parts of the State should be'diminished.

BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND. The Indiana Institute lor the Education of the Blind is, in the language of the report of its Trustees, "enjoying a high degree of prosperity, and doing its work well and to the ci\ditof the Stale." To enable the Institution, however, to do all the work which ought to be done, it must lie enlarged. There was a pressing

quired for the Hospital for the Insane and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, deferred urging an --appropriation for that purpose until now. For the extension of the Institute building and for othur improvements mentioned in the report of the Superintendent, it is estimated ihfltthe sum of $65,000 will be.required. I earnestly recommend that the sum above named may be appropriated lbr the extension and improvements re-

^It'uiay be question, whether this should be attempted before making some provision for ihe care of the idiotic, and for tiie education of idiotic children. My impression, however, is, that the sufferings of th*. insane still unprovided for are more severe, and that their conditiouaqiore urgently demands speedy relief than the other unfortunate class to whom allusion is above- made. I invite vour consideration to the necessities of i? •.

the

Claims of humanity demand, and ability of the State will justify. Tt Will be perceiveil by the report of tlie trustees a*d superintendent of the

TERRE HAUTE, IND.. MONDAY AFTERNOON, JANUARY 9, 1871.

hospital that the appropriations made at the last session of the General Assembly are insufficient to defray the current expenses of the institutions on the 31st day of March, 1871, which is the end of the fiscal year of the hospital. I recommend that this deficit be immediately supplied by an appropriation so that the officers of "the institution may not labor under the disadvantage of having- to make their purchases on credit until the nussage of the General Appropriation bill, at or near the close of the session.

HOSPITAL Foil THE INSANE.

I cordially commend to your attentive consideration, the able and instructive Report of the Superintendent of the Hospital for the Insane. The capacity of the Institution has been largely increased, so that there is now room for 520 inmates. It is susceptible of a comparatively small additional increase of capacity by enlarging the south wing. Apart from the fact it may be .safely estimated that not more than one-third of the insane of the State who ought to receive the care and treatment of such an institution are now provided lor, it would seem that the Institution should be thus enlarged to equalize its capacity for the reception of patients of both sexes, the number or" applicants for admission of each being about equal.

If the south wing shall be thus enlarged, the capacity of the Hospital will then have reached a limit beyond which it would not be wise to extend it, but instead thereof provision should be made for the erection of another Institution at some other point ill the State.

I also ask that tho amount necessary to pay lbr tlie water works furnished* for tho institution, and now in successful operation, may bo appropriated without delay. 1 invite your favorable consideration to what is ii'd by tho trustees and superintendent in their reports as to the necessity of more liberal estimates for subsistence in making appropriations lor the current expenses of the Institution.

DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM.

The institution for the education of the deifand dumb not only successfully continues to perform the beneficent work for which it was established, but, through the liberality ot the last General Assembly in providing for its enlargement, the sphere of its usefulness has been greatly increased and extended. The contemplated extension of the building having been conpletcd, tlie capacity of the Institution is now believed to* be sufficient tor the accommodation of those entitled to its benefits for years to come. After the new building was completed and ready for being fitted up and furnished, the sum of $10,9-1 was drawn from the Treasury of the State on the application of the Trustees and Superintendent, and applied to fitting and furnishing the enlargement under an express authority given for that purpose in the orgonic law of the Institution. By reason of the enlargement, the present school year commenced and continues with a larger number of pupils than was estimated for wpen tiie appropriation for current expenses was made two years ago, and consequently there will be a deficit of $7,00J, which sura I hope will be appropriated without delay, so that the current expenses of the Institution to the end of its fiscal year. March 31, 1871, may be provided for, and the necessity and disadvantage of making purchases on credit may be avoided.

SOLDIERS' HOME.

I commend the Soldiers' and Seamcns' Home at Knightstown, and especially the Orphans' Department thereof, to your especial consideration, with an expression of the hope that it may receive a more liberal supportatyour hands than has hitherto been accorded. Thus far it seems to nave been reluctantly admitted into the family of our benevolent institutions, and it has appeared to be more difficult to get appropriations for its suprt than for any

port than for any kindred institution. Kor my own part, I know of no class of t.iie meritorious unfortunates who are entitled to a fuller measure of the sympathy and care of a benevolent and patriotic people than the sacred veterans and soldiers orphans now in the "Home" at Kiiightstown. The amount heretofore allowed for the current expenses of the institution has been insufficient, and this year again the Commissioners have been compelled to borrow $5,000 to enable them to meet the necessary current expenses. I believe that the ati'airs of the Institution have been managed with marked judgment and economy, and trust that the provision for its support may be as liberal in proportion to its necessities as that made for any of the other benevolent institutions of the State.

THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND STATE GEOLOGIST

It may well be doubted whether any act of legislation has been adopted by this State for many years, which will prove iso potent in developing the latent resources of the State, and in directing attention to

to our

ring

mineral wealth and manufactu

advantages as that of March

1869,

providing for the establishment of a Department of Geology and Natural Science in connection with the State Board of Agriculture. On the 22d iycf March,1809, I appointed Professor Edward T. Cox to the office of State Geologist, created by that act, and soon after lie e-tablished himself at Indianapolis and entered upon the duties of liis office. The act required him to make a survey, from time to time, of a portion ot the State in-order to be able to complete a thorough geological survey of the State, as soon as consistent with his other duties, as defined bv the act. With the small appropriation made, and the little assistance he was able to employ, it was impracticable for the Geologist to extend his labors overa very large scope ot country, unless he. disre-g-irded that thoroughness which is essential to the attainment of valuable results. He selected, as the chief ikl.l of his operations, that portion of the State which

previous partial surveys had designated as the region whose development~would be of the greatest immediate practical vulue to the entire State, in attracting labor and capital to and within our borders. I have received letters from highly, respectable centlemen ofdirfereni counties of the Northern, as well as the Southern portions of the State complaining ofthe neglect which their respective localities had suffered at the hands of the State Geologist, but I am satisfied that the course he pursued was the wisest and bast, considering the means at his command and the circumstances by which he was surrounded.

I recommend that a reasonable addition be made to tho salary of the Geologist, and that increased means be placed at the disposal ol the State Board of Agpiculture for the support ot its Geological and Scientific Department, so that assistant geologists ipav, at the earliest practicable period, be put i» thf field to hasten the completion of a survey ot the entire State, and to avoid any suspicion that mere local interests are sought to be promoted. The developments already made demonstrate tiiat in the Block Coal of this State our people possess a mine of wealth that is practically inexhaustible. Covering a strip o.f territory averaging three miles in width, it exists in workable veins from the Ohio ver to- Warren county, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. Tlie fact that this coal can be taken directly from the np'ne to the furnace and used" for smelting purposes without coking, producing as good, if- not better iron than that froru the same ore with charcoal, gives Indiana ad van feres f»r manufaoturing purposos that can hardly be exaggerated.

If practical exp6riedce shall affirm, as I believe it will, the correctness of the opinion so confidently entertained* by Professor Cox that the iron made at the furnaces in Clay county will make as good Bessemer Steel as the imported iron now almost exclusively used for that purpose, our facilities for tlie production of steel rails must be of incalculable value.

COURTS.

I respectfully refer you to the message delivered two years ago for my views in relation to our judiciary, and"wish to be understood as repeating the recommendations then made. Since then the Supreme Court has decided that the Criminal Courts established in some of the more populous counties are not Circuit Courts, but that they have a legal existence as inferior courts. This being so, their names should be changed, and tbe harmony of our Circuit Courc system should be restored by the proper amendatory enactments.

I fully concur in the opinion so generally expressed by the judges and lawyers, that provision should be made for the addition of a fifth judge to the bench ol ihe Supreme Court.

Therewith respectfully submit a copy of the memorial adopted at a meeting of

on the 30th day of November last, on this subject, the same having been presented to me by the committee having the matter in charge, with the request that I would lay the matter before you.

The statute passed at the last session requiring the salaries of the .Judges and Prosecuting Attorneys of the Criminal Courts to be paid out of the County Tresuries, is wrong in principle, and ought to be repealed. If these Courts are not necessary to the prompt and effectual prosecution of the pleas of the State, they bught to be abolished if they are necessary, the salaries of the Judges and Prosecutors ought to be paid out of the common trea-urv.

DECEDENTS ESTATES.

Some additional legislation, is, in my judgment, necessary in relation to decedents estates, for the attainment of the following objects, viz: 1st. To prevent small estates from being absorbed by the costs and expenses of administration, by providing for their settlement through the instrumentality of a public administrator -without charge to the estate, or by dispensing with administration altogether. 21. To enlarge the amount allowed to widows out of the estates of their deceased husbands free from the claims of creditors. 3d. To make similar exceptions in favor of the decedent's infant children of tender years left unprovided for by hi3 or her death.

I also believe that provision might with propriety be made to dispense with administration in ail cases where those interested in the estates shall give undoubted security for the payment of the debts thereof within a reasonable time, to be prescribed by statute.

I make these suggestionsVithout going into detail, feeling assured that if the objects named shall meet your approval, there will be no difficulty in giving the recommendations practical eil'ect.

CRIMINAL LAW AND PRACTICE.

I also refer to the views expressed two years ago on t-ie subject of the amendment of our Criminal Code, and the reformation of the practice in criminal prosecutions. The views then expressed on these subjects are still entertained, especially suggest that the brutal crime of prize fighting has not yet been de nounced as a felony by our Jaw.

COUNTY REFORM.

There is an unmistakable popular de maud for reform in the administration of county affairs, and for the reduction of the fees, of county officers, especially in the wealthy and populous counties.. Under the constitutional provision preventing local or special legislation on the subject of fees and salaries, it is generally understood that compensation for official services cannot be graduated according to population. This may render it difficult to devise a fee bill that will in all cases be just both to the public and to the officeholder. But this difficulty need not, and should not, prevent an effort being made, and successfully made, to accomplish the result.

A NEW STATE HOUSE.

I recommend that provision be made for the immediate acquisition of all the property not now owned by the State situated between Tennessee and Missis sippi streets and between Market and Ohio streets, so far as it forms the northern boundary of the State House Square, and for vacating the alley which bounds the arsenal lot on the north, to the end that the property now owned by the State, and that so proposed to be acquired may be used as a site for a new State House whenever it shall be deemed expedient to build one. The building of a new State Capitol cannot long be deferred, and now is the proper time to secure the proper site without a large outlay for that purpose. The site proposed would embrace about nine acres.

tical

REFORMATORIES. S

the bench and bar, held at Indianapolis erniug the practice in divorce cases is

I At

The reports of the House of Refugn and tlie Reformatory for Women and Girls, not having been received until after the preparation of this communication, Ishall ask permission to present to you hereafter in a special message, whatever I may deem it necessary to say concerning those institutions. -.mmi «*«OlTB DIVORCE LAWS.

The laws of this State regulating the granting of divorces, and especially the lax manner in which they have been administered in some of our courts, has given Indiana a notoriety that is by no means enviable. Somo of the reproach that has been cast upon the State in this connection is doubtless undeserved but a candid review of our laws and their prac

operation on this important subject will, it is believed, satisfy any impartial mindjthat a reformation is imperatively demanded.

The causes for which divorces may be granted under the^jsxisting statutes are us follows, viz: 1st. Adultery. 2d. Iinpotency. 3d. Abandonment for one year. 4th. Cruel treatment of one party by the other. 5th. Habitual drunkenness of either party.

Gth. The conviction, subsequent to the marriage, in any county of either party of an infamous crime. 7th. Any other cause for which the Court shall deem it proper that a divorce should be granted.

It is not my purpose to urge any objection to either of the six specific causes of divorce above enumerated.except to say that the phrase "cruel treatment," which constitutes the fourth cause has been so liberally construed in favor of applicants for divorces by some of our Courts as to render necessary, to my judgment, a return to the more positive language of the Statute of 1843, Which required the treatment to be "cruel and inhuman." The great objection to our Statute is, however, the discretionary clause already quoted, allowing a Court to grant a divorce for any cause that the judge may deem sufficient.

This clause wbieh pretends to lay down a rule for the government of human affairs in the most important relation of life, is at war with the. fundamental idea and elementary definition of law. Law

idl il'1

is a prescribed rule of civil conduct. This statute prescribes no rule, the observance of which shall save, or the violation of which shall forfeit conjugal rights. Under this clause, the question,, what is or is not a sufficient cause for a divorce, instead of being determined by a general rule, is measured by no rule at all, and the standard or judgment, instead of being prescribed so that it may be known and read of all men, remains locked

worse. The facility with which citizens of other States, after a pretended residence in this can and do procure divorces in our courts, and then return to their homes from which they fled to their very purpose, isa reproach to the civilization of the age, and a breach of that comity whichshould be scrupulously observed between sister States of the same great republican family. Under the present statute a divorce may be obtained in this State,where both the plaintiff and the defendant, at tlie time of the rendition of tho decree, are resident citizens of another State. True, tho applicant must have been a resident, of the county in which ho commences suit at the date of the filing of his petition, and he must have been a resident of the State for one year prior to that time, but the year having elapsed, and the petition being filed, his residence may then cease, he may return to the State from which he came, and his application for a divorce will be none the less successful by reason of his departure. Such a statute* must be highly appreciated by divorce seekers from other States who cannot afford to keep up the appearance of a residence in this State for more than one year, but it is not calculated to give citizens of Indiana a very exalted idea of the righteousness or wisdom of the legislation of their own State. Even permanent residents of our own State who apply for divorces are favored by our practice above plaintiffs in other actious. The defendant in every other action, purely personal, if a resident of the State, must be sued in tho county ol his residence but in divorce cases, the applicant has the right to sue in the county in which he resides, and he can change his residence to attain success abroad, when failure would be certain at home.

I therefore recommend that the clause of the statute which authorizes divorces for any cause that the court may deem sufficient, be repealed, and that the clause making cruel treatment a good cause of divorce be so amended as to require the treatment to be cruel and inhuman, or cruel and barbarous. I further recommend that the practice in divorce cases be so amended as to embrace the following provisions, viz.: 1st. llequiring the defendant, when a resident or the State, to be sued in the county of his or her residence. 2d. Requiring the plaintiff not only to have been a resident of the State.for one year prior to the filing of his petition,"but that he should continue to reside in the State duriug the pendency of the suit and until the case is tried. 3d. Vesting in the Circuit Courts exclusive jurisdiction for applications for divorce. 4th. Requiring the petition in every divorce case to show where-the causes of divorce relied on happened or accrued, and where tho applicant resided at the time, and if they happened or accrued elsewhere than in this State, and at a time when the plain till' was not a resident of this State, that no divorce shall be granted unless it be aliesred in the petition and proved on the trial that the matters so relied upon would be a good cause of divorce by the laws of the

up in the mind of the Judge priation be made without delay to reimuntil he pronounces judgment be tvveen the parties in the case before him. It is worse than delegating legislative powers to the judiciary— which the Constitution expressly prohibits—for it authorizes the Judge to make liisown judgment of what the law ought to be, the rule of decision in each case, as it arises, without any previous intimation of Ihe standard or rule by which the rights of the parties are to be measured. The Constitution prohibits special legislation on he hj ec to ran in vo rces, but under this iscretionary clause causes of divorce vary in the several judicial

Circuits and Districts, with tlie diversified policy would be profitable in the longmental and moral peculiarities of the run 1 have no douot hut with it should judges. Objectionable as the statute is I be coupled tiie power, in the event of a which regulates the onuses for which divorces may be granted, the law gov-

State, place or jur

isdiction within which the same happened or accrued. 5th. Requiring the allegations as to the place where the cause or causes of divorce relied upon or accrued and the place of residence of the plaintiff at the time of their accruing to be verified by affidavit appended to the petition, and also to be proved on trial.

With such amendments as these we might well hope that Indiana divorces would soon cease to be advertised in any of the Atlantic cities as marketable commodities, and that refugees and fugitives from tbe justice of other States would no longer come to Indiana in quest of divorces to be used on their return to their homes as licenses to violate the laws of our sister States.

STATE PRISONS.

So far as I am informed, the State Prisons are well managed and in a satisfactory condition. Tiie financial succes: of the present administration of the Northern Prison in making it self-sus taining, without disregarding or neglect ing the physical, moralor intellectual interests of the prisoners, is worthy of the highest commendation.

The moral relormation that has been wrought in the affairs of the State Prison South, since the commencement of the administration of the present Warden, has merited all the praise that has been so generously bestowed upon it.

It is deeply to be regretted- that under our system of officering these Institutions, the administrations of their affairs is so liable to changed with the mutations of political parties. Wisdom would dictate that considerable pcrmauency of administration, coupled with a rigid responsibility on the part of those having tne management of such institutions, should prevail our policy is just the reverse of this. It is frequentchange ofadministration, with no liability to have the aifairs ofthe Prisons inspected or tbe officers thereoi called to an account, except during tho sixty-one days, in every period of two years, when the General Assembly is in session.

I call your attention to the fact that there are insane prisoners in one, or, perhaps, both of our prisons, and some of these are dangerous to the other prisoners for tne want of proper facilities for their care and treatment. Experience has shown in Ohio and other States tha^it is unwise to transfer such prisoners to the Insane Hospital, as placing those convicted of crime among the other insane patients has a bad influence on the latter and the treatment which the insane prisoners receive from the other inmates of the Hospital is not such as to promote their recovery. In addition to this, the Hospital is not sufficiently strong for such patients withqut preparing a ward expressly for th^ir accommodation. I therefore recommend that a ward be constructed within the walls of the Northern Prison expresslv for insane prisoners, and that provi-ion be made for the transfer, from time to time, as occasion may require, of all insane prisoners in either of the prisons to such ward.

I invite your attention to the statements in the report of the Directors and Warden of the Southern Prison in relation to the lire that occurred iQ, April last and tbe money ad vanced to repair the

:NO.

188.

damage done to the prison by the fire. The amount advanced was 812,000, and it was furnished by the Auditor of State out of tlie universal money of the Sinking Fund in his hands. There is consequently no liability for interest unless you see. proper provide for the payment of interest to the School Fund for the use of the money.

I have already in speaking of the Sinking Fund recommended that an appro-

burse that Fund to the amount thus borrowed. I desire here to suggest that there ought to be a definite policy established by Jaw as to the various State Institutions. There should be a uniform practice in this respect to insure all State buildings connected with the Benevolent Institutions, Prisons, and Reformatories or to insure none of them.: As it now is, there is a partial insurance on some and none at all on others: The trgg-policy, in my judgment would be^~ for the Stale to be the insurer of its ownbuildings without exception that this

loss by fire, in the Executive officers of the State draw from the Treasury of the Suite under proper restrictions and limitations to be prescribed by law, a sufficient .sum of money to repair the injury done. As the matter now stands the General Assembly must in such cases be convened in special session at an expense to the State greater as a general rule than the sum necessary to be appropriated, or the Governor or some other officer must take the responsibility of obtaining and applying the necessary amount without authority of law.

I commend to your carefnl consideration the propriety of pondering the question, whether it will not soon be necessary to abandon the Southern Prison, ami establish in lieu thereof, at some central point in the State, a prison intermediate between the Houseof Refuge and the Penitentiary, with a view to the gradation of our reformatory and penal institution, as well as to a classification of prisoners. The prison at Michigan City might be made to accommodate all the prisoners that would for some years be sent to a prison of that class if we had an intermediate prison. Its location in one of the extreme of. the State is an objection to the pel icy of having but one prison of its class for the entire State, but 1 do not think this objection is insuperable. The prison at Jefferonville is in sncli a condition that it will require a large amount to keep it in even tolerable repair, and then it seems cruel to perpetuate tho policy of keeping human beings, though they be convicted criminals, in cells seven feet long, seven feet high, and three and a half feet wide, with no ventilating flues, and no possibility of getting fresh.air except through the granting of the coli doors. If the contract system is to be continued, and I do not see how to do otherwise at present, the law itself should contain such provisions as will give the directors and warden full control and enable them to terminate the contracts whenever the interests of tho •State may require it. As the matter now is, the rights of the State depend very much on the skill with which the contracts for the labor of the prisoners are drawn.

SUPERVISORY BOARD.

I earnestly recommend that a Supervisory Board, to lujve jurisdiction over all the State Institutions, Benevolent, Penal, and Reformatory, be established. Its powers of visitation and inspection ought to be ample, and it should also possess the power to suspend or remove officers connected with the institutions under its care or the last named power might be given tQ the Executive to be exercised only upon the commendation of such Board. As women and girls are inmates of our benevolent institutions, and will be in the new reformatory, I deem it highly important that the members of such Board of Supervison should be composed in part of women.

PARDONS AND REMISSIONS. 1

I herewith respectfully submit pursuant to their requirements of the Constitution a report showing all the reprieves, commutations and pardons granted, and another showing all the fines and forfeitures remitted since the previous report made to the last General Assembly.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion, I desire to add my hearty amen to the invocation of the Divine Blessing upon your labors with which this joint convention was opened and to assure you of my cordial co-oper-ation in all your efforts to elevate and improve the condition of the people, and to diversify the industries and develop the resources of the State.

CONRAD BAKER, IFIT Governor of Indiana.

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