siderable sums, to be expended under the direction of the Governor, that were regarded and treated as additions to his constitutional salary. At the session of 1869, the sum of forty-five hundred dollars per annum was appropriated for fuel and lights for the Executive Mansion, and to defray the expense of keeping the same, and the grounds thereto attached, in repair, payable quarterly upon the order of the Governor. This sum of money has been regularly drawn by me, and after the satisfaction of the special objects of procuring fuel and lights, and keeping the grounds in repair, as intended by the act, the excess that remained has been treated as appropriated for my own personal use.

I state this matter at length for the double object of illustrating the vicious system of appropriations that had grown up under the Constitution of 1847, in which every department of the government was to a greater or less extent involved, and of giving force to the expression of my opinion that similar appropriations and constructions are impossible under the Constitution now in operation.

As a proper check upon the Governor, the Constitution requires him to account to the General Assembly, and accompany his message with a statement of all moneys received and paid out by him, from any fund subject to his orders, with vouchers; and this requirement is so judicious that I recommend its extension by law to all officers who are entrusted with the application of funds from the treasury.

The subject of the compensation of the Judges of the Courts of the State is one of admitted importance.

Integrity and learning are indispensable to the judicial office, but those qualities for the best results must be associated with independence, and independence is scarcely possible with a judge whose support is uncertain and inadequate. The Circuit Judges perform arduous labor; they are necessarily, by their official duties, prevented from engaging in other pursuits. Every consideration of justice and policy dictates that they be paid liberal salaries for their services.

No subject is more worthy of the earnest and careful consideration of the General Assembly than the compensation of county and township officers.

Every line of the amended Constitution indicates with what earnestuess the members of the Convention labored to devise methods for the relief of the people from the burdens imposed upon them in the shape of official fees, allowances, perquisites, percentages, and emoluments, and the solution of the whole problem was found in the substitution of the principle of fixed salaries to all officers, in all cases, in lieu of fees or other uncertain methods of compensation.

On a former occasion, I presented my views to the General Assembly upon this subject, and expressed the belief that by proper regulations, all costs and charges that are by existing laws, or that are proper to be imposed upon or collected from individuals, might be converted into fixed sums, and paid into the proper treasury; that a system of receipts or stamps could be devised that would render it unnecessary for any officer to receive any sum of money whatever to his own use.

I will now add the expression of my deliberate conviction, that any plan short of the total abolition of the fee system, and the substitution of fixed salaries for all officers of all grades, will fail to cure the evil of which the people have so long and so justly complained.

I am not ignorant of the fact that it is apprehended by many that if the compensation of officers were made from the public treasury, the aggregate amount would be burdensome to the people; but that consequence would not necessarily follow, for, by a proper system of commutations, parties in the courts would be made to pay at once into the treasury whatever it might be deemed judicious and proper to impose upon them. Stamp receipts, equivalent to the proper fee for recording deeds, for licenses of every description, and, in short, for every legal service to be performed by every class of officers, could be provided; and in that way, if desirable, an amount equal to the proper salaries of all county and other officers, could be raised without any increase of taxation whatever.

And thus the poor and the helpless, who are now the prey of the minor officers of the law, would find relief from the wrongs and oppressions that were the disgrace of the English legal system, and are now the curse of our own

If the system thus briefly delineated were adopted, no officer would be interested to promote strife and litigation; no wealthy or obstinate individual or corporation would be able to "scourge his adversary to his ruin, with costs," and under such a system "every person would obtain, by law, right and justice freely, and without being obliged to purchase it."

VI. I find it necessary, again, to call the attention of the General Assembly to the urgent importance of the enactment of "laws to provide for the government, management, and control of the State Penitentiary, for the investigation of its financial affairs and business, and for the payment of its indebtedness."

It has been my most earnest desire, since the commencement of my official connection with the government of the State, to see the Penitentiary so conducted as to accomplish the reformation of criminals, and at the same time be as little burdensome as possible to the people of the State; and notwithstanding the unsatisfactory results of past operations, I still believe, that with proper legislation and judicious management, it may be made eminently useful as a penal and reformatory agency, and, at the same time, substantially self sustaining.

But, to achieve these desirable ends it is essential that the laws intended to provide for the government of the institution should be improved; that such an investigation of its past management should be made as will satisfy the people of the State of the integrity of those heretofore responsible for its management; or, if there is anything in the conduct of any of them that is inconsistent with their duty to the State, the guilty party may be discovered, exposed and punished; and, in addition, the proper debts of the institution be promptly and fully paid.

In my biennial message, when discussing "the Penitentiary," I said that two leading systems, for the management of the Penitentiary, have their advocates, and divide public opinion; one, the lease system,

which was followed in the earlier history of the State. and the other, that of State control, which was first adopted under the authority of the act of June 25th, 1867;" but I am now satisfied that the lease system, as it has been heretofore understood, can not be made applicable to the Penitentiary of this State. The number of convicts confined within its walls is too large to be profitably employed, even by private persons, as is clearly proven by the offers contained in the bills introduced at the late session, in the interest of Mr. Buckmaster and other gentlemen of large means and extensive prison experience.

The only practicable system for the successful management of the Penitentiary, in my judgment, is that which combines the retention of complete control of the discipline and government of the convicts with the lease of their labor to persons engaged in special pursuits, as substantially embodied in the bill that passed the Senate at the late session, and was understood to be acceptable to a large number of the members of the House of Representatives. I cannot forbear the expression of the hope that such a measure will meet the approval of the General Assembly.

In the message to which I have before referred, I expressed the opinion that the Penitentiary, under the system of State control, can be made self-sustaining; that is, be made to pay the expense of feeding, clothing and guarding the convicts-the salaries of the officers created by law to be settled at the treasury, as are all the salaries of other offi cers of the State, and the expense of returning discharged convicts to their homes, and the cost of citizen's clothing furnished to them on their discharge from the Penitentiary, should be otherwise provided for. Such expenses, like the cost of conveying convicts to the Penitentiary, form no proper part of the expense of the prison management, and should be paid by the counties, or from the treasury of the State. I also pointed out the changes in the organization of the system of Penitentiary control, that were, in my judgment, indispensable to the attainment of the results desired.

Nothing has come to my knowledge, since that opinion was expressed, to change or modify it; but it is due to myself to say, that my anticipation of immediate results was based upon the expectation that appropriations would be made by the General Assembly for the continued prosecution of the work upon the new State House.

By the second section of the act in relation to the new State House, approved March 11th, 1869, it is provided, "that for the purpose of economy to the State, the said new State House Commissioners, upon and as soon as they shall have entered upon the duties of their office, or within a reasonable time thereafter, shall furnish to the Commissioners and the Warden of the Penitentiary, * * füll, complete and perfect plans and specifications, in detail, of the said State House; and whatever materials and all kinds of materials, of every name and nature whatsoever, stone, iron, labor, and all else which said Penitentiary Commissioners and said Warden can furnish, towards the full completion of the State House, the said new State House Commissioners shall procure from no other place, for and to be used in the completion of the said new State House."

In obedience to the law above quoted, the State House Commissioners furnished to the Penitentiary Commissioners the specifications required, and the Commissioners of the Penitentiary engaged to furnish the cut stone required for its construction, and at once proceeded, at large expense, to procure the necessary tools and fixtures, contract for the delivery of the stone from the quarry, organize the laborers, and provide for their instruction; and have actually cut and delivered the stone for the basement, and have made considerable progress in preparing the stone for the next story, and have now employed in the work upwards of three hundred convicts.

The State House Commissioners have already paid to the Warden of the Penitentiary upwards of one hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars for labor alone, and it is expected that the remaining work to be done for the State by the Penitentiary management, will amount to nearly or quite four hundred thousand dollars, and will also afford constant employment to more than three hundred men.

The importance and value of this arrangement will only be fully appreciated when it is considered that it will hereafter give steady employment for nearly one-fourth of the number of the convicts now in the Penitentiary; that it will require but a small outlay of capital; that the payments will be certain and regular, involving no risk or expense in making collections; while to suspend the work upon the State House, would leave this large force comparatively idle, to be fed and clothed from the treasury, until arrangements could be made to furnish them other employment.

In respect to the investigation of the affairs of the Penitentiary,I have but little to add to what was said upon that subject in my biennial message, and in my special message of March 10th, 1871, relating to the indebtedness of the Institution.

I do not believe that any officer of the Penitentiary has intentionally wasted or misapplied the funds or property of the Institution, but in the freedom of the criticisms of the public press upon the conduct of the Commissioners and Warden, charges reflecting upon their integrity and fidelity have been insinuated, and it is due to them that the representatives of the people should explore the facts, and inform their constituents of the result of the investigation; and with respect to the proper and legal debts of the Penitentiary, the most that can be said is that the agents of the State may have acted unwisely, but even that much ought not to be assumed in advance of investigation; but the men who have furnished food and clothing for the convicts, and tools and materials for their use, ought not to be required to defend or explain the conduct of the officers elected by the people, or appointed by competent authority. They ought to be required to show that their claims against the State are just, and when they have done that they should be promptly paid.

After the adjournment of the last session of the General Assembly, I made an attempt to organize a commission to investigate and report upon the affairs of the Penitentiary, and particularly upon the amount and character of the claims against the institution, but abandoned it after some weeks expended in unsuccessful efforts to secure suitable persons to undertake the task.

VII. In a former communication to the General Assembly I allu ded to the necessity for legislation for the regulation of the exercise of the right of eminent domain, and the importance of the subject has suggested the propriety of including that among the other matters that require immediate legislative consideration.

The right of the State to take private property for public uses is essential to the accomplishment of the ends of government," but, like the kindred and equally vital power of taxation, it is liable to the greatest and most oppressive abuses.

True principles require that every person shall contribute to the support of the government, in exact proportion to the value of his or her property; therefore, all laws that impose more than an equal burden, upon persons or property, are essentially tyrannical and unjust.

The persistent efforts made by the people to confine the taxing power of the State, and its political and municipal divisions, within reasonable and just limits, triumphed in the adoption of the new Constitution; but no serious effort was made by the framers of that instrument to limit or guard the exercise of the more despotic power under which the property of private persons is taken, without their consent, and appropriated to public uses.

It is easy, upon principles that are well understood, to account for the comparatively slight degree of attention bestowed by the Convention upon this most interesting and important subject.

Taxation falls upon and burdens many persons, and the wrongs endured by the many always attract attention and command redress, while the practical confiscation of the property of the few for the real or supposed benefit of the many does not strike the mass of mankind as a matter worthy of more than a very slight degree of consideration; and perhaps it may aid in any effort to understand the indifference of the people, and of all the departments of government, to the dangerous extent to which the power of taking the property of the citizen has grown, to reflect that the manifest tendency to aggregation and centralization that may be observed on every hand, in politics, in business and in social organizations, has inspired a feeling of indifference to mere individuals and to merely personal rights.

As the result of the prevailing indifference to the rights of individual citizens, the Legislature has, by numerous statutes, authorized the appropriation of private property, not only for the use of the State, and the counties and municipalities within its limits, but has gone much farther, and has provided for the taking of private property for the use of corporations, and in some cases of individuals, for purposes that can only be considered public because so declared by law.

But the mere taking of private property for uses of a questionable character, would not be so utterly indefensible, if such taking were always accompanied by the obviously just constitutional duty of making full compensation to the owner; but that duty is often disregarded or evaded altogether, while in the great majority of instances in which the abstract duty is recognized, it is discharged in an imperfect and unsatisfactory manner.

In a State like this, where improvements for the accommodation of the people are being pushed forward in every direction, private prop