TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, A. D. 1897-10 O'CLOCK A. M.

The House met pursuant to adjournment.

The Speaker in the chair.

Prayer by the Chaplain.

The journal of yesterday was read and approved.

The Speaker laid before the House the message of Governor Altgeld, which was read at large, as follows:

GOVERNOR'S BIENNIAL MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., Jan. 6, 1897.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I submit the following information and recommendations in regard to the condition of the State, and as this message is practically the closing act of the present administration, it may be proper to glance at the policy that has been pursued and the results that have been achieved during the last four years. In order to avoid inordinate length, I refer, for a full discussion of many of the subjects herein mentioned, to the biennial message submitted to the General Assembly January 9, 1895.

POLICY AS TO APPOINTMENTS.

The policy adopted at the beginning of the administration, in the matter of making appointments, when other things were equal, was to give preference to men who were politically in sympathy with this administration, but in all cases, where, by reason of some special fitness or some peculiar condition, it was believed that the State could be best served by the appointment of a republican, such appointment was promptly made. This applied to superintendents of institutions as well as to boards upon which it was thought best to have both parties represented.

The superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Jacksonville, and the superintendent of the Reformatory at Pontiac, are republicans. In a number of cases women were appointed to important offices because they were believed to be peculiarly fitted for the duties to be performed, and some republicans were appointed on most of the important boards of the State, such as the West Park Board, the Lincoln Park Board, the State Board of Health, the State Board of Charities, the State Board of Education, the various boards to locate institutions, etc.

In regard to attendants in State institutions, the rule enforced was to keep every competent man and woman so long as they did their duty.

INSTRUCTIONS TO APPOINTEES.

The following instructions were given to all appointees for their guidance: First-Do not put a man upon the pay-roll who is not absolutely needed. Second-Do not pay higher salaries in an institution than the service or ability which you get would command outside.

Third-Do not keep a man an hour after it is discovered that he is not just the man for the place, no matter who recommended him, or what political influence he may possess.

Fourth-Require vigilance and careful attention of every employé, and promptly discharge any attendant who is guilty of brutality to patients, or who is guilty of any serious neglect of duty, and remember all the time that the institutions were founded and are maintained for the care and comfort of the unfortunate, and not for the comfort of the management.

These instructions have been rigorously insisted upon, and I believe have, in general, been observed.

BUSINESS METHODS.

The new system of purchasing supplies, which was fully described in my last message, has been continued with the same gratifying results. Under it a list is made of the articles that may be needed for a given time. Nearly a dozen copies are made of this list and sent to as many different establishments as deal in the line of goods required. requesting them to send bids and samples of goods. The bids are then opened and the samples inspected in the office of the institution and the purchase made there, the right being reserved to reject any goods that are not satisfactory when they are delivered. Under this system it has been found that the institutions can buy their supplies at from 10 to 20 per cent. below the current market rates, and get a better grade of goods than they otherwise could get, and each institution saves, in addition, the salary of an officer who was formerly employed and who was known as the purchasing agent. The salaries of these officers alone amounted to upwards of $25,000.00 a year.

In addition to the financial aspects of the case, there are moral considerations, still more important, for, under the new system, the favoritism, corruption and scandal that are the natural outgrowth of the old system, can be entirely avoided.

The net saving in the charitable institutions alone resulting from improved business methods averages $153,473.94 per year, or $613,895.76 for the four

years.

While there has scarcely been any increase in the appropriations for maintaining these charitable institutions, the number of their inmates has increased more than fifteen hundred. Not only has this increased number been cared for without producing a deficit, but two years ago there was $233,482.00 turned back into the State Treasury, and $126,000.00 has just been covered back into the treasury by the following institutions: Central Insane Asylum. $45,000.00; Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, $9,000.00; Institution for the Blind at Jacksonville, $12,000.00; Southern Insane Asylum, $25,000.00, and Soldiers and Sailors' Home, $35,000.00. The buildings have been overhauled so far as possible and are in good condition.

SCIENTIFIC METHODS.

Soon after taking charge of the institutions the superintendent of each was instructed to make an investigation of the methods, the theories in vogue and the results of the experiments in similar institutions to his own, both in this country and in Europe, and see wherein such institutions differed from ours, and if anything was found anywhere that was thought to be an improvement upon the methods pursued here, to at once adopt it if possible, and also to submit a full report of such investigation to the Governor. These reports have heretofore been submitted. Some of them are very able. While there are institutions elsewhere that maintain a more showy executive department for the officers, I am satisfied that so far as relates to care and comfort of the patients and general methods of treatment, the institutions of this State, taken as a whole, are unsurpassed anywhere in the world. The total number of inmates in all of our institutions is 8,948.

PENITENTIARIES.

Owing to the severe business depression great difficulty has been experienced in all of the states in managing the prisons because of the difficulty of

finding a market for the product of prison labor. In those states in which the contract system still prevails, prisoners were offered at prices that were far below the cost of keeping them, but found no takers. The system of contracting out the labor of convicts having been abolished by our Constitution, the State was practically forced to work the prisoners on its own account as soon as the contracts which had been formerly made expired. A large number of these contracts expired just before the beginning of the present administration, but some did not expire until October, 1894. Formerly as high as from two hundred and fifty to four hundred prisoners worked at one trade, and that with machinery, so that the output was enormously large and seriously affected the market in those lines. In order to reduce the competition to a minimum, the policy adopted by this administration was to introduce more trades, so as to reduce the number of convicts working in each to about one hundred if possible, and also whenever practicable to do so to dispense with machinery and work by hand, the health of the prisoners making it necessary that they should work, and the law requiring them to earn something toward their support.

Under this system the industries have been greatly diversified and the total output for the prison is much reduced from what it formerly was. When the contract system was most prosperous and prisoners were let at high prices, the prison at Joliet was self-sustaining, but before the beginning of this administration this ceased to be the case and the reports of the then outgoing commissioners, spread upon the records of the institution, showed that during the four months immediately preceding the date when the present board of commissioners took charge, that the institution was running behind at the rate of $7,542.00 per month, or about $90,000.00 per year, due largely, it was claimed, "to the expiration of high priced contracts for convicts." The State account system has now been established there and, notwithstanding the hard times and the fact that all industrial establishments are having trouble, the prison at Joliet has been brought to a point where it is absolutely self-sustaining under the new system. The report of the commissioners herewith submitted, shows that the deficit for the last two years was only $6.387.00, and they are convinced that even if times should remain as they are, there will be no deficit whatever for the future, and that the penitentiary requires no appropriations of any kind or character and asks no money whatever at your hands. Not only this, but there is a balance of $50,000.00 on the old appropriation that has not been drawn and that can lapse into the treasury. success of the State account system has been established, and it may be remarked generally on this subject that contractors never go into a penitentiary for the purpose of losing money. Whenever times are good so that they make money, then the State would make money if it were running the institution on State account, and whenever times get so that the contractors would lose money in the institution, they would manage in one way or another to get out and throw the loss upon the State any how.

PHYSICAL CONDITION OF JOLIET PRISON.

The

The prison at Joliet was for many years occupied by contractors. Naturally they made no improvements that they were not obliged to make, and when they moved out there was not a shop or building used by them that was fit for futher occupancy, and most of them had to be practically rebuilt. The State at that time had scarcely any means for lighting and heating, and absolutely no power plant of any kind, although the commissioners had nearly fourteen hundred men on hand whom they were obliged to work. At that time the hospital was in the end of an old shop, utterly unsuited for the purpose, and patients suffering from all kinds of diseases were crowded together, and there was no female prison, the female prisoners being kept on the upper story of the main building, owing to the fact that the other buildings were crowded, so that it became almost impossible to let them out where they could get fresh air. All these things together made large appropriations necessary. The commissioners built some new shops, they built a large heating, lighting and power house, and have one of the best plants of that character now that there is the country. They built a large hospital, thoroughly modern, and they have just finished a prison for females which is believed to be the

most modern and best arranged and best equipped prison for females in the world, and the whole institution taken together is superior to any penitentiary upon this continent.

CHESTER PENITENTIARY.

This prison has never been self-sustaining. Under the contract system the annual deficit had for many years been $100,000. The same difficulties were encountered there in introducing the State account system that were met with at Joliet, except the number of prisoners were not so large. Two years ago the commissioners believed that owing to improved business methods and economies which they had introduced, they could reduce the annual deficit to $50,000, and accordingly the last legislature appropriated only that sum to meet the deficit, but owing to the difficulty of disposing of their goods, the low prices prevailing, and an increase of several hundred prisoners above the number contemplated by the appropriations the commissioners find that the actual deficit for the year will be about $75,000 instead of $50,000 as they had hoped. Consequently an immediate appropriation will be necessary. The physical condition of the prison is excellent.

STRIPES.

The law never provided that the prisoner should wear stripes, the punishment which the law provided for its infraction being imprisonment and hard labor. Putting stripes upon prisoners originated in those conditions and in those times when convicts were turned over to the care of men who for all practical purposes were brutes, and who soon succeeded in reducing everything to the level of the brute.

The effect of putting stripes on convicts has been found to be this: That it does not effect those already hardened except to make them a little more desperate, nor does it affect those who are by nature dull and brutish, except to lower them a little, but it tends to crush whatever spark of self-respect and manhood there may be left in a higher grade of prisoners and in that way tends to still further unfit them for an honorable struggle in life, and an irreparable injury is thus done to society as well as to the convict, which was not contemplated by law.

Acting upon these principles the commissioners of the prison at Joliet, on the first of July last, clothed the prisoners in plain gray suits, and since that time have been using the striped suits only as a means of punishment for an infraction of the prison discipline. The effect of this change upon the spirit, the moral tone and character of the convicts has been so gratifying that Í have recommended its adoption in the prison at Chester also.

PRISON LABOR.

In a general way the history of prison labor, or rather of the effort to work convicts in this country, may be stated as follows:

First: The leasing out system, whereby the State turned the prisoner over to the lessee and parted with all control over him, a system which still prevails in a few southern states, and is productive of conditions that are a disgrace to civilization.

Second: The contract system, by which the State contracts the labor of the prisoner at some price per day but keeps control of the prisoner, a system which, while a great improvement on the leasing system, has yet been found to be destructive of the prisoners and of the best interests of the State, but which in good times enabled many men to make fortunes out of the prisons. Third: The piece-price system, so closely akin to the contract system that in most cases it has been difficult to distinguish it. Under this the contractor furnishes the material and superintendents and the State does the work, but it has to to be done under almost the same conditions that prevail in the contract system, and therefore it is open to most of the objections that apply to that system.

Fourth: The State account system, under which the State alone comes into contact with the prisoner, and no outside money-making agency brings

its blighting shadow into the prison. As already stated, this system has been established and is self-sustaining at Joliet, even in these hard times. From a business standpoint it involves some risk to the State, for it is evident that where so many large industries are carried on, there must be ability and thorough integrity, or the chances of incurring heavy losses will be great.

But I believe that the time has come when this State, which is now in many ways the leading State of the Union, must take another step forward in the matter of prison labor. There is a principle involved here which arises above all consideration of small economies, and that principle is that the State ought not in any manner to enter into competition with those who have to make their living by the sweat of their brows, and therefore the prisoners should be taken out of all employment in which they directly affect the wages of free laborers, and I recommend legislation that will bring about this result. Under this system the prisons would not be self-sustaining, but it is not clear that in the long run it would cost the State much more money than it does now. Just what the prisoners should work at under such a system will perhaps be impossible to prescribe by law, and will have to be left largely to the judgment of the warden and commissioners from time to time.

PARDONS AND COMMUTATIONS.

So malicious and persistent an effort has been made to misrepresent the facts and make a false impression upon the public mind in regard to granting of pardons and commutations by this administration, that justice requires a statement of the figures as shown by the record. During the four years just closing, the average number of pardons and commutations per year has been 79; the average number per annum of convicts in the two penitentiaries during that time has been 2,201, consequently the pardons and commutations amounted to 33-5 per cent. of the convicts in prison, and for the twenty years preceding the beginning of this administration the average number of pardons and commutations per annum was 83-3, and the average number of convicts in the penitentiaries per annum during that time was 1,868, so that there were 42 per cent. of the prisoners pardoned or commuted, on the average, each year. In other words, considering the number of convicts in prison, the number of pardons and commutations granted each year on the average for twenty years prior to the beginning of this administration was 25 per cent. greater than has been the number of pardons and commutations granted by this administration. While this administration has been much more conservative in this regard than former administrations, it is not a matter for which it should receive either credit or blame, for the granting of pardons and commutations is somewhat judicial in character and requires the executive to act conscientiously on the merits of each case.

PAROLE.

The system of paroling prisoners which was provided for by the last legislature, and which has just been established in our penitentiaries, will, I believe, for the future, relieve the Executive of the great labor and responsibility of considering the almost innumerable applications for pardon. If this system is conscientiously carried out it will release and find homes and employment for the young, after they have undergone the minimum punishment required by law, and will, on the other hand, retain in the prison the hardened offenders and those who have shown themselves to be vicious and dangerous.

REFORMATORY.

The Illinois Reformatory at Pontiac now has 1,170 inmates. The aim of the institution is to teach young men steady habits; to teach them industry; to teach them to use their hands as well as their brains, in order to make a living; to give them in a limited way an English education, and a certain degree of moral instruction; and there are now in operation there 10 English schools and 12 workshops or labor schools for that many different industries, and every young man there has to spend a certain number of hours each day in the workshop, and a certain number of hours in the school, besides having