judgment, its interests did not require an extra session; that it was best to reserve the money necessary to defray the expenses of the legislature to meet the demands upon the State treasury, and give the people time to consider well the immense volume which had been enacted so recently, before we began again the work of amending, repealing, and enacting new laws.

OUR FINANCIAL CONDITION.

I am gratified to be able to say that our financial condition is better than it has been for many years, and it is steadily improving. Our revenue is now ample to meet the regular expenses of the g07ernment, sustain the asylums, aid institutions of learning, and continue the present liberal appropriations to the public free schools, pay the interest on the public debt, and provide for our Confederate

veterans.

The assessment of taxes in 1889, the last year of the

preceding administration, was And in 1893 it was

An increase of

$2,648,523 13

3,147,506 31

$498,983 18

During the present administration we have been at great expense in increasing the capacity of the asylums for the insane; in building barracks at the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College at Blacksburg; in enlarging the cells and workshops at the Virginia penitentiary, and in the settlement of arrearages due to the school fund. These necessary expenditures required large amounts of the public money, much of which is now converted into permanent improvements belonging to the State. By judicious management our revenue will be increased hereafter by receipts from the penitentiary, which has become a paying institution; by the oyster industry, and the rent of the oyster grounds, which have heretofore been sources of expense. Our cities are growing in population and wealth; or railroads are being extended and the revenues are annually increasing. Besides, there are various reforms by which our expenses could be reduced, which I will point out under the proper headings in this message. I feel, therefore, that I can congratulate the General Assembly upon the condition of our finances, and the encouraging future which is before us, after the long years of financial distress through which we have passed.

THE PUBLIC DEBT.

The State debt has been settled to the satisfaction of our creditors. We have agreed to exchange $19,000,000 of new bonds, payable 100 years after date, bearing 2 per cent interest for the first ten years, and 3 per cent thereafter, for $28,000,000 of old, the greater part of which bears 6 per cent interest. Twenty-four million,

five hundred and forty-seven thousand, three hundred and fifty-eight dollars and twenty-three cents of old bonds have been received in exchange for new bonds, and cancelled. There is still outstanding a small balance of bonds which have not been exchanged, because the limitation given the board of commissioners expired before this could be accomplished. Their powers should be promptly renewed, for a limited time, so that all of the debt may be settled upon the same conditions. Four times the semi-annual interest on the new indebtedness has become due, and at each recurring period the money was promptly paid to the bondholders, showing the ability of the State to meet the interest when due, without increasing the rate of taxation, or adding new burdens to the tax-payers, verifying my opinion as to our ability to do so, expressed at the time of the settlement.

PURCHASE OF BONDS.

I would advise that an act be passed authorizing the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund to purchase so many of the bonds of the State as they can do with propriety, using such money as may be spared conveniently from the treasury, after all the liabilities of the State have been satisfied, so that there shall be no increase in the amount to be paid in meeting the 3 per cent interest when it falls due in July, 1901.

THE PENITENTIARY.

I am gratified at the excellent report of the Superintendent of the Penitentiary and the board of managers. It shows the health of the convicts to be excellent, the discipline good, and the labor profitable. The government has been kind, and the tasks allotted reasonable. There are in prison 1,340, and there are 50 additional convicts at work on county roads, making a total of about 1,400. Of these, 158 are there for the second and third terms. The number seems to increase from year to year, showing that the penitentiary is a necessity. The loss of liberty will not always restrain the vicious, and bodily discomfort has no terrors for some, nor does education entirely eradicate the love of crime.

EXPENSES.

The penitentiary has been a source of great expense to the State in times past, and few are the years when the treasury did not coutribute to pay, from the taxes of the people, the cost of keeping up this institution. It does seem a little remarkable that the hardy convict, who is incarcerated for crimes committed and condemned to "hard work and cheap fare," should not be able by his labors to pay the cost of his imprisonment. I have endeavored to discover where the mismanagement was which brought the institution so

15

heavily in debt, when so many others, worked with free labor, make immense sums for their owners. due in great part to unwise contracts made under the statute. I find, on investigation, that it is ablest hands have been hired to railroads, but no bonds were taken The for the payment of their hire; the statute did not require it, and much money was lost because of this failure. The State clothed, fed, guarded and supplied the convicts with medical attention and medicine, and took in return the worthless bonds or naked promises of the various companies, which have never been redeemed. I determined to change this custom, and while the statute did not require me in so many words to take bond and security, but directed me to hire out the convicts, and put no restriction on my action in this regard, I felt it my duty to demand bonds with good security, payable quarterly. This enables the officers to collect the money when due. The result is, that by collecting closely what has been made by their labor, a large surplus has been added to the credit of the institution, after all expenses have been defrayed.

$18,685 18

36,170 18

43,260 00

28,677 75

In 1890 there was handed into the treasury, In 1891 there was handed into the treasury, In 1892 there was handed into the treasury, In 1893 there was handed into the treasury, The net result of work done at the penitentiary during these years. When we remember the stagnation in business of all kinds, the cessation of work on the railroads, and the return of every convict, the report of the officials of the institution for the past year is very gratifying, and I trust that hereafter we will make no less than $50,000 net, annually, and have no occasion to make appropriations to support this institution.

WHO SHOULD HIRE OUT THE CONVICTS AND COLLECT THE MONEY?

The Superintendent is required to report quarterly to the Auditor the amounts due the State for the hire of convicts, etc., without making it the duty of the Auditor to collect these accounts. The statute does not give power to the Superintendent to do so, but he turns the accounts over to the Auditor, and there his duty ends. There should be no room here for doubt as to the duty of either of these officers. A quarterly account should be rendered to the Auditor to let him see what is due the State from this source of revenue, and the Superintendent should be required to collect all the money due from every source, as shown by his accounts, and after collecting it he should pay it over to the Auditor. The Auditor should collect only from the Superintendent.

DEFECTIVE STATUTES.

On these subjects the statutes are defective, and should be revised. The Superintendent is the chief executive officer of the

penitentiary; he has the management of all the property, real and personal; it is his duty to control it and be responsible for it, and to institute suits for the recovery of debts due the penitentiary. Further, he is required on the first day of each month to report to the board of directors the receipts for hire of the convicts, etc. He is also general purchasing agent, and it is made his special duty to enter into contracts for the employment of the convicts within the walls of the penitentiary.' Such being the duties of the Superintendent, he should be required to hire out all the convicts, whether they are to be worked within the penitentiary or upon the railroads. The Superintendent should take charge of all this work, under the advice of the board of directors, and hire out all of the convicts and collect the money for their hire. The Auditor is a very busy man, and has no time to see after the collection of the money due the penitentiary. There is no wisdom in having divided responsibilities. As the law now stands, if there was danger of a loss, and prompt action was necessary, the Auditor might say that there is no authority vested in him to collect this money. The Superintendent might say that it was not his duty, and thus by negligence and delay, a debt once good, might be lost.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

I recommend that the statute be changed, and the Superintendent be required to hire out all convicts, and to take bonds payable to the State, with good security; and that he be required to collect the money and pay it over to the Auditor of Public Accounts. He should also be required to give a sufficient bond in case of default on his part to make the State safe.

CONVICTS' WORK.

Humanity requires that the law hiring convicts to be worked on the railroads be repealed. The result shows that the change from the heated workshops, rooms and cells, to the exposure necessarily incident to the work and confinement on the railroads, is so great that it endangers the health and the lives of the convicts, and exposes them to a risk to which they were not consigned when they were sentenced "to hard labor in the penitentiary." They have not forfeited their lives by the commission of crime, but only their liberty, and they should not be compelled to labor in an exposed position, where their health may be endangered. By an examination of the reports of the officers of this institution, you will see the difference in the rate of mortality among those who work on the railroads and those who are employed inside the prison, and the difference is fearful.

THE SHOE FACTORY.

Influenced in part by these considerations, and after repeated interviews with the superintendent and the board of directors, I

determined that both for the purposes of health and profit, it would be best to enlarge the workshops and increase the force hired there. From these shops is derived the greater part of the profits from the hire of convicts, and the work is done with more comfort to them, and with fewer escapes, and better health. All these things are subjects for consideration, and had their due influence in persuading me of the wisdom of increasing the workshops and changing the management in this regard. In order to carry out this plan it became necessary to enlarge the workshops. It will cost a considerable amount, but the increasing number of convicts makes it necesthat we should have more room. We have the money to pay for this expenditure without taxing the treasury of the State, and the contract has been made and the work in great part finished. The board of directors clearly had the right to apply the means of the institution to enlarge the shops and increase the number of cells."

sary

Before incurring this expense I approved a contract made by the board of directors with the Davis Boot and Shoe Company to extend their still uncompleted contract to thirteen years, to justify them also in increasing their plant by a large addition of machinery to carry on their work. After much consideration and a long investigation, I believed the work to be necessary, and therefore, approved it, and feel assured that in a few years, with proper management, the increase in revenue to the State will pay all the expenses of the institution, and will reach the sum of $50,000 a year, perhaps $75,000.

A DANGER.

When these factories are completed you will have more convicts in the building than ever, consequently more danger of disease, and we should in every way provide against this state of things. Suppose an epidemic should prevail among the convicts. What could

we do with them? To keep them confined would be inhuman; to turn them loose upon the country, by pardon, would be to subject innocent persons to the wrong doings of these lawless people, which could not be justified nor excused.

To anticipate such an emergency as this, I think it wise to lease, with an option of purchase, a good farm at some suitable place, and erect on it a cheap but secure prison-house, well protected by a stockade, in which, if it should become necessary, the prisoners may be confined, cared for and guarded at but little expense. At all times we should have a place of this kind where the old, the invalids, and the boys who are sent to prison for a time not sufficient to learn a trade, could be placed and required to cultivate the farm and make food for the rest, and thus be a great saving. So, for two reasons-for sanitary purposes and to enable us to utilize the labor of those who are unable from any cause to work in the factories-I recommend that this done.