The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1845-10-21


fund Of which have spoken, and the indebted
; ness should be cancelled, the State debt woulC
then stand as follows:
Due the safety fund banks, including
interest 10 Oct l, S3O,3o9 81
Due the surplus fund, Sl4,Sl2 -
, Deduct the amount loan
ed out the past year, ll,oo4 w ~ -
Salaries due, Oct.I, I,10S IS
Due TO towAs Tor interest on surplus
fund, 444 81
, Total, S35, $50 &c
The balance in the Treasury on the
18Th of Sep. was SIs,4I7 81
Balance oftaxes due, %, 1872, 81
Total. S4l, $50 A.
To what extent the service of the coming veal
la portion of which necessarily constitutes a
draft on the present balances In the treasury anG
on taxes-will permit the application oil a part Of
those balances towards the extinguishment OF the
Indebtedness olthe State may be determined, upon
the careful examination which ought 10 be made
into every branch OF expenditure, with view tc
ascertain whether there can be anyreduction con-
sisently with the public interest. In looking al
the expenditures ofpast years, have been struck
with the large amount discussed under the heads
of Supreme and County Court orders and
| ''ClerkS of Courts for the expenses Of Supreme
and County Courts" which have risen from
so, 405, in 1899 TO S23 $40, in 1915 The amount
discussed uuder these heads during the last seven
years, has been Sls4 300, averaging S26 1913 Fer
annum. would suggest the propriety OF an ex-
animation into the details of these large items OF
| expendlture-in regard TO which it may possibly
be found that, in course ofyears, abuses have
| crept in, requiring corrective legislation.
| The treasury is happily relieved from charge
which. for many years, hung upon it, in the fom
OF military orders, " which, Tor the five years,
previous to, and including The year 1913, when
they ceased TO be a draft on the treasury, amour
ted to the sum of $lS,5Oi. | am happy to say,
that, by law oflast year, the people are reliev-
ed from the still more burdensome tax of annual
trainings of the enrolled militia.
II may be reasonably hoped that, by practi-
cable, and not injurious reduction Of expenditures,
particularly in the heavy items 10 which have
| referred, sum may be saved which, with fixed
appropriation of the income from the bank tax
| relieved from its present pledge 10 the school fund
might, within moderate period, extinguish the
entire Indebtedness of the State.
The reference have made to the items of ex-
nenditure in connection with the Supreme and
County Courts-a large portion of which results
| from criminal proSecutionS-suggeSts Topic OF
much interest, to which would call your atten-
| ton.
The great purpose of criminal law is reforma-
| ton. This purpose lies at the foundation of the
| Penitentiary system, which combines with i'm
priSonment, hard labor, and course Of moral dis
cipline suited to bring back offenders to the paths
of reciitude and virtue. But this system is appli-
cable, under our laws, only to the higher often
ceS, leaving large class of offenders without the
benefit of any such reforming process, and substi
tuting for il, confinement in the county lails-in
| some cases, with the alternative Of the payment
Of fines into the county town treasures, for
payment of which, Imprisonment necessarily fol-
| lows.
| Whether confinement in the county iails is in
| fcted as punishment, or results from inability
10 pay fines, IL obviously has effect entirely the
reverse OF reformation. 1t is impossible to visit
| 4 convict thus thrown into county Jail, with
little rno attention 10 any except his mere ami
nal wants, without feeling painfully impressed
| with conviction, that it is an unnatural and
| monStrous peryerSion of the power of punishment.
| Without employment or exercise, the convict j.
| left to the corroding and maddening influence Of
the reflection that he is Outcast from The char
| ity and sympathy of the world and that the law
| and its exccutoners are alike his enemies Every
moments continuance of such confinement tends
| TO weakenhiS purposes O: amendment, and prepare
| him for abandonment to the commission OF higher
| offences. There are cases in which this is not
true but they constitute the exception and not the
rule. If the history of all the State prison con-
| victS were fully disclosed, it would probably be
found, that large portion of them have been ten
ants OF county ailS in punishment for inferior Of
fences.
The remedy for this evil is obvious. 1t is the
application OF the principle of penilentiary diSci
pine TO minor offences, by means of Houses OF
| Correction in each county-to be made comforta-
bic in their structure and accommodations, and TO
be connected with such arrangements forthe prof.
| liable employment of the inmates, and the exer-
else of such firm and steady discipline, as sound
wisdom, and the spirit of Christian kindness may
suggest. By such means may offenders be made
useful TO the public, during the necessary contin-
l n hair
| pose shall be answered. OF impresSing upon their
minds, by every thing they shall see around them,
that they are men-bound to society, not by the
law of force merely, but by the higher law OF NOR
al obligation, well as by the sympathies OF our
common nature.
Such course of treatment would, doubtless,
have very happy influence upon vagrants and
idle and diSorderly persons" for whose restraint
| and discipline our laws make no provision save
that of the town poor houses, which, by the 2ls,
section OF chapter IL of the Revised Statutes are
constituted houses of corIection but which, while
they involve the evil of an unnatural mDging OF
the aged and infirm poor with the FESTIVE ana
troublesome, can seldom be made to accomplish
to any considerable extent the purposes Of cor
rection and reform.
The bearing upon our whole system of crimi-
nal justice, OF such process ofdscipline as may
De carried into effect in county houses Of correc
tion-esPecialyin the cases Of juvenile offenders
Is OBVIOUS. It's sanitary effects would, IN due |
time, be visible in diminished drafts upon the |
State Treasury for the expenses of terminal pro- |
ceedingS; in diminished number of conviclS in |
the State Prison, and in increasing peace, order |
and obedience TO law, throughout the community. |
Ihave received the ninth annual report of the |
Trustees and Superintendent of the Vermont As |
YUM for the Insane, which present very crafty
ing exhibition of the condition and prospects OF |
that institution, under its present excellent and
efficient government.
During the past year 294 have been admitted |
into the asylum, 90 have been discharged, and 263
remain. Three hundred and sixty-three have en-
ioyed the benefits of the asylum, within the entire
year. Of the 80 discharged, SO have recovered
Ofthe As 'recent cases" discharged, there have
been 43 Iecoveries. In the 81 chronic cases dis
charged the recoveries have been but l6 The
great importance of obtaining the benefit ofthe
asylum in the early stages ofnsanity, is thus rem
dered apparent
The annual State appropriation for the benefit
of the insane poor was increased at the last ses-
sion Of the General Assembly, to 5000; in conSe-
quence of which the number of patients at the as
YUM has increased during the past year, so as TO