Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1845-12-04
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.

cious circumstances for the discharge of the import
ant trusts delegated to for the welfare of the peo-
pie, we find abundant of congratulation. Dur
ing the year which is now drawing to close, sick
ness although wide spread has been attended with but
comparatively little mortality and Is happily succeed
ed by the blessings Of health the supremacy OF the
laws has been maintained abundant harvests have
crowned the labors of the year; leading products
are commanding encouraging prices; sef-reying In
dnstry has been rewarded and stimulated by It's
tied compensation, and the deep gloom of individual
embarrassment, which so long has overspread the
State, is slowly retiring before the light of returning
prosperity For these and numerous other blessings,
1t becomes to render our grateful thanks to Him,
the Giver Of every good and perfect gift, and hum5y
to impore a continuance of His favor.
The ordinary expenses Of the Government for the
fiscal year ending on the 3lst of October last were
ST. l22 %, being 246 Al less than the expenses
OF the preceding year. In these expenses are also
included payments for the construction of the new
State Prison, and for thorough repair of the State
House. under appropriations made for those objects.
The ordinary expenses for the year 1916 esti-
mated at scr, 100, being still further reduction of
feur thousand dollars.
The number of polls for 1915 estimating for some
cornties from which returns have been received is
about $4,000, and the value of taxabes making a
similar allowance may be stated at about SllS, $780,
O00 This exhibits an increase of 5000 polls and of
S230O0O0 Of taxables the returns of 1874. The
whole amount of State revenue paid In, during the
last fiscal year was S27l 1868 SO. The assessment
Of State revenue for 1915 is S3l9,424 81 that for
county, road, school and township purposes is Sl3l
100 40 To which adding the delinquencies of for
mer years. amounting to S1l8,572 IL. and the total
amount Of assessments for the year 49, is $780,
O97 o.
The result of my own observation and reflection
has been to satisfy that there is great room for
reform in present system of county expenditures
In the last fiscal year the aggregate taxes levied for
county purposes almost equaed and in lSl4 they
&fuf1
in those years respectively The fault, no
doubt, Is mainly lmputable TO the system ITSELF rath
CT than to its administration. leading item of eX-
pense, is the pay of jurors in courts of justice
Under the option given to parties, issues OF fact are
frequently tried by the courts and the spectacle is
often exhibited of the jury being in attendance,
employed and at unnecessary expense to the coun-
ty. 1t is respectfully suggested whether this evil
could not in great degree be remedied by establish
ing issue term or by requiring that during the first
days of the regular term, shall be brought to
ISSUE ready for trial. and that, ten and before the
jury and witnesses summoned the parties in each
shall elect whether the trial shall be by the court
or jury. BY placing the jury together on the
docket for particular days of the term, the jury and
witnesses when convened, would be as constantly oc
cupied until discharged the nature of the business
would permit This, it Is believed would save to such
persons heavy tax upon their time, tighten the coun
ty burdens, and promote the cause of justice.
Since the last adjournment of the Legislature,
grant of half of all the public lands in the Vim
cennes District has been made by the United States
to Indiana to aid in the extension and completion
of the Wabash and Erie Canal, from Terre Haute to
Evansville.
The grant has two-fold aspect By the first Sec
tion of the act there is conveyed to the State one mo-
iety of the public lands lying in strip five miles
In width on each side of the canal from one end to
the other-but restricted in the mode of selection by
the principle of aerHali0n-that IS, by reserving to
the United States every alternate section, other
proper subdivision.
BY the second section of the act, there is also gran
ted to the State, one-af of all the remaining public
lands living lciout the limits of the strip and within
the same land district but the principle of aterna
ton is not imposed to this part of the grant, the
State is left at liberty set off her moiety in such
places within the limits of the grant, may best pro-
mote her interest.
As these selections were authorized by the act of
Congress- to be made under the direction of the Gov
ernor of the State it early became object of the
greatest socude that such measures should be adop-
ted as would secure far as practicable the most
valuable portion of these lands for the important OBJ
ject for which the grant was made, supposlng the
States half of the lands to amount to eight hundred
thousand acres, which is very the truth, then,
difference in the value of only twelve and half cents
per acre. occasioned by an injudlclous selection,
would amount in the aggregate to loss of one hum
dred thousand dollars to the State. But the differ
ence would, in all probability be still greater, and
State without the observance of the caution, by
which prudent individual would be governed in the
purchase of lands 1t regarded important,
therefore, that every tract Of public land subject to
selection should be actually visited and examined by
person of competent skill and experience before
final selection should be made By the terms of the
act further sales of public lands in the district
were directed be suspended until the selections
should be perfected, and return of the made to
the Secretary of the Treasury and to the District
Land office. But as it also provided that this
suspension should not continue beyond the period
Of twelve months from the passage of the act, which
expires on the Sd of March next and as there were
nearly 100000 acres of lands to be examined,
(from which the States mOiety to be selected,)
extending through the twenty-three counties and
parts of counties, embraced within the district, it be-
came necessary to appoint a number of examiners
sufficient to complete the work, not only by the time
specified, but in a the most conducive to the
interest of the State.
A separate map, as well a separate list of all
the unsold lands, in each of these counties, pro-
sured from the General Land Office to be placed in
the hands Of the several examiners to facilitate their
labors and to guide them In their operations. Soon
after these were received the examiners were con-
vened at central point, in order that by the specific
instructions which there given them the neces
sary accuracy and uniformity their part should be
ensured Had they been required TO select for the
State each in his county, the better half of the
lands therein contained these separate moeties might
not and indeed it is certain they would not constitute
the better half of the aggregate of the public lands in
the district at large. They directed therefore,
to divide ne lands in their respective counties into
FIVE classes, according to their value, compared
with a common standard. F. E. Goodsell, Esq, of
Evansville was appointed general agent to visit
the different examiners while thus engaged, and by