The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-01-13

the money arising thereirvns Is pad treas
ury and the State becomes trustee for the faithful
keeping OF .he same. aud the appropriation Of tho
interest and income arising tereir according to
that clause OF the Constitution hereby referred 10,
fiis trust is a sacred one and should be kept m
violate. The interest and income arising terefron
should annually be appropriated towards the graat
object for which the grant was conferred. Shouli
the money arising from the sale oil these lands be
allowed 10 accumulate in our treasury, no interest
Or income would arise therefrom. Tne true policy,
in my opinion, is to appropriate the money aris
from the sale of these lands towards the exiinguisn
ment of our State Indebtedness and the State pay
ing annually rate of interest fer the use of such
money This has been the poii,y heretofore
practiced and recommend Continuance Of tao
same.
The other indebtedness of the State stands upon
a far different basis. This Indebtedness must be
provided for, both principal and interest as the
same falls due. True policy required the Legisla-
ture when it contracted this debt in tae early set
tement Of our State. to have made provisions FOR
its payment; but they neglscted to do So, aud it
does not now become US to look back and scau
their acts, except to take warning from their
missteps and guard our oSn conduct by the expe-
rience Of those VINO have gone before u.s. We ind.
this debt upon han is and is our duty to make
provisions for il.
The Consultation of the State provides as fol.
lows: "The Legislature shall provide BY law,
sinking fund of at least twenty thousand dollars
year, TO commence in eighteen hundred and hity-
two, with compound interest at the rate of six Per
cent. per annum, and an annual increase OF at
least five per cent, to be applied solely to the pay
ment and extinguishment OF the principal OF the
State debt other than the amounts due to educa-
tional funds, and shall be continued until the
tinguishment thereof" This constitutional pro-
vision has never been complied with and il is now
too late, in my Judgment to create such sinki
| fund.- as will enable us to pay of the entire in-
debtedness Of the State as II falls due. Iae pay.
fho ind
falling due during the present month was provided
for BY the Legislative eaa;tmsnt OF January, 1853.
The forty Thousand d slls ling due in January.
1850, together with the interest upon the entire in
debtedness, ought to be- by yca, provided Cor. The
debt is not Of Contracting 1t has been han
ded down to US by former Legislatures. We are.
however, both morally and legally boind 10 par il
as much if We had contracted it. It soon falls
due, and unless we make prosision for ats payment
at maturity our proud State will be ia tle haml-
ating and dishonorable position OF not being pre-
pared to meet the just demands of her creditors.
The Site prison at Jackson will demand a por-
ton Of your Consideration. There il no subje
that viii come up before you tha. will req. irs
t,,at of the criminal Jurisprudence of our State.
The punishment of crime has threefold object to
subserve-the reformation of the crimnal--the ex.
ample Of punishment with a view Of deterring
others from the commission OF crime-and the sati
| ty of community. Vengeance, in an enlightened
age, is not one of the objects to be accomplished
| by The punishment of crime. That system OF ju-
risprudence that more nearly subserye the tire,
great objects already mentioned. has ever besa
found the best In my opinion, certainty of pun
ishment viii do more to prevent the commission Of
crime than severity. Crime in this State is more
severely punished than in the State of New York.
with the exception of the death penalty, and yet.
with all this SEVERITY we are fast outstrppng New
York in crime. No maa of reflection cin LOOK at
the great increase of crime ia State during the
past ten years without shudder. There were con-
| fined in the State prison at Jackson,