Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-01-13
ANNUAL MESSAGE
OF TIE
GOVERNOR OF OHIO
To the Fifsy.SixIh General Assembly, al
the Regular Session, Commencing Jan
URry 4. 1854.
GsntLensn Of ttc .Ssoass a,.z H9Vse Of Repre-

e IN compliance with the provision of OF
>, Constitution, which requires the Goyerno
to communicate 10 the General Assembl,
: the condition Of the State and Iscom
i mend such measures as he may deem ex
g pedient," l address you.
4 The condition OF my health for the pas
few weeks, and my present indisposition
will account for the brevity Of the com
munIcation.
: Your weu-known character for intelli
genee and experience as legislators make
it necessary, only, that you be put IN pos
session of the true condition of the afaiI,
6 of the State, to enable you to adopt suel
2 legislation as the welfare OF our common
constituents demands.
, The past year has been one of severe
labor % all concerned in the administra
ton of the government; and take pleas
| ure in bearing testimony to the faithful
To- and vigilant manner in which the Auditor
, of State, Treasurer of State, Secretary
of State. Comptroller OF the Treasury
Superintendent of the State House, Su
4. perintendent of Public Printing, and the
/ Librarian, have seyerally performed their
respective duties. regret that / cannot
include the Attorney General and the for
mer Commissioner of Common Schools in
this commendRtion. The School Com
} missioner, fortunately for the State, re-
signed his office on the l1th day of No
vember last, and the place Is now filed
by highly competent and worthy man.
The duties Of the Executive are so ar
duous as to command every moment OF
his time. To demonstrate this, it Is suf-
ficient to refer you TO the note Of Private
: Secretary Hoffman, herewith, giving q
somewhat detailed statement of the Ia
boTs Of the office. In view Of the increas-
e ed labor thrown upon this department,
also upon the department Of the Auditor
and Treasurer Of Stale, consequent upon
| the war, added TO the TACT that the ex-
penses Of living in this city have greatly
increased within the past two years, | rec
ommend an increase OF the salaries of
these officers. This increase should not
be less than fifty per cent; and to secure
the benefit OF such increase to the incom-
ing officers, immediate action. during the
trst week of your session, is necessary,
rs the Constitution forbids the increase
of salaries of any of the State officers du-
ring the term for which they are elect
ed. ! am aware that the people of Ohio
have nsver favored high salaries to their
public officers; but also well know that
/ they will cheeriuily sustain US in liking
such rate OF compensation as viii enable
those in moderate pecuaiary circumstan-
ces to accspt positions of high trust and
/ confidence. | also renew my recon1men-
dation of last year, for proper increase
of the salary of the Superintendent OF
/ Public Printing, Tbs duties Of this o.
I Zoe are highly important To the State.
and have materially increased within the
past year. The present rate Of coinpen
sation Is entirely inadequate 10 theduties.
invite your special attention 10 the
Auditors views on the suljeSt OF abolish
ing the office OF Comptroller of the Treas
ury, and urge that Your finance commit
tees thoroughly investigate the matter
So far as am Gble 10 discover, essn acc
no practical good result from maintaining
this Office
During the early part of the past year.
an unusual degree of excitement, disorder
and violence prevailed in many parts of
the Statei TO such an extent did this state
of lswlessness exist, as to make it neces-
sary TO send an armed force TO several
points in the State, to maintain the peace.
The points of greatest alarm and appre-
hension were in the counties Of Holmes
and Montgomery. To great extent, the
causes Of this unhappy condition of af
fairs may be attributed to political excite
ment and party strife. am most happy
to announce, however, that Is the day foT
the election approached, the passions and
prejudiees of the people became allayed:
and reason and Judgment thus left free
to act, quiet and order throughout the
State was the happy consequence; We
have seldom, if ever, had more quiet
and orderly election. Copies of the sew
eral orders, and other corresp spondenee re-
lsting 10 this important matter, will be
found among the documents herewith, |
No. l3
IL will be seen thai the main or prInei- |
pal cause OF tie difficulty referred to, grew
out vi the effort on the part of the officers |
and agents OF the National Government, |
to enforce upon our citizens the military |
orders OF the President of the United |
States: orders deemed necessary by him I
TO crush out and put down this rebellion. !
1t was claimed, or pretended 10 be claim |
ed, by those who resisted or counseled |
resistance to the enforcement of these Or
ders, that they were unconstitutional and |
void. Happily for US as a nation and peo-
pie, we had enjoyed so many years of
peace, that the questions arising, touching |
the powers of the President when the ma
ton is in war, had been but little discuss
ed by the present generation of people, |
and therefore were not thoroughly under
stood by them. The Constitution had
simply declared that 1.-The President shall
be commander-in-chiefo of the army and |
navy of the United States" What COM
mander-in-chief of the army and navy of |
q nation might do, OF might not do, when
that nation was at war to maintain its |
very existence, the trainers of our Con
stitution wisely omitted to attempt to de
fine. | say wisely, for it is not in the
province OF any one nation on earth to de-
fine the authority of the commander-in
chief of its army and navy; this is combin-
ed work OF all the civilized nations; we
must therefore study the laws of nations
to find out the limit and extent of this Of
6cer's authority. Thus viewing this ques
ton, and believing as ! did, that the sew
eral military orders issued by the Presi-
dent, or under his authority, which in any
way affected our State or its citizens, were
clearly within his power and discretion,
and were highly necessary and proper to
maintain our good government, most
cheerfully gave to the duly constituted |
duluOIlt1ce vi the NaiiOHdl bOFeTuInSnl,
assigned to duty within our borders my |
aid and assistance as Executive of the
State. 1t is extremely gratifying to be
able to believe, that in this exercise of Of /
6cisl duty, have but met the wishes of /
very large majority Of the people of
Ohio.
The financial affairs of the State were
never in better condition. Although we
have advanced, during the past year, for
the General Government, in the care of |
sick and wounded soldiers, and in the
payment of troops called out to aid in the
capture of Morgan and his band, the sum
of Sl53, ,436, ,03, and have reduced our pub
lie debt, by payment from the Treasury,
the sum of S676,752 68, there still remain
ed in the Treasury, to the credit of Gen.
eral Revenue Fund, on the 18th Of No .
vemher last, the sum of S423, ,T86 81.