Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-21
TENNESSEE LEGISLATURE.
SENATE.

/ sMQNDAHg NOV. xOs--1ne Oenase met a.
10 A. N, Mr.. Speaker Vaughn in the chair.
PETITION. -, ~
By Mr.. DuBose: From the merchants Of
Huntsville against tax on merchandise.
NEW BILLS.
The following bills We're introduced and
passed first reading: uru
By Mr.. Halves: To restore the line be-
tween the counties of Putnam and White
By Mr.. Windle: To amend the act to
make the rules of evidence in the State and
Federal Courts uniform.
RESOLUTIONS. .-rtl-E-l
By Mr.. Staley: To pay the attorneys for
the State in the delinquent railroad cases
$1,000 each and the commissioners $1,000
each for their services. Lies over.
By Mr.. Cooper: That the Senate meet at
$50 A., NJ. and take. recess at 1890 p. NJ.
and adjourn at 4:30 P. NJ, or at whatever
hour may be agreed upon on motion Of any
Senator. Lies over g.ft -.e- n
By Mr.. Halves: To amend section 10 of
article of the Constitution 50 as TO permit
Judges of the Supreme Court to appoint
their clerks, who shall hold office for six
years, and clerks of inferior courts to be
elected for term of four years. Lies over.
MEMPHIS AND OHIO RAILROAD.
Senate joint resolution directory to the
Comptroller respecting the Memphis and
Ohio Railroad, was taken up.
Mr.. Gibson moved to lay the resolution
on the table.
Mr.. DuBose made some few remarks in
regard to the payment Of $4,000 or $62,-
600 by this company into the State Bank.
Mr.. Gibson wanted TO know in what
kind of money this payment was made on
the interest due.
Mr.. DuBose said he did not know what
kind, whether greenbackS, Confederate
money or bank bills
Mr.. Sewer called attention to the fact
that when suit was brought against the East
Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad,
it was shown that the payment was made
in Confederate money, yet the same was
held by the Supreme Court to be valid
payment when it was regularly paid in to
the State and duly receipted for.
Mr.. Gibson withdrew his motion, and the
resolution was referred to the Judiciary
Committee.
SENATE BILL ON SECOND HEADING.
Requiring the County Surveyor and
Register to keep their books at the county
seat. Passed.
The PENIIENTlARY.
The following message was rece6ed from
the Governor:
Gentlemen of the General Assembly,
In transmitting to the Senate this morn
ing the original Report of the Inspectors of
the State Prison, in obedience to Senate
resolution No. q, L did not feel at liberty to
delay it until | could have the correspond
ence between myself and the Inspectors
copied and placed in shape for your exami-
nation. l had conferred freely with the chair
men of the Committees of both Houses,
and, with their advices, had detained the
report until detailed information upon
many points could be obtained from the
prison officers. 1t was suggested yesterday
that the Committees, in body, and myself
should examine, and if deemed necessary to
full comprehension Of the whole subject,
obtain further report from the Inspectors
before forwarding to you the original re-
port.
1t was believed that this course would
economic time and facilitate the in
vestigatiOn of the affairs of the Prison.
This course was prompted by desire to
dispatch rather than to DELAY
business, and l regarded the chair
men of the committees as rejecting the will
of their committees, as well as the desires
of the two houses. | now transmit the
correspondence between myself and the
Inspectors, together with such additional
papers as have been filed with me since the
date of the original report, and submit them
for your consideration. You will perceive
that the policy indicated by the last General
Assembly, for the management of the pri-
son and its convicts, has been pursued by
the present officers, whether successfully or
not must be determined by you from a
careful examination of the report.
More than one half of the labor has been
withdrawn from mechanical pursuits.
and much of it that is retained in
that department, is employed in branches
not too much in conflict with well
established mechanical pursuits as under pre-
viOus management. There is great COM
plant among the miners and other laborers
that the conyicts are employed to their det-
riment. 1t is certainly desirable that the
labor Of the State prison should be directed,
as far as possible, from any conflict with
the organized and well-established industry
of the country and directed to the develop
ment TO new sources of wealth. But 1t is
not deemed possible to employ the convict
at "hard labor" without conflicting, to some
extent, with some pursuit of the country.
They must not remain idle. One of the
primary objects of the institution is to pre-
vent crime, and if men are fed, and clothed,
and sheltered at the expense of the State
and permitted to live in idleness, the prison
will soon become house of refuge for
thousands Of Migrants, and the taxpayer
must bear the burden.
The conduct of the prison must present
as many terrors as possible to the evil-doer,
consistent with proper sense of humanity,
and constant hard labor is an indispensable
element in the discipline of the convict.
And while many branches of industry
complain of competition from this labor,
the taxpayer is justly clamorous that it
should sustain ITSELF A safe means there
fore would seem to lie in so employing the
labor that the State Treasury shall be pro
tected, with as little detriment as possible to
any and all industrial branches.
The prison has rarely sustained itself
The profits claimed by the present manage
ment are all absorbed in the erection of i'm
prOvements to the prison, and for these
Treasury warrants to the amount of
100000 have been issued to the Inspec-
IOTS, ullucI dCJ VI ASSculUly VI TtD. L, 10 IL,
and which loan viii expire the 18th of March,
1872. The prison has no funds with which
to prstect these warrants, and unless they
are relieved by the State they will be sacri-
feed at the amount of the loan, and l can
not see from the whole report that the pris-
on has been made self-sustaining in such
sense as to protect the State Treasury from
loss. And locking at the history of the In
stitution since its origin, we cannotreasonably
hope that under the management of the State
it will sustain itself in the future. Fully con-
WINGED Ofthis fact, approved the lease just
made by the Inspectors, and transmitted it
to you this morning, and believe the best
interests of the State would be subserved
by adopting the policy of wholesale leasing.