The Portland daily press., 1872-01-05

also under excellent management, and the chill |
dren are well provided for.
Three hundred and eighty orphans have been
aided outside in such sums as their condiuon
seemed to require. The money appropriated for
this purpose has enabled the Board to dispense
many blessings, for which the State has re-
ccived the benedictions of hundreds whose nat
ural protectors gave their lives for their couh-
try. ..
Statements in detail of the disbursements
made BY the Board may be found with the rec
ords of the Executive Council
INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL STATISTICS.
We have in this State no means for the COZ,
lection of statistics pertaining TO our lhuueo,iS-
or other interests. Our farmers are busy I.is-
ing their stock, producing their crops anu r,,nm
proving their farms: our mechanics anu nan
ufacturers are turning out in great veiiooy .Iio
products of their skill; our quarrles Vi grallite
lime rock and slate are being extensively work.
ed and their products are SEM lilto all parIs Vi
the country; our lumbermen are Dusy IN the
forests and at the mills; our ice is being stored
and shipped away in large quantltles; our nsh-
ermen line our coasts and that OF our nelghbors
in the Provinces with tnelr wnte sans; our
railroads are being extended, and their business
is ranidly increasing; our exports and imports
ara heinz made as usual; our Shipbuilding and
commerce, though depressed are still of great
importance, and yet, when we are asked to
state the product of these industries or the
amount of this business, we are compelled to
confess that we know very little In regard 10
them.
AS individuals it is necessary to know our.
selves and our capabilities. AS guardians OF
the State it is important that we know It's re-
sources, that we may be able to direct its ener-
pies and compass its possibilities Every busl-
ness man finds it necessary to keep an account
of his operations, to take account OF STOCK every
year, and strike the balance between MS re-
ceipts and expenditures, SO that he may know
from year to year just what he is doing. and
whether he is gaining losing So with the
State. We need to know just what complete
statistics of all the different kinds OF business,
and the more important facts connected with
our social life, would furnish. 1t would ena-
BILE us to know whether we are going forward
or backward and to apply such corrections to
our failures and take such advantages OF our
successes as circumstances and wise forecast
demand. The publication and circulation OF
such facts would attract attention to our re-
sources, and bring capital and labor to the
State.
Could we now present reliable statistics of
the progress the State has made during the past
year, in manufactures and other industrial en-
! terprises it would be of great value to our own
| citizens, as we'll as those in other States, who
are seeking favorable opportunities for invest
ment in these enterprises. Besides the collec-
ton and dissemination of facts and general sta
| tistics, competent man would be able, 10y cor
respondence and personal attention, to turn
capital and labor to us, that would otherwise go
in other directions
| Iho service OF one man, competent Luz, anu
| adapted to the performance of these duties,
! acting under the direction of one of the State
officers, or independently, would, it is believed,
be sufficient to accomplish this whole work.
deem this subject of sufficient Importance
to claim your attention, and refer to it in the
hope that you will provide for the performance
of the work suggested.
OUR JAIL SYSTEM
| Our methods of treating criminals are not
yet entirely free from the old idea that impriS-
onment is to be regarded solely as punishment
| for crime, given amount of punishment to be
determined by the law or the court, for def
mite degree of crime, without RECORD to the re-
formation of the criminal or the protection OF
| the community. While it is the duty OF the
State to confine persons convicted OF crime,
both as means of punishment and for the pro-
| lection of the innocent, its obligation is but
poorly performed, unless it applies all the
means that have been found useful in the re-
formation of criminals, for the prevention of
crime The public good should be the chief OBJ
| iect of criminal law; and criminals should suf-
| fer the penalty of the law in the manner best
adapted to subserve these important ends. loo
many of our jais are hot beds of crime, where
the young boy or girl, who has taken but sin
| gle step in crime, is in a brief time dragged
down to the degree of depravity that has been
reached by the older and viler criminals with
whom they associate. What should be the
means of reformation is made the instrument
tality through which they sink to lower depths
| OF degradation and crime.
The Commissioners on the, jail system of the
State of Maine, in able report made to the
last Legislature, suggested plan which APP
pears in the main practicable, and which, in its
essential features, L would be glad to see adopt
| ed The bill which accompanies the report,
provides that the jaiIs in Bangor, Augusta,
| Portland, and Auburn, be provided with suita-
| BILE accommodations for the employment of the
inmates in some productive labor, and for ad-
| ditonal means of intellectual and moral i'm
/ ont al pr0vidac that
victed of crime or waiting for trial in any coun-
| ty of the State, may be sentenced or sent to Ell
Their of these jails, as may be found most con-
| venient or advisable, reasonable compensation
| county, that would be liable under the present
practice OF course it is not expected that a
| trade could be so well learned, or the labor
! made SO profitable as in the States Prison
where the terms of imprisonment are longer;
| but it is believed that the net proceeds of the
labor would aid very much in the payment of
expenses. This, however, is but minor con-
sideration, when compared with the benefit of
steady employment and some useful trade and
the better facilities for intellectual and moral
| improvement that would be afforded
l commend this subject to your careful con-
sideration, in the hope that some plan will be
| speedily adopted to remove these persons from
| the perncious influences to which, through
idleness, and in some instances, the miserable
accommodations, they are now subjected in
| our Jails.
| BIENEIAL ELECTIONS AND SESSIONS OF THE LEG
| STATURE AND CHANGE OF THE DAY OF THE
ANNUAL ELECTION.
I renew the Recommendation contained in
my ADDRESS TO the last Legislature, IN regard TO
biennial elections and sessions Of the Legisla-
ture and change of the day of the annual
election to the Tuesday next after the first
Monday in November. The propriety of the
change will, l believe, commend itself to the
Judgment of all who investigate the subject.
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.
In accordance with resolve of the last Leg
islature, Commissioners have been appointed
to devise plan for an Industrial School for
girls The report of the Commissioners may
be expected at an early day.
desire to urge the Importance of immedi-
ate action upon this subject The State can
not afford to allow their girls, who are being
lured by temptation into vicious habits to be-
come enemies to the State and themselves, and
instruments of destruction to all the higher in
terests OF society, without making an effort to
save them.
The results of these institutions, where they
have been established, prove that many of these
unfortunate persons can be rescued from the
awful gulf that is opening before them, and
htted for lives of industry and virtue. Of three
hundred and ten girls who have been dscharg-
ed from the Industrial School for girls in Lam
caster Massachusetts,, in the last ten years.
whose characters are known, two hundred and
sixty are living honestly and respectfully. The
current of their lives has been changed, and,
instead of being pests in society, they have
learned to support themselves respectfully; and
many of them have charge of homes, which
they have learned in the school, to make COM
Portable and happy.
"A large appropriation to be expended in
building is not required. The family system
for such girls is undoubtedly the best. Build
ings, with sufficient grounds, that will accom-
modate from fifteen to twenty-five persons,
Will be sufficient for the present, and others can
be added as occasion may require. 1t is hoped
that the report of the Commissioners will be
accompanied with a proposition to furnish
suitable buildings for the school, IT, however,
this should not be done, trust the expense of a
few thousand dollars for buildings near one of
our large cities, where the property would sell
at any time in the future for nearly or quite
the cost, will not prevent the establishment of
an institution so greatly needed.
INSANE HOSPITAL
The report of the Trustees of the Insane
Hospital refers to the abuses under the stat
utes providing for part payment of board by
the State, of persons in INDECENT circumstances.
1t is clear that many persons in the hospital
receive this aid who are not by the statutes en-
titled to it. Some legislation may be required
to correct this practice.
The Trustees call attention to the probabili-
ty that within one or two years, the hospital
will be filled to its utmost capacity, and sug-
gest that early measures be takeu to provide for
additional Accommodations. The question wheth-
er another hospital building shall be COM
menced on the same farm to be under the same
general supervision, or be located in some 9TH
er portion OF the Ssate, must engage the atten-
ton OF the legislature at an early day.
STATE PRISON.
The report of the Warden of the States Pris-
on makes favorable exhibit of the finances
trfin CHI 4l.o+x