Litchfield enquirer., 1873-05-15

] completion of the new north wing en8ble 1 the institution to receive all female applI cants without delay.
 The regular hospital revenue, amount 1 ing, with cash on hand, to seventy-nin, thouand, seven hundred and ninety-tlne' l dollars and thirty eight cents l$79, 793. .38) hts been sufficient to meet the curren wants of the institution during the year and leave balance on hand of one thous and, eight hundred and eleven dollar aud eighty-two cents ($1 ,81l.S2). SCHOOL FOR IMBEcILEs. Sixty-one (61) pupils have been unde ! the jealous care of Dr. Knight, at tn. School for Imbeciles, at Lakeyille in Sal isbury, during the past year The pres ent number in attendance is fifty (50), O whom twentyS2O are State benefciaries seventeen of them being orphans. 4 commodious building has been erected with the. ten thousand dollars (S1O, 900 appropriated last year, and the insti tn tion will soon be enabled to receive all the pupils of that unfortunate class, fol whom the State may have occasion to provide.
 EDUCATION.
 The schools of Connecticut have been the objects of it's pride and favor too long for any recommendation of mine to be needed to ensure them your continued support. Their condition in very full de tail will be presented to you by the re- port of the Secretary of the Board of Ed ucation. ~
 The total amount expended for the pub- lie schools during the last official year was
  eight thousand, four hundred and forty dollars and seven cents (S,528, 440OO, of which one million. one hundred and twen- ty=seYen. thousand, seven hundred and seventeen dollars and sixty-seven cents ($1, ,127, 717.6D was faised by town and district taxation. r FDc
 The number of children in the State be- tween four and sixteen years of age in January, 487a, was one hundred and thirty-two thousand, nine hundred and forty-three Q32, ,943). There are thirteen thousand, five hundred and twelve Q3. .512) children who did not attend any school during the last year.
 MILITARY AFFAIR.
 The Adiutant Generals report will ex- hibit to you in detail the present efficient condition of the National Guard of the State. As military organization 1t is not surpassed by that of any other State; and this is due to the earnest efforts of those to whom the care of this important branch of service has been entrusted, and especially to the reorganization of the force by the law of 1871, by which four thoroughly appointed regiments have been so organized as to be ready for the So%n 0f oko emergency.
 The communication tax under this system pays aA the military expenses:
 .t STATE SURVEY.
 The report of the Suryeyor-G General merits your attentive consideration. Our State is so remarkably deficient in any re- liable survey, that different authorities, which are regarded as standard, vary in their description of the areas and bonnd- aries of the several counties, and even of the State itself.
 The United States Coast Survey is at present engaged in it's duties along our coast; and as their operations could un- doubtedly be made the basis for q State survey, the opportunity would seem to be very favorable for initiating the work rec commended by the Surveyor General.
 NEW STATE HOUSE.
 I am advised by the chairman of the Board of State House Commissioners that a contract for the erection of new State House in Hartford, was completed by the Board in September last with Mir. J. G. Patterson, of Hartford, at a cost of eight hundred and seventy-five thousand dol lars ($875, ,OO0), the building to be com pleted by the 1st day of May. 1875. The work under the contract has been com meneed, but has been delayed by the severity of the season.
 The legislation of the last General As sembly has, in some of it's measures, been called into public question, and the sub iects merit your most considerate atten- ton. .-..-. ..-...- ... - LICENSE LAW.
 The license law enacted by that body has, think, operated satisfactorily, in the main: but amendments in some of its details may be expedient. - usURY LAW. r--
 The substantial repeal of the usury laws has not been attended with the same favor. An extremely stringent money market has generally prevailed since that legislation, of which tAe lender has naturally taken advantage, and the neces- sitous borrower has, doubtless, been sub iected to unaccustomed and, in many in- stances extortionate rates of interest. The result has been the development of a public sentiment favorable to restoration of limit to the rate of interest, I shall cooperate with you in any effort to rem- edy these abuses, in response to thispub- lie sentiment.
 .. CURRENCY.
 But I cannot ignore the operation of important causes promoting these abuses which seem to me to lie deeper than this legislation of our own State, and appre- bend, beyond the reach of any State leg islation whatever. It is significant of their existance, that at the great money centre of the country, where the rates are generally controlled, the high rates of interest recently prevailing have been made the occasion for complaint of those very laws which our people, with the same object, are 90 much disposed to regard with favor. Chief among these causes is, in my judgment; that calamitous legs acy of our civil war-an irredeemable pa per currency-which, without intrinsic value, and possessing a current value bafling human foresight with its huctua- tions, carries into all dealings its element of risk, and by discouraging regular in dustry, draws into the enormous specula- ions it fosters the money which should be in the service of the legitimate busi- ness of the country. I know of no evil which mere 1eglslatiOn can produce, so hard for the great body of a community, as this of m irredeemable paper currency. It has never yet failed to demoralize the people who have yielded to it's tstemptations, or to afford harvest for the speculatOl and the extortioner, at the expense oi honest industry. We see its influences surrounding us, in the extrayagance oi expenditure rapidly leading to indebted ness of individuals and communities-in the impatience of and other industry thar such as may seem to lead, by some short road, to wealth-in the bold combinations of reckless men to control, for their owI gainful uses, the very sources of commer cial life-in threatened panics in uncer tain: values-in disappointing wages o labor-but above all, m that cadence o