Litchfield enquirer., 1874-05-14

t 1AA1y-0A4s bGuO1AE6 nave been 8l0eu OY I the state at the American Asylum for the I Deaf and Dumb at Hartford, during the year, at an expense of $9, ,279, ,23, and fif-
 teen blind children have been aided at the Perkins Institute in Boston.
 One hundred and eighty-two discharg-
 ed soldiers have been under medical and
 surgical treatment at the hospitals in
 New Haven and Hartford, at total ex-
 pense of about $18,000. These benefi-
 cent institutions, sustained, in large de- gree, by the voluntary services of the
 medical profession in those cities, and by
 the charitable contributions of citizens.
 are well deserving of the incidental sup
 port thus given to them by the state.
 Pursuant to the Act of the last General
 Assembly, organizing a Board of State
 Charities, ] appointed as that Board,
 Messrs. Benjamin Stark of New London.
 Samuel F. Jones of Hartford, Levi Ives
 of New Haven, Mrs. Mary NJ. Pettee of Meriden, and Mrs. Jeannie P. Hoyt of Stamford, and they have entered upon its important duties. Their report will ad- wise you of the operations of the Board.
 PENAL AND REFoRMAToRY INSTITUTIONS. I The affairs of the State Prison, under l the superintendence of Warden Botelle
 whose resignation has been received by the Directors with great regret, have been most satisfactorily conducted. Notwith- standing reduction of the price of pris- l on labor. necessitated by the prostra- tlon of business during the last winter. a l net income of two thousand one hundred and fourteen dollars and thirty cents (s2,- el4,3O) has been received into the Treas. ury from the prison. The appropriation heretofnra made fnr repair nf the hniId ings has been expended, and an addition al five thousand dollars is thought by the Directors to be necessary for the same purpose. In this connection. I would call your favorable attention to the recon. l mendation of the Directors, that a con- mission be appointed to consider the pro- priety of erecting new prison buildings. The number of convicts now in the prison is one hundred and eighty-one 1S11, of whom only two are females,- one white and one colored. One hun dred and ffty-two of these convicts were born within, and twenty-nine without the United States. A remarkable change has occurred in the sanitary condition of the prison-pulmonary consumption which, twenty years ago, was regarded as the scourge of the prison, having now be- come disease of comparatively rare oc- currence.
 As the present State House in New Haven cannot be used for the sessions of the General Assembly after the present official year, 1t will be your duty to pro- vide for the disposition of the building when 1t shall cease to be used for state purposes. It is erected upon the public ground of the city of New Haven. NATIONAL GUARD.
 The National Guard continues to main tain it's high standard of military effieien- cy. Its quota of officers and men are full ly kept up. and the expenses are within the avails of the communication tax. The law of 1871 is justified by its workings, and more effective militia force, it is be- araais ;s due for this to both 0fffcers afiSdt affiSdt men, without whose personal interest in the organization the present fine condi- tion of the several regiments could not be maintained. I refer you to the re- ports of the Adiutant and Quartermaster Generals for further details.
 AaRICULTURE-LABoR STATISTICS. The report of the secretary of the board of agriculture merits your special consid- eration. The evidence it affords of the interest taken in the agriculture of our state, by both the scientists and the prac- tical farmer, is very gratifying, and it's bepefclal results are by no means con- fined to our own state. The board rec ommend the establishment of an agricuI tural experiment station in Connecticut and enforce their recommendation bv evi. dence of the success of such stations else where, which will commend the snbiect to your favorable attention.
 Under the act of the last session estab- fishing bureau of labor statistics. I an- pointed Ill October last, James F. Bab- cock, of New Haven, chief, and Charles 0. Commerford, of Waterbury, deputy of such bureau. The results of the opera- tlons of the bureau during the brief De- rlod since it's organization, will appear in report, which l am advised will be made to you at your present session
 REVISION OF STATUTES.
 The committee appointed by the Gener- al Assembly in. 1872 to revise the public statutes have completed their work. and will make their report at the present ses- sion, and it will demand, as doubt not 1t will receive, your careful and patient consideration.
 In this connection beg to call your at- tentlon to the loose and inaccurate man. ner m which our session laws have been sometimes framed, the sense of them be- Ing rendered equlvocal by errors of lan- guage not creditable to our educational system. Undoubtedly this is often due to some lncongruous amendment which has been allowed to bill carefully fram- ed Tn committee. but apprehend that generally it has been the result of inat- tentlOn Tn committee. Whether 1t is prac hcable to have such revision of all nnh- lie acts, after their passage and before engrossment, as will remove errors of this sort, is question worthy of your consid- eration.
 CENTENNIAL COMMISSION.
 The Centennial Commission having in charge the exhibition contemplated to he held Tn Philadelphia, in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of our national independence, have indicated a desire for the appointment, by state au- thorlty, of state boards of managers to act on that occasion in conjunction with the Commission, but with special refer ence to the interests of their respective states. No state in the Union has greater reason than Connecticut to participate in commemorating day with which our his- tory is so conspicuously identified, nor is any state more fortunate in being able to make such participation becomingly by an exhibition of the products of it's own industry. But the plans of the commis- sion do not seem to me at present suffi- eiently definite for any further action on your part than, 1t may be, the provision for the appointment desired. | submit the subject to your consideration.
 EFFICIENCY OF STATE GOVERNMENT
 In thus reviewing the present opera tions of our State Government, I am impressed by the growth of its powers and responsibilities during the last two de- cades, and. especially. by the ease with whiclp the inreasing demands moon our financial resources have been met, through our modes of local administration. Twen- ty years ago, the School Fund of Con-