The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1876-01-13


Of the amount outstanding on the 18th oi
November, the sum Of 81, 165.00 had ceased
to draw interest, tie holders thereof having
been notified to surrender their stock for re
demption, so that the Understanding funded
debt of the State is 81 ,945, 755.12.
On the 29th of November last Hon. Isaac
Welsh, Treasurer of State, after lingering
illness, departed this life, leaving vacancy
which filed by the appointment of his son,
Leroy w. Welsh. Mr.. Welsh was near the
expiration of his second term in this respon'
sible and honorable office, which he filled
with great efficiency and to the entire salts.
| faction of all who had business with tina;
department. He was an unassuming, intel
ligent and honorable man, and won the re-
spect and confidence of all who knew him.
Our State benevolent, reformatory and
penal institutions are, in the main, in a
fiourishing condition, and fulfilling the wise
purposes of their creation.
The penitentiary is unusually crowded,
but the reports of the Warden and Directors
make a gratifying exhibit respecting the
general health, discipline and financial man.
agement, showing a surplus of earnings for
the year of about twenty thousand dollars
over and above It's current expenses. Avery
considerable number of the convicts are
serving under sentences for offenses which,
it seems to me, might be punished as well in
our county jails. Men are serving out SEN
lenses for petty burglaries and forgeries,
generally committed under the stress of ne
cessity, in which little items of clothing or
provisions, or small sums of money, only,
are involved. 1t is question worthy OF
your consideration, whether there could not
be grades in forgery and burglary, as there
are in larceny, so that petty offenders, who
have not given evidence of being hardened
in crime, may be imprisoned in the county
jails, instead OF the penitentiary.
My immediate predecessor called the at
tention of the General Assembly to the mat
ter of inequality in sentence 10 Penitentiary.
| fully indorse his views on the subject, and
invite you to consider the great injustice fire.
auently done to men and wOmen who are more
Unfortunate than criminal, by the unequal
sentence pronounced by the Courts. The
peculiar temperament or condition OF the
Judge, or the attendant influences in COM
munity, as frequently mold the character OF
the sentence as the circumstances of the case.
Men are serving under sentences of thirty
years for precisely the same crimes for
which other men are serving terms of three
years. There should be some mode OF
amending the errors of Courts in this matter.
OF course, the pardoning power can reetify
the irregularity; but it would be better to
remove, as far as possible, the necessity Of
the interposition of Executive elemency.
1t is matter worthy of your earnest consid-
Grafton
The work of construction on the Central
Ohio Hospital for the Insane has progressed
satisfactorily during the past year, and is
now so far advanced as to justify the opin-
ion that the edifee may be completed and
made ready for the reception of patients by
the middle of November next. The Com
missioners of Construction estimate that, in
addition to the unexpended balance on hand
of former appropriations, which, on Novem-
Der 10, 1875, amounted 10 the sum of S11f,-
232.95, there will be required to be apprO-
priated to pay reserves on contracts COM
pleted, finishing all existing contracts not
completed, and to meet the demands for
work yet to be placed under contract, the
sum Of $220,000 They also estimate that
the sum of $4,000 will be required to pro-
vide the necessary furniture for the build
ing, including the fixtures and furniture for
the bakery, laundry and other domestic de-
partments, making the gross sum OF $780, 900
to finish and furnish the building. The ac-
tual amount paid out in the construction OF
the hospital building from the commence
ment of the work to November 10, 1873, is
81 ,001, ,276.05. Add the unexpended balance
of $l11,23 95 to the $220,000 additional
asked to complete the edifce, and the result
is the sum of 81 ,3S2, 500, as the total cost OF
the structure when completed.
l seriously question the wisdom of build
ing State institutions of such unwieldy pro-
portions and at such enormous cost. 1t is