Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-09-12


statute allowing the printing OF Eales o
land for taxes after August, 1875, and Il
that extent the treasury is relieved. TIT
pay Of Jurors wes increased by the scts
OF 1866 and 1857. By the set Of March
1875, it was reduced to 81 80 per day, ,anC
the pay of justices, in attendance upor
the quarterly courts, was by the came
set reduced to 81 80, and the courts re
duced to one-half Of the justices, ssvini
I 70 the Taxpayers OF the State $50, ,OOj
per anuun. The act abolishing tht
| quorum courts Of the State, and chsrg.
| ing the chRirmen OF the county courts
with the performance of their duties
caves the sum of Sl3. 1872 per snnum
The annual appropriation OF S25OO yea
to the
STATE LIBRARY
was reduced to $500. The Office o.
tuperints udent Of weights and measures
wRs abolished, and, wherever the treas
ury could be relieved, it was done, and
an earnest given to the people thst the
Democratic party is party OF economy
and reform.
JUDICIAL EXPENSES
for the past two years, including salaries
OF judges, amount To about SUI, OOO
The Democratic party has been criticised
for this expenditure, and especially fol
increasing the number of the judges OF
the supreme court. On this point / in.
vita ynnr attention for moment. Al
the time of the increase of this court
from three to six judges 1t was an sbso.
lutte necessity, recognized by every we'll
| informed man in the State. The dock
cts were crowded, IS they had never
been before, and it was physical I'M
possibility for any three Judges to dis
patch the business of that court. The
three judges OF the supreme court, Rp-
pointed and elected while the State was
under Republican control, in five years
disposed Of 32S6 causes. The present
court, composed of six judges, has, in six
years, disposed OF 90l6 causes, or nearly
three times the amount Of business
Of the court of three judgee.
I state the facts from the
record without intending any reelection
upon any one. With this increase in
the number of judges the judicial ex-
penses of Tennessee compares fsvorabjy
with our sister states. Kentucky paid
about the same. Republican Illinois
pays sos, 600 per year, California pays
$155, ,679, Massachusetts,, with about tie
same population OF Tennessee, pays
1926, 900 per annum, and the State of
Pennsylvania pays for Judicial expenses
in one year $47S, 900, enough after the
present year to deiray the entire ex-
peDse Of our state government. l repeat
statement made recently that the State
government Of Tennessee Is more eco
nemieally administered than any state of
equal population on the continent. The
salaries of the executive officers OF Ten
nessee amount to less than $l2 600; Ohio
pays SS6,000, Pennsylvania $40, 600, and
California, with halt the population of
Tennessee, pays her comptroller and his
clerks $22, 400, more than four times the
amount paid TO the comptroller Of Ten
nessee and his single clerk. Texas pays
executive salaries amounting e
to $4,000, Minnesota $49, ,615,
Nevada $50, 900, and we have popula-
ton, according to the last cersus, nearly
equal to the three States last named.
Inc State penitentiary is no charge up
on our State treasury, while in Massa.
chusetts, with her great moral IDEAS, the
State prison costs The taxpayers $780,
600 per annum, supplemented By $58,-
600 paid for Stats detective force. Ohio
pays for her State prison $239, 600 par an
mum. The difference In regard 10 any
item Of public expenditure is in favor
OF Tennessee. Our
LEGISLATIVE EXPENsEs.
The expenses Of your last general as
sembly, counted as two years, amounted
to $4S, ,734; Massachusetts paid for her
Pennsylvania, 434 600; South Carolina,
nnn.I1alf 81 ~
population of Tennessee, paid $ll7 ,696;
Iowa, So, 500. The difference in the
IseisIsfiva sxransss for the past two
years and that OF any period in ten years
is a very mark ed one. In 1866 the State
paid $155, 5,I9l; in 1867 it was
$l44, ,S85; the next year (l86S) it was
$3.50, 4S3; fer 1859, S76, ,794; for the wear
1870, S72 209. From October, 1870, to
October, 1871, the State paid SAC, 035.
That was for the expenses OF one of three
sessions In two years Of The legislature in
which Mr.. Thomas served as a senator,
against $46, ,734 fer the two years of the
present administration. The expenses
Of the State government are less than
they have been in ten years, and have
been steadily decreasing since the Dem-
ocratic party was placed in control of it.
/ speak from table that have tsken
from the records in the Office of the
comptroller Of the treasury, to which !
now invite your attention.
GGovernOr Porter then read q lengthy
TABULAR statement showing the above
facts.
In the column of expenses Of the pres
ent administration, there are special ap-
preparations for insane asylums in East
and West Tennessee, and for the perma-
nent Improvement of the school for the
blind, amounting to S56,982 "a, which
will not again appear as charge on the
treasury.
THE PENTTENTIARY LEASE
have been criticised for refusing, as
one Of the commissioners, to make a
lease of the penitentiary in accord ance
with the act of the legislature approved
March %, 1875. have no apology to
offer for my action. The act gave the
commissioners this discretion, to lease if
the highest bid offered was satisfactory
to the governor and inspectors. There
was no satisfactory bid made. No bidder,
In my Judgment, offered money enough
for the labor of the conviets. believed
thea that the net profits to the lesees
was very large. / am T1O1O satisfied that,
paying the rental to the State and sll
other expenses, the present lessees have
real z9d as much as S400. GOO from their
lease! When the present lease was eX-
ecuted, some such action seemed una
voidsble. The State was paying large
sums for the support of the prison, and
any measure that would make it self.
sustaini & was desirable. The expert.
mcnt has been made fully and fairly,
and l am satisfied that the system
ought not to be continued, and that the
present system Of employing convict
labor should be abandoned, have OBJ
served it closely for two years, and am
satisfied it Is wrong. l bslieve that the
labor of the convicts can be successfully
employed so as to avoid the present gen.
erai competition with mechanics and
farmers. The State should defer to the
sentiments OF large GLASS Of her best
citizens who feel degraded at this uni
versal competition with convict labor.
1t is the cause of constant and iDcreas-
ing irritation, and l will leave no effort
untried to remove it.
THE ALIEN LAW.
The last legislature passed an act on
the eleventh Of MsrCh, 1915, "to enable
aliens to acquire, hold and dispose of
property, real and personal" Since its
passage company from England, with
whose operations am familiar, has pur-
chased in the county of Marion, over
one hundred thousand acres Of land, for
which, and for the improvements made,
the company hsd expenditure in cash
up to the last of July, 1881. .146. 1t has
IN its employ three bundred men, and
is paying out an average Of $50 900 q
month. The passage Of this bill alone,
backed by the agricultural bureau, hiss
attracted more capital from abroad than
all the legislation for twenty years past.
MINES.
The creation of this bureau has been
productive Of great results to the State
through the influence Of the publications
Of its able superintendent. Wi hin two