The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1877-11-08
GOVERNOR rnAysR's MESSAGE

sage to the Legislative Assembly yes
terday afternoon, and we present it TO
our readers in full this morning, on
the third page.
After a careful perusal of it. we feel
a pride in saying, that, in our opinion,
it is by far the best message that has
ever been delivered to any legislature
in this Territory, and that it is far in adj
vance of public documents of that
character issued in the States and Ter
ritories. 1t deals exclusively with
matters of immediate interest to our
people, and omits all attempt at lauda-
ton of ''the Territory" or of ''the Gov
ernor." Its recommendations are
judicious and well considered, and such
as the Legislature should give earnest
and careful attention to; and we hope
to see them embodied in well drawn
enactments.
The Governor first calls attention to
the very great expense attending the
care and keeping of the Territorial
prisoners in the United States Peniten-
tiary at Laramie City. 1t costs us
sirty-Seren dollars each day at present,
and even this large sun is rapidly in
creasing, with every addition TO the
number of convicts. The limited num-
Der of cells in the penitentiary cOmpels
the undue crowding of the prisoners,
and renders 1t an unsafe and incon-
venient place of confinement, and some
remedy for this evil should be provided
without delay. If the cost of trans
portation could be reduced to n reason
able sum-, we should be greatly bene-
fitted by sending them to Detroit or
elsewhere.
The next recommendation i'll the
message is the reduction of the fees of
county officers; and we consider this
one of the most important matters for
the consideration of the present Legis-
lature. The fee bills were established
several years ago, when the business
in the various offices was small, and
expenses were high, and, as a matter
of course, the profits were very trifling.
But now, in some of the county
offices, the emoluments are out of pro-
portion to the talent and labor required
in the discharge Of their duties. We
approve the plan of making all the
county Offices salaried offices, provided
the salaries are fixed ut a sufficiently
low figure to correspond with the labor
required; and in this connection we
would remind our legislators that n
Democratic Congress has reduced the
salaries of our Supreme Court judges
to S2500 n year, and if those offices can
be filled at such a salary, we see no
reason why the sheriffs, county attor-
neys, clerks and justices of the peace,
should not serve at proportionately low
rates. Our taxes are heavy and oner-
Gus almost beyond endurance, and the
greater portion of all the money taken
from us is absorbed in paying our
county officers princely incomes, while
necessary public expenditures are
greatly reduced, or have to be entirely
omitted. The people call upon the
present legislature to remedy this great
and growing evil, regardless of the
appeals of selfish oflice-holders. Al
ready it begins to affect the influx of
capital to our Territory, and will soon,
If not arrested, drive from us n portion
of what we now have. We thank the
! n ,.pnr,a. fA- hia a ,plut rnaAYntnattln
tons in this regard.
Attention is also called to the condi-
ton of our statutes, and several very
desirable changes are suggested, which
have the cordial approval of Chief JUS
tice Fisher, of this Territory. These
are all wise suggestions, and embody
very necessary amendments to our
laws; we trust the changes will be
made ut an early day. But there are
other laws on our statute books that
want amending to meet the wants of
our growing community, and there are
several important matters that require
legislative action, on which subjects
no laws have as yet been enacted.
We need n good law on Assignment
of property for the benefit of creditors"
which shall define and protect the rights
and duties of all parties interested. We
have no statute on the subject of ''equi-
ties of redemption in mortgaged prop
erty'' either real or personal. The
right Of the mortgager should be care
fully defined, and the powers of the
mortgage as carefully limited. This
is necessary to ave litigation, to pro-
tect the rights of property and to en-
courage the investment Of capital in
our midst. Especially is this necessary
in reference to chattel mortgages,
which at present are uncertain, indeil-
mite and dangerous, both to the mort
eager and the MORTGAGE.
The message is quite full and inter-
esting in reference to our great stock
interests, and contains many very valua-
BILE statistics. There is no subject,
that can demand the attention of the
| LEGISLATURE. more important than this,