Litchfield enquirer., 1880-01-15
GOV. ANDREWS MESSAGE.
utsemes of tue General Assembly i.

F. : 0Ots ANU6EW0 D mGSoAuE,'' lf9'-- Gentlemen ef tue General Assembly: snz-
 welcome you to these halls of legislation. The people of the State have placed youiin a position of high responsibility. It is no light thing to be invested with the supreme law making power in free State--to have in your keeping the prosperity, the veal or woe of whole people. To such duty every honest man must come with a reyerent spirit, feeling his own ignorance and littleness, and seeking to be guided by a wisdom higher i than himself. -i,2i '-j -ti StS I congratulate you that you meet at a time when the condition of all material affairs has so greatly improved. The year that has just closed behind us has cheered us with it's gen. erous gifts The year upon which we are just entering is bright with continued prom ise The restoration of specie payments is | DO longer a problem. Gold and paper have | touched each other, and in all ordinary tran l sections are interchangeable as a measure of value Stasnation in business has everywhere given way to enterprise; dulIness has been 1 succeeded by activity. Values have every
 where been enhanced. Labor is in greater
 demand, Of better quality and at higher wages Within our border it has been sea-
 son of more than ordinary healtff'llness. Food is plenty The crops have been abun-
 dant. The teeming West groans under it's
 burden of cereals All the lines of transporta- ton from the lakes to the sea are loaded to the l full with bread grain, while thousands and
 tens of thousands of bushels await means of l being forwarded to market. Manufactures
 have largely increased, and the price of man.
 utactured goods is isimproved. The mineral re-
 sources of the country have been developed. | New and diversified industries have been en- l tered upon. Trade and the exchange of com I kocI slx, tuifh l increasing balance in our favor. Progress has
 been made in the arts. The knowledge of
 witty inventions has been found out Abun-
 s e1a fssp si2
 ty. i -
 Surely here is sufficient cause for congratu-
 lation and for thankfulness. Let us all take
 heed that no act of ours shall obscure the
 bright prospect opening before us.
 | s.e,r- STATE DEBT. -., ... | The public debt of the State is the same as
 last year, and is represented by four classes of
 bonds. as follows:
 January l, 1863. redeemable after twenty
 years. bearing per cent interest ss77, 600 ! January l. 1884, redsemable after twenty Il - years. at per cent. interest 1,S18550 | October l, 1865, red emaDle after twenty i
 years, at per cent. interest. 1,741,1ooo May l; 1877. redeemable after ten years ''l '.
 at per cent. interest. ............... 1,0sl OoO Total ........................... s4,s67 765s I Interest is payable semi-annually on all. r-.-4 STALE FINANCES. ;--. ,-+i The Treasury balance at the beginning .{r of the year was.................... $842 372 II Income for the year. 534, ,28S. .4S
 Making total of g s7s,esoss | The expenditures for the year, including 7;~, l the sum of $2s7 a6,00 paid as interest !i,I .s on State oonds was 1,534,513.64 Leaving balance to credit of year. $S42 .95 l A comparison of these figures with the | Comptroller's report for last year shows that
 the total income for this year is $118, ,281. .S3
 less than the proceeding one The total ex-
 penditures for the past year are aiso $8, O9S S9
 less than the year before. e& The falling off in the grand list of the State 1 of more than ten millions of dollars, the re- duction of the tax on savings banks, and the
 abatement by the Legislature of the tax of the | Charter Oak Insurance Company>and of cer- | tain railroads, accounts for the loss of income l The special expenses of the State have de- creased The amount expended for the State l House and for grading the grounds is $114,
 750. O., in, place of $331. 500 last year. The 1 special expense thls year of about $S5, 900 for new uniforms, for the National Guard, and the
 repaying of $26. .056. 39 to the National Banks | IOr C1e LAX On tu6 SLOCA Ol uOD-ItSluGut StOCh- holders wropgfully collected, and the cost of furniture, etc in the State House, to the amount of $75, STA 40, makes up large part of this difference. These expenditures will not again be necessary
 1 The ordinary expenses have been substan | tially the same as the preceding year, except | in one particular. The judicial expenses have 1 increased by more than $4l, ,OO0.1' The Comp 1 troller calls attention to :his large increase, | and in order to give emphasis to his words l repeat here substantially what he has sad: "A very large increase will be found in the item of judicial expenses. Protracted trials, possibly unavoidable in the administration of justice, necessarily involve great expenditures, and one cannot fail to see an increasing tend ency Tn that direction In the session of 1879 an act was passed giving to witnesses in crim- inal trials tenHcents per mile tor travel to the place of trial each dag. It is obvious that in some recent trials this must be an important I item. It may possibly require examination. ,"
 TSis is matter to which your attention can
 be usetully directed :.t} 1"i ;. | It will be observed that the total expendi- lures are $225. 16 less than the total income for the year.
 The estimates of income for the curr rent year are: i. Income. $1,550,050 % Expenditure. s1,ss7, ,a46. co
 
 Estimated amount of income over ex- ,g.,5 4.,f P Adj to this the balance in the treasury
 ct the beginning of the year, .s<i S42.l46 s5 Estimated surplus at the end of current ,.... fs year, . $9e4, $50. .95 The improved condition of all sources of taxation affords the hope that at an early day our revenues will be largely augmented.
 s SURVEY OF THE STATE. i.5f
 An authentic and accurate map of the State is need that ought to be supplied. 1t IS a reproach to Connecticut, with It's large school fund and it's boasted common schools, that we do not know our own topography, and are not in possession of any means by which to learn it. It is probably fact4that there is in exist ence 8 better map of the surface of the moon than of the surface of Connecticut. We. do noknow the length of our own boundary lines except as we4 learn. item from our neigabors. The only source we have from winch to learn the topography of our State is the imperfect and unreliable maps of private publishers One of the best of these omits entirely several important ranges of hills, makes an error of several miles ia the location of one or two large towns, and even forgets that the city In which you are assembled is the sole capital of the State In respect to an accurate survey we are behind most of the other States. We are behind the islands of the sea. The Sandwich Islands has a very accurate survey of its territory, which is used as the basis for the surveys of public and pri-, vate lands. Such survey could be made at a very hoderate expense, and in view of the great advantages, public and private, that vo,,ld ho off od I ,rrra that uaoou,,roo tf,e