Morning journal and courier., 1883-01-04
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
.tze,oen of t1e Generaz Asserqbzu :.

Gentlemen of the General Assembly: ri We enter upon the duties of the responsi
 ble places to which we have been elected,
 under an obligation common 10 all of us,
 by wise legislation and creditable appoint. ments to promote the prosperity of the peo- pie, whose servants we are.
 It so happens that the legislative and exec
 utiye departments are not entirely in politi-
 cal accord, but this circumstance, I hope, . will neither interfere with our present rela-
 tions nor lessen the value of our public la
 bors. Ours is government of parties as
 well as of the people. We owe our positions
 largely, if not entirely, to partisan favor, and
 while we should be mindful of the obliga-
 ton such relation imposes, if we are true to
 ourselves and the principles both parties pro-
 fess, we shall, in the execution of the duties
 with which we are charged, ignore without
 hesitation the claims of party when they conflict with the interests of the State. NATIONAL POLITICS.
 I have no desire to ohtcude upon you any
 views upon national politics, though custom
 has made such expression a privilege of the occasion; yet cannot forbear to observe
 that the people have not, for quarter of 0
 century, had so much cause as now to be
 hopeful of legislation that will benefit their
 material interests and happily affect their
 everyday life. Nearly all the great issues of the last twenty-five years of our eventful l history have been settled and disposed of r and their settlement and disposition have
 been concurred in by the people, always willing to concede everything but their free l dom for the sake of quiet, prosperity and peace. The political animosities and hatreds
 these issues engendered have been oblitera- ted by time, and, by all but the bitterest par tisan, gladly forgotten. To-day there is
 comparatively nothing to distract public at l tention from the questions of tariff, internal l revenue, tenure of office, economy in expen-
 allure, honesty in administration and clean
 Illness in politics. These questions, which so l directly concern the people, require for de- 1 iberate consideration time like this, when,
 thanks be to God, peace and prosperity everywhere prevail To day the national representatives, seemingly more than ever impressed with the conviction that this is government of the people, show a disposi- l ton to respond to their wants and wishes, and to tighten the burden of taxation so long l and so patiently borne.
 OUR OWN AFFAIRS.
 In preparing to recommend legislation, l l have been brought to the conclusion that there is probably no State in the Union that I needs legislation so little our own and I that the people would hardly suffer by your adjournment without day, after the usual ap- propriations and appointments were proper ly attended to. Upon this happy condition of our State affairs, so creditable to our pre- decessors, offer you my congratulations. l will give you better opportunity to attend to that which presents itself, and to devote yourselves to matters of public importance, too often subordinated to the demands of special legislation The same class of ques- tions that the people are compelling Con gress to cope with ought to engage your i'm mediate attention for if their consideration is postponed, barren as your field of labor seems now, multitude of legislative matters may arise to interfere. Experience teaches that the appetite for legislation grows by what it feeds on.
 THE BALLOT BOX.
 As the sovereignty of our government re- | sides in the ballot of the voter, it is the duty of the lawmaker First, to afford every | possible and proper facility for the citizen to 1 qualify himself to perform his duty, and by | his ballot to express his will {; then to pro- | tect his ballot by preventing spurious and | fraudulent ballots, or the ballots of the l bribed, to be counted against it and by pre- | venting person chosen by such vicious bal | lots from assuming office. To this end I recommend that the law be so changed that | citizens engaged in daily occupation for their daily bread may have opportunity, in the | cities and larger boroughs, if not in all the towns of the State, to appear before the reg | istrars of voters and the boards of registra- tion in the evenings of the several days when | such officers are now required to be ln ses- sion. f
 Your predecessors enacted laws which they | had reason to hope would prevent the evil of bribery but we all know that the evil, com mon to both parties, of direct bribery by paying the voter, and indirect bribery, a | viler kind, by the pretended hiring of the services of the voter, has become so offen- sive that, unless it is checked, it threatens to endanger the perpetuity of our free institu- tions.
 I recommend the passage of a law provi- x-,l,o made. directly or indirectly, by candidate for office, for election purposes, except those you may think best to specify; and that the person elected, before entering upon his of- fee, shall take and subscribe oath that he has not violated any of the provisions of the statute. I do not fatter myself that all 1 bribery will be stopped if this suggestion is adopted, but trust it's adoption will tend, in some measure, to check 1t, and to make an ofense, now so common, as odious at least as petty larceny.
 THE PRIMARY OR CAUCUS.
 The primary, or caucus, has never been recognized in our legislation; and yet, in our political system, the caucus practically | chooses the officers who govern us. Spuri- ous ballots, bribery and corruption there are more common than at the polls, and, if | possible, more injurious
 The law I have already suggested, to pre- vent direct and indirect bribery and to com pei cAHuluateS Lo purge tueLnSe1VeS or cOn- plicity in these wrongs before assuming of | flee, can be made to surround and protect | the caucus.
 These evils of the ballot box and the eau GUS are, I know, difficult to conquer. I urge the subject on your attention, however, hoping that your best thought and endeavor will be given to it's mastery.
 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
 The worst evil-the father of all the rest
 ,1IsA ~e k-l lz- ALo ship that makes the pettiest office holder the victim of political asses sments, and compels | him to be & champion or 8 boss of the party | or clique that can manage to keep him in of flee. The people, who care little in what 1 party this evil was born, now seem deter mined to throttle it, and the best minds of | both parties are to-day engaged in construct ing legislation with that end in view. Office holders who have actually engaged in the de moralizing practices by which our politics | have been debauched should, without ex ception, be retired as class, and others, af- ter sensible examinations by competent non partisan boards put in their places, and therein continued, subject to removal only for neglect of duty, or for that insolence of office long continuance in power sometimes produces.
 system that deprives an official elected by the people of the dispensation of patron age will not infict an injury, but confer 8 benefit on him and his party, for the distribu- ton of patronage is apt to make more enc mics by disappointment than friends by favor It requires State as well as National legislation to effect civil service reform and any efforts in that behalf will command my hearty approval.
 WOMAN SUFFRAGE.
 The contemplation of better political methods prepares you for a subject that has been presented to previous Legislatures by some of my distinguished predecessors. The tendency of enlightened public opsnion is in favor of treating women, in their relations to property, society and the State, as the equals of men. In England, and some other mon archical countries of Europe, as well as in some of our sister States, they already have and exercise limited right of suffrage The democratic doctrine, that the ruled should be themselves the rulers, would admit them to all the privileges of the ballot box now en- joyed by men but as fundamental changes in State policy ought not to be made without due deliberation or until experiments in that direction have been successfully tried, only suggest that you consider the expediency of conferring upon women the same rights of participation in school districts as voters and officers that they now have in the States of New York and Massachusetts. recon