Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-09-06

| both branches Of which the Democratic
party hsd msjority-in the Senate a ma
| iority of more than three-6fths, and in the
| House three-6iths, less three. Mr.. Sherman
says: Il know by general reputation thstthe
Democratic majority Of our last Legislature
was bad lot. leave others to furnish
the bill of particulars" The Hon
Jacob A. Kohler, Republican candi-
date for Attorney General, was member
OF the 66th General Assembly, and in daily
contact with the bad lot thus spoken Of.
call upon Mr. Kohler to furnish this bill
of particulars. ask him to state publicly
and in bis capacity of candidate tor At.
torney General which bill passed by the
66th General Assembly he would have ad'
! eissd Judge Foraker to have vetoed, had
Judge Foraker been so fortunate ss to have
been elected Governor in 1888, and possess
ed the veto power take it for granted
that every act of the Seth General As
sembly-this bad lot"-Which Mr.. Koh-
Ter voted for. Mr.. Sherman and Mr..
/ Foraker will not repudiste. ! invite scru-
tiny of the journals of the Senate and the
! House, and an examination Of the acts
/ which we're passed. Let rs know what they
were-those evil measures which this bad
/ lot" passed. Nv own opinion Of the 66th
General Assembly can be briefly stated, Ii
/ is, that indged By the results of the action
upon the statute books, it was one OF the
Wisest, il not the very Eisest, body Of legis-
lators ever convened in Ohio for the making
| of the laws Of our State.
Labor interests
twill be seen from 9 recent number of
the Pittsburgh Labor Tribune what this
| Legislature did for the labor interests of the
/ State, that If we have not secured sll that
we desired in the past two years, We have at
least secured more than We had done in all
| the previous history of legislation in this
/ State. That we have secured 80 much is
! due TO the fact that the Werkingmen sgi-
! tated for and insisted upon such legislation
in Ohio, and We are proud OF the fact that
| the Ohio Miners Association was the first
to set the ball rolling in the right direction.
/ If these are the results of the labors OF
the bad lot in our General Assembly, we
suspect that the Workingmen of other States
} would be glad to have their legislatures
vscciDafed with Ohio lymph. Besides this,
/ however, at its trst session it gave civil
/ rights TO eolored men equal to those pos
sessed BY the whites Perhaps this IN Mr..
/ Sherman's eyes is the bad job Of "bad
lot." The republican party had allowed
thirty years Of Republican power to pass
/ without doing il. Moreover, 1t passed q
} registration law for Cle7elsnd and Cinciu-
/ nati-a severe registration law.
I Prison Reform.
But the good work of this General As
sembly and the moet impoTtsnt, in my
/ opinion, was The work Of prison reform,
/ which ! hope has been left upon such 8
foundation that whoever may be elected
/ Governor of this State, the Legislature will
never disturb it. Irefer Senator Sherman
to bis neighbor General BrinkerhoH, the
mcst distinguished advocate Of prison re-
form in the State and to the Republican
Members of the Board of State Charities,
together with the Republican Secretary
of that Board, as witnesses OF the
good work done in this direction
by the Democratic Legislature
and the Board Of Managers appointed by
me. The prison was left in the hands OF
the De mocratic party, ss one oi the guards
pithly said, with nothing but the walls,
the prisoners and the Vermin," no adequate
supplies of feed or clothing being on hand,
and with both parties in the State pledged
TO the abolition OF contract convict LABOR
The prison has been thoroughly cleansedi
the men properly clolhed, fed and Worked,
the Indictment OF hope has bean added oy
setting apart a small portion Of the wages
of their labor as q reward Tor good
conduct; while punishment hiss been made
more severe for third term prisoners by re-
curing their detention even for life, unless
they reform; cruel puuishments have been
abolished; education has been encouraged
by the establishment of night schools which
are attended by more than 640 prisoners,
and beginning has been made in Mr.
Shermsn's own city OF an intermediate
Penitentiary, which am sure he would be
the last man in Ohio, bad though the
let be that started the scheme, to give up.
That these reforms have cost money Is
true The abolition of contract convict
labor is an experiment hopeful but neces
ssrily costly. To dispense with contract
labor altogether means TO spend at least
one million dollsrs in the necessary build
ings, tools ard ma, cry to do the entire
work Of the prison on State account. There
ere ~
with regard 70 prison labor. First and wors
| Of sn 10 leave the men in idleness Second
ly. and next worst, TO ct men out 10 con
,rsetors Thirdly. and what Is better, Il
adopt What is known as the piece plan o'
which The contractor pays for the prodac
ofths work instead of the work itself. Ih'
advantage of this plan is that it prevents
the CONTRACTOR from becoming a tyraut o
the men in his desire to exact extreme re
suls for bis money. 1t keeps the men under
the sontrol Of the State, and ensures thsi
being treated with humanity. tOlrUhIy, t
have the WORK Of ,he prison done on Stat
account. Tbs, This last IS the best plan ye
proposed lam convinced. hut it will coat |
yary large cum which the State cannot ad
ysr ce without inersSser tsx except D.
irStallnerts from yssR 10 yssr. For TIN
sson the plan is adopted and viii D.
steadily pursued, if my Judgment is follow
ed. of annually sppropria'ing moderat
sum towards procuring the necessary plant
| aud thus iuCIs asiuE the amount OF Sors 4
De done on rhs State account, the residue
beiUg upon tie piece PlSo
state Expenses.
Bat il is sad that the expenses Of tn
Democratic adniuis ration have increased
, Let see Firsr, We reduced the State ts1
, last year one-,enth Of mill. In the mex
! place, the average annual expense OF Gov
Fosters administration for four years, ate
: deducting all extraordinary appropriation
,, of ever kind vas S2,542. .S4i4T3. The an
nual average expenses of my two year;
administration, rejecting the extraordi
. | nary Expenditures caused y Hood rot an
|. the building of the Toledo Lunal
;. Asylum and the like have been s2,5lS 25l
1 9Sf, showing an annual saving under
! Democratic administration Of SIS, S,O9S, 4SI
) This comparison exhibits sill more strikin
results when Gov. Fosters last term is CON
pared with my first term, for the syerag
, ANNUAL expenditures of Gov. Foster Is;
( term, rejecting as before the cost OF 10