The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-08
II VIII Contain Five Hundred Pages,
and VIII BE illustrated with
Half Tone Portraits.
GREAT MASS OF INFORMATION
INTERESTING FACTS COMPILED BY
STATE LIBRARIAN HENRY.
How Institution for the Education of
the Blind Was Started-DimcuIt to
Collect Material.

1HE legislative and State manual
of Indiana, the second one to be
issued by authority of the State.
I4I1GSNl is about to be put to press. w.
- L. Henry, state librarian, under
the direction of the last Legislature, has
been at work on the manual for sew
eral months, and the work of collecting
and compiling facts is practically complete.
The manual will be a volume of 500 pages,
illustrated with half-tone portraits of the
elective State officers and the members
Of both houses of the Legislature, with
short biographical sketch of each. In addi-
ton, the manual will give the names of
ali senators and representatives, who ever
served in the State Legislature, arranged
in alphabetical order and indicating the ses-
sions in which each served. The names of
all men who have ever served as speaker of
the House appear in blackface type About
$3.50 men have served in the House since the
admission of the State and about one-third
of that number have been members of the
Senate. An official directory of the State
will be a feature of the manual including
all deputies and clerks, and the salary of
each person connected with the government
is set out. The rules for the government
of the House and Senate, an essential fea-
ture of every State manual, are prominent
features of this book.
STATE PLATFORMS.
The full text of all the, political plat
forms represented on the last State ticket
will be published. An attractive feature is
a brief history of all the educational, penal
and reformatory institutions of the State,
illustrated by cuts of the buildings. The
r;ay n ioVlf foc 70
get information of these institutions of the
kind wanted, from the fact that no history
of this sort had ever before been attempt
ed in Indiana. An interesting fact con-
nected with the selection of a site for the
Northern Prison is related in the manual.
In the sixties the Governor of Indiana
named committee to locate q site for a
State prison. The commission visited a num-
Der of cities in the northern part of Indiana
and finally selected Fort Wayne as being
convenient to building material and trans
portation. The Governor, however, with
held his approval of the commissions re-
port. No reason has ever been given for
his failure to approve the report, but the
fact remains that he never did and after
few months the commission withdrew the
report and substituted Michigan City for
Fort Wayne as the site of the prison. The
Governor at once approved the report and
land was purchased just outside the city
limits at $45 an acre. A dismantled pork
house was temporarily fitted up for prison,
and number of prisoners were moved from
Jacksonville and set to work preparing
the land and making other preparations for
the construction of the prison.
SELECTED THE PRISONERS.
1.-The warden of the Jacksonville prison."
says the manual in recounting this incident,
Gin the absence of any law, selected the
particular prisoners to send to Michigan
City and of course selected those of least
service to him on his contracts. The re-
suit was that the least efficient labor from
Jacksonville was sent to the Northern
Prison
The Institution for the Deaf is described
as being "mie and half east of Indian
apols" The Indiana school was the sew
enth State institution for the education of
the deaf in the United States. At the time
the Legislature bought land here for the
school the town of Bloomington was after
the institution and stood willing to pledge
bonus in land and cash amounting to
nearly $4,000 and cent on each 500 worth of
property in the county. This generous
offer was not accepted. and Indianapolis