Carson City daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1907-1930, 1915-01-19
Governors Message
Continued from second pagel

40 - 40 IN u
are not designed with any idea o
sanitation, and despite the best eff
forts of the prison management
proper classification is impossible.
The Warden in his report, to which
you are referred, calls attention tC
the immediate demand for addition.
al cell room, | am personally of the
I opinion hat the State is onted
with a crying need for a modern
prison, either at the present site OF
preferably at the Prison Farm which
ultimately should employ a large
percentage OF Our COnvlcts and it is
my belief that no patchwork
additions to. present plant are to be
recommended, and that whatever is
done now must be designed t. dove
tail into the general scheme OF such
a modern penitentiary as the State
| must ultimately construct.
The large irregular quarry-yard OF
the present plant is difficult and ex-
p~ensive to guard as compared with
the cost Of guarding a rectangular
wall-enclosed yard, and the total alb
absence Of scientific design in the
prison buildings results in the ne
cessary employment of a larger i'll
side force than is usual in such in
situations. In fact, taking the Utah
State Prison "a model institution as
a basis of comparison, a modern
penitentiary can be conducted at a
saving in guard expense along which
will amount annually to a sum eNu1-
valent to E per cent interest on $780,
900.
| do not advocate a large approp-
ration for new construction at this
time. but it my belief that a definite
building program should be adopted,
looking to the ultimate construction
Of a proper ~penitentiary, and that our
%convlcts not otherwise employed
should be put to work at once in get
ting out and preparing the stone he
cessary for the new structure. A
nominal appropriation for supervis-
ion will thus enable the State to keep
its convicts employed beneticially on
this work for the neNt two years.
Attention is called to that portion
OF the Warden's report which refers
TO road work in Nevada may have
resulted in part from poor manage
ment, the cost item alone is not the
only argument against the system as
applied to Nevada conditions. We
have only a limited number of con
viCtS who could be worked a strong
guard ON public highways where they
are subjected to unusual temptations
To escape. We have thousands of
miles OF road needing attention in
this state and a proper distribution
OF the benefits growing out of the
OF the prison road-gang between
communities entitled to enjoy them
appears to me a hopeless task, A
trans-state highway, constructed by
prison labor at the same rate and
coast as the highways already con-
structed iii this manner would take
about one hundred and twenty years
complete and would cost upward
OF three and one-half million dollars.
it is not contended that the work
actually proceed on such a
project as it has proceeded on the
experimental roads thus far con-
structed, but the tlsures given are
illuminating.
The Prison Farm is rapidly being
brought to a condition where it will
contribute largely to the support OF
the institution. Experimentation
with various crops to discover the
type of culture which will en-
ploy the most men, while producing
the greatest commercial yield, should
be provided for. The great amount
hard labor at the disposal Of the
State on this farm should make it
to utilize some intensive
form OF cultivation which would
bring h~andsomes returns.
The State Engineer and Water Law
Nevada in 1908 enacted an irriga-
code providing for the expedi-
determination Of the priorities
and extents of the various rights to ,
the use OF the waters from her nat
ural sources. The original law, which
was IN harmony with the principles ,
Of water appropriation and regula-
ton adopted by the State at the out
set, was found, after several years
to be too general M its
provisions and perhaps subject to
constitutional attack. The Twenty
fifth and T~wenty-sixth Sessions Of
your honorable bodies directed their
attentions to the passage OF meas
ures designed to correct the defects
of the old law. In 1913 a comprehen-
sive water law was placed upon the
statutes, which was during the past
year brought into the Supreme Court
by the action OF water users dissatis-
ned with its operation. While no
two Of the Supreme Justices appear
to have taken precisely the same
view of the constitutionality OF the
Act, it is clearly the opinion of one
member OF the court that the law
clegates unconstitutional power to
the State Engineer, while a second
Justice holds that such an a%diudica-
ton as the law provides has no
linality.
| consider the law to be unsatis-
factory in its present shape, and will
submit later definite recomenda-
TONS growing out of investigations
now under way for amendments to
the present law, or for a new water
law calculated to cure the defects in
the code now on the statutes.
Every day that the work of ad-
Indicating our water rights is delay
ed increases the difficulty of the
problem. and, if we are at all co.'s
cerned with the agricultural develop
Inent OF our State, we should adj
dress ourselves whole ~heartedly to
the correction of the evils which are
acting as an effective bar to genuine
prOoreCc in the economical utilization