Year: 1877

|areport may he made on the first of next De-
||tcber, at which time, 10y the proposed addi
tional acr, the Board will be abolished, and
the work, in whatever form it may then be,
delivered to the Attorney General This, OF
course, is proposed in the expectation that the
Governor will convene this General Assembly
to finally act on this work. Is this, however,
one of the extraordinary occasions" contem
plated by the Constitution, when it is proper
to adopt such course 1t seems to me not;
and, therefore, If the General Assembly shall
deem it proper to meet in the fall for this pur.
pose, it will be necessary to adjourn to q day
certain. ,-l+- f-.,-t = 4.-- r


But is serious question whether it will he
the better course to adopt this supplementary
legislation. 1t is quite apparent that the
work can not be prepared and printed during
this year; and, if not printed, certainly can NOT
be considered by the extra session contem-
plated If completed and delivered to the
Attorney General on the 1st of October, more
than half of it would be in manuscript, and
the notes of decisions. partly prepared, and
the index, would nit be completed. The
work is less likely TO be consistent, code
with six than with three members, and Meth
ing will be saved in the way of expenses by
the addition. The New York Commission
has already been in session between seven and
eight years, and the commission to codify the
acts of Congress was in existence more than
seven years. If the present board viii be
able, as | believe it will, to complete the en-
tire work, in the form of the titles already
furnished, in less than half the time already
occupied by the New York Commission, there
can be no just ground of complaint at the
delay.


Attention is called to the facts stated in the
annual message Of my predecessor, in regard
TO the overcrowded condition of the Peniten-
tiary, and of the unsafe and unwholesome
character of some of the county jsils.


In connection with this subject, the message
recommends that intermediate prisons, or
warehouses, should be provided withou de-
lay for the confinement of the younger class
of prisoners, and those especially who are pun
ished for a first offense, and whose reforma-
tion may be reasonably hoped for. AS work.
houses, they should also be adapted TO the i'm
prisonment of able bodied vagrants, who live
habitually by beggary, and are becoming a
dangerous element, not only in cities, but also
in the agricultural districts of the State. The
courts should have authority to protect the
public from this class of offenders by sending
them to place where they can and will be
compelled to earn their living"


District work houses, or class of prisons
intermediate between the reformatory and
penal institutions of tie State, seem to be an
urgent demand. Such prisons under State
control, judiciously located, organized with a
view to reformatory discipline, the introduc
ton of proper industries, and economical
management, would form new but import
ant link in the prison system of our State, re-
lieving the Penitentiary of its plethora OF
prisoners, reducing county iails to their proper
use as houses of detention for persons held
for trial or detained as witnesses, sbssolving
the people of the State from great burden OF
taxation now paid as court and Jail fees, and
affording, possibly, the best, if not the only,
practical solution relating to formidable
and dangerous element of society known as
tramps.


| would also call your attention to the i'm.
portance of bill for the reorganization of a
State militia The Adjutant General has with
great care compiled such bill. In the time
of profound peace, legislation on military af.
fairs may appear unnecessary, but with the
experience of last summer before US, when
riot, with its sequences Of blood and destrue-
tion of property, was impending in some OF
the mining districts, nothing but the presence
of the State militia avertedthe outbreak. Tc
meet with such exigencies we need well or
ganized and disciplined militia.


To the Senate, with which l have been Off
cially connected as presiding officer, I take
this occasion to offer my grateful thanks fol
the kindness and courtesy which as a body il
has always shown me, in assisting me in the
discharge of my duties; and to the Senators
and officers of the Senate, and to the Speaker
and members and officers of the House o.
Representatives, individually and without ex
ception, beg to say that 1 shall cherish il
memory the personal friendship which they
have manifested for me outside of my oficia
connection with them.


THos L. You've.