GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE.
Senators and Representatives:
For the first time in the history of our State government it becomes the duty of the acting Executive of the State, to announce the death of his predecessor in office, before the time for which he was elected had expired. On the third day of October, 1860, at St. Paul, Minnesota, Ashbel P. Willard departed this life. His remains were brought back to our State by his widow, accompanied by the Governor of Minnesota, the Hon. Henry M. Rice, one of her Senators in Congress, and by other citizens. For their kindness in thus attending the remains of our deceased Governor to the Capital of our State, I desire, for the people of the State, as well as for myself, to extend to them our heartfelt thanks. This sad occurrence has devolved upon me, by virtue of the Constitution of our State, the duties of the Executive office for the period for which the late Governor Willard was elected.
During the time that I have been acting as the Executive of the State, there has been no question presented to me, save one, that can by any possibility, affect the pecuniary interests of Indiana. The semi-annual interest on our public debt for January, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, was maturing without the means in the State Treasury to meet it. There was no mode of liquidating that interest except by borrowing-money. And believing that the citizens of Indiana desired that her obligations should be kept, the Auditor and Treasurer of State, together with myself, taking as our authority an act of the General Assembly prescribing the duties of Governor, approved May 27, 1852, made a loan of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars from Messrs. Wmslow, Lanier & Co., of the city of New York, giving our obligations to pay the same in May next out of the revenue for the year 1860. It is a matter much to be regretted that Indiana is in such a condition that she is compelled to go into the market to borrow money for any purpose whatever. But it is due to truth to state that this necessity would not have existed but for the failure of the Senate of Indiana to pass a revenue bill for the years 1857-8.
For the action of the officers of the State Government, and for the condition of the State Treasury since the last meeting of the Legislature, I respectfully refer you to the able and full report of the Auditor of State.
The management and prosperity of our benevolent institutions for the last two years have been most satisfactory, conducted as they have been by able and efficient officers. Their several reports are herewith submitted, and I most cheerfully second the recommendations therein made in reference to legislative action.
The report of the Directors of the State Prison page: 18[View Page 18] at Jeffersonville, shows that the prison is indebted between eight and ten thousand dollars, without present means of payment. This indebtedness was caused by the failure of the lessees of the convict labor to pay the State the amount due for such labor. The most of the money thus due the State is believed to be amply secured-but the time of its payment is uncertain. This failure to meet the just demands of the State by these lessees has been caused by the financial crisis which has existed for the last" few months, therefore recommend that the Legislature make an appropriation to meet the indebtedness of the State in connection with this institution.
The law fixing the qualification of voters, and for the protection of the ballot-box against fraud is defective. Our present law does not insure a fair and honest expression of public sentiment At our elections on very many occasions within the last few years, in consequence of this defect in the laws, citizens of one county have, on the day previous to the election, emigrated to another county expressly to control the election.
Our Government rests upon the action and will of the majority of her citizens, and that being the case, it is important that by provisions of law we may be assured that public sentiment shall have a fair expression through the ballot-box and, without this is secured, we can not reasonably hope that minorities will long submit. Every citizen of our State, therefore; without regard to party, is interested in having an efficient and effective law guarding this mode of expressing public sentiment. I therefore respectfully recommend the passage of a law inflicting heavy penalties upon persons voting illegally, and also upon officers of the election who refuse a legal vote, or who knowingly receive an illegal one, and fixing the residence in the county necessary to entitle one to vote, at a period that will make it unprofitable for bad men to change their residence for voting purposes alone. Had I the power of fixing the penalty for a violation of the election law of our State, it never would be below that of imprisonment in the State Prison. That penalty would deter bad men, and do much to preserve the purity of the ballot-box.
The commercial crisis which we are now undergoing, the depreciated condition of the securities upon which our free bank circulation is based, and the consequent depreciation of our currency warn us that in order to promote the financial interests of our State-to prevent loss arising from the receiving of paper money, so liable to depreciate while in the vaults of the Treasury, we should provide by law a sub-treasury system. The report of the commissioners appointed by the last Legislature to examine into the debts due the State suggests many reasons for the passage of this law. During the last ten years the State has suffered to the amount of thousands of dollars by the depreciation of the currency while in the hands of the State and county officers by the bankruptcy of persons who have become debtors to the State for money borrowed out of her vaults; by the suspension of banks in which her revenues were deposited for safety; by the imprudence and improvidence of her officers, and their neglect or failure to discharge the duties imposed upon them by law.
And to guard against a recurrence of those losses; to give that feeling of security to the citizen that the taxes he has paid are safely kept and prudently disbursed, it has now become absolutely necessary that a rigid law should be passed embodying these provisions: First, the collection of ; the debts due the State in gold and silver; Secondly, the erection of a suitable building, with secure vaults, for the preservation of the public money; and, thirdly, placing those officers having control of the public money under such strict guards that the loaning or disbursing of any of it, except in the manner provided by law, should constitute a felony, and render them liable to imprisonment in the State Prison.
It is manifestly unjust to require an officer to execute bond to the State, in a heavy penalty, for the secure keeping of the revenues of the State, when no provision is made specifying the kind of money he shall receive, and no suitable place provided in which it shall be kept. The necessity is great, therefore, of providing for the erection of a building suitable for the purpose, with vaults sufficiently strong to guard the public records and revenues from accident and crime; and remembering the success that has attended the sub-treasury system in some of our sister States, and in the Federal Government, I trust that you will give this matter your early and favorable attention.
At the last May term of the Supreme Court in the case of Igoe vs. the State of Indiana, the law approved February 10, 1855, regulating the business of foreign insurance companies, was declared to be unconstitutional.
By reference to the Auditor's books, I have learned that while the law was enforced, nineteen foreign insurance companies complied with its provisions by filing their semi-annual statements, and afterward making necessary deposits of funds or securities. These deposits were held in trust by the Auditor for the policy holders of the companies making them. When the law was declared unconstitutional these deposits were withdrawn, and we are left without any law regulating this important and growing branch of commercial business. It is now questionable whether there is a law authorizing the service of process on the agents of foreign insurance companies in suits growing out of contracts made by them in this State. That the magnitude of this branch of business may be seen, I learn from a gentleman conversant with insurance in this State, that there is paid annually by policy holders for insurance n foreign companies not less than $250,000, and hat the amount covered by insurance in those companies is about $20,000,000.
I, therefore, recommend the passage of a law which will in the first place give to the policy holder perfect security, and in the second, foster and encourage bona fide insurance companies organized by our own citizens under the laws of the State; without such stringency, however, in its provisions, as to drive from our State good and solvent foreign companies, thereby cutting off healthy competition.
In the progress of our State in population it has been found necessary to erect two prisons,which contain about five hundred convicts, and of
