EXCUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
INDIANAPOLIS,
Ind., March 8, 1881.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
The Constitution provides that the Governor shall, from time to time, give to the General Assembly information touching the condition of the State, and recommend such measures as he shall judge to be expedient. My official duties since my inauguration, during the late regular session, have been so onerous and your
page: 12[View Page 12]own opportunities to acquire a knowledge of the condition of the State through your Investigating Committees and through other means have been so considerable, that I do not regard myself as being possessed of any important information relating to the condition of the State of which you are not in possession also. Some of the measures which I had the honor to recommend to you in my inaugural address have been adopted. An adoption of the others has been proposed in pending bills, and they are now in a condition to be considered by you. I renew my recommendation of these pending measures. I specially urge the passage of the bill, with whatever change or additions may be deemed expedient, providing for ascertaining the best way of reclaiming the vast body of lands, the natural means for the drainage of which is through the Kankakee River. The important bill concerning taxation ought also to receive your early attention, so that there may be no failure to pass the clauses providing for taxing the receipts of Teleagraph, Telephone, Express and Fast Freight Companies, etc, instead of taxing merely their visible property.
The exigency which has rendered it necessary for me to call you together in special session could not well have been avoided. The extraordinary labor imposed upon you by your undertaking critically to consider the vast body of legislation proposed to you for adoption by the Commission appointed by the act of 1879 to compile and revise existing statutes has required you to occupy much time in the Committee Room and upon the floor in that work, which otherwise would have been spent in considering ordinary legislation.
Many important changes of existing law have been proposed by th Commission. It is proper that these shall receive careful attention, in order that they may, so far as they shall be adopted, not represent what is deemed best by the Commission merely, but reflect the deliberative judgment of each House. In the progress of the further consideration of these proposed enactments, amendments will doubtless from time to time be found to be necessary. I venture to suggest, however, with the most respectful deference, that hasty amendments will be not less likely to work harm than a too inattentive consideration of the enactments proposed. Even the Commissioners will not always be able to perceive at the moment their entire scope and effect, nor how far they may introduce inconsistencies and ambiguity, which will leave the meaning of the law uncertain until it shall be determined by the Supreme Court. There is a subject which at first view may be deemed of little comparative importance to which I wish to invite your serious attention. In referring in bills to the title of acts meant to be amended there have been frequent instances during the regular session in whch these titles have been recited incorrectly, and at some stages of not a few bills passages or words have been changed, the effect of which has been in some cases to alter or to obscure the sense, and in others will be to convey the idea to uninformed readers that the measure has been imperfectly considered. Such faults in laws are ever a fruitful source of litigation and of consequent expense. The way of avoiding them is easy, and is familiar to such of your members as have had previous experience in legislative bodies. It is earnestly hoped that a diligent effort will be made to finish the work which you have in hand within less than forty days, allowed by the Constitution for a special session, and that a constant desire will be felt to restrain expenses where it is not obviously proper. While not withholding appropriations where they may be necessary from the public welfare, it should be your constant effort to make the burden of taxation as light as it can be made, consistently with a wise administrationof the affairs of the State.
ALBERT G. PORTER, Governor.
