404 



INDIANA. 



required to qualify any person to vote therein. 

 The penalty provided for cases of false registra- 

 tion, or fraudulent personation of registered 

 voters, is imprisonment in the State prison for 

 not less than one year for each and every 

 offence. The provisions relating to the mode 

 of forming and correcting the lists of qualified 

 voters and of inspecting and counting the votes 

 are very stringent. The concluding sections 

 of the law are in the following words : 



SEC. 23. All ballots, which may be cast at any elec- 

 tion hereafter held in this State, shall be written or 

 printed on plain white paper, without any distinguish- 

 ing marks or embellishments thereon, except the 

 name of the candidates and the office for whicn they 

 are voted for, and inspectors of election shall refuse 

 all ballots offered of any other description, provided 

 nothing herein shall disqualify the voter from writ- 

 ing his own name on the back thereof. 



SEC. 24. That whereas frauds have been practised 

 upon the ballot-box to prevent the same, and to 

 secure to the people of this State a fair expression 

 of their wishes at all elections, at the earliest prac- 

 ticable time an emergency is hereby declared to 

 exist, and this act is declared to be in force from and 

 after its passage. 



A hill which elicited a good deal of discus- 

 sion, and was finally passed into a law against 

 a strong opposition, provides for the protection 

 and indemnity of all officers and soldiers of the 

 United States and soldiers of the Indiana 

 Legion, for acts done "in the military service 

 of the United States, and in the military service 

 of the State, and in enforcing the law and pre- 

 serving the peace of the country." The lead- 

 ing provisions of this law are as follows : 



SEC. 2. That in all suits and actions, civil or crim- 

 inal, against individuals, arising out of the acts done 

 by officers or soldiers of the United States, or of the 

 militia of the State of Indiana, in the preservation of 

 order and the suppression of the late rebellion, or in 

 making any arrest, taking or entering upon any 

 property, or in holding or detaining any person or 

 property j it shall be a full defence to prove that the 

 acts done or omitted, and for which suit is brought, 

 were done or omitted under orders either written or 

 oral from any military superior. 



SEC. 5. In all actions for libel or slander, for im- 

 puting the crime of treason to the plaintiff, during 

 the late rebellion, it shall be a full defence to prove 

 that the party complaining was a member of, or affil- 

 iated witn, any society or organization, other than as 

 a political party, in sympathy with the rebellion ; 

 and in any case where, for technical reasons, a 

 full defence cannot be made according to the pro- 

 visions of this act. the measure of damages, in case 

 of recovery, shall be five dollars, and no more, with- 

 out costs. 



It is further provided that in the " suits and 

 actions " alluded to in the first of the sections 

 given above, when a full defence cannot he 

 made, the measure of damages in case of re- 

 covery shall he five dollars and no more, with- 

 out costs ; and the Governor is authorized, on 

 written application of the party sued or prose- 

 cuted, to employ at the expense of the State 

 competent counsel to conduct the defence. 



Besides an act passed at this session of the 

 Legislature making specific appropriations for 

 the support of the benevolent institutions of the 

 State, and several acts looking to the encourage- 



ment of schools and education, provision was 

 made for the establishment of three new insti- 

 tutions for benevolent and educational objects. 

 First was an act to establish a Soldiers' Home, 

 the corner-stone of which was laid on the 4th of 

 July at Knightstown. Next was an act mak- 

 ing the necessary appropriation for the erection 

 of the State Normal School, to be located at 

 Terre Haute. The erection of suitable build- 

 ings was commenced early in the summer and 

 the corner-stone was laid in August with ap- 

 propriate ceremonies. This institution is de- 

 signed to be one of the foremost of the kind in 

 the West. The estimated cost is $150,000, and 

 it will be completed during the coming year. 

 The Legislature also provided for the establish- 

 ment of a House of Eefuge for the correction 

 and reformation of juvenile offenders. Chil- 

 dren under eighteen years of age may be sen- 

 tenced, upon regular trial, to this house instead 

 of being sent to the penitentiary or county 

 jail. According to the plan adopted by the 

 commissioners to whose management the in- 

 stitution has been intrusted, it will partake 

 more of the character of an industrial reform 

 school than of a juvenile prison. In case of 

 children sentenced thither by judicial decision, 

 the expense for care and keeping is borne, one 

 half by the State, and the other half by the 

 county from which the child is sent. When 

 sent by the parents or guardians, such parent 

 or guardian, if able, must bear the expense. 

 This institution has been located near Plain- 

 field, in Hendricks County, and was ready for 

 the reception of inmates on the 1st of January, 

 1868. 



The Legislature adjourned on the llth of 

 March, having been in session upward of sixty 

 days ; $1,500,000 in money had been appro- 

 priated by law for general and specific purposes 

 during' this time. The question of locating the 

 Agricultural College and of disposing of the 

 Government land which had been granted for 

 its benefit was brought up and discussed, but 

 not disposed of. 



The financial condition of the State on the 

 31st of October, the close of the fiscal year, is 

 exhibited in the following items taken from 

 the report of the Auditor of the State : 



Receipts. 



Eevenue taxes for general State pur- 

 poses $1,243,013 75 



School tax 811,632 19 



Sinking-fund tax 915,033 39 



Library tax 46,041 15 



Total $3,015,720 48 



Expenditures, 



Ordinary expenditures $441,850 50 



Public Institutions the Deaf and 



Dumb, Blind and Lunatic Asylums. 



State Prisons, House of Eefuge, and 



Soldiers' Home _ 632,186 86 



Public indebtedness redemption of 



stock, payment of interest, etc 1,671,904 01 



Military expenses 66,193 07 



School Fund distribution to the 



counties 1,289,097 00 



