INDIANA. 



441 



lost. The building was insured for $25,000, 

 $20,000 of which has been paid. The grounds 

 consist of fifty-seven acres. The trustees have 

 contracted for the construction of a new build- 

 ing for $54,000, exclusive of the cost of clear- 

 ing away the debris, tearing down unsafe walls, 

 and repairing the foundation. 



Penal and Reformatory Institutions. The report 

 of the directors for the State Prison South 

 shows that the income of the prison has not 

 been quite sufficient to meet the current ex- 

 penses. The total disbursements, including 

 officers' salaries and $4,307.61 expended for 

 repairs for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 1886, 

 were $82,255.45 ; receipts and earnings, $79,- 

 590.12, showing excess of disbursements over 

 receipts, $2,665.33. The directors say that the 

 buildings are old and not convenient for manu- 

 facturing. 



The reports of the State Prison North for 

 the past two fiscal years show the prison to 

 have been self-sustaining. For the fiscal year 

 ending Oct. 31, 1885, the receipts and earn- 

 ings were $103,221.67. The total disburse- 

 ments, including repairs, officers' salaries, and 

 $26,657.25 expended for improvements, were 

 $99,662.15. The excess of receipts over all ex- 

 penditures was $3,559.52. The monthly aver- 

 age number of prisoners was 702, number of 

 deaths 8, and number of prisoners, Oct. 31, 



1885, 703. For the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 



1886, the receipts and earnings were $111,- 

 430.10. The total disbursements, including 

 repairs, addition to library, and officers' sala- 

 ries, were $96,712.37. The receipts over ex- 

 penditures $14,717.73, showing an increase of 

 receipts over previous year of $8,208.43, and a 

 decrease in expenditures of $2,950.15, and an 

 increase in net earnings over previous year of 

 $11,158.58. 



The report of the Reformatory for "Women 

 and Girls for 1886 shows that there were in 

 the penal department 54, in the reformatory 

 department 129. Average number for the year, 

 181. The expenditure for maintenance and 

 repairs was $30,000. The net earnings of the 

 institution for the year were $758.81, leaving 

 as the net cost of the institution for the year, 

 $29,241.19. 



The appropriation last year for the mainte- 

 nance of the Indiana Reform School for boys 

 was $60,000. The trustees ask an additional 

 appropriation of $5,000 on account of needed 

 improvements. 



Militia. On this subject the Governor, in his 

 message to the Legislature of 1887, says : " In- 

 diana has never made an appropriation for the 

 support of her militia, and in that respect 

 stands alone among her sister States. In con- 

 sequence of this, old companies are constantly 

 disbanding and new companies being organ- 

 ized. The result is, that the State has but a 

 very small force of trained and disciplined 

 troops. The regiments in several instances 

 have attempted to raise means for their support 

 by holding encampments and charging an ad- 



mission fee, which has rarely proved a financial 

 success, and in several cases has brought finan- 

 cial disaster upon the regiment." 



Township Trnstees. In the Governor's mes- 

 sage the recent fraudulent transactions of town- 

 ship trustees are mentioned, and on this sub- 

 ject he says : 



"The duties of township trustee, township 

 treasurer, and township clerk being combined 

 in one officer, and thereby placing the entire 

 management of township business in his hands, 

 without any check upon the transaction of his 

 business, the accomplishment of fraud is made 

 more easy and less liable to detection. The 

 fact that such fraudulent transactions did not 

 occur in those States that have adhered to the 

 old system of three trustees, a treasurer, and a 

 clerk, will be accepted as a better system than 

 the combining of their duties in a single officer." 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 met at Indianapolis on August 11, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket: For Lieutenant- 

 Governor, John C. Nelson ; Secretary of State, 

 Robert \V. Miers; Auditor of State, Charles 

 A. Munson; Treasurer of State, Thomas B. 

 Byrnes; Attorney-General, Hugh D. McMul- 

 len ; Judge of the Supreme Court, John R. 

 Coffroth ; Clerk of the Supreme Court, Martin 

 T. Krueger ; Superintendent of Public Instruc- 

 tion, Alexander M. Sweeney. 



The following are the important portions of 

 the platform : 



Resolved, That taxation of the people for other pur- 

 poses than raising revenue for the expenses of the 

 Government, economically administered, is robbery 

 under the forms of law. We are, therefore, in favor 

 of a reduction of the present unjust tariff to a revenue 

 basis. 



Resolved, That the ownership of real estate in this 

 country by persons not citizens of the United States 

 is injurious to true American interests, and may he 

 attended with many evil consequences. We there- 

 fore heartily approve the act of the last General As- 

 sembly in prohibiting the ownership of real estate 

 in Indiana by aliens, and thereby repealing the act 

 allowing aliens to hold and convey real estate, passed 

 by a Eepublican Legislature and approved by a Ee- 

 publican Governor. And we specially approve of 

 such legislation by Congress as shall effectively pro- 

 tect the public lands from such aliens' entry and own- 

 ership, so that the same may, as far as possible, be re- 

 served for our citizens. 



Eesolved, f That we favor a financial policy in which 

 gold and silver and paper money readily convertible 

 into coin, including the volume of United States notes 

 now provided for by law, shall be the circulating me- 

 dium. We insist that the surplus in th e national treas - 

 ury shall be promptly applied to the payment of the 

 national public debt, and that taxation shall be re- 

 duced, to the end that large accumulations in the 

 treasury, beyond the proper necessities of the public 

 service, shall not occur. 



Resolved, That the Democratic party of Indiana is 

 now, as it has always been, opposed in principle to all 

 sumptuary laws and prohibitory legislation, but it is 

 in favor of just and proper measures for regulating the 

 traffic in spirituous and intoxicating liquors under the 

 license system, designed to repress the evils of in- 

 temperance, and it favors a reasonable increase of the 

 license-tax, discriminating between malt liquors and 

 wines and distilled spirits, so as to place the highest 

 license on distilled spirits ; the proceeds of such tax 

 to be applied to the support of common schools. 



