438 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Prisons. The number of convicts at the 

 State Prison on Oct. 1, 1891, was 615 ; during 

 the year following 215 convicts were received 

 and 174 discharged, leaving 656 remaining on 

 Sept. 30, 1892. The net cost of supporting the 

 prison during the year was $162,014.19, an in- 

 crease of $13,526.93 over the previous year. The 

 result of employing the prisoners on industries 

 upon the State account was a loss of $8,724.82 

 for the year, as against a profit of $10,079.65 for 



1891. The total cost of the institution to the 

 State for the year was therefore $170,739.05. At 

 the State Reformatory at Concord there were 

 812 prisoners on Oct. 1, 1891, 811 were received 

 during the year ensuing, and 736 were dis- 

 charged, leaving 887 remaining on Sept. 30, 1892. 

 The current expenses of the institution were 

 $171.275.56, from which should be deducted 

 $20,971.33, the profit made upon the labor of 

 prisoners, leaving $150,304.23 as the net cost for 

 the year. The Reformatory Prison for Women 

 contained 248 inmates on Oct. 1, 1891, 267 were 

 received during the year following, and 223 dis- 

 charged, leaving 292 remaining on Sept. 30, 



1892. The expenditures for the year were $69,- 

 656.07, and the receipts from labor of prisoners 

 and other sources $13,635.11, making the net 

 cost of the reformatory $56,020.96. 



In all the penal institutions of the State, in- 

 cluding county prisons and houses of correction, 

 there were 6,068 prisoners on Oct. 1, 1891 ; 26,- 

 256 prisoners were committed during the year 

 following; and 25,916 discharged, leaving 6,408 

 remaining on Sept. 30, 1892. 



Militia. The maximum strength of the mili- 

 tia allowed by law is 448 officers and 6,007 men. 

 Of this total, there are now on the rolls 412 offi- 

 cers and 5,487 enlisted men. The cost of sup- 

 porting the militia for the year was $163,372.85. 



Political. A State convention of the Prohi- 

 bition party met at Worcester on June 2, and 

 nominated "Walcott Hamlin for Governor. Ed- 

 ward Kendall for Lieutenant-Governor, Samuel 

 B. Shapleigh for Secretary of State, W. D. 

 Farnham for Treasurer, Alonzo H. Evans for 

 Auditor, and Robert P. Raymond for Attorney- 

 General. In addition to the usual resolutions 

 upon the liquor traffic, the platform contains 

 the following : 



We believe the perpetuation of our free American 

 institutions depends largely upon the perpetuation of 

 our free public-school system. We denounce all at- 

 tacks on our public schools, from whatever source, as 

 emanating from a spirit un-American, unpatriotic, 

 and hostile to our institutions and our liberties. W e 

 are unalterably opposed to the appropriation of a 

 single dollar from the public treasury for the support 

 of any sectarian schools or other sectarian institutions. 



The welfare of our country demands greater re- 

 striction upon foreign immigration. We believe it 

 inconsistent to tax goods for the protection of our 

 laborers from the competition of labor abroad, and 

 then to allow this labor free entrance to compete with 

 us at home. We also believe that the priceless boon 

 of American citizenship should be more carefully be- 

 stowed on those of foreign birth than heretofore. 



The Republicans met in State convention on 

 Sept. 14 at Boston, and nominated Lieut.-Gov. 

 William H. Haile for Governor, and Roger Wol- 

 cott for Lieutenant-Governor. Secretary of 

 State Olin, Treasurer Harden, Auditor Kimball, 

 and Attorney-General Pillsbury were renomi- 



nated. The platform includes the following 

 declarations : 



We oppose the inflation of the currency, either 

 by the use of inconvertible paper money or the free 

 coinage of silver. We take the vote of 3 to 1 by 

 the Democrats in the last Congress in favor of free 

 coinage to be an indication of their party policy, and 

 we believe that policy to be a menace to stability 

 and honesty in national finance. We demand a na- 

 tional currency and a national bankruptcy law. We 

 believe a paper dollar should be as good, an honest 

 debt as collectable, a loan as safe in Alabama us in 

 Massachusetts and throughout the Union. We be- 

 lieve the Democratic policy, as announced in the na- 

 tional party platform, of restoring State bank curren- 

 cy, from which we suffered before the war, and which 

 caused the contents of a man's pocketbook to change 

 in value every time he crossed a State line, to be ab- 

 surd and dangerous. We believe in the extension 

 and maintenance of the civil-service law, and com- 

 mend the work of the commission appointed by Presi- 

 dent Harrison in enforcing that law without fear or 

 favor. We believe in a protective tariff, in levying 

 customs duties not only for revenue but for the encour- 

 agement of American industries, and the protection 

 of American wages. We believe the present prosper- 

 ity of the nation is largely due to the joint operation 

 of the system of protection and reciprocity. To fur- 

 ther complete the system, to better protect the wage 

 earners, and preserve the quality of American citizen- 

 ship, we demand that legal barriers be raised against 

 indiscriminate immigration. We believe in the 

 sanctity of individual franchise ; that the hand that 

 holds a legal ballot, whether that hand be black or 

 white, is entitled to all the protection which the law 

 of the nation or the State can afford. 



In the State we believe in free public schools, free 

 public libraries, and good public roads. That inas- 

 much as the State is benefited over arid above the 

 advantage accruing to particular municipalities by the 

 establishment and maintenance of these institutions, 

 the assistance of the Commonwealth should be ex- 

 tended to those towns and communities unable to 

 maintain them without burdensome local taxation. 

 We approve existing laws to regulate and repress the 

 legislative lobby, and to insure the conviction and 

 punishment of those who attempt to corrupt the peo- 

 ple's representatives ; but let us not forget that the 

 best guarantee against the influence of the lobby is to 

 be found in the high character of the men sent to the 

 Legislature. We believe in the maintenance of law 

 and order. We believe in liberal appropriations for 

 the State militia. We believe in the advancement of 

 temperance and the enactment and enforcement of 

 practical temperance legislation. 



The Democratic State Convention, held at 

 Boston on Sept. 27, renorninated Gov. Russell, 

 and completed the ticket by nominating for Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, James B* Carroll ; for Secretary 

 of State, Charles S. Hamlin ; for Treasurer, 

 James S. Grinnell ; for Auditor, Irving B. 

 Sayles; and for Attorney-General. Charles S. 

 Lillery. The following is 'a part of the platform 

 adopted : 



We heartily indorse the tariff plank of the national 

 Democratic platform. Tariff taxation, like all other 

 taxation, should be levied for public purposes only. 

 We demand for the true development of our great 

 industries that raw material shall be admitted free of 

 duty, and we particularly emphasize the necessity of 

 free wool, coal, iron, lumber, and all drugs, dyes, and 

 chemicals used in our manufacturing enterprises. 



We believe that public office is a public trust, 

 and we urge the extension of the civil-service rules* 

 either by executive' action or by legislation, so that 

 the people's employees whose duties are not affected by 

 a change of political policy can be displaced for 

 cause only and not for political opinion. 



