ARKANSAS. 



receipts of all funds in the State treasury, in- 

 cluding the balances of Oct. 1, 1890, were $8.589,- 

 934.76; the total disbursements were $6,354,- 

 133.27, and the total balances on Oct. 1, 1892, 

 $2,235,801.49. The bonded State debt on Oct. 

 1 1892, as reported by the Auditor, consisted of 

 principal, $1,931,100; overdue interest, $2,978,- 

 332.50 ; total, $4,909,432.50. 



After the discovery, in 1891, of the defalca- 

 tion of ex-Treasurer "Woodruff, a rigid investi- 

 gation was made into the financial operations of 

 the State prior to and during his term, and a 

 surprising condition of affairs has been thereby 

 revealed. In a message to the General Assembly 

 on Feb. 2, 1893, Gov. Fishback states the facts 

 discovered in the following language : 



1. The returning board, which investigated the 

 condition of our State treasury more than a year ago, 

 published on Sept. 30, 1891, the humiliating state- 

 ment that, so far as the books of the Auditor and 

 Treasurer were concerned, it is impossible to learn 

 from them, in their present condition, whether Wood- 

 ruff's shortage be only about $55,000, or more than 

 $138,000. This is true, and, whatever the explanation, 

 it is inexcusably disgraceful because it is true. 



2. There has recently been offered for payment to 

 the State Treasurer $3,000 of coupons, which, accord- 

 ing to the records, are stolen property. They belong 

 to the State, and are out of her possession, and, as far 

 as any records show, may have been lying in hiding 

 for twenty years past, while many thousands of dol- 

 lars of others are unaccounted for. 



3. There is, according to the Simms report, $92,530 

 of interest-bearing scrip, known as Page scrip, miss- 

 ing from the vaults ot the treasury, and there may 

 be $40,000, $50,000, or eveu $100,000 of other fraudu- 

 lent or stolen evidence of debt out somewhere in the 

 markets of the world still lying in wait for some dis- 

 honest treasurer to redeem them ; nobody and no 

 record discloses how much, or where. 



4. The bond register shows $11,000 of bonds, which 

 have been redeemed but are missing from the vaults 

 of the treasury. Whether canceled and burned, or 

 again out in the markets of the world, it is impossible 

 for the books or register to tell. 



5. The irregularities and complication of the bond 

 register and oookkeeping in the offices of Auditor 

 and Treasurer, originating as early as 1869, preclude 

 the possibility of knowing how much fraudulent or 

 stolen evidences of debt of various kinds are against 

 the State, covertly biding their time, when they will 

 be slipped in and redeemed unawares, just as lias 

 been attempted twice within the past few months. 

 This condition of things constitutes a constant menace 

 of robbery of the taxpayers of the State. 



Valuations. The latest tabulated statement 

 of the assessed valuation of property in the 

 State covers the years 1890 and 1891. For 1890 

 the valuation of real estate was $109,417,158, 

 and of personal property, $65,320,597 ; for 1891 

 real estate was valued at $113,645,924, and per- 

 sonal estate at $63,983,050. Included in the 

 valuation of 1890 were the following items : 

 Town and city lots, $25,463,479; other land, 

 $71,399,352; 209,445 horses, $8,995,314 ; 132,736 

 mules and asses, $7,587,304; 1,007,058 cattle, 

 $6,445,710; 233,081 sheep, $246,344; 1,330,343 

 hogs, $1,562,139. For 1891 the valuation of 

 town and city lots was $27,785,185; of other 

 land, $72,976,204; of 208,670 horses assessed, 

 $8,555,115; of 134,083 mules and asses, $7,465,- 

 338; of 999,030 cattle, $6,068,413; of 238,779 

 sheep, $248,479; of 1,243,488 hogs, $1,411,076. 

 The rate of taxation for State purposes remains 

 unchanged. 



Legislative Session. The regular biennial 

 session of the General Assembly began on Jan. 

 9, and ended on April 8. An important result 

 of its labors was the passage of an act completely 

 changing the policy of the State toward its con- 

 victs. This act places the control of the State 

 Penitentiary in the hands of a board of man- 

 agers, consisting of the Governor, Secretary of 

 State, and Attorney-General, which is authorized 

 to procure from the present lessees of State con- 

 victs a cancellation of their contract at any time 

 before its expiration, provided the terms of can- 

 cellation are equitable to the State and do not 

 require any payment to the lessees. The board 

 may also purchase, from the funds at its disposal, 

 any lands, buildings, machinery, live stock, and 

 tools necessary for the use and operation of the 

 Penitentiary, to the end that the largest number 

 of convicts that can be accommodated and made 

 self-supporting may be confined therein. Until 

 the General Assembly shall have made suitable 

 provision for confining all the convicts within 

 the walls, the board is directed to employ the ex- 

 cess at labor outside, either under contract or 

 under the State-account system, as it may deem 

 best; and if it has funds, it may purchase or lease 

 and equip a farm or farms, at which those con- 

 victs not suitable for con tract labor, and not self- 

 supporting within the walls, may be employed. 

 The system of labor shall be the State-account 

 system, or the contract system, or partly one and 



Eartly the other, as the managers shall deem 

 est ;" but no contract shall be let for any con- 

 vict labor, if equally remunerative employment 

 can be furnished by the State and worked on 

 State account. No contract shall be made by 

 which the control of the convicts shall pass from 

 the State or its officers; and the State shall never 

 be deprived of the right to direct how its con- 

 victs shall be lodged, fed, clothed, guarded, 

 worked, and treated ; and the management and 

 discipline of them shall in all cases remain under 

 control of the State and officers employed and 

 paid by the State. The board shall establish 

 within the walls of the Penitentiary such indus- 

 tries as they may deem best, but there shall be 

 such industries established, among others, as will 

 furnish the charitable institutions of the State 

 with articles necessary for such institutions. The 

 officers of such institutions are required to pur- 

 chase of the Penitentiary articles so manufac- 

 tured whenever they are in need of such articles, 

 paying therefor the market price. The board is 

 further authorized, if it believes that the venture 

 will be profitable, to open and operate on the 

 State-account system a coal mine on any of the 

 coal lands belonging to the State, the labor to be 

 performed solely by convicts. From such mine 

 all the coal needed for the several State depart- 

 ments and charitable institutions shall be sup- 

 plied at the market price, the remaining output 

 being sold in open market. No convict shall be 

 worked in any coal mine until he has been ex- 

 amined by the Penitentiary physician and pro- 

 nounced physically able to perform the labor, and 

 in no case shall any person under eighteen years 

 be so employed. The board may also employ 

 convicts in cutting timber on and clearing and 

 fencing timber lands belonging to the State, the 

 timber so cut being sold for the benefit of the 

 State, and such lands when cleared may be 



