INDIANA 



2956 



INDIANA 



Government and Institutions. Indiana has 

 had two constitutions since its admission to 

 statehood in 1816, and the one under which it 

 is governed at present dates from 1851. Either 

 house of the legislature may propose an amend- 

 ment, which does not become - a part of the 

 constitution until it has been approved by both 

 houses at two successive sessions and ratified 

 by a majority vote of the people. The con- 

 stitution when adopted restricted the suffrage 

 to white males, and though the Supreme Court 

 of the United States declared in 1866 that such 



FIRST CAPITOL, BUILDING 

 Built at Vincennes in 1816. It is preserved as 

 the oldest historic landmark in the state. 



a restriction was null and void, it was not re- 

 moved from the constitution until 1881. No 

 provision, either in the constitution or by 

 statute, is made for the direct nomination of 

 any candidate, nor for direct primaries. In 

 certain legislation Indiana has shown itself very 

 progressive. For instance, it has statutes for- 

 bidding the employment of children under 

 fourteen years of age in any factory, and it 

 has strict laws regulating employers' liability. 



Departments of Government. The executive 

 department consists of the governor and lieu- 

 tenant-governor, chosen for four years, and a 

 secretary of state, attorney-general, auditor, 

 treasurer and superintendent of education, 

 elected for two years. The governor may not 

 succeed himself, and none of the officials with 

 two-year terms may hold office more than four 

 years out of any six. 



The legislature, or general assembly, com- 

 prises two houses a senate of fifty members 

 and a house of representatives which may not 

 have more than one hundred members. Sena- 

 tors are elected for four years, representatives 

 for two years. The legislature meets bienni- 

 ally, in the odd-numbered years, and its ses- 

 sions are limited to sixty days. 



At the head of the judicial department is the 

 supreme court, consisting of from three to five 

 judges whose term of office is six years. There 

 are also an appellate court, circuit courts, and 

 a system of county and justice courts. Juve- 

 nile courts have also been introduced, with the 

 success which has attended them everywhere. 

 Indiana sends to the Federal Congress, accord- 

 ing to the last apportionment, thirteen repre- 

 sentatives. 



Charitable and Penal Institutions. These 

 are all under the direct supervision of a Board 

 of State Charities, which is composed of non- 

 salaried members appointed by the governor. 

 It is absolutely forbidden that politics or reli- 

 gion be taken into consideration in the choosing 

 of superintendents or other officials for the in- 

 stitutions, merit alone regulating the choice. 

 There are five hospitals for the insane, at 

 Logansport, Indianapolis, Richmond, Madison 

 and Evansville; a school for feeble-minded 

 youths at Fort Wayne; a soldiers' and sailors' 

 orphans' home at Knightstown; a colony for 

 epileptics at New Castle; a school for the deaf 

 and a school for the blind at Indianapolis; 

 and a soldiers' home at Lafayette; while the 

 penal institutions include the state prison at 

 Michigan City; the state reformatory at Jef- 

 fersonville; the boys' reform school at Plain- 

 field; the girls' reform school at Clermont, and 

 the woman's prison at Indianapolis. This last- 

 named institution was the first woman's prison 

 established in the United States. In it, as 

 well as in the state prison and the reform 

 schools, the principles of parole and indetermi- 

 nate sentence are in force. Indiana has shown 

 itself ready to adopt the most improved mod- 

 ern methods, and no state in the Union pos- 

 sesses a more carefully .administered system of 

 charitable and correctional institutions. 



History of Indiana 



The Pioneers. The woods and streams of 

 Indiana were most inviting to the French fur- 

 traders, and it is probable that some of them 

 entered the state in 1679. In the next year 

 LaSalle crossed the portage from the Saint 



Joseph to the Kankakee River, and from that 

 date various explorers found their way into the 

 territory, tracing the course of its rivers and 

 making friends with the Indians. The Miami 

 and Wa'bash tribes which occupied the country 



