a natural result he becomes worse than he was before his punishment. YOUTHS IN PRISON. There are in the Virginia penitentiary 120 young persons who are under the age of twenty-one years. How many there are in the common jails of the country I have not been able to ascertain. A number of them have every natural qualification to become useful citizens if properly trained and educated. Much can be done during their confinement, and when liberated they may be able to obtain employment on account of their efficiency; then you may hope for reformation. The superintendent should endeavor to find employment for such as he can recommend as useful laborers and employees, and thus aid them in securing business and a home. The public in this way find out their usefulness, and its demands will give them employment. Thus will the poor outlaw learn to feel kindly towards those who employ him and give him food and clothing and teach him that there is something yet for him. His life will begin anew, and from being a convict he may become a useful man, and society will not suffer by his presence. This cannot be done by thrusting him out of prison, where he had food and raiment and a place to sleep, and casting him upon the unfriendly world, where he has nothing. He is at enmity with the world; has no power for waging war in a legitimate way; is unable to support himself, and, therefore, his necessities have made him a lawless human being, who is despised by those who might have been his friends. A REMEDY. It should be required by law that the various occupations and trades, useful to the people, should be taught to those who are sent to prison, so that when they are liberated with a certificate of efficiency and good behavior we may have some ground to believe that while society has been protected by the punishment of these unfortunates, the criminals have been improved by learning to become useful during their terms of imprisonment, and will see that the chastisement which has been laid upon them was for their own good, and they may learn to love the law whose iron hand has inflicted the punishment. We must endeavor to stop the war between the criminal and society. There is only one way by which this can be done, and that is by bringing them in contact with each other, when perhaps selfish considerations. may make them at first acquainted and then friends, and when society sees that the poor convict is useful and a convenience, or he may be a necessity, then it will forgive his past and become friendly towards him. On the other hand, when the convict sees that society is not his enemy, but is giving him employment and supporting him, he may forget the past and feel assured that the hand that punished him was not unfriendly, and that the prisonhouse was the school in which he was trained to be a useful man, and to him a blessing in disguise. To such a result all the aims and ends of the penitentiary should tend. Hope should be instilled into the breasts of these unfortunate people, that they may be brought to see that the world is not their enemy, but will aid them, if they are worthy, as quickly as it punished them when they were criminals. CONDITIONAL PARDONS. If the legislature would pass a law allowing the governor to grant conditional pardons to criminals in the penitentiary and in the jails of the Commonwealth, when in his opinion it would be expedient to do so, it would be productive of good results. Let the executive give to any deserving convict or prisoner in the jails or penitentiary, a furlough or a ticket of leave, based upon the condition of his demeaning himself or herself as a sober, peaceable, industrious and law-abiding citizen, and on the failure of such convict or other prisoner to comply, the party should be arrested and required to serve out his term in the penitentiary, or the jail, and no credit should be given for that portion of the term of sentence for which the prisoner was released on good behavior. It will be an incentive to good conduct, and the fear of a recall will have a tendency to restrain them when induced to go astray. CRIMINAL EXPENSES. Our criminal expenses are enormous, and are increasing. The decision in the court of appeals in the case of Miller v. The State (88th Va. Rep., p. 618), decided in January, 1892, restricting the jurisdiction of justices, has added to this increase. It is now more than ever a source of important inquiry, and some remedy should be provided to diminish these expenses. In 1860 the criminal expenses were, $ 77.894 26 149,766 26 278,799 59 261,854 51 315,757 51 321,572 54 I carefully considered this question in my message to the general assembly in December, 1891, and after due consideration adhere to my opinion then expressed, and am now satisfied, if the legislature will adopt the remedies then suggested, it will result in a diminution of these expenses. I again recommend: 1. That we pay attorneys for the Commonwealth fixed salaries, and that all criminal expenses be apportioned between the cities and counties and the State, according to wealth and population. 2. Make the party who causes a needless prosecution pay the costs. 3. Require the superintendent of the penitentiary to send for convicts. 4. Enlarge the jurisdiction of justices as soon as the new amendments to the Constitution are adopted. The reasons for these recommendations you will find in a former message. It is bad policy to enact laws which make the interests of officials antagonistic to those of the State. When the interests of an individual are antagonistic to those of the State, it is folly to believe that he will make his own interests. subordinate. This truth accords with the maxims of the law. and it is conformable to the common experience of mankind. It is to the interest of the State that prosecutions should be as few as possible; it is to the interest of the officers of the law that they should be as numerous as possible, because they are paid by the number of prosecutions; hence needless indictments are instituted, and innocent parties are often tried, subjected to great annoyance and heavy costs, and are honorably acquitted by the juries. I have endeavored to get the exact number of such cases from the clerks of the county and corporation courts. So far as they have responded, the reports show that a greater part of the indictments found are unnecessary, which is established by the findings of the juries. The State's money is used to prosecute her innocent people. This should not be so; if only the guilty were indicted and tried the criminal expenses would be reduced to an amount equal to that paid by the State in 1870-viz., $149,766.26, or perhaps might be reduced to $77,884, the same as it was in 1860. Two-thirds of those indicted for felonies are acquitted, and if the criminal expenses were reduced in the same proportion, they would be less than they were in 1860 or 1870. A circular letter was addressed to the clerk of every county and city in the State, making inquiry as to the number of prosecutions in their respective counties and cities. Eighty-seven counties and six cities have responded to the inquiry, and the reports show that for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 1891, and ending October 1st, 1892, there were 1,273 indictments for felony and only 473 convictions; the number of indictments for misdemeanors was 2,114, and the number of convictions for misdemeanors 1,234, conclusively showing the large number of improper prosecutions, and the impropriety of the present policy of paying officers by the case, to prosecute the citizen, whether guilty or innocent, instead of allowing a fixed salary. OUR OYSTER INTERESTS. The people of the State are taking a deeper interest in this great industry than formerly, and the local prejudice against legislation on the subject is wearing out. I trust it will not be long before we will be able so to amend the present law, in the line of progress, that it will meet with the approval of all. It is fast becoming a conceded question that the oyster industry must be protected, and the State's interests looked after, or there will be such a destruction of the natural beds that they will soon become worthless; whereas, if our people are protected by wise laws rigidly enforced, this product will in a brief period exceed in value the estimate of the most sanguine, and Tidewater will attain such a prosperity as she has never before known. It is useless to expect, however, that this interest will receive at the hands of the legislature efficient protection, unless those who are engaged in it are willing to bear a reasonable proportion of the expenses necessary to secure it, and the old idea that the property of the people of the whole State, alone, is to be taxed to give protection to those who are engaged in this business will be deemed unreasonable. RENT-NO TAXES. We create a prejudice on the subject of renting out this property to raise money for its protection and for other equitable purposes, by calling it a tax. This is a misnomer. These are the facts: We have a large area of oyster land which belongs to the State; it is ours in fee simple; its great extent and value is conceded; we propose to rent this land to the citizens of Virginia at the low price of one dollar per acre. We compel no man to take it, and if the citizen rents this land at a stipulated price, he does it of his own free will, and can in no proper sense be called a tax-payer. It is not taxes he is paying to the State, it is rent money; he does it voluntarily, and he has no right to complain and allege that this increases the tax he owes to the State. On the other hand, it would be a misuse of its powers for the State to tax every kind of property belonging to the citizen, according to its value, in order to raise the necessary amount to meet the demands upon the treasury, and fail to utilize such vast amounts of valuable property as she owns in her oyster lands, and allow it to go to waste, or to be seized by those who use and abuse it, and who not only do not make an equitable division of the profits, but all the other property of the citizen is taxed thousands of dollars to protect them in their unlawful holdings. It cannot be justified. That the legislature should use all available property and resources which the State owns before it has a right to take by taxation any of the resources of the private citizen for public uses, is a proposition which will not be disputed. The indifference manifested heretofore by the people of the whole State is a surprise to every thinking man. It is the result of a want of knowledge on this subject. No one better understood this question than Governor Wise. He was born and reared among the people of that section; he was devoted to their interests, and was esteemed and beloved by them; and no one has been more enthusiastic in declaring its great value. He was the first to suggest that a large revenue could be derived from it, and urged it. LEGISLATION NECESSARY. The time has come when it is necessary for us to have efficient legislation on the subject. The necessities of the State require it. and the oyster interest demands it. Week after week the year round complaint comes to the Capitol "that we are being visited by strange vessels, who are plundering our oyster grounds and robbing our rivers," and begging that protection should be given to them. How can you get the protection? The devastation which the strangers are committing is in the Virginia waters. and the grounds they are trespassing on are the oyster lands of Virginia. What should be done? I think vigorous measures should at once be adopted; the cry of the people should be answered. Virginia ought to assert her rights. This cannot be done without expense. To raise money to enable us to do this, these lands should be rented, and when this is done it will at once become the imperative duty of the State to grant the protection which is so greatly needed by her citizens, and as much of the money as is necessary for this purpose should be taken and devoted to the defence of the property which Virginia has temporarily conceded to its occupant. Lay aside prejudice and look fairly at the question. Is it right that property all over the State should be taxed to protect the oyster interest while the oyster grounds belonging to the State, not to individuals, are seized and used at will by people, many of whom not only make no returns to the State for their use, but demand that we protect them in the unauthorized, and hence unlawful possession, at our own cost? This is unreasonable. I repeat with emphasis, every oyster interest should be efficiently protected, and marauders who disregard the law and the rights of the people should be cap |