ANNUAL MESSAGE.

To the Senate and Assembly of the State of California :

With grateful hearts to the Father of nations and men, you are permitted again to assemble in legislative session as the supreme lawmaking power of the State. On your acts rest the future welfare and prosperity of the State. The responsibilities devolving upon you, and the results of which you will be held answerable, call for the exercise of your wisdom, judgment, and patience.

The year past has been most propitious; bountiful harvests have rewarded the toil of the husbandman. The mines of mineral wealth have, with prolific results, responded to the call of the laborer, and increased activity in commercial and manufacturing circles betokens renewed thrift to this, our most favored State. The past year has witnessed the grand spectacle of nearly nine million of people selecting, through the ballot-box-the sacred urn of a free people's liberties-the one who shall govern as the chief magistrate of a nation of fifty millions of people for the ensuing four years. The day which marked this auspicious event was one not heralded in by the pomp of display or triumphal procession, nor was it disturbed by commotion or strife. But the good citizen resolved to submit his preference to that of the will of the majority, if but constitutionally expressed. I congratulate you and the country upon the cheerful acquiescence of all political parties in the popular verdict of the people. It is an evidence of the enduring permanency upon which the government is founded, and is also an assurance that our institutions will endure until the end of time, if we will submit to the ballot as the final arbiter of all our causes of dissension.

We meet in session, the second Legislature since the adoption of a new fundamental law. The people, believing that many of our complications come from too much, rather than too little legislation, have prescribed the term of the session to be sixty days, being but about one half of the time heretofore occupied. Among the first and most imperative things demanding your attention is the adjusting of many of the existing laws and sections of the Codes, to conform to that instrument. A number of the laws and amendments to the Code, passed at the last session of the Legislature, having been declared unconstitutional by the supreme judicial tribunal, it may be well to inquire if others, when tested, will not share the same fate, unless adapted to meet the requirements of that instrument.

The finances of the State, as reported by the Controller and Treasurer, appear to be in a satisfactory condition.

The Controller presents for your consideration many valuable suggestions, the result of close observation and long experience in financial transactions.