now. as now exist or may hereafter he enacted; he shall ap- uary number of Harper's Magazine, on the sub- That is precisely the system which has been proposed by this committee, for the governent of all our benevolent institutions. Now, I propose to read a short passage from Mr. Charles Nordhoff's article to which I alluded, detailing the experience of New York under this system: "Now, if it was the duty of society to make a man of him, it has conspicuously failed. If it owed him anything it owed him far more than it gives hlm. For the most part, it has not even given himood superiors in prison. Within five years, on an investigation into the management of one of the New York state prisons, an intelligent convict deposed that the prisoners were the only reputable people in the prison, and there was reason to believe at the time that he did not exaggerate. What with contractors who make fortunes out of the convicts' labor, it is in evidence that a profit of 50 per cent. per annum on the capital thus invested is very moderate, and that a hundred per cent. is not unknown; what with politicians filling the places of keepers and subordinates, and making per centages of their own; what with such extravagance in management that according to an official report, in 1857. 1890 prisoners in New York cost $112 54 per head, and in 1865. 1885 prisoners cost $220 per head: that during twenty-three years, also in the New York prison, the average per diem for the hire of convict labor increased only 50 per cent. while in the same time the cost of maintaining the prisons increased 300 per cent. and that in the same time the state prisons cost, to maintain, ten millions, while the convict labor yielded four millions, leaving a deficit of six millions, of which $5 340,000 have been actually raised by taxation within the last six years-with such examples of greed, incapacity, faith lessness to trusts, lack of economy, and general mismanagement before them, how can we expect the reformation of convicts confined in state prisons ? "It is generally conceded that the management of the prisons by a board of inspectors has been a disastrous will be at all times directly responsible to the governor, failure. Under the change proposed, the superintendent and he to the people, for the proper and faithful discharge of the important duties pertaining to this branch of the public service.” Now, Mr. CHAIRMAN: With this record before us, and with this comment on this record, viz: that the present Constitution of Ohio does not prevent the election by the people, if the LegisÎature shall so ordain, of the Directors of the State Penitentiary; for, if gentlemen will look at the Constitution, they will see that although all our benevolent institutions have for twentythree years been governed in that constitution by local directors appointed by the Governor, power is reserved by the Constitution to the Legislature to provide the manner in which the Directors of the Penitentiary shall be elected or appointed. And it is, therefore, competent for the Legislature to provide for the selection of the Directors of the Penitentiary by popular vote. We have this further comment on the failure of the New York system, and the success of the Ohio system, that two members of the committee that made this Report, have within the twenty-three years last past, been members of the Ohio Senate, and we have yet to be informed of the day on which either of them made a proposition to submit to popular vote the election of the Directors of the Ohio Penitentiary. Mr. CHAIRMAN: I hope, as I said, that the day will come, when the House of Discipline will be erected; not with spires and gewgaws of Gothic or any other style of architecture, but a plain, substantial, well-managed institution, over whose portals shall be the words I suggested. And, sir, if it be said that the statement of Mr. CHAIRMAN: I hope that the management the gentleman, although he has once occupied of that institution will be in the hands of men so high a position as the leading editor of the called to that office, and not of men who call New York Evening Post, is but an unauthentic, themselves. My friend from Erie [Mr. ROOT] irresponsible statement of a single individual, I well said, that if the salary of the Judges of the turn to the Report of the New York Constitu- Supreme Court was $1,500 a year, candidates for tional Commission, and read the third section the office would more than fill the hall of the of the fifth Article of the proposed Constitution, Convention before the meeting of the political which they have submitted. It is as follows: Convention on either side, to nominate; and yet, "SECTION 3. A superintendent of state prisons shall believe that a larger salary than some mere pithe proposes the same system, for who can beappointed by the governor, with the consent of the Senate, and hold his office for five years, unless sooner removed; he shall give security in such amount, and with such sure ties as shall be required by law for the faithful discharge of his duties; he shall have the superintendence, management and control of the state prisons, subject to such laws tance will ever be provided by the Legislature same state of facts will not happen with regard to these inspectors or commissioners of benevolent institutions, which he told us would be sure to happen if the salary of the judges was reduced to $1,500 a year? Mr. CHAIRMAN: I beg pardon for having taken so much of the time of the committee, but for the reasons I have stated, and many more which I could state, if I had strength to state them, I cannot consent to any other part of this Report than the first section, which provides for a House of Discipline; the section that divides the irreclaimable from the reclaimable, the section that gives a chance to the poor boy who has sinned, but not beyond hope, in his youth. For that section I am willing to vote, experimental though it be, to fasten it as a part of the Constitution on the Legislature of Ohio, so that they shall be compelled to increase the expense by adding this institution, and by giving to the class of reclaimable convicts the chance for which they have waited so long. Mr. HITCHCOCK. Imove that the committee now rise, report progress, and ask leave to sit again. The motion was agreed to. The PRESIDENT resumed the Chair. Mr. COOK. Mr. PRESIDENT: The Committee of the Whole have had under consideration the report of the Committee on Public Institutions, proposing a substitute for Article VII of the Constitution, but have come to no conclusion thereon; and they ask leave to sit again. Which leave was granted. On motion, (at one o'clock, P. M.), the Convention adjourned. TWENTY-FIRST DAY. Prayer by Rev. Erastus Burr, D. D., of Portsmouth. The Roll was called and ninety-eight members answered to their names: Messrs. BISHop, Griswold, HUNT, KECK, TYLER, WEST, and YOUNG of Noble, were absent by leave. Leave of absence was asked for and granted to Mr. TYLER for to-day, and to Mr. HUNT for to-day and to-morrow. The Journal of yesterday was read and approved. PETITIONS IN FAVOR OF LICENSE. The following petitions, praying for a wellregulated license system in the sale of intoxicating liquors, were presented and severally referred to the standing Committee on the Traffic in Intoxicating Liquors: By Mr. HOADLY: From Jacob H. Steers and 1,029 other citizens of Hamilton county. By Mr. POWELL. From Hon. E. F. Poppleton, and 500 others citizens of Delaware county. By Mr. BABER: From A. Landon, and 500 other citizens of Seneca county. By Mr. MITCHENER: From William Anderson, and 90 other citizens of Tuscarawas county. By Mr. ALBRIGHT: From Herman Berns, and 67 other citizens of Guernsey county; and Thomas Yates, and 64 other citizens of the same county. By Mr. RICKLY: From A. Theobold, and 25 other citizens of Franklin county. By Mr. SCRIBNER: From A. R. Rogers, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1873. and 1,060 other citizens of Lucas county; also county. from R. B. Marsh, and 272 other citizens of Knox other citizens of Licking county. By Mr. KERR: From J. H. Wehrle, and 783 232 other citizens of Lucas county. By Mr. SAMPLE: From A. C. Rickets, and 263 other citizens of Hardin county. By Mr. PHILIPS: From A. W. Davis, and PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS. were presented and referred as indicated: The following other petitions and memorials J. R. Swan, E. F. Bingham, Joseph Olds, John By Mr. BABER: The memorial of Judges M. Pugh, and Messrs. J. W. Andrews, H. C. Noble, C. N. Olds, Wm. R. Rankin, Otto Dresel, and 37 other members of the bar of Franklin county, Ohio, in favor of the cumulative or proportional system of voting, in the election of Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Which was referred to the Committee on the Judicial Department. By Mr. PHELLIS: The memorial of Joseph Rickly, and 46 other citizens of Muskingum county, praying for a constitutional provision against the use of any public funds belonging to the State, a county, township, municipal corporation, or other political division, for the purpose of constructing, or in any manner whatever, directly or indirectly, aiding or participating in the construction of any railroad or other similar improvement. Which was referred to the Committee on Public Debt and Public Works. By Mr. RUSSELL, of Muskingum: The memorial of Hon. M. M. Granger, of Muskingum county, accompanied by a proposition or plan for the reform of the Judicial Department. NEAL. On motion of Mr. RUSSELL, of Muskingum, Said memorial and plan were laid on the table and ordered to be printed. REPORT ON THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. Mr. NEAL submitted the following report: The Committee on the Executive Department, to which was referred the third Article of the Constitution, as also the various propositions for the amendment of different sections of the same, have had the said article and propositions under consideration, and report herewith such amendments as, in our opinion, are fit to be made. Having, in our deliberations, kept in view the important consideration that no change should be made in our present organic law, except where its defects plainly appear, we suggest only such amendments as shall remove the obscurity now existing, or may lessen the number of elections now held; or confer a discretion upon the General Assembly, which it seems to us desirable it should have. The remainder of the article we report unchanged. Proposition number eighty-seven (87), providing for the abolishment of the office of Lieutenant Governor, we report back, recommending that we be discharged from the further consideration of the same. This office, while not absolutely necessary, has its merits. Being president of the Senate, the Lieutenant Governor is enabled promptly to organize the same, upon its assembling together, and thereby preventing the delay which would otherwise ensue when the political parties were equally divided. In addition thereto, it furnishes us with a successor to the Governor, when, for some of the reasons set forth in sec tion fifteen of article third, that officer ceases to exercise the powers and duties of his office. For these reasons, as also for others which will readily suggest themselves, a majority of your committee are clearly of the opinion that the office should be retained. We have regarded it as entirely proper more clearly to define his rights and duties in accordance with the views expressed in proposition 84. We have also more clearly defined the office and duties of President pro tempore of the Senate, brought to our attention by proposition No. 85. Upon this matter we find there have been conflicting views and opinions, which it seems to us desirable should be set at rest in the future. On the one hand, it has been claimed that it is necessary, at each absence of the Lieutenant Governor, the Senate should elect a president pro tempore, and this view is sustained by some able lawyers and parliamentarians; while on the other, it is contended that once being elected, he holds his office during the existence of the Senate. This view is now generally accepted, and has always been acted upon. To remove all doubt, we propose he shall serve during the pleasure of the Senate; thus placing it in their power to remove, when necessary, an inefficient or incapable officer, whom they may have selected, before becoming thoroughly conversant with his character, capacity and abilities. We also think it better that the General Assembly should be vested with the authority to provide by law for filling the office of Governor, when the same may become vacant by reason of the death, absence or other disability of both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The constitution now provides that the President of the Senate shall exercise the functions of that office, upon such a contingency arising. Owing to the careless manner with which that officer is often selected-never with a view to his exercising the office of Governor-and the small acquaintance the senators have with each other upon their first assembling together, we think the whole matter should be left to the General Assembly, who can act intelligently should such a contingency ever arise, and select such officer as will best preside over the destinies of the State, while he may fill the vacancy. Not knowing or having any information of any serious abuse of the pardoning power, as at present hedged about by the constitution and laws of our State, and regarding the multiplication of unnecessary officers as an unmixed evil, your committee ask to be discharged from the further consideration of proposition No. 37. The term of office of the Governor and most of the other executive officers has always been for two years. No desire has been, to any extent, expressed on the part of the people of the State for any change in this respect; and as short terms of office, with direct responsibility to the people of all executive and administrative officers, have a tendency to promote a faithful, diligent and efficient dis charge of official duty, we have not thought it advisable to make any change in this respect. We, therefore, report back propositions Nos. 70 and 82 without recommendation. A majority of your committee recommend that elections for state and county officers should be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, instead of the second Tuesday of October, as heretofore. This change is regarded as desirable for a variety of reasons, among [WEDNESDAY, which we enumerate the importance of diminishing the number and frequency of elections; the great desirability of economizing time upon the part of the people; the great expense attending all such elections; the fact, abundantly demonstrated by experience, that a much larger number of electors uniformly vote at the Presidential elections than at the preceding October elections; the great importance of having a full vote at all elections, in order that the will of the people may be ascertained; and the greater convenience of the people at large, when, having finished their "fall seeding," they have more time and leisure to attend to the important duties connected with their positions as citizens of this State. We herewith report the amendments indicated herein, and recommend them to the favorable consideration of the Convention. HENRY S. NEAL, S. P. WEAVER, HARLOW CHAPIN, JOHN H. BLOSE. We concur in the above report, except as to the recommended change in the time of holding the State elections. S. HUMPHREVILLE, S. W. CLARK. I concur in the above report, except as to so much thereof as recommends the continuance of the office of Lieutenant Governor. THOS. J. MULLEN. Proposition No. 144: By Mr. NEAL, from the Committee on the Executive Department: A substitute for Article III of the Constitution. Amendments in italics. Parts of old Constitution stricken out, [in brackets.] SECTION 1. The executive department shall consist of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of State, Treasurer of State, and an Attorney General, who shall be chosen by the electors of the state at large, on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday of November, [second Tuesday of October], and at the places of voting for members of the General Assembly. SEC. 2. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General shall hold their offices for two years; and the Auditor for four years. Their terms of office shall commence on the second Monday of January next after their election, and continue until their successors are elected and qualified. SEC. 3. The returns of every election for the officers named in the foregoing section, shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government, by the returning officers, directed to the President of the Senate, who, during the first week of the session, shall open and publish them, and declare the result in the presence of a majority of the members of each house of the General Assembly. The person having the highest number of votes shall be declared duly elected; but if any two or more shall be highest, and equal in votes, for the same office, one of them shall be chosen by the joint vote of both houses. SEC. 4. Should there be no session of the General Assembly in January next after an election for any of the officers aforesaid, the returns of such election shall be made to the Secretary of State, and opened, and the result declared by the Governor, in such manner as may be provided by law. SEC. 5. The supreme executive power of this state shall be vested in the Governor. SEC. 6. He may require information, in writing, from the officers in the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and shall see that the laws are faithfully executed. SEC. 9. In case of disagreement between the two houses in respect to the time of adjournment, he shall have power to adjourn the General Assembly to such time as he may think proper, but not beyond the regular meetings thereof. SEC. 10. He shall be commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the state, except when they shall be called into the service of the United States. SEC. 11. He shall have power, after conviction, to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, for all crimes and offences, except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions as he may think proper; subject, however, to such regulations, as to the manner of applying for pardons, as may be prescribed by law. Upon conviction for treason, he may suspend the execution of the sentence, and report the case to the General Assembly at its next meeting, when the General Assembly shall either pardon, commute the sentence, direct its execution, or grant a further reprieve. He shall communicate to the General Assembly, at every regular session, each case of reprieve, commutation or pardon granted, stating the name and crime of the convict, the sentence, its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon, or reprieve, with his reasons therefor. SEC. 12. There shall be a seal of the state, which shall be kept by the Governor, and used by him officially; and shall be called "The Great Seal of the State of Ohio." shall vote only when the Senate is equally divided; and in case of his absence, or impeachment, or when he shall exercise the office of Governor, the Senate shall choose a President pro tempore.] [SEC. 17. If the Lieutenant Governor, while executing the office of Governor, shall be impeached, displaced, resign or die, or otherwise become incapable of performing the duties of the office, the President of the Senate shall act as Governor until the vacancy is filled or the disability removed; and if the President of the Senate, for any of the above causes, shall be rendered incapable of performing the duties pertaining to the office of Governor, the same shall devolve upon the Speaker of the House of Representatives.] SEC. 17. Should the office of Auditor, Treasurer, Secretary, or Attorney General, become vacant, for any of the causes specified in the fifteenth section of this Article, the Governor shall fill the vacancy until the disability is removed, or a successor elected and qualified. Every such vacancy shall be filled by election at the first general election that occurs more than thirty days after it shall have happened; and the person chosen shall hold the office for the full term fixed in the second section of this Article. SEC. 18. The officers mentioned in this article shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation to be established by law, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which they shall have been elected. SEC. 19. The officers of the executive department and of the public state institutions shall, at least five days preceding each regular session of the General Assembly, severally report to the Governor, who shall transmit such reports, with his message, to the General Assembly. Said report and accompanying proposition were laid on the table and ordered to be printed; and SEC. 13. All grants and commissions shall be issued in the name and by the authority of the State of Ohio, sealed with the great seal, signed On motion of Mr. GREENE, the Convention by the Governor, and countersigned by the Sec-ordered that five hundred extra copies of the retary of State. SEC. 14. No member of Congress, or other person holding office under the authority of this State, or of the United States, shall execute the office of Governor, except as herein pro vided. SEC. 15. In case of the death, impeachment, resignation, removal, or other disability of the Governor, the powers and duties of the office, for the residue of the term, or until he shall be acquitted, or the disability removed, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor. And the General Assembly shall by law provide for the case of removal from office, death, resignation, or inability of both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, declaring what officer shall act as Governor, and such officer shail act accordingly until the disability be removed or a Governor elected. SEC. 16. The Lieutenant Governor shall be President of the Senate, and may vote in all cases when the Senate is equally divided, except upon the final passage of bills. The Senate shall choose a President pro tempore, who shall serve during its pleasure. He shall preside in case of the absence of the Lieutenant Governor, or his impeachment, or when he shall exercise the office of Governor, [but proposition be printed. Mr. SEARS. Upon this subject I would like to suggest that in printing that proposition, there Constitution that are retained, just as the combe embraced all the provisions of the present mittee desire the article to stand. Mr. HERRON. I will state for the information of the gentleman from Wyandot [Mr. SEARS,] that all the amendments that are made are embodied in the proposition. The new matter is italicized. The old matter that is left out is put in brackets. Mr. SEARS. I move that in printing this proposition, there be embraced in it the sections of the present Constitution that are retained, as these are indicated in the Report. Which motion was not agreed to. INTRODUCTION OF PROPOSITIONS. The following propositions were introduced and read the first time: Proposition No. 145-By Mr. HOADLY: To amend section 9, Article 2, of the Constitution. Proposition No. 146-By Mr. HOADLY: To so alter or amend Article 2 of the Constitution from their usefulness, but would hope they as to vest the veto power in the Governor. Proposition No. 147-By Mr. MITCHENER: To amend Article 8 of the Constitutton. Proposition No. 148–By Mr. MUELLER: To prohibit the exemption of certain property from taxation. Referred to the Committee on Corporations other than Municipal. To Proposition No. 141-By Mr. EWING: amend Article 13 of the Constitution. Referred to the Committee on Corporations other than Municipal. Proposition No. 142-By Mr. HUNT: To retain in the Constitution that portion of the Judicial Article which provides for the Election of Judges. Referred to the Committee on the Judicial Department. Proposition No. 143: To amend Section 19 of the Bill of Rights. Referred to the Committee on the Preamble and Bill of Rights. COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE. On motion of Mr. CAMPBELL, The Convention resolved itself into Committee of the Whole on the order of the day, being Proposition No. 130, a Substitute for article 7 of the Constitution. Mr. COOK in the Chair. The question being upon the amendment of Mr. CUNNINGHAM, to insert the word "imbecile" after the word "insane," in the first section. Mr. CUNNINGHAM asked leave to accept the amendment proposed by the gentleman from Geauga. Which was granted by the Committee. may be made more efficient. I desire to be instrumental in making such provision for them in the organic law as will increase their usefulness and will make them more satisfactory to those who maintain them. It need not be concealed here that there is wide-spread dissatisfaction in regard to the wasteful expenditure in their construction; the jobs and rings which disgrace them. The dissatisfaction is not a tithe of what it would be if the facts were fully known as they have been ventilated here in the past few days. The report of the Committee on Public Institutions proposes two new features. First, for the establishment of a House of Discipline, intermediate between the Penitentiary and the Reform School for Boys. I am decidedly and emphatically in favor of this part of the report. Different classes of criminals are found in our penitentiary. Some are there who are not adepts in crimes, but by accident, as it were, the offence was committed under the influence of passion, or liquor, or associates. Perhaps the deed was done under the impulse of the moment and worlds would be given, if had, that it might be undone. But the law is inexorable and reparation must be made in prison walls. There is a large number of this class, some say more than one-fourth of the whole. Many of these, under right influences, can be reformed and restored to society and friends, and be made useful citizens; others in the penitentiary are incarnate devils, born and bred in villainy, whose throat is an open sepulchre, whose mouth is full of cursing, before whose eyes there is no fear of God. It is, Mr. Chairman, a crime to confine these two classes together in prison. Expose the body to contagious diseases, but let not the the youthful criminal be exposed to the contagion of crime. Yea, do not compel him to be infected and corrupted by vicious examples. The one class can, in many cases, be reformed; the other ought to be, but it can be done only occasionally. The one class should be reformed, the other punished. Now, I submit, that these two cannot be sucfully managed in the same prison together, unMr. HITCHCOCK moved to amend the amend-der the same discipline. They should be classment by inserting the words after imbecile, ified. The first should be in a house of disci"and idiotic youth," so that it will read "imbe- pline. The second should be where they can be cile and idiotic youth." punished, not pampered, and fed and caressed, and trained to a course of hypocrisy and deception, by rewards and encouragements. Criminals for whom there is no hope of reformation, should be made to dread the prison. As our penitentiary is now conducted, I fear there is little dread of it in this class of criminals. They are all treated as the first ought to be in whom there is some hope of reformation. A prominent attorney told me recently that one great annoyance in the criminal courts is the frequent reconviction of those who have been three, four and five times already in the penitentiary. They do not dread to be committed there. One reason of this is, that they are not punished; they fare far better than they do out of prison. This will do for those capable of reformation but I maintain it is not the course to be pursued with those devils incarnate who are beyond all hope of reformation. Criminals should find it Mr. HITCHCOCK. Mr. CHAIRMAN: When I made the motion on last evening that the Committee rise and report progress, and ask leave to sit again, it was my intention to address the Committee this morning; but I yield the floor to my friend from Licking, who, I understand, would like to address the Committee. Mr. KERR. Mr. CHAIRMAN: I am proud of our Public Institutions, our Penitentiary, Reform School for Boys, our Asylums for the Insane, the Blind, the Deaf and Dumb, the Idiotic and for the Orphans. They are an honor to our great commonwealth, a crowning stone to our civilization. I rejoice in their foundation, in their prosperity. I would not detract one iota |