and condition of the Prison accounts and of abuses in the financial management of the same, satisfied me that the interest of the State demanded an investigation with a view of ascertaining the condition of the one and the manner and system observed in conducting the other. I accordingly commissioned Thomas S. Espy, Robt. A. Russel and H. Q. Jennison to make an examination of the affairs of this institution and report as contemplated and required by "An act to authorize the Governor to appoint Commissioners to examine the accounts of State officers and to define the duties of the Governor in certain cases." The very thorough and satisfactory report made by these commissioners is submitted to you and should be considered in connection with that of the Board of Inspectors.

You will not fail to perceive from a careful inspection of their report that the affairs of the institution have been conducted carelessly and without system. That the books of accounts were in a confused condition and could not be balanced that $1700 had been traced as a deposite into the hands of bankers, and had been lost sight of by the officers and would in all probability have been lost to the State but for this investigation. Much of this irregularity and confusion in the accounts undoubtedly is attributable to the acts of an incompetent book keeper-which demonstrates the importance of having a professional accountant to keep the books in an institution where large sums of money are to be disbursed for various purposes under distinct appropriations.

To the report of the Commissioners is appended a general balance sheet, obtained only by re-journalizing the books and correcting the errors, and supplying the omissions, and which comes down from the commencement of our State organization to the 1st of June, 1859, exhibiting the following result:

DR.

CR. $109,641.86

Construction,

.

$69,045.82

General Support,

35,279.73

Officers Salaries,

12,851.49

General Support Fund,

634.42

Convict's Fund,

152.47

Wall Fund,

1,732.31

:

:

1

:

It will be ascertained from the details in this balance sheet that the amount $109,641.86 is the whole amount expended by the State on account of the Penitentiary. The other sums on the credit side, may need explanation. The amount $634.42 is for cash advanced by the Warden during the month of May last, in payment of bills for supplies, &c. The amount $12,676.03 is the aggregate of all notes outstanding against the institution, on the 1st of June last, and the amount $6,169.64 is the sum of all amounts due individuals on book account. The different amounts on the debtor side will be readily understood. The labors of this Commission must result in great good to the institution as well as the State, besides exhibiting the precise condition of its financial affairs; it has exposed abuses, rectified mistakes, and made up and systematized the entire Penitentiary account so as to render it intelligible.

Honorable mention should be made of S. Guthrie, Esq., who is a most competent book keeper, rendered to the Commission valuable assistance in the discharge of their duties, and who is now employed by the present Warden as chief Clerk and book keeper of the establishment which at once guarantees accuracy and system in the keeping of the accounts. It is believed, however, that he cannot be retained for the compensation now given that officer. True economy requires that the Clerk in this institution should be a first class book keeper with rates of pay which he could get in our larger mercantile establishments. It is proper that I should state that the Commissioners reported a deficit in the accounts of the late Warden, amounting to $2,278.11. This deficit was discovered by the examiners, after a final settlement of the Warden's accounts, which settlement the Inspectors now ask may be opened up. The attention of the Attorney General has been called to this subject with the necessary instructions.

The north line of the Prison enclosure is protected with a board fence, rendering the confinement of so large a number of convicte exceedingly unsafe and dangerous, and should be replaced with a stone wall at as early a day as possible. The cell-room accommodations are inadequate and should be enlarged. I recommend as large appropriations for these objects as the revenue resources of the State will justify.

The Inspectors have procured a plan for the enlargement of the Penitentiary, through the assistance of a competent architect,

which embraces all the modern improvements, and would accommodate some 300 or 400 convicts, and ought, in my judgment, to be adopted and carried out if the financial condition of the State will admit of it.

PARDONING POWER. - It is made my duty under the Constitution of this State to communicate to the General Assembly all cases of pardon, reprieves or commutations granted by me during my term of office, which I have the honor of doing in a separate paper accompanying this message, in which is shown the name and crime of each convict, the sentence, its date, and the date of the pardon, and the reason therefor.

The whole number of pardons in two years from Janu ary 10th, 1858, to January 9th, 1860, for Penitentiary offences, was fifteen. Of these only three were pardoned before their imprisonment-the remaining twelve had suffered imprisonment a greater or less time, -some of them sufficiently long to satisfy the ends of justice, independent of the other causes which operated upon my mind in their discharge. The number pardoned for offences punished by fines and by imprisonment in the county jail, was six. There was one case of commutation and none of reprieves.

The applications for pardons were numerous often informal and loosely made; to secure an intelligent consideration of these applications, as well as greater certainty and uniformity in their presentation, and to guard against imposition and an abuse of an important trust, when required to be exercised, I proposed a series of rules, which, together with that provision of the Constitution, which relates to the subject, I caused to be published and sent to all the counties for the information of those whom it might concern. A copy of the rules presenting the mode of applying for pardons, is appended to the report alluded to, and to which your attention is called. It will be perceived that the constitution clearly contemplates the enactment of a law regulating the exercise of the pardoning power. This as yet has not been done. I now recommend the passage of such a law, and that it shall in its provisions, embrace the substance of the rules which I have established, and which I have found from experience to work well, and adequately to guard against an improper use of this high prerogative power, whilst under them the rights of the convict are also duly protested.

STATE REFORM SCHOOL. - Many States of the Union have established these institutions. They are regarded as tokens of an advancing civilization, and have proved a success. From 70 to 80 per cent. of the juvenile offenders who have entered them have been reformed and given back to society useful and honorable members. They are placed in an institution where the requisite means are employed to transform their moral constitution, where they are compelled to listen to the appeals of virtue and right action, instead of incarceration in the Penitentiary, where they are subjected to the malign influence of the vicious and the depraved. I learn that the records of our Penitentiary exhibit the remarkable fact that fifty juvenile convicts between the ages of 14 and 21, have been imprisoned within its walls during the last three years, and that of our convicts have, from the beginning, been of this description. The legitimate place for this class of offenders is in a reform school. In the civil and domestic relations of life, the law, out of a tender regard for their inexperience and supposed want of mature judgment, affords them immunities and privileges not extended to the adult citizen. Why should not this distinetion be made in our criminal jurisprudence? It can be demonstrated that the prosecution and maintenance in prison of these fifty juvenile offenders has cost the State, in all probability, more than their moral discipline would have done in an institution of the description named.

The Rev. Thomas E. Corkhill, of Keokuk, has addressed me a long communication, filled with valuable statistics and information on this subject, which I should have been pleased to have published and laid before you had I possessed the power under the law to have done so. It is, however, at your service. In the name, of a common humanity, the necessity and propriety of establishing a State Reform School is urged upon your consideration.

INSANE HOSPITAL. - The condition of this institution will be found in the reports of the Commissioners and Superintendent, and little need or can, be added to the suggestions there made. Should it take $100,000 more to complete this structure, it will still cost less than its prototype at Northampton, Massachusetts; whilst those acquainted with both buildings will be constrained, perhaps, to admit that ours is, by $75,000, the better of the two. It is difficult for those not acquainted with structures of this description, to conceive why their cost should reach so high a figure; a visit, however, to this institution would reveal to them this mystery. When completed, it will occupy the first rank of all similar institutions in the world, and be a beautiful as well as a shining illustration of the philanthropy and enterprise of the people of Iowa. I am inclined to think the revenue resources of the State as estimated for the next two years, (although the Auditor in his estimates proposes to reduce the taxes) will justify an appropriation sufficient to complete this building, which is so much needed to satisfy the appeals of humanity as they come up from different parts of the State.

DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM. - This institution is located at Iowa City, occupies a rented building sufficiently large and commodious to answer, in the main, its present purposes, is in a flourishing condition, and under the charge of Prof. Ijams, a competent and successful instructor of mutes, who is building up an institution creditable alike to himself and the State. The time is not distant when the State must locate this institution permanently and erect suitable buildings to effectuate its aims of usefulness. This, in my opinion, should be done at the Capitol of the State, where, in the end, it will be more accessible and under the more immediate supervision of the Legislature and State authorities. I bespeak a careful reading of the annual report of the Board of Trustees, which needs no enlargement from me.

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. - A very brief statement of what has been done under an act passed at your last session, providing for the establishment of a State Agricultural College and Farm, may justly be expected. The Board of Trustees at their session in June last, located this institution and Model Farm in Story County upon 649 acres of land in township 83, range 24 west, being a central as well as an eligible site for an institution and farm of the description indicated in the law. Liberal donations were made by the counties of Story and Boone for the support of the same. The Board established the professorships and prescribed the studies best calculated to educate agricultural and mechanical labor, all of which will be more fully set forth in the report of the Executive Committee or Board of Trustees. Connected with this institution is an Agricultural Bureau under the charge and control of Gen. Wm. Duane Wilson, its Secretary, whose unremitting at