The grant, thus made to the State, is a magnificent one, being about five times as large as that made for the support of the State University, and will, if properly husbanded and cared for, make a rich endowment. But, to secure the grant, sufficient funds must be provided, outside the grant, to erect the necessary buildings; and then funds must be provided to meet the current yearly expenses, until a quantity of the lands can be sold, the interest of the proceeds of which, invested as required by the law making the grant, will support the institution.

If these funds cannot be furnished or provision made in some other way to comply with the terms of the Grant, the State will lose the great benefits she may otherwise derive from this magnificent donation. I recommend the subject to your careful considera

tion.

THE SUPREME COURT.

I very earnestly recommend to you the passage of a law providing for the early appointment and subsequent election of an additional Judge of the Supreme Court; and also, that you make an appropriation of the sum of five thousand dollars to be expended, under the direction of the Court, for the purchase of law books for the State Library.

The first of these measures I deem necessary to enable the Court to do its work promptly, and the second, to enable it to do it well. This tribunal is one of the most important branches of our State Government. Upon its action more, perhaps, than upon that of any other branch of the Government, must our people depend for security for life, liberty and property. Questions are continually brought before it, from all parts of the State, affecting the most important interests of the parties to those questions; and the rules and principles established in deciding them, become rules and principles controlling the interest of every resident of the State. It is, therefore, of the first importance that the Court shall have time to examine all questions fully and carefully before deciding, and that it should have the means of making that examination intelligently. The Court now consists of only three members, and the amount of business before it is such, that, either great delay must ensue in disposing of it, or it must be transacted in such haste as to preclude proper examination and deliberation. The addition of another Judge will largely increase its working capacity, and will afford more time for careful and intelligent action.

The absolute necessity for a good Law Library, to a court of last resort, must be apparent to all. It is as unreasonable to expect learned and correct decisions from a court deprived of a good library, as it is to expect good and well finished work from a mechanic without tools. The Reports of other States contain the well considered opinions of their most learned Judges; the ele

mentary works contain the principles upon which our whole legal system is based, and to require our Judges to decide cases involving questions affecting the most vital rights and interests of our people, without the opportunity to consult these fountains of law, is unreasonable in itself, and tends to render doubtful and uncertain the principles controlling and protecting these rights and

interests.

THE STATE UNIVERSITY.

This institution is now in a very flourishing condition. The number of students in attendance, at the present time, is over three hundred and fifty, and they come from all parts of the State. The Faculty are devoted to the interests of the institution, and it is rapidly becoming, what it was intended to be, an honor to the State and a powerful aid in promoting her highest interests.

I renew my former recommendation, that provision be made, by law, for a Military Professorship in the University. Such professorship will not only popularize the institution, but will impart to our young men a kind of knowledge, the want of which has cost us many men and much treasure, since the commencement of the rebellion; and the necessity for which, in the future, the history of other nations teaches, may come upon us at any time.

The Board of Education, at their last session, directed the Trustees of the University to establish a Military Professorship as soon as the General Assembly should make the necessary appropriations. I have placed two hundred stand of arms, with accoutrements, in the hands of the Faculty, and I earnestly commend the matter to your favorable consideration.

The present number of students in attendance upon the University is greater than the capacity of the University buildings to accommodate; and, with the prospective increase in numbers, these buildings will soon be entirely inadequate to the wants of the institution, and candidates for admission must be turned away for lack of room to receive them.

The former Hall of the House of Representatives, now used as a Chapel, is insufficient for the present numbers, and many are thus excluded from Chapel services. A larger Hall is imperatively needed for Chapel, Commencement and all other exercises requiring the assembling of the whole number of students.

There are no suitable rooms for the Chemical Laboratory. This, to our agricultural State, is, perhaps, the most important department of our University. Chemistry is becoming daily a more liberal contributor to agricultural knowledge and success; and the advancement of chemical science in our State, through the State University, should be especially encouraged.

Our University will not be complete until it shall have an Astronomical Observatory connected with it. This has already be

come a prominent feature of the University of Michigan, and the demands of our more Western location will soon require it of us. A building may be erected to answer all these purposes at much less cost than to provide for them separately.

Our State now stands with the foremost of her sister States in her intelligent and heroic devotion to the political institutions of our country. She needs but to use her advantages to take an equally high position in science and literature. The people are ready to avail themselves of the facilities furnished, and only ask that the State shall supply them. I respectfully urge upon you such action as shall tend, ultimately, to place the State University of Iowa among the foremost of similar institutions in the land.

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

I call your atteution to the report of the Curators of the State Historical Society.

Passing events render the work of this society vastly more important than ever before. We are now making history with wonderful rapidity, but are making it in a fragmentary manner.

Future

ages demand of us that we collect and preserve these fragments as material from which a full and reliable record of the great events of our day may be preserved. This, with the ordinary work of the Society in collecting the early history of our State, is more than it can well perform with the means at its disposal.

No man can be found to devote to it the necessary time without compensation. I recommend an appropriation of five hundred dollars, as compensation for this purpose, in addition to the five hundred dollars heretofore appropriated for other purposes.

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

The Reports of the Trustees of the Blind Asylum and of the Asylum for the Insane, are herewith submitted. I recommend the appointment of a special committee to visit each of these institutions for the purpose of examining into their condition and wants, and that all may be done that the condition of our finances will allow, to make these institutions effective for accomplishing the noble objects for which they were founded.

I call your special attention to the final Report of Commissioner for superintending the erection of the Blind Asylum.

The Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb is still at Iowa City, in a building rented for that purpose. The annual rent paid is $375. Whether it is advisable, at this time, to erect a new building, the interest on the cost of which will far exceed the rent now paid, or whether it is best to continue to occupy the rented buildings for a longer time, are questions properly committed to your judgment and discretion. The Report of the Trustees, showing the expen

ditures for the last two years, and the estimates for the ensuing two years, are herewith submitted.

There has been a material increase in the prices of nearly all the articles required for the support of the pupils in these institutions, and consequently there should be a proportionate increase in the sums appropriated.

THE PENITENTIARY.

I was notified by the Warden, in June, 1862, that the old shops in the prison yard had been destroyed by fire. The contract between the State and the contractors for the prison labor, required the State to furnish shop room to work the criminals. The contractors had, in a suit tried and determined before this fire, made the want of sufficient shop room the basis of a claim for heavy damages against the State, which had been allowed them, and I had good reason to believe the want of shop room, caused by the fire, would be made the basis of another similar claim. Under these circumstances, I requested the Attorney General to meet me at the prison, and, after consultation with him, the Warden and myself entered into a contract with Messrs. Winterbotham & Jones, contractors for the prison labor, for the erection of new shops, at a cost of $8,504.67, which was paid as follows: Material from old shops, $200; cash appropriated at the last preceding Session for a new blacksmith shop, $2,500; proceeds of judgment in favor of State against contractors, $945.59; the balance of $4,859.08 to apply on the amount due, or to become due to the State, from the contractors, for prison labor.

It is a matter of doubt whether I had the authority to make this contract; but as the necessity appeared to be imperative, and as the contract could be made without drawing from the Treasury any money not appropriated by law, I deemed it my duty, having due regard to the interests of the State, to make the contract, and did so.

The new shops were completed in accordance with the terms of the contract, and have been ever since in use. The old shops were illy arranged, inconvenient and unsightly, and, situated as they were, near the centre of the prison yard, interfered materially with the preservation of proper order and discipline among the convicts. The new shops are large, substantial and well arranged, and much more favorably located than the old ones.

A new contract has not as yet been made under the law passed at the extra session of 1862, for re-letting the convict labor. I have very serious doubts whether it is advisable, at this time, to re-let the whole of the labor. A large amount of work must necessarily soon be done in and about the prison. As our population increases, the number of convicts will increase, and of course there will be necessary an increase of cell room. This can now be had,

most economically and advantageously, by building a Warden's house on the foundation already laid for that purpose, and using the part of the main building now occupied by the Warden, for cell room; and by raising the roof and walls of the main building so as to receive two additional tiers of cells. The wall on one side of the yard has not yet been built, and I understand some additional grading is needed before it can be. The convicts can do much of the labor required for these improvements as well as hired laborers, and at much less cost to the State. Should this policy be adopted it may be necessary to employ a few additional guards, but the additional expense will be much less than the difference between the cost of convict and other labor.

I have not been able to give as much time as I desired to supervising the affairs of the prison for the last two years; but I am of opinion everything has been done by the Warden and his sub-ordinates, carefully, economically and well. The Warden's Report contains a full account of the receipts and expenditures, and a statement of what is, in his judgment, necessary to be done within the next two years. I invite your attention to this Report, and recommend the appointment of a special committee to visit the prison, to examine the condition of the prison buildings, for the purpose of determining the policy to be pursued in re-letting the prison labor.

ORGANIZING AND ARMING VOLUNTEER COMPANIES.

I became satisfied during the early part of last summer that de signing men in this, as in other loyal States, were making preparations for an armed resistance to the authority of the General Government. The law of Congress, providing for a draft to fill the ranks of the Union Army, contained a provision that was eagerly seized upon to array the poorer of our people against the Government upon the specious pretence that the object of the law was to discriminate between the rich and the poor, to the injury of the poor.

The action of the Government, in freeing and using the slaves in the rebel States for the suppression of the Rebellion, was represented as a scheme, by the Government, to overrun the free States with the freed slaves, to the prejudice of the interest of the poor white man.

The Government had in some instances, arrested and temporarily imprisoned or sent beyond our lines, persons whose restraint the public safely required; and this was interpreted to mean an intention on the part of the Government to break down all the defences of civil liberty, and to establish a despotism. The entire policy of our Government, as interpreted by these men, was that the war was waged, not for the preservation of the Union, but for the abolition of Slavery; that the object of the Government, in seeking to