It engages the honor of our State and citizens to put forth every effort to secure a full representation of the resources and productions of Maine, since, whether rightfully or not, the guests of the nation will judge of the importance and capability of each State from the display it makes at what appears to be its chosen time and place.

The Commissioners appointed by the State have coöperated with those of the general board, and have succeeded in awakening such an interest and enrolling so many exhibitors, that they already confidently anticipate that the extent, variety and attractiveness of her contributions will entitle Maine to a creditable position among her sister States. The seven departments, Mining, Manufactures, Education and Science, Art, Machinery, Agriculture and Horticulture, which form the classification of articles in the Exhibition, will all have some representation from our State, though necessarily a limited one in some classes. The assured contributions of woollen and cotton textile fabrics, granite, slate, feldspar, iron, machinery, agricultural implements, canned products, and articles manufactured from wood pulp, are numerous and extensive. Add to these such contributions of cattle and horses, cereals, fruits, dairy products, grasses, native woods and samples of the shipbuilder's art as the State is capable of furnishing and it is hoped that they may be obtained-and the aggregate must constitute a more interesting exhibition of our resources and industries than the State has ever witnessed.

I am confident that you will consult the sentiment of the people, by appropriating such a sum in this behalf as the Commissioners shall in their estimate show to be necessary to defray the general expenses proper to be borne by the State.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

Certain amendments to the Constitution, proposed by resolves of the last Legislature, have been declared by a proclamation of my predecessor to be adopted by the popular vote and to take effect and become a part of the Constitution of the State on the first day of January, 1876.

It is among the first and most important of your duties to give full practical effect to these amendments, by such enactments, and revision of existing statutes, as may be necessary to that end.

The amendments relating to special legislation and corporations necessitate much and the most careful exercise of your powers. They are as follows, constituting additions to Article four, Part third of the Constitution: "Section 13. The Legislature shall, from time to time, provide, as far as practicable, by general laws, for all matters usually appertaining to special or private legislation."

"Section 14. Corporations shall be formed under general laws, and shall not be created by special acts of the Legislature, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where the objects of the corporation cannot otherwise be attained; and, however formed, they shall forever be subject to the general laws of the State." Section thirteen presents a discretionary field of action which your own honor will impel you to occupy to the fullest extent.

The title of "Special and Private Laws," which includes so large a portion of the laws of former Legislatures, is an obnoxious one, conveying suggestions of privilege, favoritism and monopoly ; though happily these evils have not in fact, stained the character of our legislation, they should not be suffered to have, even in the form of our laws, any grounds of suspicion that can be removed. Other weighty objections to special laws for private benefit are, that they are obtained at the public expense, and in their passage distract the attention of legislators from matters of public interest. The opportunity is now afforded, and the duty enjoined upon you, by the amendment, to restrict the necessity for such laws to the narrowest possible limits. An analysis and classification of the private and special laws upon the statute books, will inform you of the objects for which it is desirable to provide by general laws, if practicable.

Many objects have been hitherto specially legislated upon although they were amply provided for by general laws I have distinguished authority for the statement that sixty or more of the corporations created by a special act for each, by the last Legislature, could have been created and organized under general laws. The reason why the general laws have not been resorted to to a greater extent, is not, so far as I am informed, to be found in any insufficiency or defect of those laws, but in the greater ease and simplicity of the method of application to the Legislature and in the fancied higher sanction of an authority proceeding directly from it. Section fourteen, relating to corporations, is compresive and peremptory. It relates to all corporations, except only those for municipal purposes. It clearly prohibits their creation by special acts if the objects desired can be secured under existing general laws.

These amendments direct you to useful and memorable work. The more of it you do-the closer the bounds to which you confine the necessity for special legislation-by so much will you conform the more nearly to the spirit and letter of the people's command and expectation, and heighten their approval.

The amendment giving the Governor power to grant conditional commutations and pardons, may be construed to refer to existing regulations, or as contemplating further action on your part in

providing regulations relative to the manner of applying for pardons. It is earnestly to be desired that such regulations may be established as shall materially assist the Executive in the discharge of this, the most delicate and responsible department of his duty.

Rarely, even among the wretches who have incurred the heaviest sentence of the law, is there any criminal so utterly debased, so thoroughly devoid of redeeming qualities, that nothing can be urged in extenuation of his crime and no friend will come forward to plead his cause. In most cases the appeals for the mitigation of sentence are urgent and persistent. It is the intent of our law that every accused man shall have speedy, public and impartial trial. Justice having thus been accorded to the criminal, justice to society demands that he shall bear the penalty imposed on him. In occasional and exceptional instances substantial reasons are adduced for mitigating it. The meaning of this new amendment is not, in my opinion, that the pardoning power shall or may be more freely exercised than it has been heretofore. It is intended to afford a precaution against deception, mistaken or undue lenity, in cases that appear to amply justify the exercise of the power; to protect the pardoning power rather than to enlarge it. A measure will be alluded to farther on which bears upon the subject of pardons and commutations.

The amendment in regard to "bribery at elections," is permissive and not mandatory in its terms. If such a law as you are authorized by it to enact, should accomplish no other good, it would at least serve to place a stigma upon the crimes of making a commodity of the high privilege of citizenship, and to denote the just resentment by the sovereign people of a grievous insult to their dignity.

The amendments relating to the election of senators by plurality vote, to the appointment of judges of municipal and police courts, to taxation and to constitutional conventions, would seem to require no new legislation.

It is made the duty of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to submit to you at this session, a codification of the constitution as amended.

Sections one, two and five, of article ten of the existing constitution, are to be omitted in printed copies thereof hereafter prefixed to the laws of the State; but their omission is not to impair the validity of acts under them, and section five is to remain in full force as a part of the constitution.

PUNISHMENT OF CRIME IN CAPITAL CASES.

I respectfully suggest for your consideration the passage of a law empowering the jury to affix either the penalty of death or of

imprisonment for life in capital cases. Such a law has been in operation in California for two years, and of twenty-nine convictions for murder within that period, eighteen were attended with sentences to imprisonment for life, and eleven with sentences to death.

The predecessor of the present Executive of that State, acknowledges the obligations he is under to that law for the decided relief it has afforded him, and gives the opinion that it has probably made the certainty of punishment greater.

CITY AND TOWN DEBTS.

I would also recommend that steps be taken looking to the limitation by law of city and town indebtedness and taxation. The inconsistency of limiting the power of the State in this respect and imposing no restriction, with one exception, upon the liberty of cities and towns to incur debt, needs no argument. In order that you may have a basis for action, I suggest that you cause to be procured by the State Treasurer, or some other officer, such information as will be of value for the purpose. It seems desirable to obtain from each of the cities and towns of the State a return of the valuation of real and personal estate severally in each, and the rate of taxation to valuation, for 1875 and the four years preceding; and that, in returning the valuation for 1875, the officers should not only give the actual valuation upon which the tax was assessed, but also, in another column, the fair marketable value. It is probable that the returns could be secured and laid before you in season for your action the present session.

THE PROHIBITORY LAW.

I have no official information to present to you with regard to the workings of the law prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors. It is a matter of common knowledge that they have been very generally enforced, especially in the cities and large towns, where the traffic is most persistently attempted to be carried on in defiance of them. The law as a whole fairly represents the sentiment of the people. The opposition to it presents in appearance a strength which it does not in reality possess.

The opponents who are entitled to a hearing, are the good citizens, the intelligent, thoughtful men, conservative by nature, who sincerely deprecate the evils caused by the sale of liquors, and yet are so tenacious of private rights that they cannot yield. to the paramount claims of public order and economy. The loudest and most aggressive portion of the opposition are not entitled to a hearing in the court of reason, since the only arguments they regard are those of self-interest.

Maine has a fixed conclusion upon this subject. It is that the sale of intoxicating liquors is an evil of such magnitude that the well-being of the State demands, and the conditions of the social compact warrant, its suppression. Hostility to the great wrong does not find expression solely in the law, but also in the great Reform movement, whose persuasive power has been so beneficially exercised throughout our communities.

THE OUTLOOK.

Guarding ourselves carefully against self-deception, the future of our noble State still looms grandly through the passing clouds of this present time. There are substantial reasons for the expectation that in the general revival of business and industrial energies, Maine will be among the first to feel the new life.

Our natural resources have not yet obtained due appreciation. The forest is still dense and valuable, though it has so long resounded to the strokes of the lumberman's axe. The quarrying interest is important even now, in its very infancy, and there is practically no limitation to its extension. Iron is procured from our soil and various other metals are found which would undoubtedly reward systematic labor.

The sea is constantly increasing the employments and adding to the substance of the many who harvest its bounty.

Our industrial equipment, consisting of factories, mills, and workshops which have built up cities and centres of busy life here and there, represents various trades and crafts and forms a noble aggregate. Nor should the ship-yards be forgotten, where are reared the stately and beautiful structures which make the naval architecture of our State the admiration of the world; nor the thousand miles of railroad which serve our commerce and manufactures. When the fresh impulse shall be felt, every energy of the State will be quickly aroused, cautious capital will come forth and our young men will have ample opportunities at home to gratify their ambition.

Gentlemen, I am glad to believe that the recommendations a sense of duty has prompted me to make, carry with them no authority beyond their intrinsic merit, and that they will have the revision of your better judgment. I trust that your deliberations will be harmonious and result in great good to the State whose

servants we are.

SELDEN CONNOR.

JANUARY 6,

1876.