5 
 
 336 
 
 444 
 
 
 MESSAGE 
 
 OF 
 
 I SHAM G, HARRIS, 
 
 GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE, 
 
 ifce 
 
 OCTOBER 4, 1859. 
 
 
MESSAGE 
 
 OF 
 
 ISHAM G. HARRIS, 
 
 01 
 
 TO THE 
 
 GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE, 
 
 OCTOBER 5, 1859. 
 
 NASHVILLE, TENN: 
 
 G-. Eastman & Co., !P-u.blic Printers. 
 
 1859. 
 
MESSAGE. 
 
 Executive Department, 
 Nashville, Oct. 4, 1859. 
 
 Crentlemen of the Senate, 
 
 and House of Representatives : 
 
 CHARGED, as I have been, for the last two years with the adminis- 
 tration of the State Government, and the execution of its laws, I 
 proceed to the performance of the duty assigned me by the Consti- 
 tution, of submitting to your consideration such information as I 
 may have as to the state of the government, and such recomuicnd- 
 ations as I deem best calculated to promote the interests and pro- 
 D tect the rights of the people of Tennessee. 
 
 THE FISCAL CONDITION OF THE STATE 
 
 Is as follows : 
 
 Received into the Treasury from all sources, from 
 
 1st October, 185T, to 1st October, 1859, - - $1,848,094 88 
 
 Add to this balance remaining in the Treasury on 
 
 the 1st October, 1857, - - 36,496 06 
 
 6 -- 
 
 Which makes the total receipts - - - 1,884,590 94 
 
 Di-bursements for all purposes, from 1st October, 
 
 185T, to 1st October, 1859, .... 1,704,287 61 
 
 Which leaves balance in the Treasury on 1st Octo- 
 
 * ber, 1859, of - - - - ' - - - 180,303 33 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 For a full and detailed account of all the sources and various 
 items of receipts and expenditures, you are respectfully referred to 
 
 5 the full and lucid reports of the Comptroller and Treasurer. 
 
 < By reference to the Comptroller's report, it will be seen, that the 
 
 aggregate expenditures of the two years, ending 1st October, 1859, 
 have been increased to the extent of 341,609 71, by various ex- 
 
traordinary expenditures required by law to be paid out of the 
 Treasury, within that period, for the items of which you are referred 
 to the Comptroller's report. 
 
 Take this amount from the gross aggregate expenditures of the 
 two years, and it leaves, as the actual expenditures for the ordinary 
 purposes of government, including the payment of interest on actual 
 indebtedness of the State, the sum of $1,362,677 90. 
 
 The most rigid scrutiny into all the expenditures of the government 
 is invoked, in order that they may be reduced to the lowest point 
 consistent with public justice and sound public policy. 
 
 It will be seen from the Comptroller's report, that the aggregate 
 taxable property of the State amounts to $377,208,641 00, being an 
 increase of taxable property, since the 1st October, 1857, of 
 76,849,830 00 ; and that the receipts into the Treasury for the 
 last two fiscal years have been considerably more than sufficient to 
 meet the expenditures of the same period. 
 
 In this connection, it is proper that I call your attention to the 
 fact, that sixty-six thousand six hundred and sixty-six dollars and 
 sixty-six cents of the bonds of the State, issued for State stock in 
 tho Nashville, Murfreesboro' and Shelbyville Turnpike Company, fail 
 due on the 25th July, 1861, the duty of providing for the payment 
 of which devolves upon your present session. 
 
 THE ACTUAL INDEBTEDNESS OF THE STATE 
 
 Is as follows : 
 
 5 per cent. Bonds, issued for State 
 
 stock in Turnpike Roads, $1,091,190 00 
 
 5J per cent. Bonds,^issued for same 
 
 purpose, - - 137jl66 66 
 
 Total for stock in Turnpike Roads, $1,228,856 66 
 
 5 per cent. Bonds, issued for State 
 stock in East Tenn. and Georgia 
 Railroad, - - $650, 000 00 
 
 5 per cent. Bonds, issued for State 
 stock in the Memphis and La- 
 Grange Railroad, - 83,250 00 
 
 5 per cent. Bonds issued for same, 102,000 00 
 
 Total for State stock in Railroads, 885,250 00 
 
 5 per cent. Bonds, issued for State 
 stock in the Union Bank, yet 
 
 unpaid, - - 125,000 00 
 
 6 per cent. Bonds, issued to raise 
 Capital of the Bank of Tennes- 
 see, - - - - 1,000,000 00 
 
Total for Bank stock, yet unpaid, 1,125,000 00 
 
 6 per cent. Bonds, issued for the 
 
 construction of State Capitol, yet 
 
 unpaid. 608,000 00 
 
 6 per cent. Bonds, issued for the 
 
 purchase of the Hermitage, 48,000 00 
 
 Total actual indebtedness of the 
 
 State, 3,844,606 66 
 
 Upon which an annual interest is paid of $209,388 25. 
 
 THE LIABILITIES OF THE STATE 
 
 On account of bonds loaned to Internal Improvement Companies, 
 are as follows, to wit : 
 
 6 per cent. Bonds of the State, interest payable semi-annually, 
 loaned to Railroad Companies, $10,348,000 00 
 
 6 per cent. Bonds of the State loaned 
 
 to Turnpike Companies, 57,000 00 
 
 6 per cent. Bonds of the State loaned 
 
 to Agricultural Bureau, 30,000 00 
 
 Total amount of Bonds loaned 10,435,000 00 
 
 Bonds of Internal Improvement 
 Companies, the payment of the 
 principal and interest of which 
 is guaranteed by the State are as 
 follows, to wit : 
 
 The Bonds of Railroad Companies, 2,014,000 00 
 
 The Bonds of the City of Mem- 
 phis for the benefit of Memphis 
 and Little Rock Railroad Co., 
 
 Total amount of endorsed Bonds, 
 
 Total present liabilities of the State 
 
 exclusive of actual indebtedness, 12,799.000 00 
 
 Add actual debt of the State, 3,844,606 66 
 
 Which makes the total liabilities of 
 
 the State of every character, $16,643,606 66 
 
 As most of the Internal Improvements to which the aid of the 
 State is pledged by existing laws, are completed, or far advanced 
 towards completion, it is confidently believed that the prospective 
 liabilities of the J3tate in aid of those works, will not far exceed 
 three millions of dollars. 
 
 The indomitable energy and enterprise of our people, and the 
 very liberal policy pursued by the State government, have secured 
 to the State a splendid system of Railroads and Turnpikes, which 
 
6 
 
 give to every section of the Commonwealth easy access to the mar- 
 kets of the world. 
 
 It is gratifying that I am able to state to you that up to this time 
 our Railroad Companies have paid each installment of interest upon 
 heir State bonds promptly at maturity. The fact that they have 
 been able to do so, through a period of commercial revulsion and 
 general financial derangement throughout the whole country, while 
 most of their roads were in progress of construction, with only 
 short and disconnected lines in operation, necessarily earning 
 very little compared with what their earnings must be when com- 
 pleted and important commercial connections are formed, and 
 through trade established, encourage the confident belief that now, 
 as the various roads are being completed, penetrating every com- 
 mercial locality within the Atlantic States, greatly increasing their 
 business and profits, that they will in future be able to pay, as they 
 have done heretofore, all of their liabilities promptly as they fall 
 due. 
 
 The act of 1856, chapter 120, requires all Railroad Companies, 
 which have received the aid of the State, either by the loan or en- 
 dorsement of bonds, at the expiration of five years from the date of 
 issuance, and annually thereafter, to pay into the treasury of the 
 State a sinking fund of 2 per cent, upon the amount of said bonds, 
 and makes it the duty of the Governor, Comptroller, and President 
 of the Bank of Tennessee, as a Board of Sinking Fund Commission- 
 ers, to invest said fund in 6 per cent, bonds of the State, and an- 
 nually re-invest the accruing interest, &c. 
 
 The first instalment of this fund fell due in 1858, since which 
 time we have collected from the various Companies 82,840 95, 
 which we have invested, with the interest accruing on the same, in 
 the 6 per cent, bonds of the State and those endorsed by the State, 
 amounting in the aggregate to $109,750, having purchased said 
 bonds at the current rate of discount ; upon which we will hereafter 
 collect an interest of $6,41 7 50 annually. 
 
 These bonds are deposited in the Bank of Tennessee and the re- 
 ceipt of the President of the Bank for them is on file in the Comp- 
 troller's office. 
 
 The Commissioners have deemed it proper to keepthe account of 
 each Company separate, and to invest the funds of each for its own 
 benefit. For a statement of their various accounts you are referred 
 to the Comptroller's report. 
 
 The time fixed by the act referred to, for the payment of this 
 fund, is, " at the expiration of Jive years from the date of issuance 
 or endorsement." 
 
 The general internal improvement act requires all bonds to bear 
 date the 1st day of January of the year in which they are issued, under 
 which, all bonds issued within the year must bear the same date, 
 though in point of fact, portions of them are being issued and deliv- 
 ered to the companies every month in the year. 
 
To avoid the necessity of frequent settlements with the various 
 companies, and the collection of sums too small for investment in a 
 bond, and inasmuch as the bonds all bear date the first day of Jan- 
 uary, I have fixed that as the day upon which the annual, instal- 
 ment is due and payable. Some of the companies contend with 
 plausibility, if not indeed, correctly, that the first instalment of the 
 sinking fund upon each separate lot of bonds recieved by them, falls 
 due five years from the day upon which the bonds were received. 
 
 If this be the proper construction of the act, itimposes the necessity 
 of a number of settlements with each company every year, necessarily 
 resulting in the collection of a small portion of this fund, each sefr- 
 tlement, and balances too small for investment, thus produced, lying 
 idle in the hands of the Commissioners, to the injury of the com- 
 pany. 
 
 I therefore respectfully recommend the passage of a law fixing a 
 day upon which the entire sinking fund of each year shall be paid. 
 This will obviate the necessity of more than one settlement with 
 each company annually, and secure the collection of sums sufficiently 
 large for investment. 
 
 If the companies continue to pay their sinking fund as they have 
 done heretofore, of which 1 have no doubt, the present mode of in- 
 vestment will extinguish the*entire Railroad debt of the State before 
 maturity. 
 
 It is to be regretted, however, that notwithstanding the entire 
 success of our internal improvement enterprises thus far, and the 
 fact that the interest upon our bonds, and the bonds themselves as they 
 have matured, have been in every instance punctually paid, yek 
 Tennessee bonds are selling in the market at a discount of near 
 ten per cent., owing in a great measure, as I believe, to the large 
 number of them thrown upon the market, which has a tendency to 
 shock the confidence of capitalists who know the extent of our liabil- 
 ities, and know very little of our immense resources. And the inan- 
 mer in which they are but too frequently sold by inexperienced 
 holders who know little or nothing of the stock market, at just such 
 prices as they will command upon forced sale, is well calculated to 
 depreciate the credit of the State,*and has unquestionably had that 
 effect to some extent. 
 
 In vieAV of which facts I cannot too earnestly recommend that the 
 liabilities of the State be not increased. 
 
 Under the present revenue laws, it is held that the bonds of the 
 State in the hands of individuals are taxable, the policy of taxing 
 our own bonds may well be doubted, as it is certain that to the extent 
 they are taxed their value will be diminished, and certainly we 
 should adopt no policy which would tend to discredit or depreciate 
 them at home. 
 
 The Comptroller's Report shows that $1,228,356 66 of the actual 
 indebtedness of the State was contracted for stock in Turnpike roads, 
 upon which amount the State pays an annual interest of $61,760 75, 
 
8 
 
 while the dividends upon the stock paid into the treasury the last 
 year, amount to the sum of $20,844 76, which shows an ex- 
 cess of interest paid over the amount of dividends received, of 
 40,915 99, annually, to say nothing of the principal, which must 
 be provided for and paid, at maturity. Governments are never pro- 
 fitted by investments of this character, or partnerships with indivi- 
 duals, corporations or stock companies. They never manage such 
 enterprises, or interests in them, successfully, or so well as individu- 
 als, and in my opinion, the sooner the connection of the government 
 with those corporations^ is dissolved the better f6r the people of the 
 State. 
 
 I therefore recommend the passage of a law authorizing the Com- 
 missioner of Roads, or Secretary of State, by and with the consent 
 of such other officers of the government as may be deemed advisa- 
 ble, to sell the stocks owned by the State in all internal improve- 
 ment companies, and appropriate the proceeds to the extinguishment 
 of that much of the actual indebtedness of the State. 
 
 The Act of 27th February, 1854, Ch. 44, Sec. 1, provides "that 
 after paying the interest on the bonds of the State, issued for stock 
 in the Union Bank, the balance of dividends and bonus shall be paid 
 on the order of the Governor and Comptroller for 6 per cent, bonds 
 of the State." 
 
 The^3d section of the Act requires the Governor and Comptroller 
 to^cancel the bonds purchased with this fund, until the amount shall 
 equal the~sum paid out of the Treasury for the redemption of Union 
 Bank bonds. 
 
 Under this Act my predecessor and Comptroller Crozier, received 
 of this fund the sum of - 156,376 94. 
 
 Whichjjthey invested as follows : 
 20 Capitol Bonds, 250 each, due 1st 
 
 of April, 1858, $5,000 00 
 
 Interest paid on same, 126 16 
 
 56 Capitol Bonds, $250 each, due 1st 
 
 of April, 1858, 14,000 00 
 
 32 Capitol Bonds, $250 each, due 1st 
 
 November, 1859, 8,000 00 
 
 Interest paid on above 88 bonds, 568 00 
 
 59 Capitol Bonds $1000 each, due July, 
 
 1886, 59,000 00 
 
 Interest on same, 590 00 
 
 50 Capitol Bonds, 1000 each, due 
 
 March, 1876, 50,000 00 
 
 19 Capitol Bonds, 1000 each, due 
 
 March, 1871, 19,000 00 
 
 Total paid for the above $155,000 of bonds including 
 
 interest paid on them, .... $156,284 16 
 
9 
 
 Which left to the credit of the Governor and Comp- 
 troller, ... 92 78 
 
 The above described bonds were cancelled by Governor Johnson 
 and Comptroller Crozier, and are now on file in my office. 
 
 The present Comptroller and myself received from 
 the Union Bank in 1858, the balance of dividends 
 v and bonus for the year 1857, the sum of 18,681 08 
 
 Add to this the balance to the credit of Johnson and 
 
 Crozier, '., . . 92 78 
 
 Which makes the total receipts in 1858, 13,773 86 
 
 With which we purchased three 6 per cent Capitol 
 Bonds, 250 each, and fourteen 6 per cent. Bonds 
 of the State, of $1000 each, for all of which we paid 
 the sum of - 13,635 00 
 
 Which left to our credit a balance of $138 86 
 
 The bonus due from the Union Bank for the year 
 
 1858, we received in 1859, amounting to 9,965 54 
 
 Premium received in exchanging ten bonds for ten 
 
 other bonds having less time to run, 200 00 
 
 Total receipts in the year 1859, 10,304 40 
 
 With which we purchased eleven 6 per cent. Bonds of 
 
 the State, of $1000 each, at 90c, 9,900 00 
 
 Which left to our credit a balance of 
 
 Add to this the proceeds of the above described three 
 Capitol Bonds, of $250 each, which fell due in 1859, 
 and were paid, 750 00 
 
 And it makes the sum of - - 
 
 With which we purchased one 6 per cent. Bond of tke 
 State, of $1000, at 90c, 
 
 Which leaves to our credit in tho Bank of Tennessee 
 a balance of ... $254 40 
 
 The bonds thus purchased by Comptroller Dunlap and myself are 
 deposited in the Bank of Tennessee, and the receipt of the Presi- 
 dent of the Bank for them is on file in the Comptroller's office. 
 
 The Act of 1856, Ch. 62, Sec. 3, requires the President and 
 Directors of the Bank of Tennessee to invest the interest accruing 
 upon the bonds purchased with this fund ; we* 1 therefore deemed it 
 proper to deposit them there. 
 
 I am unable to see any desirable object which is to be accomplished 
 
10 
 
 by keeping this as a separate fund. The stock owned by the State 
 in the Union and Planters' Banks having been sold, we no longer 
 receive dividends, and the only item composing this fund in future, 
 will be the bonus paid by the Union Bank, which, by the charter of 
 the Bank, is appropriated to the Common School Fund. 
 
 I therefore recommend that the Acts of 1854 and 1856, above 
 referred to, so far as they relate to this fund, be repealed, and that 
 the fund be paid directly into the treasury, and distributed as other 
 school funds. 
 
 BANKING. 
 
 Currency being the measure by which the value of labor and 
 property is determined, its amount, uniformity, certainty and char- 
 acter, become matters of deep interest and importance to the whole 
 people. 
 
 The Constitution of the United States provides that, "No State 
 shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or make anything but gold 
 and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." 
 
 The Supreme Court of the United States has decided, that the 
 States are not prohibited from incorporating companies to issue bank* 
 notes and conduct the business of banking. And upon the authority 
 of the decisions of that court, the States have assumed the same 
 power to incorporate companies for this purpose, that they have to 
 incorporate them to manufacture iron, domestics, or any other com- 
 modity. Yet they have no more power to give currency to a bank 
 note than to the iron, domestics, or any other commodity upon the 
 market. No power "to make anything but gold and silver coin a 
 tender in the payment of debts," or to compel any man to use any- 
 thing but coin in any of the varied transactions between men. Every 
 individual being left perfectly free to use or reject a paper currency, 
 as he may see proper, the Constitution recognizing nothing but gold 
 and silver as the standard of value and medium of exchange. 
 
 The Constitution of Tennessee prohibits your "passing any law 
 for the benefit of individuals, inconsistent with the general laws of 
 the land ; or any law granting to any individual or individuals, rights, 
 privileges, immunities, or exemptions other than such as may be, by 
 the same law, extended to any member of the community who may 
 be able to bring himself within the provisions of such law : Provided 
 always, the Legislature shall have power to grant such Charters of 
 incorporation as they may deem expedient for the public good." 
 
 This clause of the Constitution forbids the passage of anj act of 
 incorporation, except such as are "expedient for the public good" 
 
 The primary, leading, and controlling object must be, to promote 
 the interests of the public not those of the individuals incor- 
 porated. 
 
 Yet the effect of the charter is, to clothe the individuals with pow- 
 ers and special privileges usually highly beneficial to them, and from 
 
11 
 
 which the balance of the community are excluded. One of which 
 is, in banking corporations, the privilege of issuing two or more dol- 
 lars in paper for every dollar of their actual capital, with the whole 
 amount of which they discount the notes of individuals at the rate 
 of six per cent, thus realizing from twelve to twenty-five per cent 
 per annum upon their actual capital in this, the least profitable part 
 of their business, for they realize yet much larger profits in the 
 purchase of bills of exchange. To illustrate which, take the case of 
 the Planter who draws his bill upon New Orleans at thirty days ; the 
 bank discounts the bill at the rate of six per cent per annum, as in- 
 terest, in addition to which it takes one per cent from the whole 
 amount of the bill as exchange, thus making the simple item of ex- 
 change equal to twelve per cent per annum : add the items of in- 
 terest and exchange together and it makes eighteen per cent per an- 
 num as the profit which the bank charges upon the loan of its noteSj 
 and if it issues only two dollars of its notes for one of specie, it 
 makes the round sum of thirty-six per cent per annum, which the 
 bank realizes upon its actual capital, while individuals who do not 
 enjoy similar privileges, can only realize six per cent per annum upon 
 theirs. 
 
 But the profits of this transaction do not stop here, for at maturi- 
 ty, the bill of exchange is paid by the planter in New Orleans, and 
 the fund placed to the credit of the bank, upon which it draws its 
 check, which is sold to the home merchant at a premium of one per 
 cent, which if repeated monthly, makes another item of profit of 
 twelve per cent per annum ; add this to the items of interest and ex- 
 change originally taken from the bill, and it swells the profits upon 
 the actual capital of the bank to forty-eight per cent. 
 
 Now when the public part with these privileges by conferring them 
 upon individuals, the good of the public is the sole object to be ac- 
 complished, according to the plain rule laid down by the Constitution, 
 and the greatest care should be taken at all times, that this should 
 be secured ; and certainly it will not be contended that this can be 
 done by anything less than securing to the people a convenient, 
 .sound, uniform, and convertible currency ; and all must agree that 
 the larger the specie basis in all banking corporations, and the more 
 complete the control which the people have over them for the pur- 
 pose of checking their excesses, the sounder and more uniform their 
 currency, and consequently, the greater the probability of their pro- 
 moting the public good : and surely the corporators cannot object to 
 any restrictions and reservations necessary to the accomplishment of 
 this object. For they are bound, not only by the plain letter and 
 spirit of the Constitution, but by every consideration of sound poli- 
 cy, public justice and common honesty, to furnish to the communi- 
 ty a currency as sound, uniform, and reliable as the one which they 
 displace, a currency which is at least the representative of, and not 
 the mere substitute for, specie, one which is at all times convertible 
 into coin at the will of the holder. 
 
Biit has such been the history of banking under the present sys- 
 tem in Tennessee ? 
 
 They have, in many instances, issued as high as four, six, eight 
 and even ten dollars of their paper for one in specie. 
 
 They have made their notes payable at points the most remote 
 from the place of putting them in circulation, for the purpose of re- 
 tarding their return upon the bank for payment, thus depreciating 
 their paper and making it less valuable to the holder. 
 
 They have expanded and contracted at will, causing injurious and 
 disastrous fluctuations in trade, and affecting the price of every 
 man's labor and property. 
 
 And not unfrequently, actuated by a spirit of selfish avarice and 
 cupidity, they have flooded the country with their circulation, by 
 which they have stimulated overtrading wild and reckless specula- 
 tions habits of luxury and extravagance, and induced thousands of 
 our population to abandon the fruitful fields of production, for the 
 more fascinating, yet more hazardous fields of speculation ; and when 
 they have reaped the full benefit of a large business, and the bubble 
 can be expanded no farther, public confidence becoming shocked, 
 and the country threatened with'commercial revulsion as one of the 
 legitimate fruits of their conduct, they have quietly closed their 
 doors and said to the victims of their policy : We extend no farther 
 accommodations ; we have suspended, and will not even pay the 
 notes you hold upon us. Thus leaving in the hands of the people a 
 depreciated and irredeemable paper, as their only currency the 
 losses by the depreciation of which, fall upon the industrial classes, 
 who are usually the note holders ; while the banks avail themselves 
 of the depreciation by transmitting their available means to some 
 one of the commercial cities of the North, and charging their note 
 holders from 3 to 10 per cent, premium for exchange, or in other 
 words, they first depreciate their own paper by refusing to pay it, 
 and after having depreciated it, they buy it up at from 3 to 10 per 
 cent, discount, paying for it in a check on New York instead of gold. 
 
 Now, when Banks redeem their paper in gold, you can never be 
 under the necessity of paying higher than about - of one per cent, 
 for exchange upon any point within the Atlantic States. For ex- 
 change is always worth just what it will cost to transmit the gold to 
 the place of payment, and gold can be transmitted from Tennessee 
 to any commercial point within that limit at a cost of about J of one 
 per cent. 
 
 The country is now just recovering from a period of about ten 
 months suspension of specie payments, upon the part of all the banks 
 in Tennessee, in which every bank in the State was selling exchange 
 at a premium of from three to ten per cent., except the Bank of 
 Tennessee, which furnished exchange to the extent of her ability 
 throughout the whole period of suspension at a premium of one per 
 cent. 
 
 These are some of the evils of our present banking system, under 
 
the practices of our most solvent banks, to say nothing of the mil- 
 lions of dollars which have been lost to the people of Tennessee by 
 the failure and insolvency of others, not sufficiently guarded and 
 restricted ; evils to which the community have been compelled to 
 submit, because those corporations are clothed with, and fortified by, 
 irrcpealable charters, which enable them thus to outrage the public 
 interest with impunity, and to defy the whole people and the Legis- 
 lative authority of the State. For under the present system, when 
 you have passed a bank charter, and the company has organized 
 under it, it is held by the courts, that there is no power in the gov- 
 ernment to abolish, no power to add a single restriction or safeguard, 
 however necessary and important further restrictions may be for 
 the security of the interests of the public ; and when the individual 
 citizen appeals to the courts of the country for relief, they may say 
 to him, it is clear that you are wronged and oppressed by these 
 institutions, but they are clothed with vested rights under their 
 charters, over which we have no power, and therefore, can give you 
 no relief. 
 
 Can institutions which engage in practices like these, so selfish *and 
 antagonistic to the general prosperity of the country ; institutions, 
 whose only object seems to have been the realization of the largest possi- 
 ble profits, regardless of the great injury or ruin which they bring upon 
 the balance of the community, clothed with prwer to go on in their 
 career of reckless speculation, defying any legislative enactment 
 intended so to reform them as to protect the best interests of the 
 people for whose benefit they were established, be " dee:ned expe- 
 dient for the public good?" When so far from promoting the public 
 good, they have, under this unrestricted system, been vampires upon 
 the public interest, fattening upon the misfortunes of the people, 
 which their own policy has produced. 
 
 That a paper currency is a convenience to the public, no unpre- 
 judiced mind can deny ; but that it is a convenience, which, under our 
 present system, has cost the people vastly more than it is worth, is 
 equally clear. And the only means of preserving this convenience, 
 so as to make it beneficial to the people, is by radically reforming the 
 whole system, and throwing around it such stringent restrictions and 
 safeguards as will secure uniformity, and perfect certainty as to the 
 convertibility of the paper into coin at all times, at the will of the 
 holder. 
 
 And as a means of accomplishing this, it is, in my opinion, indis- 
 pensably necessary that upon the face of every charter you should 
 expressly reserve to the people, through their Legislature, the power 
 to modify or abolish such charter, when in their opinion the public 
 interest demands it. 
 
 Indeed, to deprive the people of the power to control or abolish 
 institutions created by their authority and alone for their benefit, 
 is inconsistent with the great and fundamental principle of self-gov- 
 ernment. 
 
14 
 
 I maintain that the people are at all times capable of determining 
 for themselves, and are the hest judges, as to what will promote their 
 own interests. That they have a right to determine for themselves 
 the number and character of banks they will have, and to restrict and 
 guard them, as the lights of experience may prove to be necessary, 
 ami to abolish them when they fail to perform their functions fully arid 
 properly, and cease to be a public benefit. And for one Legislature 
 to fasten upon the State a number of banking institutions for a period 
 of thirty or fifty years, the charters of which cannot be amended, 
 modified or repealed, is an usurpation of the rights of future Legis- 
 latures, contrary to the principles of self-government, and an out- 
 rage upon the rights of posterity. 
 
 It is, in eifect, denying to those who shall come after us the rights 
 which we claim and exercise for ourselves. And not only for our- 
 selves ; for, by this policy, we undertake to penetrate the dark and 
 distant future, and decide for our successors, for the next quarter or 
 half century, the character of institutions which they shall have, 
 withholding from them the power to mould or modify them to suit 
 their necessities or convenience, or to protect themselves against the 
 wrongs which they may perpetrate, or to abolish them, however per- 
 nicious and prejudicial to the public interest they may become : thus 
 denying to the people, in the future, the privilege of profiting by the 
 wholesome lessons taught by the experience of an entire generation. 
 
 I will never assume the responsibility of denying to the people, 
 in the future, the right of deciding for themselves as to the charac- 
 ter of institutions which will "be expedient for the public good," 
 aided, as they will be, in determining the question, by the lights of 
 experience, and the facts and circumstances which time will have 
 developed. 
 
 If the people of the present day need and desire banks, they have 
 a right to make such as the Constitution contemplates, and to manage 
 and control them for themselves ; but they have no right to forestall 
 the popular will and tie the hands of their successors. For the expe- 
 rience of every man proves that the policy which may be highly 
 expedient at this time, and under present circumstances, may become 
 the very reverse in the course of a few years, when circumstances 
 have changed. And the great distinguishing feature of our Gov- 
 ernment, which commands the love of its citizens, and the respect 
 and admiration of the civilized world, is that it is purely a Govern- 
 ment of the people, who have the capacity and the right to mould 
 and modify their institutions and their laws to suit their own inter- 
 est and convenience, and the circumstances Avhich may surround them 
 from time to time ; but if you adhere to the policy of irrepealable 
 charters, the result is the establishment of sovereignties within our 
 midst, invested with powers to affect materially the interest of every 
 man in the community, with regard to which the people have no 
 power except that of patiently enduring such wrangs as may be per- 
 petrated upon them. 
 
15 
 
 There is no dissenting voice in this country, and I trust there never 
 \vill be, to the proposition that the people, through their Legislature, 
 may at all times make, modify, or repeal the laws upon which the 
 life, liberty, and property of every man in the State depend ; yet 
 this policy of irrepealable charters and "vested rights" denies to 
 them the power to modify or repeal the law upon which the special 
 privileges and franchises of a soulless corporation depend. Are 
 these to be held more sacred by the people of Tennessee than the 
 life, liberty and property of the citizen ? 
 
 Let the banking system of the State, like all other measures of 
 public policy, be placed under the control of the people, and then 
 just so long as the banks perform their functions fully and in good 
 faith ; just so long as they make themselves advantageous and bene- 
 ficial to the public ; just so long as they are "expedient for the pub- 
 lic good," they will be fostered and sustained; and when they fail 
 in these respects, they ought to be abolished. 
 
 The fact that their continued existence is made to depend upon 
 their promoting the public good, by a full and fair performance of 
 duty, would furnish the powerful incentive of self preservation as a 
 motive to banks to avoid excesses, However much tempted by the 
 prospect of large profits, and to perform, with perfect fidelity, their 
 whole duty to the people. 
 
 It seems to me that you had as well expect a rational people to 
 shut themselves in from light, air, and the genial warmth of the sun, 
 as to expect them to strike down institutions which are promotive of 
 their interests, and beneficial and convenient to them; and the Con- 
 stitution forbids your chartering any corporation which is not of this 
 character. Hence, corporators who intend to make a bank which will 
 furnish to the people, at all times, and under all circumstances, a 
 sound, uniform, and convertible currency, need have no fear of the 
 reserved power; and it would be unwise and impolitic in the extreme, 
 as well as unconstitutional, to give them the privilege of creating 
 one of a different character. 
 
 About half the States of the Union, and amongst them New York 
 and Pennsylvania, two of the largest commercial States in the Gov- 
 ernment, guided by the lights of long experience in banking, have 
 been forced to adopt the policy of reserving complete legislative 
 control over their banking institutions. New York adopted this 
 policy by legislative enactment in 1829-30, and after testing it by a 
 trial of sixteen years, it was incorporated into the constitution of 
 that State, and there is not a single instance upon record, where it 
 has been adopted by any State that the reserved poAver has been 
 abused by the people. 
 
 Indeed, I cannot see why they should be expected to abuse this 
 power any sooner than any other or every other legislative power 
 which they possess. 
 
 I therefore earnestly recommend the following restrictions, as in- 
 
16 
 
 dispensably necessary to any system of banking which is expected 
 to furnish a sound, uniform, and convertible currency : 
 
 First. The power reserved to the people, through the Legislature, 
 to anmend or repeal the charter when " deemed expedient for the 
 public good" to do so. 
 
 Second. That no bank shall be permitted to issue more than two 
 dollars of paper for one of specie, or to permit its entire liabilities to 
 note holders, depositors, and others, at any time, to exceed the spe- 
 cie in the vaults more than three for one. 
 
 The experience of the financial world has demonstrated, beyond 
 controversy, that the convertibility of a paper currency cannot be 
 maintained, at all times, when the disproportion between their specie 
 and liabilities runs higher than this. 
 
 Third. That no bank be permitted to issue any note of less de- 
 nomination than twenty dollars. This will secure a specie currency 
 for all the smaller business transactions of the country, and at least a 
 partial exemption from losses by bank failures and a depreciated 
 currency, of that class of the community who are lea-st benefitted 
 by bank accommodations, and yet are generally the most serious 
 sufferers by their failures or depreciation. And the large amount of 
 specie necessarily retained in the country in constant circulation 
 under this policy, would go far to relieve, if it did not prevent the 
 commercial revulsions and financial derangements which have been 
 of but too frequent recurrence. , 
 
 Fourth. That no bank or branch bank in the State shall issue or 
 put in circulation any note or bill that is not payable in specie at the 
 counter where the same is issued or put in circulation. 
 
 The issue by each bank of nothing but its counter notes, would 
 confine the circulation of each bank to the legitimate wants of the 
 community, upon whose trade it is predicated. It would tend to 
 secure a sound currency in each and every neighborhood in which a 
 bank may be located, by affording to all an opportunity of convert- 
 ing into coin, without expense, whatever paper might not be needed 
 as a mere matter of convenience for our internal trade. 
 
 The facility for returning notes thus issued upon the bank for re- 
 demption, would serve as a constant check upon the banks, and would 
 do much towards keeping them within safe limits. It would put an 
 end to that system of flooding the country with the depreciated or 
 doubtful issues of our own or foreign institutions. 
 
 Fifth. The individual property f each stockholder to be liable for 
 the debts of the bank, but as between themselves, their liability to be 
 in proportion to the amount of stock taken by each, and this liability 
 to the creditors of the bank to continue for the term of four months 
 after public notice of any transfer of stock, so that the creditor may 
 proceed against the original stockholder, if he prefers doing so to re- 
 lying upon the solvency or management of the purchaser of the stock. 
 This will prevent solvent stockholders from relieving themselves 
 
17 
 
 from liabilities to creditors by transferring their stock to insolvent 
 parties. 
 
 Stockholders establish banks and invest* their capital in them for 
 their own pecuniary benefit; they have the management and control 
 of them ; if profits accrue they are the beneficiaries ; if losses are 
 sustained, they are bound, by every consideration of honesty and 
 fair dealing, to bear them ; but without some provision making them 
 individually liable, the stockholders will pocket the profits, and when, 
 through their mismanagement or fraud, the bank fails or its paper 
 depreciates, the note holders are forced to sustain the losses. Bank- 
 ing is purely the speculation of the stockholders, and they must 
 incur its hazards if they would realize its profits. 
 
 Indeed, where the managers of a bank are disposed to act fraudu- 
 lently, they may enrich themselves, by getting in circulation the 
 largest amount of their paper possible, suspend payment, discredit 
 the paper, and buy it up at mere nominal rates, or pocket the assets 
 and leave their creditors to look to the empty vaults of the corpora- 
 tion for satisfaction of their claims. Make them individually liable 
 to the creditors, and they will have no motive to discredit their own 
 paper, for they will be bound to make it good to the holder, and you 
 will thus secure a much more prudftit and safe management of these 
 institutions, than we have had under the present system. 
 
 Sixth. Require the registration and countersigning of every note 
 to be issued by a bank, by the Secretary of State, or some other 
 officer of the government, by which means the public can, at all 
 times, know the maximum circulation of every bank in the State, 
 and it would go far to prevent over issues. 
 
 Seventh. The creation of a Board of Supervisors, consisting of 
 three competent men, who shall have the power to enter and examine 
 the condition of every bank in the S^ate, at any time, and whose 
 duty it shall be to do so at least quarterly, and report, through the 
 columns of some newspaper at Nashville, their true condition, so 
 that the public may knoAV the real condition of the various banks, 
 and to what extent they are worthy of confidence. 
 
 The only information the public has as to the condition of banks, 
 under the present system, is through the reports of their officers, who 
 are interested in making the most favorable report possible, and 
 whilst, in a great majority of cases, these reports are honestly and 
 fairly made, yet, in some, they are not ; and the people are deeply 
 interested in, and have a right to know, the true condition of every 
 ban in the Stats. 
 
 Eighth. Make the suspension of specie payment for the 
 term of twenty days, or the violation of any provision of the 
 act of incorporation a forfeiture of charter, and give the supervisors 
 the power, when they shall be satisfied by a full examination that 
 any bank has thus suspended or violated its charter, and that the se- 
 curity of the public interest demands it, to attach the assets of the 
 bank for the benefit of creditors, and to proceed at once to prose- 
 2 
 
18 
 
 cute the bank to a judgment of forfeiture. Make it also their duty to 
 report to each session of the Legislature, and to recommend such 
 reforms as they may deem, necessary to the perfection of the system. 
 
 Ninth. Such penalties and forfeitures as will insure a strict ob- 
 servance of, and conformity to, all of the above, and such other re- 
 strictions as you may see proper to impose. 
 
 With these restrictions imposed upon the banking system of the 
 State, our currency must become much more uniform, sound, and re- 
 liable, than it has been heretofore under the present banking sys- 
 tem, and, under these restrictions, stockholders have an ample mar- 
 gin for legitimate and highly remunerative profits. 
 
 While it is indispensably necessary to the security of the public, 
 that the people should hold Legislative control over, and have 
 the power to, protect themselves from injury resulting from improper 
 practices of these institutions, by guarding, restricting, or abolishing 
 such banks as they may see proper to charter, yet it is confidently 
 believed that the State should not engage in banking, or any other 
 business or speculation in competition with her citizens, with a view 
 to money making. In addition to which, it may truly be said, that 
 you rarely find the same amount of care and energy exercised in the 
 execution of a public trust that iscommon to the prosecution of pri- 
 vate and individual enterprise : and as an investment, it is confident- 
 ly believed that if the entire property of the Bank of Tennessee was 
 converted into money, and with the capital of the bank invested in 
 the six per cent, bonds of the State, that it would result, ultimately, 
 in more profit to the Treasury than our present, or any other system 
 of government banking i ; likely to do. Thus furnishing, to that ex- 
 tent, a home market for our State securities, already depreciated for 
 the want of it, and ridding the State government of the expensive 
 and demoralizing machinery of a banking institution, and of the 
 hazards necessarily incident to the banking business. 
 
 The President and Directors of the Bank in their report to the 
 last session of the Legislature, say, "that the true interest of the 
 State will hereafter be best promoted by a dissolution of all connec- 
 tion with the banks or internal improvement companies, at as early 
 a period as the finances of the State will admit of it, without unne- 
 cessarily oppressing the people, and with due regard to the public 
 faith pledged to them." 
 
 In this opinion I fully concur. One million of dollars of the 
 capital of the bank was raised by the issue and sale of that amount 
 of the bonds of the State. These bonds fall due in 1868, and must 
 be paid either by taxation or out of the capital of the bank. 
 
 I have no doubt that the true policy of the State will be found in 
 winding up the Bank of Tennessee at the expiration of its charter, 
 and leaving the business of banking to private enterprize, under such 
 guards and restrictions as the Legislature may, from time to time, 
 see proper to throw around it. 
 
 For a statement of the business, profits and condition of the Bank 
 
19 
 
 of Tennessee, you are respectfully referred to the report of the Pre- 
 sident and Directors. 
 
 In this connection I earnestly recommend the adoption of resolu- 
 tions, proposing so to amend the Constitution of the State, as to 
 prohibit the Legislature from chartering banks or other speculative 
 corporations, without reserving the power to amend, modify, or re- 
 peal the same. 
 
 Without such constitutional prohibition, a single session of the 
 Legislature favorabls to the policy, may fasten upon the State any 
 aumber of corporations of this character, for half a century, depriv- 
 ing the people of the power to control or to abolish them, however 
 much every member of the community may feel the absolute neces- 
 sity of doing so. 
 
 The importance of the subject demands that I repeat to you a 
 recommendation which I had the honor of submitting to the Legis- 
 lature at its last session, of " an amendment of the Constitution of 
 the State, so as to fix a reasonable limit,, beyond which the Legisla- 
 ture shall not go, in creating a debt or liability of the State, without 
 first submitting the question directly to the people, except in cases 
 of invasion, insurrection, or rebellion. Such an amendment is cer- 
 tainly wise and proper in itself, securing to the people the right to 
 be consulted, and to determine for themselves, by popular vote, 
 whether they will take upon themselves the liability proposed or not ; 
 especially in view of the fact that our legislative elections are generally 
 made to turn much more upon party considerations and federal politics 
 than upon local or State policy, and most of the questions, out of which 
 have sprung these heavy liabilities, have been very little discussed, 
 if, indeed, they have been discussed at all, before the people, previ- 
 ous to their enactment. 
 
 Another salutai'y effect following such an amendment is, that it 
 would inspire confidence in such seeui ities as the State has issued, or 
 may hereafter issue, throughout the money markets of the world ; 
 and to the extent that you convince capitalists that we have not 
 issued, and will not issue bonds beyond our ability to pay, do you 
 restore and appreciate the credit of the State." 
 
 THE PENITENTIARY. 
 
 It will be seen from the Report of the Inspectors and Agent of 
 the Penitentiary, that there has been a gradual and constant increase 
 in the number of convicts received at the Prison for the last two 
 years. The number, however, is constantly fluctuating by the receipt 
 of new convicts and the discharge of others. The average may be 
 safely set down at about four hundred. 
 
 The institution is laboring under some serious disadvantages, which 
 the best interests of the State, as well 'as the laws of humanity, re- 
 quire should be speedily remedied. 
 
 It is impossible to employ the labor of the average number of con- 
 
20 
 
 victs profitably within the area of the present prison walls. In my 
 opinion it is absolutely necessary that the walls be extended north 
 to th n northern boundary of the property owned by the State, so as 
 to include the entire property. There is not within the present in- 
 closure sufficient shop room for the hands, shelter room for the neces- 
 sary stock of material, or ware room for the articles manufactured. 
 If you would employ the labor of the convicts profitably, additional 
 shops must be built, or every shop in the prison enlarged. In ad- 
 dition to which a ware and sale room in front of the prison, where 
 every article shall be deposited so soon as completed, and where all 
 sales shall be made by one salesman, is indispensable to the success 
 of the institution in a pecuniary point of view. The last Legislature 
 appropriated the sum of ten thousand dollars (810,000) for the pur- 
 pose of building additional cells ; and under the supervision of the 
 present very efficient Board of Inspectors and Agent, a new wing, 
 containing one hundred and twenty cells, has been constructed, 
 which I am satisfied, will, in point of security, neatness, convenience, 
 and comfort, compare favorably with any prison in the United States. 
 But the old building had only two hundred and thirty-two cells, and 
 the new wing has one hundred and twenty, which makes the whole 
 number only three hundred and fifty-two, while the number of con- 
 victs almost constantly considerably exceed the number of cells. 
 More cells are indispensable to the health and comfort of the con- 
 victs, and should by all means be provided for without delay. 
 
 There is at present no place of deposit for the excrement from 
 the prison. The practice heretofore has been to haul it out and de- 
 posit it near the walls upon adjacent lots owned by individuals, but 
 the country around the prison is being rapidly settled up and becom- 
 ing densely populated, and the community will not, and should not 
 be expected to submit to the creation of a nuisance of this character 
 in their midst. The only remedy for this evil will be found in the 
 construction of a subterranean sewer, which will carry off all of this 
 excrement, without injury or offence to any one. 
 
 It is believed that much the greater portion, if not all the work 
 in the construction of the improvements necessary, can be done by 
 the convicts, if the Legislature should see proper so to employ their 
 labor. In that event, however, appropriations from the Treasury 
 will be necessary, for the purchase of material and the support of 
 the institution while their labor is thus employed. 
 
 For full and accurate information as to the business and condition 
 of the Penitentiary, you are referred to the report of the Inspectors 
 and Agent. From which it will be seen that the available assets for 
 the last two years are about equal to the liabilities incurred for the 
 same period, and the labor of the convicts in the construction of the 
 new wing, is estimated at about (27,000j twenty-seven thousand 
 dollars, and the stone cut for the Capitol is estimated at about 
 (317,000) seventeen thousand dollars more than they receive for it, 
 which makes a total of ($44,000) forty-four thousand dollars, about 
 
21 
 
 which .amount, it is believed by the Agent, -would have been realized 
 from the prison, if the entire labor of the convicts had been employed 
 in manufacture instead of improvement. 
 
 The general management of the prison, as regards discipline, 
 subordination, cleanliness, and the observance of all rules necessary 
 to the preservation and promotion of health and comfort, will com- 
 pare most favorably with any prison in the Union. 
 
 Governments, however, are never good financiers never manage 
 pecuniary interests successfully or well and ours forms no excep- 
 tion to the general rule in this respect. 
 
 In view of which fact, I do not doubt that the best interests of the 
 State would be promoted by leasing out the entire labor of the prison 
 annually. The State, through her agent, feeding, clothing, and 
 controlling the convicts, as at present, except as to the character of 
 work within the various shops, which would be determined and con- 
 trolled by the lessee. The Legislature prescribing, with precision, 
 the rules which are to regulate the leasing of the various shops, and 
 the government of the convicts, so as to secure to them the best 
 treatment, and the highest degree of comfort consistent with their 
 position. 
 
 There can be no doubt that, in a pecuniary point of view, the 
 State would be greatly profited by the adoption of this policy. In 
 the States where it has been tried, it is said to have worked remark- 
 ably well, and I cannot doubt it would do so here. 
 
 THE STATE AGRICULTURAL BUREAU. 
 
 The report of the State Agricultural Bureau, which will be laid 
 before you by the Secretary, on the first of December, will inform 
 you of the progress made since the last report, in the formation of 
 County Agricultural Societies, and of the results accomplished by 
 these Societies in agricultural improvements. There have been 
 chartered in the State, forty- two County Societies. Most of these 
 are in operation, acting under the general law, and reporting annually 
 to the State Bureau. Division Fairs are held each year, at Knoxville 
 and Jackson, for the Eastern and Western divisions of the State, 
 akd in the Middle division with some one of the County Societies of 
 that division. County Fairs are, also, annually held by nearly all 
 the County Societies, at vrhich a very commendable emulation in ex- 
 cellence of stock, agricultural products and mechanical skill is excited. 
 A noticeable advance in improved methods of farming, as well as in 
 the products of the farm and the implements of cultivation, has been 
 made within the last few years. The products of the soil have been 
 increased, and the soil itself protected against exhaustion, by more 
 intelligent and scientific culture ; while the invention and gradual 
 introduction of improved machines for the cultivation and husbandry 
 of crops, and the yearly increased facilities for transporting those 
 crops to the best markets, by making production cheaper and en- 
 
22 
 
 hancing value, is rapidly advancing the wealth of the State and of 
 her citizens. The leading business of the people of Tennessee is 
 agriculture and its attendant interest the production of domestic 
 animals. It has been a policy adopted by your predecessors in 
 legislating for the State, with great unanimity, to encourage and 
 foster this interest. Many of you have been witnesses of the effect 
 of this legislation in your own counties and districts, and bring to 
 your duties as legislators, personal experience of the benefits of past 
 legislation in stimulating the industry and developing the resources 
 of the State. A continuance of the policy which has proved of so 
 much benefit will, therefore, I am confident, accord with your own 
 judgment, as well as with the expectations aud wishes of your 
 constituents. 
 
 The framers of the act establishing a State Agricultural Bureau, 
 evidently intended and expected that its provisions would apply 
 equally to the agricultural and mechanical interests of the State, and 
 it has been the earnest desire of the Bureau so to execute their duties 
 as to secure such a result. In 1855-6 an act was passed providing 
 for an appropriation of $10,000 each to East, Middle, and West 
 Tennessee, to purchase and fit up Fair grounds, in the event that the 
 delegates to the Division Fairs of those divisions should think it ex- 
 pedient to locate the Division Fairs. Under this act, the Division 
 Fair for East Tennessee was located at Knoxville, and that for West 
 Tennessee at Jackson, and the appropriation of $10,000 for each 
 fair was drawn from the Treasury. The Middle Division Fair was 
 not located : the delegates deciding that they preferred the plan of 
 holding the fair for that division, as originally provided, alternately 
 in the different counties. Application was therefore made by the 
 Mechanical Association at Nashville, for a transfer to their Associa- 
 tion of the ten thousand dollars which had been thus' contingently 
 appropriated and not used, to aid them in building a hall for their 
 purposes in Nashville. The Legislature, at its last session, passed 
 an act consenting to the transfer, provided the consent of the dele- 
 gate members to the Bureau from Middle Tennessee should first be 
 obtained. The members in question have taken no final action in 
 the matter. I refer the subject to you for further action, if you 
 deem such action necessary and proper, adopting for myself the 
 language of my immediate predecessor, speaking of the subject in 
 his last message to the Legislature. 
 
 The Mechanics' Institute of Tennessee, said Gov. JOHNSON, has 
 done much, it is believed, by its annual fairs, to stimulate the me- 
 chanical and manufacturing interests of the State, and to develop 
 much talent peculiar to the successful prosecution of these branches 
 of industry. The leading principle upon which this institution is 
 established, is paramount, in directing the mechanical genius of the 
 young men of the country, in that branch of mechanism to which it 
 is best adapted. In brief, it is designed to stimulate and bring out 
 the latent mechanical talent and excite a laudable ambition among 
 
23 
 
 mechanics, manufacturers, ar^tizans, and inventors, to excel, to foster 
 and to encourage the arts in every way, and ultimately to establish a 
 school of design for the benefit of the youth of the State, whose oppor- 
 tunities are limited for the want of pecuniary means, or otherwise. 
 The institution is not established upon such a basis as desired by the 
 Directors ; though they have been struggling against many difficul- 
 ties, it is believed they will ultimately succeed in its permanent es- 
 tablishment. They desire to erect a Hall suitable for the institution, 
 and have already leased a lot of ground convenient and favorably 
 located for the erection of suitable buildings. 
 
 The Legislature with great liberality has aided other important 
 interests in the State, such as Railroads and Agriculture. Will it 
 not therefore extend similar aid to manufacturers and mechanics, 
 and in so doing place these great interests on an equal footing with 
 the other industrial pursuits of the country, and thereby exonerate 
 the Legislature from the charge of invidious and partial legislation ? 
 If you legislate for one, legislate for the whole. 
 
 STATE LINE COMMISSION. 
 
 Being informed by His Excellency, Henry A. Wise, Governor of 
 the State of Virginia, of his readiness to send a commission to the 
 field, to mset commissioners from Tennessee, for the purpose of run- 
 ning and re-marking the line between the States of Tennessee and 
 Virginia: In obedience to the act of 1858, chap. 43, I appointed 
 Gen. Samuel Milligan, of the county of Greene, and Col. George R. 
 McClellan, of the county of Sullivan, Commissioners on the part 
 of Tennessee. 
 
 The joint commission has been in the field for some considerable 
 time, and I am informed by the commissioners that they have com- 
 pleted the work ; their engineer being now engaged in the prepara- 
 tion of the necessary maps, &c., which, when completed, will enable 
 me to lay their final report before you. 
 
 The second section of the act authorizes the Governor to pay one- 
 half of all the expenses incurred in running and marking the line, 
 and two dollars per day to each Tennessee Commissioner, and ten 
 cents per mile for all necessary travel going to and returning from 
 the line, &c. 
 
 I have, at the request of the Commissioners, ordered the Comp- 
 troller to issue his warrants upon the treasury to them, amounting 
 in the aggregate to the-sum of $1,697 68. 
 
 In this connection, it is proper that I call your attention to the 
 fact that the compensation allowed the Commissioners by the act 
 above cited, is wholly inadequate to the service required. The 
 duties devolving upon this commission involve weighty responsibili- 
 ties, and much labor and exposure. 
 
 I respectfully recommend that their compensation be made equal 
 to the importance of the service required at their hands. 
 
24 
 
 The act of January, 1858, chap. 26, provides for the appointment 
 of two Commissioners by the Governor of Tennessee to meet such 
 Commissioners as may be appointed on the part of the State of Ken- 
 tucky, "to run and re-mark the line established by the compact be- 
 tween the States of Tennessee and Kentucky." The 2nd section 
 makes it the duty of the Governor to transmit a copy of the act to 
 the Legislature of Kentucky, then in session, with a request that 
 said Legislature take such action as may be necessary to effect the 
 object. I transmitted a copy of the act to His Excellency, Charles 
 S. Morehead, Governor of Kentucky, immediately after its passage, 
 with a request that he would lay the same before the Legislature of 
 that State, accompanied with such recommendation as he might see 
 proper to make. Very soon after which, I was informed by a com- 
 munication from Gov. Morehead, that the Legislature of Kentucky 
 had passed an act very similar to our own, and that Kentucky was 
 ready to proceed with the work. Whereupon I appointed, as Com- 
 missioners upon the part of Tennessee, Dr. Benjamin Peeples, of 
 the county of Henry, and Col. 0. R. Watkins, of the county of 
 Jefferson. 
 
 They proceeded to the field some time in the month of November, 
 1858, and have been progressing with the work since that time. 
 The information derived from correspondence Avith the Commis- 
 sioners, justifies the belief that they will complete the .survey in time 
 to enable me to lay their final report before you during your present 
 session. 
 
 The 4th section of the act appropriates the sum of three thousand 
 dollars to the purchase of necessary instruments and the cost of 
 making the survey. This sum being exhausted, and there being no 
 authority to furnish the Commissioners such funds from the treasury 
 as was absolutely necessary to complete the work, we procured for 
 them, from the Bank of Tennessee, upon the individual credit of 
 myself, Col. J. E. R. Ray and Gen. J. T. Dunlap, the sum of two 
 thousand dollars, for which the Bank holds our note. 
 
 It will devolve upon your present session to provide for the pay 
 ment of the balance of the expenses of the Tennessee Commission 
 in making this survey, and also to fix the rate of compensation to 
 the Commissioners, as the act is silei.t upon that subject ; and I re- 
 spectfully recommend that it be made fully commensurate with the 
 toil, exposure, privations, and responsibilities which the duties of the 
 position impose. 
 
 THE STATE LlBRAKY.* 
 
 I beg to commend the State Library to your favorable consid- 
 eration. It may now be regarded as an institution of the State, 
 having been founded by your predecessors of 1855, and liberally 
 provided for by the last General Assembly. An efficient method 
 of discharging your constitutional " duty to cherish literature 
 
25 
 
 and science," is by extending your aid to this interesting depart- 
 ment of our government. But besides enumerating it among the 
 objects of legislative solicitude and care, I have another motive for 
 giving it a place in this communication, that of informing the 
 young men of the State, that even now, they may find on its shelves 
 much important aid to investigation and research in almost every 
 branch of knowledge; and of suggesting to them that a few months 
 spent "within its walls, in diligent study, before entering upon the 
 pursuits to which they intend to devote their lives, would be an evi- 
 dence of their resolution to make themselves useful citizens. You 
 will learn, from the Librarian's report, its present condition and its 
 operations for the past two years. It is hoped that the work of fit- 
 ting up the room, appropriated to the reception of the books, may 
 be completed by the commissioners of the capitol before your ad- 
 journment, in accordance with the act of 1855, so as to enable you 
 to see more clearly what has been and what remains to be done, to 
 place the library upon a footing of utility and efficiency. 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 The llth section of the act of March, 1858, chap. 55, authorizes 
 the Governor to have made, under the direction of the Superinten- 
 dent of Weights and Measures, for each county in the State, a set of 
 substitutes, or copies of the standard weights and measures, and such 
 other apparatus as may be necessary to their use. 
 
 On the 28th of March, 1858, I addressed a note to the Superin- 
 tendent, directing him to proceed at once to their manufacture. He 
 has completed eighty-five sets, samples of which are now in the 
 office of weights and measures, subject to your inspection. About 
 half of them have been delivered to such counties as have, through 
 their County C.ourts, applied for them, and the balance are ready 
 for delivery upon proper application. 
 
 They have been gotten up by the Superintendent with a precision 
 and accuracy, and in a style of workmanship, which, I doubt not, 
 will be found entirely satisfactory to the public, and highly credit- 
 able to that officer. 
 
 They have cost in the aggregate $4,250 08, which makes the cost 
 of each set $50 00. Nothing has been done in the manufacture of 
 the standard weights and measures for the several counties of the 
 State since your last session ; the entire time and attention of the 
 Superintendent having been devoted to preparing the substitutes 
 above referred to. 
 
 PUBLIC ARMS. 
 
 The act of March, 1858, chap. 81, authorizes the Superintendent 
 of Weights and Measures to collect and keep in good order the public 
 anas of the State. The Capitol Commissioners have set apart and 
 had fitted up the north basement of the Capitol as a State Arsenal, 
 
2C 
 
 and upon my order the public arms, heretofore deposited at Knox- 
 ville, Jackson and the State Prison, have been removed to the Ar- 
 senal and placed in the keeping of the Superintendent. A full and 
 accurate report, as to their number, character and condition will be 
 laid before you during the present session. 
 
 REPORT OF THE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE. 
 
 The Joint Select Committee, appointed by the Legislature at its 
 last session, to examine and report, in vacation, the condition of the 
 books and accounts in the offices of the Comptroller and Secretary 
 of State, after a laborious investigation of the manner in which the 
 business of these offices had been conducted, eliciting many facts 
 and conclusions of importance and general interest to the public, 
 submitted their report to me, six thousand copies of which have been 
 printed in pamphlet form by the public printer, some of which have 
 been distributed amongst the people and the balance are in the pos- 
 session of the Secretary of State, subject to any order which you 
 may see proper to make respecting them. A copy of the Report is 
 herewith transmitted. The facts developed by this investigation, 
 demonstrate the necessity of a more effectual system of checks upon 
 the accounting officers of the Treasury, so as to place it beyond the 
 power of any one of them, to defraud the Treasury, without the 
 complicity of another. While I have the utmost confidence both in 
 the integrity and entire competency of the present incumbents, I 
 deem it a matter of the highest importance that such a system of 
 checks should be adopted, as will put it out of the power of any pubjj 
 lie officer to practice frauds upon the Treasury, without the certainty 
 of immediate detection and punishment. 
 
 CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 For full and accurate information, as to the present condition and 
 business of the Hospital for the Insane, and the Institutions for the 
 education of the Blind and the Deaf and Dumb 3 you are respectfully 
 referred to their several reports. 
 
 The establishment and support of these institutions, do honor to 
 the philanthropy and liberality of the people of the State, and in 
 this enlightened age, it requires no argument to prove, that we are 
 bound, by every consideration of justice and humanity, to those most 
 unfortunate classes of our citizens, to continue to yield a liberal sap- 
 port to these institutions, which contribute so much to their comfort 
 and the alleviation of their misfortunes. Such information as I receive 
 respecting them, justifies the belief, that the present condition and 
 management of each of those institutions will compare favorably with 
 those of a similar character anywhere. 
 
 Your favorable consideration of all just claims, in aid of these 
 praiseworthy efforts in behalf of the cause of humanity, is respect- 
 fully invoked. 
 
27 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 
 Since the adjournment of the last session of the Legislature, a 
 vacancy in the office of Secretary of State was occasioned by the 
 resignation of Dr. F. N. W. Burton, which I filled on the 28th day 
 of May, 1858, by appointing to said office John E. R. Ray, Esq., 
 of the county of Shelby. 
 
 The duty of filling this vacancy, by election, devolves] upon the 
 present session of the General Assembly. 
 
 THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE 
 
 Is, by law, in the custody of the Governor, and can only be used 
 by his order ; it is that which gives authenticity to every official doc- 
 ument coming from the Executive Department. There is at present 
 no law prohibiting individuals from making and using a fac simile, 
 which might be done greatly to the prejudice of the State and the 
 injury of individuals; to prevent which, I respectfully recommend 
 the passage of a law containing such prohibition, and prescribing 
 such penalties as may be considered necessary to accomplish the 
 object. 
 
 SALARIES. 
 
 Whilst I hold it to be the duty of all governments to pursue the 
 strictest economy in the expenditure of public money, consistent 
 with the efficiency of the public service and sound public policy, I 
 hold that it is equally the duty of governments to pay their public 
 officers such salaries as will defray all expenditures which are neces- 
 sarily incident to their respective positions, with a reasonable com- 
 pensation for their services. A contrary policy will, in effect, ex- 
 clude all men from the honors of public position except such as have 
 estates sufficient to justify them in sacrificing their time to the public 
 service, and it requires no argument to show the gross injustice of 
 such a policy. 
 
 Under the present law the Secretary of State receives a salary of 
 $800, and as Internal Improvement Commissioner $500, w ith some 
 inconsiderable perquisits ; and the Treasurer a salary of fifteen hun- 
 dred dollars per annum, with three-fourths of one per cei>t. upon all 
 monies received and disbursed by him as Treasurer of the Insane 
 Hospital, which amounts to about four hundred dollars. 
 
 The duties of each of these offices require the constant presence 
 of the officer at the Capitol, and it is a fact, easily demonstrated, 
 that they cannot bring their families to Nashville and support them 
 upon their respective salaries. 
 
 These salaries were fixed at a time when the necessary expenses 
 ot living were not more than half as much as they are at present, 
 nor the responsibility connected with these offices much more than 
 half as great as they are at this time. 
 
28 
 
 The salary of the Agent of the Penitentiary was reduced by the 
 last Legislature to the ^um of one thousand dollars. The duties of 
 this office impose weighty responsibilities, great vigilence and con- 
 stant attention, and require a high order of business qualifications. 
 
 I respectfully recommend a full investigation of the matter, and 
 the fixing of such salaries for the officers referred to as may be 
 deemed fair and just, both to them and the public. 
 
 THE HERMITAGE. 
 
 The act of February llth, 1856, chapter 96, authorized and di- 
 rected the Governor to purchase, for the State of Tennessee, five 
 hundred acres of the late residence of Gen. Andrew Jackson, de- 
 ceased, including the mansion, tomb, and other improvements, known 
 as the Hermitage. This duty, as was reported to the Legislature at 
 its last session, was performed, at a cost of forty-eight thousand dol- 
 lars. The same act directed that a tender of the property should 
 be made to the Federal Government, on the express condition that 
 it should be used for a branch of the Military Academy at West 
 Point, and that if it should not be accepted for that purpose, within 
 two years from the expiration of that session of the Legislature, it 
 was made the duty of the Governor to have laid off fifty acres, in- 
 cluding the tomb, the mansion and the spring and spring-houses, and 
 expose the balance to public sale. The tender having been made by 
 my predecessor, and not acted on by the Federal Government, the 
 Legislature, at its last session, passed an act (chap. 52) giving the 
 further time of two years from the 6th of February, 1858, during 
 which the Federal Government might signify its acceptance of the 
 tender. By the original act, Mr. Andrew Jackson was allowed the 
 possession of the property for the term of two years, unless applied 
 for by the General Government within that time ; and by the act of 
 1858, it was made the duty of the Governor to see that the property 
 was taken care of, until the Federal Government should determine 
 the question of its acceptance. The Federal Government having 
 failed to signify its acceptance of the property on the terms provided 
 in the act of 1856, and Major Jackson having notified me of his 
 intention to remove from it during the coming winter, further legis- 
 lation will be necessary at your present session. 
 
 If it be deemed advisable to sell a part of the property, I' recom- 
 mend that the part reserved by the State be laid off in a square, so 
 as to include the mansion, tomb and spring and spring-houses, and 
 extend out to the Nashville and Lebanon Turnpike, which would 
 probably embrace about one hundred and fifty acres. You cannot 
 preserve the harmony and beauty of the property without including 
 at least this much ; and that specific instructions for its preservation 
 and care be provided by law. 
 
 The most appropriate custodian of the estate would seem to me to 
 be the State Agricultural Bureau ; and, in the event of its willing- 
 
29 
 
 ness to accept, anil preserve, and beautify the property, the whole 
 should be retained, if preferred by the Bureau. This body, com- 
 posed of gentlemen, eminent alike for their enterprise, intelligence, 
 public spirit and patriotism, would, I am confident, undertake the 
 management of the property, and so direct it as not only to preserve, 
 but to beautify and adorn it. 
 
 The farmers of the State would feel constant" pride in decorating 
 with their choicest care the fields Avhich the hero lo-ved so well, and 
 which are sacred to them as holding the ashes of the patriot. I re- 
 fer the matter to your consideration, confident that you will do all in 
 the premises which the Representatives of the people of a great 
 State can do, to protect as the shrine of patriotism, and to decorate, 
 as the resort of beauty and taste, the beloved resting-place of him 
 who will be regarded, by all coming generations, as one of the 
 purest patriots, and as having been at once the hero and the states- 
 man, the captain and the sage. 
 
 Invoking the blessings of Divine Providence upon your dlibera- 
 tions, this great Commonwealth, and our whole country, I commend 
 to your care and favorable consideration the foregoing recommenda- 
 tions, with all other questions which affect the prosperity and well- 
 being of the people of Tennessee. 
 
 ISHAM G. HARRIS. 
 
000 067 261