MESSAGE 
-OF_ 
GOV, ROBERT L, TAYLOR 
-TO THE— 
FORTY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
-OF THE 
State- of Tennessee. 
Thursday, January 10, 1889. 
Nashville, Tenn. : 
Marshall & Bruce, Printers to the State. 
1889. MESSAGE 
OF 
GOV. ROBERT L, TAYLOR 
TO THE- 
FORTY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
OF THE 
State of Tennessee. 
Thursday, January 10, 1889. 
Nashville, Tenn. : 
Marshall & Bruce, Printers to the State. 
1889. GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE. 
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives: 
The auspicious conditions that surround the material inter- 
ests of the Commonwealth in almost every avenue of business 
and enterprise foreshadow a rapid, progressive development 
that will soon place our State in the front rank of the best and 
richest of them all. I congratulate you, gentlemen, and the 
people upon so happy a condition of affairs. The rich possi- 
bilities that lie before us emphasize the grave responsibility 
that rests upon the chosen servants of the people. With full 
confidence in the sagacity and patriotism of the individual 
members of the Forty-sixth General Assembly I call upon you, 
in the name of the people, to justify that confidence by enact- 
ing such wise laws as will contribute to the happiness of the 
people and the well-being of the Commonwealth. I will sub- 
mit for your consideration some of the principal questions, and 
recommend such legislation as to me seems to be demanded. 
THE FINANCES. 
Tennessee’s financial history has been a series of remarkable 
events familiar to all; but patriotic men, with great wisdom and 
integrity of purpose, have solved the perplexing problem- and I 
am proud to point you to the first bright rift in the dark cloud 
of debt and disaster which has so long hung over us. It will 
be observed that the funding of our bonds is practically com- 
plete, and that the debt is compacted into a shape to be more 
easily handled. It is a remarkable tribute to the wisdom that 
conceived and the genius that executed this transposition that 
it has been done without increasing the taxes upon the people 
and without failure to meet promptly every obligation, both 
current and extraordinary. The immense extraordinary ox- 4 
pense incurred by tlie building of our new charitable institu- 
tions and the payment of the State bank debt, made it neces- 
sary, in order to meet the semi-annual interest upon the funded 
debt, to borrow some considerable sums of money. But for 
these extraordinary expenditures the State would have been 
able to meet the interest out of her own treasury, and would 
have had quite a respectable sum to pass to the Sinking Fund. 
This achievement foreshadows what will occur within the next 
two years. Tennessee will be emancipated from the thralldom 
of unwieldy obligations, and plant her feet once more upon the 
solid rock. The present tax rate is entirely adequate to con- 
summate this end; and until this long-sought result is reached, 
it occurs to me that the unanimous voice of Tennesseans, could 
it be heard, would demand that the means be not decreased. 
The current treasury receipts during the biennial term show 
an increase over that of the term before of $223,751.92, the total 
receipts being $3,694,996.37. This increase is due to the natural 
increase in property, to closer collections and prompt settle- 
ments by Trustees, demonstrating the better ability of the 
people to pay. The increased valuation of property, and the 
new property which the new assessment law ferrets out, has 
not yet been materially discernable in the collections, but will 
be manifest in the collections now being made. The valuation 
of property has increased fifty-eight millions, giving a net in- 
crease of property tax for the current year of about $170,000. 
The total expenditures have been $3,408,761.69, divided as 
follows: Interest on the debt, $1,144,718.50; Hospital for In- 
sane for West Tennessee, Bank of Tennessee 
obligations, $373,114.43; interest on loans, $34,655.82; loan 
account, $262,500. The balance was currently expended. There 
have been borrowed at various times amounts aggregating 
$966,002.10. Of this amount $262,500 lias been paid, leaving a 
balance chargable to loan of $703,502.10. The estimates for 
the current year show that the current expenses can be met and 
this amount reduced to about $200,000 within the next two 
months, thus stopping the accruing interest. These loans were 
made necessary, and were foreseen by the last Legislature that 
authorized them by the building and completion of the two new 5 
asylums, by the funding of the bonds, by the Bank of Tennessee 
obligations, and by other smaller extraordinary appropriations. 
It will be observed that it is imperatively necessary that the 
present valuation of property must be maintained in order for 
the State to meet its obligations under the existing tax rate. 
With this rate continued, within the next two years the State 
will have entirely recovered from these extraordinary drains 
upon its resources, and will be able to meet every obligation 
out of its current receipts. * 
THE ASSESSMENT LAW. 
Experience has demonstrated the futility of all effort to make 
assessments exactly equal upon all classes. It seems to be a 
problem incapable of exact solution, although there has been 
no lack of diligence on the part of our General Assemblies to 
tax all men and all interests alike. Our present system has 
brought good results at least in that it has yielded more revenue, 
but it is questionable if this has not been accomplished at the 
expense of exact equality of assessment. Your duty is to see 
that all citizens stand equal, that no interest should be over 
taxed, that lands should have first concession, being the source 
of all the substance of the people; that industrial enterprises 
shall have the least possible embargo laid upon it., as along this 
line lies the road to our greatest wealth. The law should be so 
amended as to equalize as far as possible the burdens of taxa- 
tion, and I need not admonish you carefully to investigate to 
see wherein its defects lie. 
THE PENITENTIARY. 
Your honorable bodies are confronted with that ever-recur- 
ring perplexity—the prison problem. As you are aware, the 
present lease expires before another Legislature shall assemble, 
and it devolves upon you to make provision for the safe-keep- 
ing and disposition of our convicts. There seems to be an im- 
perative demand for the removal of the prison beyond the lim- 
its of the city of Nashville. If the lease is discontinued it will 
be necessary to enlarge the prison to three times its present 6 
capacity, as there are about 1,350 prisoners, and accommodation 
sufficient only for 550. It would be better, therefore, to deter- 
mine the question of removal at once, so that the necessary 
buildings may be erected upon the new site. The present prop- 
erty will be very valuable if its use as a prison is discontinued, 
and the price that might he realized would go far toward pay- 
ing for a new site where land is less valuable, and erect build- 
ings sufficient to safely keep the entire number. The arrange- 
ment for the cells within the prison as it now exists is deplorably 
lacking in sanitary precaution, and if the prison is not removed, 
common humanity demands a complete remodeling of the 
wings. 
There has been much public criticism of the lease system, 
and while there are doubtless some ground for objection in- 
herent in such disposition and use of the State’s prisoners, I 
have yet to hear of a feasible plan for utilizing the labor of 
convicts that is not subject to the objection that it brings con- 
vict labor in competition with free labor. When that problem 
is solved we will have reached the millennium of prison man- 
agement. These matters call for gravest consideration, and 
their settlement will require the combined wisdom of the Leg- 
islature. I can only recommend that you make such disposi- 
tion of the convicts of Tennessee as will put them least in com- 
petition with free labor. I am of opinion, however, that noth- 
ing better can be done than to re-lease the prison for a term, in 
order that fair and intelligent consideration may be given to 
this perplexing question, looking to its final settlement. 
During the past two years the management of our prisons 
has been exceptionally good, the officers have been faithful and 
efficient, and every obligation to the State has been promptly 
met. The power lodged in the executive to grant pardons for 
good cause has been subjected to an unwarranted wholesale on- 
slaught. The executive office is overwhelmed with applica- 
tions, petitions, and recommendations for pardons; and, in view 
of the fact that to give them proper consideration and do jus- 
tice to applicants would necessarily consume nearly his entire 
time and attention, which should be directed to matters of more 7 
moment, and of the further fact that there are numbers of mer- 
itorious claims under all manner of mitigating conditions, which 
appeal to executive clemency, and which deserve consideration 
in the interest of humanity, I would respectfully recommend 
that your honorable bodies consider the advisability of insti- 
tuting a pardoning hoard, whose duty it shall be to examine all 
applications for pardon, and make such recommendations to 
the executive as justice and mercy may demand. 
« 
REFORMATORY INSTITUTION. 
I desire especially to recommend the establishment and main- 
tenance of a reform school for criminal children. Children should 
not be placed in the penitentiary; it is barbarous and cruel and 
ruinous to them. I have made it a practice to turn them out; 
and, having no place to send them to be reformed, they have been 
sent home, some of them to be reformed by home influences 
and by the check thrown upon a budding career of crime by a 
conviction, and others to be returned for other offenses. To 
place a child in the society of felons for years is a cruel murder 
of the moral instincts that might be awakened under proper 
influences, and make a useful citizen for the State and save a 
soul from damnation. No higher duty devolves upon your 
honorable bodies than to provide a reformatory institution 
where these young criminals may be educated away from crime, 
and I therefore urgently suggest that ample measures be taken 
to effect it. 
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
The Public School System of Tennessee has had a hard 
struggle to keep pace with the progress and advancement of 
the times. Notwithstanding the fact that the education of the 
masses overshadows all other interests, we have not, as yet, 
been able to make adequate provisions for them. That they 
are efficient and the results are glorious in a degree, is attrib- 
utable largely to the zeal and self-sacrificing labors of the teach- 
ers of the State—a class of men and women with perhaps the 
most sacred and responsible trust that can be committed to 
mortals, and less adequately compensated. The great ability 8 
manifested in the management of the system, and the achieve- 
ments made in bringing it to a more perfect status, appeal to 
your honorable bodies for every possible aid and encourage- 
ment, to the end that the full measure of benefits may be real- 
ized by the people. Experts are of opinion that the law as it 
exists is ample and wise, and, with proper administration and 
sufficient means, can be made to answer the ends sought. I 
recommend, however, that they be amended by some appropri- 
ate legislation to enforce the law requiring the elements of sci- 
entific agriculture to be taught in the public schools, or to 
amend that law so that proper text-books may be utilized. 
Farming is a science (a fact too little appreciated), and there 
has latterly been given an impetus to the effort to institute bet- 
ter facilities for inculcating the scientific principles that are in- 
volved that promises a revolution in practices that will materi- 
ally enhance results, and lighten the labor in attaining them. 
It is eminently proper, therefore, that the boy who intends to 
farm shall be trained from the start, and it would be better for 
all if there was a more general and perfect knowledge at least 
of the rudiments of this great science. 
The Superintendent’s report shows a most remarkable in- 
crease of children, and a corresponding increase of facilities 
and means and effort to meet the increased obligation and de- 
mand. It is worthy of your closest attention. Our responsi- 
bilities are becoming enormous, and they call for correspond- 
ingly increased attention and care. 
It is due also to the public schools that the Legislature take 
some action that will insure a closer collection of the poll-taxes, 
in which $100,000 is lost annually, and require trustees to be 
more careful to keep inviolate and rightfully appropriate to 
its proper purpose the moneys collected for the school fund. 
There has been gross carelessness in this respect in some places, 
as the report shows, and it calls for investigation and a remedy. 
The annual convention of school superintendents, inaugurated 
by our Superintendent, is destined to be a potent factor in 
bringing our public schools to the highest possible grade of 
perfection. 9 
UNIVERSITY OP TENNESSEE. 
It is my pleasure to say that from a personal official inspec- 
tion of the premises and apparatus, and from the reports of its 
operations, that this splendid institution is on a more solid 
basis and in a more flourishing condition than ever before in its 
history. The work done under the present management is 
phenomenal, and challenges the applause and merits the hearty 
congratulation of the people to whom it belongs. Its adapt- 
ability to meet the ends for which it was instituted has been 
many times multiplied. Neat and commodious new buildings 
have been erected, the older ones improved, the grounds graded 
and beautified, and ample and expensive apparatus and ma- 
chinery supplied in all the departments for the training of boys 
in mechanical and manual employments, as well as in scientific 
pursuits. The agricultural farm adjoining has been wonder- 
fully improved, and affords splendid opportunity for scientific 
experiments. Its president and principal, Dr. Chas. W. Dab- 
ney, a man of remarkable sagacity and energetic expedient, has 
effected a complete revolution of method, and arrested the de- 
cay that up to two years ago marked its gradual downfall, until 
now its face is turned toward the morning, and it is in full 
career toward the very highest plane of educational usefulness. 
There has been a considerable outlay of money, individually 
expended by its managers and promoters to bring the Univer- 
sity up to its present standard—erect the buildings, provide the 
apparatus, etc.—and, in view of this, it seems to be incumbent 
upon the General Assembly to examine into' its merits and its 
work, and to afford it such succor and aid as may be just and 
right. 
NORMAL COLLEGE. 
The State Normal College is making rapid advancement. 
One of the most vital interests of the people is here involved. 
Its mission is to train the teachers who are to mold and fashion 
the minds of our children—of those who will one day make the 
State—and it is therefore of snpremest moment that it be made 
as perfect in method as possible, and that all means be exhausted 
to have its work done well. It is under excellent management, and if the State continues to do her duty by it she will not only 
be . compensated in the good results upon our teachers and 
children, but she will have at an early day one of the most 
liberally endowed and richly appointed Normal Institutions in 
the country to adorn our capital city and shed its radiance of 
usefulness abroad over the South. In view of the fact that this 
institution is already liberally sustained from the Peabody Fund, 
and that it is probable that it may be selected as the site and 
nucleus for the Central Southern Normal Institution provided 
for in the will of the great philanthropist, I suggest and recom- 
mend that its name be amended so that it shall be The Peabody 
Normal College. The usual appropriation for its support 
should be provided. 
THE TENNESSEE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. 
The good done by this institution is only limited by its ca- 
pacity, and it is manifest from the success that characterizes its 
early career that it is destined to do a great beneficient work 
that will tell upon the youth of the country. You cannot fail 
to accord it that aid its merits deserve. 
NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 
Your honorable predecessors, by resolution, invited the Na- 
tional Educational Association to hold its annual session for 1888 
in the city of Nashville, and that invitation was accepted except 
as to the time, the Association determining to hold its annual 
convention for 1889 in this city at a time to be hxed in the 
summer. This will be the greatest and most important edu- 
cational conference that ever assembled in the South, bringing 
together many thousands of the leading educators and men and 
women of letters from all the states of the Union, and the 
momentous interests that are involved, both in the salutary 
effect it will have upon our educational interests and the bene- 
fits that may be expected to accrue to the State in a general 
way growing out of an exhibition of our resources and advant- 
ages to such hosts of intelligent strangers, as well as a care for 
that reputation for munificent hospitality which characterizes Tennessee abroad, will doubtless move your honorable bodies 
to take such action looking to the welcome and entertainment 
of this Association, and the promotion of its work, and its 
appropriation to our benefit as may be necessary and wise. 
An exposition of our products and resources is contemplated, 
together with an Art Exhibition, and it would seem that the 
occasion atfords best opportunity for publishing our advantages 
that could occur, and would warrant your honorable bodies into 
taking control of it and making it a State Exposition. It comes 
so opportunely in the early history of our development, and 
can be made to yield so richly in benefits, that it is our manifest 
duty to seize upon and utilize it to the uttermost. 
PEABODY BONDS. 
1 have received many pressing communications from the 
managers of the Baltimore Peabody Institute with respect to 
certain bonds of our State held by that institution, and asking 
that they be recognized and funded upon the same basis as 
those held by other eleemosynary institutions. I recommend 
that your honorable bodies investigate this matter and do 
whatever is just in the premises. 
NORMAL INSTITUTES. 
The Normal Institutes held in various parts of the State 
under the supervision of the Superintendent of Public In- 
struction have been largely promotive of our school interests, 
and under the influences created by consultation and comparison 
of views the standard otf teaching is being continually raised 
and promises most excellent results. The Superintendent was 
hampered greatly in this commendable work by the failure of 
your honorable predecessors to allow the expense of traveling 
necessarily incident always heretofore allowed. The good work 
done warrants his reinbursement, and provision should be made 
for the future. EDUCATIONAL ASYLUMS. 
1 need but call your attention to the fact that our Deaf and 
Dumb Asylum at Knoxville, and our Blind Asylum at Nash- 
ville are in splendid condition and are doing good work. They 
richly deserve the charitable aid usually given them, and to be 
placed in condition to meet every demand made upon them for 
the care of the unfortunates they are designed to succor. 
In the message which I had the honor to communicate to 
your honorable predecessors two years ago I felt impelled, by a 
sense of duty to the children of the State, to make certain sug- 
gestions with respect to Federal aid to education, stripped of 
Federal supervision. I now feel impelled by another sense of 
duty, which enjoins me from making any similar or dissimilar 
suggestions, to pass on to the consideration of other questions, 
and I therefore invite your attention to 
INSANE ASYLUMS. 
The asylum at Lyon’s View, in East Tennessee, and the one 
at Nashville are in tine condition, and are full of patients, Avhile 
that at Bolivar, in West Tennessee, is rapidly approaching com- 
pletion, and will soon be ready for occupation. This is the 
dearest charity the State extends, and it reflects honor upon 
your predecessors that they have made such ample provision for 
the stricken of God. Scarcely any thing else could have justi- 
fied such large expenditures of public money at this juncture 
of the State’s financial affairs, but the purpose is so sacred that 
criticism is barred. You, gentlemen, cannot do a holier thing 
than to see that, as far as lies in the power of the State, she 
shall care for these most unfortunate of all God's creatures— 
human beings bereft of reason. 
AGRICULTURE, STATISTICS, MINES, AND IMMIGRATION. 
This Bureau has been directed almost exclusively to the pro- 
motion of agricultural interests. It has been found inadvisa- ble, with the limited resources at its command, to divide its 
effort. Our agricultural interests should receive first attention, 
but our mining and immigration interests should not be neg- 
lected. There is continual inquiry from other States for statis- 
tical information concerning Tennessee, and this office has been 
able to meet the demand in large measure, and it has been 
fruitful of good, but the appropriations have not been adequate 
to sustain all the departments of the Bureau. I therefore rec- 
ommend that special and efficient means be instituted by your 
honorable bodies to meet this want, to the end that Tennessee 
may not be deprived of her full share of the people and the 
energy and the capital that is seeking location and activity and 
investment South. It is considered generally that our State is 
richer in natural resources, and has more to be developed, than 
any other Southern State, and that she is destined to lead them 
all. It lies in our power to hasten that devoutly-to-be-wished- 
for consummation, and in my opinion it would be wise to use 
extraordinary effort at once in this direction. I am especially 
interested in this matter, for I verily belive that along this line 
lies the way to riches and development, and I am sure that 
every patriotic Tennessean, who loves his State and desires to 
serve his people best, will furnish his best endeavor to promote 
the interests here briefly indicated. This Bureau should be 
liberally sustained in all its branches, and its efficient manage- 
ment and the good work it has done commends it to you as 
worthy of being endowed with more efficient means for exe- 
cuting its beneficent designs. 
FORESTRY. 
I commend to you the suggestions of the Southern Lumber- 
man newspaper with respect to forest areas, which will be 
brought before your honorable bodies. The waste of timber 
portends appalling disaster to our lumber interests in the future. 
Vigorous means should be instituted to stem the waste and 
supply the loss. ’ '^ 
This department, which modern science has demonstrated so 
valuable and necessary in the administration and economy of a 
THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. well organized State, I again call your attention to, and ask for 
it your favorable consideration. During the two years just 
ended those dreaded scourges of the human race, small-pox 
and yellow fever, have threatened the health and lives of the 
people of Tennessee, but through the prompt and wise action 
of the State Board of Health the one was successfully circum- 
scribed in the several localities to which it had been imported, 
and the other was prevented a lodgment in the State, though 
it prevailed in a malignant and epidemic form just beyond our 
Southern border in a sister State. 
The importance of placing at the disposal of this Bureau a 
contingent fund is a recommendation which I desire to empha- 
size, as experience has time and again demonstrated that suc- 
cess in combatting those epidemic diseases which in the past 
have swept over our State like terrific cyclones, leaving death and 
desolation in their tracks, and demoralizing and destroying 
commerce to a superlative degree is attained in proportion as 
such efforts are early, energetically, and intelligently made, and 
to enable the State Board of Health thus to act, such a fund 
should be provided for the purpose. I commend to you the 
several measures which, during your session, the State Board of 
Health may bring before you; especially would I ask your 
favorable consideration of the measure providing a system of 
registration of births, marriages, and deaths in Tennessee. 
All the more enlightened States and nations of the world 
possess such statistics, and find them as essential to good gov- 
ernment. 
This is a long-felt want in Tennessee, and as we are fast be- 
coming a very populous State the necessity for such data is 
daily becoming more imperative. 
It became imperatively necessary during the late yellow fever 
epidemic, which approached our borders with such fearful 
menace, to use extraordinary quarantine precaution, and such 
danger not being foreseen and provided for by appropriation, I 
was forced, in order to protect the people, to order the sum of 15 
two thousand dollars placed at the disposal of the State Board 
of Health, and the success of their effort was a gratifying dem- 
onstration of the wisdom of the act. The expenditure was 
made at the urgent request of the State Board of Health and 
by the concurrent advice of the Treasurer and Comptroller. 
I recommend that your honorable bodies ratify my action 
and make an appropriation not only to cover the expenditure 
but to provide for future contingency, such appropriation to be 
held in reserve only for such dangerous and imminent necessity 
as that just experienced. ‘ 
ELECTION LAWS. 
While our election laws are in most respects adequate, yet it 
seems that the rapid growth of our cities has made more prev- 
alent an evil that is not sufficiently provided against by the 
law. Many men vote more than once, and it is impossible to 
fully prevent it, hard to detect them, and more difficult to 
punish them. In my opinion a well-devised registration law 
would meet the case. 
I recommend also that your honorable bodies pass an act 
more clearly defining the composition, powers, and duties of 
the Board of Canvassers of election returns. Much complica- 
tion has. recently grown out of the lack of accuracy with which 
the existing statutes can he construed, and the executive has 
felt impelled to submit to what otherwise would he an indignity 
upon the executive office in order to have them construed def- 
initely, but that end was not reached, and they remain yet in 
obscurity. In view of the fact' that I am responsible through 
you to the people to execute the trusts confided to the executive 
office, and maintain its dignity and defend its prerogative, it is 
proper that I communicate to you the facts in relation to the 
matter referred to. It would seem at first, blush that the facts 
now about to be related bear no relation to State affairs, and 
not proper matter for your consideration, but in view of the 
fact that the right of a member to sit, in one of your honorable 
bodies is involved in the same facts, that the law is obscure and not generally correctly understood, and because the power of 
the executive under the laws of your creation is brought in 
question and needs to be more clearly established and guarded 
from assault, it is not only proper but eminently necessary that 
the statement be comprehensively made. 
I was approached on Tuesday, November 20th, by a number 
of gentlemen, friends of lion. Creed E. Bates, a candidate for 
Congress in the third district, who represented to me that, al- 
though the returns already in showed his defeat by 288 votes, 
they were able to show that it was compassed by fraud, and 
that in the eighth districts respectively of the counties of 
Rhea and Meigs there had been such irregularities as would 
justify the canvassing board in rejecting the votes there cast, 
and in that event that Mr. Bates was elected by one vote, 
and was entitled to the certificate. They represented that 
their antagonist, Mr. Evans, would, without doubt, seek to re- 
strain the board from issuing the certificate; and that, in order 
to avoid complication and facilitate the decision of the board, 
it would be advisable to prepare a certificate for Mr. Bates, and 
have it ready to be issued instantly after the vote was canvassed 
and the frauds revealed. I thereupon assented, and caused to 
be prepared a certificate with Mr. Bates’ name upon it, and had 
the seal attached, but gave special direction to the Secretary of 
State’s clerk—the Secretary himself being absent, and never as 
yet having been consulted—that the document was not to be 
considered as issued, and was not to be entered nor copied into 
his register until further orders—i. e., until an investigation was 
had and it was found that the facts would justify the exclusion 
of the votes in the two districts referred to. Afterward I met 
the Secretary of State, and with him canvassed the vote, and, 
retiring, we investigated the law, and I immediately concluded 
that the facts and the law would not justify me in throwing out 
the two districts, and that therefore the certificate already par- 
tially prepared should not be issued, and it was thereupon de- 
stroyed. After argument and consultation I was still of the 
opinion that Mr. Evans was entitled to the certificate, and I so 
announced. The Secretary of State disagreed with me, and 
declined to attest my signature to the certificate, and I was im- mediately enjoined from issuing and delivering the certificate 
to Mr. Evans. The investigation of the returns not only showed 
that Mr. Evans was elected, but, even if the amended returns 
were accepted and the two districts thrown out* still Mr. Evans 
was elected, because an amendment from Bradley County in- 
creased his majority by four votes, thus overcoming Mr. Bates’ 
majority of one, and leaving Mr. Evans a clear majority of 
three. I submitted to the restraining process, because I did 
not think it advisable to place the executive office in the atti- 
tude of being disrespectful tb the courts, and confident that, 
upon a hearing of a plea to the jurisdiction, the wisdom of the 
Chancellor would reveal to him that the Governor was not 
amenable to a subordinate court, and could not be restrained in 
the performance of an act in the line of his sworn duty. This 
confidence was justified in the issue, the Chancellor so holding. 
The cause was appealed and is now pending; hut tin*question 
at issue is the validity of the certificate at first partially issued, 
and does not involve a construction of the statutes as here rec- 
ommended, so that the necessity still remains to have your hon- 
orable bodies revise these statutes. 
The copy of the certificate filed in the cause now pending is a 
fabrication. There was no record of it in the Secretary of 
State’s office from which a copy could be made, and never had 
been, and it was expressly ordered that there should not be. 
The pretended copy, certified to as being a copy of one on rec- 
ord, could not have been a copy, because there was no original 
of record from which to copy, and it was, therefore, a fabrica- 
tion. The law that authorizes the Secretary of State to deliver 
a copy of any document of record in his office to any person 
applying not pertaining to the executive office, and in the Gov- 
ernor’s judgment necessary to he kept a secret, cannot he held 
to authorize him to make the original and to certify to a copy 
of a document that never so existed, and was never of record in 
his office, which he never saw, and which was expressly and 
specifically declared by the Governor not to be a complete in- 
strument, and its existence not to be revealed. The statute 
(Code, Sec. 227, Subsec. 11) defining the Secretary of State’s 
duties, which requires him to keep inviolately private any in- strument or act which may come to his official knowledge which 
the Governor, in his judgment, may desire to remain undiscov- 
ered, has been grossly violated in the manner described; and 
the pretended copy of the pretended certificate, upon which the 
suit now pending is predicated, is palpably unwarranted—not 
only unauthorized by law, but in direct violation of its plain 
letter. 
It is gravely asserted, and the statute manifestly warrants the 
conclusion, that the Secretary of State has nothing to do with 
canvassing the vote for Congressmen, and is not a member of 
the board for that purpose, and this matter should be definitely 
declared, in order to avoid future complication. I therefore 
recommend that the law be simplified and made plain and cer- 
tain in all its features, so that a repetition of such unfortunate 
complications may be* impossible. 
BOUNDARY LINE. 
I received a communication dated September 29, 1887, from 
His Excellency Gov. Fitzhugh Lee, of Virginia, transmitting 
a joint resolution of the Virginia Legislature, reciting the state- 
ment that the true line between Virginia and Tennessee had 
never been definitely ascertained, and authorizing the Governor 
to confer with the Governor of Tennessee and arrange, if possi- 
ble, for its ascertainment; and that failing, the Governor was 
authorized to employ counsel and institute proceedings to deter- 
mine it in the courts. To this communication I had the honor 
to reply that I would “ decline to take any steps toward reopen- 
ing a question which had so long been regarded by the State of 
Tennessee as permanently settled.” 
To this Governor Lee responded that the Attorney-General 
of Virginia had been instructed to examine the matter, and, if 
necessary, bring suit in the Supreme Court of the United 
States. I have not been advised that any further action has 
been taken, but I am informed that an indirect suit has been 
brought in the disputed territory that involves the question, 
and it is now pending. In view of the premises and of the fact that the territory in dispute comprises a large section of 
our most valuable domain, I recommend that the Attorney- 
General of the State be instructed and empowered to represent 
the State in any cause that may be instituted, and that a suffi- 
cient appropriation be made to defend the action in any man- 
ner-it may be brought. 
FIRE CORONERS. 
The statistics reveal an alarming increasing destruction of 
property by lire. Incendiarism plays a large part in the terri- 
ble havoc, and carelessness much more. Our laws are defective 
in that there is no provision anywhere which looks to an avoid- 
ance of the dangers. Incendiarism is punished severely after 
the event, when the culprit is caught, but it is not deterred in 
advance. It has recently been found practicable in many States 
to confer upon Coroners the same powers for holding inquests 
upon conflagrations that they now have with respect to sud- 
denly deceased persons, in order to ascertain and determine at 
once the cause of the fire and locate the responsibility. When 
it is known that the Coroner stands ready to pounce upon the 
premises thus, incendiaries will be deterred and the careless 
man thrown upon his guard. 
This suggestion does not involve any new offices nor any 
extra expense, but simply extends the powers of the Coroners 
already existing. I have a mass of information and statistics 
bearing upon this matter which I shall be pleased to furnish 
your committee should you deem the matter of sufficient im- 
portance to investigate its practicability and the probable good 
results that may follow. 
OFFICIAL STENOGRAPHERS. 
I hand you herewith a resolution passed by the Tennessee 
State Bar Association recently recommending the creation of 
the office of official stenographer to be attached to such courts 
as may be deemed expedient. The advancement made in this 
science in the past few years is astonishing, and it is rapidly being engrafted in business in all lines. It may be found that 
it will so expedite business in courts that it will be a saving 
rather than an expense. I commend it to your consideration, 
and will be pleased to furnish you with further information and 
statistics should you desire it. 
STATE BAR ASSOCIATION RESOLUTION. 
.Be it resolved, that it is the sense of the “ State Bar Associa- 
tion” that by legislation the office of Official Stenographer be 
created, to be connected with such Circuit, Chancery, and 
Criminal Courts throughout the State as shall be deemed ex- 
pedient for the expedition of business of such courts. 
That whenever, in the opinion of the judge of such courts, 
the appointment of such an officer will expedite business, be be 
authorized and empowered to appoint a competent short-hand 
reporter, who shall be known as the official stenographer of 
said court, and shall make verbatim reports of such causes as 
directed by the judge or chancellor thereof, and his report shall 
be made a part of the bill of exceptions, or record, of the cause 
then on trial, and after being sworn to faithfully and impartially 
report all proceedings, his report shall be transcribed on ap- 
peal as a part of the record of the cause in which he was en- 
gaged. 
That bis fees shall be fixed by the court, and taxed as other 
costs in the proceeding. 
THE NATIONAL GUARD. 
Your immediate predecessors passed an act authorizing the 
organization of a National Guard, State of Tennessee, and in 
response to the invitation thus extended a large number of 
our citizens have volunteered, until now we have the most 
thoroughly organized and equipped militia that ever existed in 
Tennessee. The report of the Adjutant-General accompanying 
shows an organized brigade of three regiments, a regiment of 
artillery and many independent companies not yet assigned. The Guard is composed of the very flower of our young men, 
and they have responded to your call with zeal, and are reflect- 
ing honor upon the Commonwealth as well as providing for its 
defense in case of need. 
The National Government has been very generous with them, 
having furnished nearly $22,000 worth of equipments for them. 
In view of the fact that this organization is in response to your 
invitation, it seems to me to be incumbent upon the State to be 
generous and liberal in their support. 
The organization of this army has about quadrupled the 
labors of the Adjutant-General, and I therefore recommend 
that he be given additional compensation. The appropriation 
from the State has been only $200 a year for its organization, 
equipment, and support, and to pay the current expenses of the 
Adjutant-General’s otfice. The Legislature that provided this 
little sum did not possibly conceive what their legislation would 
lead to, and it therefore devolves upon you to meet the demands 
legitimately following their action. 
MEXICAN WAR VETERANS. 
The Congress of the United States, after long delay, has at 
last granted limited justice to the veterans of ’47. 
Tennessee took heroic part in that memorable war, and many 
of the survivors and their descendants live still in her borders 
and elsewhere. The records and rolls of the Tennessee volun- 
teers exist in the Adjutant-General’s office in a state of chaotic 
mutilation that defies unravelling. In order to establish their 
claim to pensions the survivors frequently must establish the 
record of their services from these records. But in their muti- 
lated and mixed condition it is impossible to furnish the infor- 
mation needed, and they must of necessity be turned away 
without the record that would secure their pension. I recom- 
mend, therefore, that a sufficient appropriation be made to sys- 
tematize these records and papers to the end that these persons 
may be supplied with the facts that would entitle the in to the 
benefit of pension. HEATING THE CAPITOL. 
The manner in which the capitol building is heated is a fruit- 
ful source of unhealthfulness, and unnecessarily expensive. 
Each room has its own heater, and they must he kept excess- 
ively warm on account of the cold stone walls and floors, and 
when a person is compelled to step out into the halls where the 
cold blasts hold high carnival, he does so at the risk of pneu- 
monia. It would he perhaps less expensive to the State to have 
the whole building heated by steam, so that all parts of it may 
he always comfortable. It would be impossible to count the 
officers, attaches, and visitors who have been made seriously 
sick, and it occurs to me that, in the interest of humanity, to 
say nothing of the retrenchment in expense, your honorable 
bodies would be justified in ordering the change suggested. 
CONCLUSION. 
The reports of the various departments are submitted for 
your inspection, to each of which I call your attention. 
There are many matters of importance that call for investi- 
gation, which your wisdom will suggest. Confident in your 
ability to discern them, and your sagacity to apply the proper 
remedies, I need not further trespass upon your attention. 
ROBERT L. TAYLOR. 
Governor.