shops; for procuring needed machinery; for the erection of a farm barn; for repairs to the main building, and to meet the requirements of Section 3, Act No. 130, Laws of 1867.

I believe that proper appropriations for these purposes should be made; but whether the full amount named will be required, will, I am sure, receive careful consideration.

In their Annual Report for 1868, the Board of Control suggests the erection of a building, to be connected with the Institution, to be used as a Reform School for girls. That some provision is needed for the care of girls as well as boys, seems to admit of little doubt; whether the two should be united may not be so clear.

STATE PRISON.

In the management and discipline of the State Prison, there seems to be a good degree of efficiency. The Prison has, as yet, never been fully self-sustaining; it has for some years been a heavy tax upon the Treasury of the State.

The number of convicts on the 30th of November, 1867, was 582, an increase of 80 over the previous year, and on November 30th, 1868-622, an increase of 40 since 1867.

The earnings for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1867, were $57,856 58, and for the year ending November 30, 1868, $85,238 69. The disbursements for current expenses for 1867, were $80,268 29, and for 1868, $94,136 47, being $31,309 59 more than the total earnings for the same period.

The appropriations made by the last Legislature, have been expended. The new work shop has been completed, and the building for the insane convicts will soon be ready for occupancy.

There has been paid from the Treasury of the State, for the two years, for current expenses of the Prison, $47,000; and for new buildings and improvements, $28,000. Total, $75,000.

During the last year, the old contracts having expired, new contracts have been let, and the convicts are now working at an average advance of about forty per cent. It is estimated that

the earnings and current receipts for the present year, will amount fully to $100,000, and that the expenses will not be materially increased over those of last year. It is confidently hoped that the time has arrived, when the State Prison will be selfsustaining, and no longer require aid from the State Treasury, except for additional buildings, and other necessary permanent improvements.

The time is not far distant, when provision will be required for a larger number, than can be received with the present accommodations of the prison. It is hoped this will not be necessary within the next two years. The present buildings and the walls which enclose the whole, are far from being what they should be. Repairs are needed, and the whole aspect of the Prison should be improved. The room used for a Chapel is most gloomy and forbidding, and in my judgment wholly unfit for such a purpose.

The last Legislature provided for an increase of the compensation of the Agent and other officers, for 1867 and 1868. The salaries hitherto paid to these officers, seem to be unreasonably small; certainly smaller than is allowed in other States for the discharge of similar duties. I recommend that a reasonable, but permanent addition to these salaries be made.

The suggestion of the Agent relative to the earnings of the convicts, is worthy of consideration; whether, in case of surplus earnings, the convicts, under proper restrictions, upon their discharge, may not receive some portion of such surplus. Might not such a provision show the unfortunate prisoner that he was not wholly cast off, as a hopeless criminal? Would it not be an incentive to good behavior and faithfulness, and upon his return to the duties of life, to an entire reformation of character?

The report of the Inspectors will place fully before you the condition and wants of the Prison. They ask for an appropriation, in all, amounting to $27,500, for repairs, sewerage and a new building; the basement and first story of which, to be used for storage, a bath-room and work-shop; the second story

for a Chapel; and for opening a street, and for fences in front of the Prison. These improvements, in my opinion, should be made.

Most of the provisions of law relating to the government and discipline of the State Prison, were adopted many years ago, and before the change from annual to biennial sessions of the Legislature. Under the changed circumstances, compliance with some of these provisions is impracticable. A general revision seems to be desirable. Indeed, the whole subject of prison discipline is one requiring thoughtful consideration, and perhaps might be materially changed, not only to the wellbeing of the unfortunate class who become inmates of oar prisons, but to society at large. It should be such as would tend, not merely to the punishment, but to the reformation of the offender.

In this connection I would suggest the expediency of the appointment of a Commission, empowered to consider the whole question of Ciscipline, as pertaining to our various punitive and reformatory institutions, and to report thereon at the next session of the Legislature.

ST. MARY'S FALLS SHIP CANAL, AND UPPER PENINSULA.

The gross earnings of the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal, for 1867, were $33,515 54. This was $10,446, more than was received in 1866. Of this increase, $4,666 96 were the result of the increase of the rate of tolls from 4 to 6 cents per ton, upon the tonnage of steamers.

The entire receipts for tolls for the year just closed, were $25,977 14; being $7,538 40 less than the year before. This falling off is owing in a great degree, to the exceeding depressed condition of the copper mining interest.

The Canal has been in operation fourteen seasons. Very considerable repairs have been made during the last two years, which, with those now being prosecuted, will place it in as good condition as the wear and tear of this length of time would allow.

The Board of Control has authorized it to be dredged, to clear it of the mud and stone which have been borne down by the ice and current. Three hundred feet of new pier is to be built on the north side, at its western terminus. The valves of the lock gates and the slope walls are to be repaired and improved. These improvements will be made under the charge of the Superintendent during the winter months. The materials are already purchased and on the ground.

This Canal, though located in Michigan and under State control, is a national work, and of great national importance. At the time of its projection, it was supposed to be of sufficient capacity for the transit of any vessels which the trade of Lake Superior would ever require, or which could pass through the shallow waters of the St. Clair Flats, or the St. Mary's river.

For the removal of these river and lake obstructions, Congress has made large appropriations, and the work is now in progress.

The resources of Lake Superior were little known at that time. Its vast mining interests were undeveloped. Its remoteness and isolation were such, that neither Congress nor the people supposed it would ever become one of the great highways of the nation, and still less possibly, one of the great avenues of commerce with the world.

Already the commerce which has been developed along the shores of Lake Superior has become so extended, that the class of vessels which has been found most advantageous to be used in this trade, cannot be loaded to their full capacity, for the lack of sufficient depth of water in the canal.

The great North-west is yet in its infancy. Population is pressing into the States and Territories with wonderful rapidity. A railroad is already being constructed, from the Mississippi at St. Paul, to the head of Lake Superior, which, during the season of navigation, must make this canal the great outlet for the products of Northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Territories beyond. Should the Northern Pacific Railroad be constructed, Lake Superior would become emphatically the

key to the North-west, and thus this canal, as its outlet, of still greater national importance.

Although this is a national work, Michigan-not alone the Upper Peninsula, but the whole State-is deeply interested in its improvement, and in all that will tend to make it the great avenue of the trade of Lake Superior and the North-west. Since its construction, other avenues have been opened, through which no small portion of the trade and wealth of this region is being diverted to other States.

In view of the considerations already suggested, has not the time arrived, when justice to the interests of the Upper Peninsula, requires such substantial improvements to be made, as will increase the depth of water in the Canal, and otherwise facilitate the growing commerce of that important region?

I would respectfully suggest the expediency of an application to Congress for such an appropriation as may be necessary for this object.

Whatever legislation will tend to the advancement of the true interests of our Northern Peninsula, the development of its rich resources, or to relieve its vast interest connected with the mining of copper from its present depressed condition, will, I am sure, receive your most careful consideration.

SWAMP LANDS AND ROADS.

The appropriations heretofore made by the various Acts of former Legislatures, in the aggregate, amount to upwards of 4,000,000 of acres. The policy adopted with regard to the disposal of these lands could not now be changed, even though it were not in all respects the best that could have been adopted. The grant to the State, under the Act of Congress known as the Swamp Land Act, was about six millions of acres. The lands were located in all parts of the State. Though known as Swamp Lands, a large portion of them were excellent agricultural lands, and many of them were covered with forests of pine and other valuable timber.