feeling of humanity, for assistance. From the exhaustive report of Dr. T. R. H. Smith, superintendent and physician in charge of Fulton Lunatic Asylum, I learn that the institution is in excellent condition and I am convinced that it is managed with great prudence and economy. I feel it to be my duty, however, to call your attention to the meagre provision made for the care of the insane in this State. Both the Fulton and St. Joseph asylums are now overcrowded. Each of these asylums now has one hundred more patients than it can properly care for. In addition to this there are about 2,500 insane in the State outside of asylums, confined in jails and poor houses, or not cared for at all. This state of affairs ought to be permitted to exist no longer. It cries to heaven against us. Adequate provision ought to be made at once for the proper care and treatment of these unfortunate people. The recommendations upon that subject are so intelligently and fully set out in Dr. Smith's report (which will be laid before your honorable body), and are supported by such cogent reasons that I commend them to your earnest attention, and endorse them as worthy of your best thoughts and efforts. Dr. Smith's report is a most valuable document and is entitled to a careful perusal. I have not had an opportunity to examine the report of Dr. Geo. C. Catlett, superintendent of Lunatic Asylum No. 2, at St. Joseph, but from the synopsis of the report furnished me, I believe that institution to be in excellent condition. Its management is alike creditable to the intelligence, humanity and honesty of the officers in charge. The fifth biennial report of the superintendent will be laid before you in due time, with the recommendations for the necessary appropriations. The legislature ought not to hesitate to comply with the suggestions of Dr. Catlett, who is in every respect well qualified for his important work.

The overtaxed condition of the Insane Asylums is a shame to Missouri. The capacity of the several asylums is as follows:

These figures present their own condemnation and place the State in no favorable light before the humane world. This is the darkest spot on its bright character. But still, the whole story is not yet told. There are in the State 2,300 insane persons who cannot be accommodated, which is a still greater shame upon the State than the one already given. According to the tables of neurologists at least 50 per cent. of these can be saved, if taken in time. If neglected, the whole of this number will become permanently insane and be a constant burthen upon their guardians and the State. If the question is considered from an economical standpoint, it will be much cheaper in the end to provide suitable asylums. No State can afford to place itself upon that miserly plane when the afflictions of humanity appeal to the broadest sentiments of the heart and the wisest conceptions of the brain. This assembly should provide another Insane Asylum in one of the eligible points of the State; also enlarge those already built.

DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM.

Dr. W. D. Kerr, the superintendent in charge of the deaf and dumb institution at Fulton, makes an admirable showing of the condition of that institution in the synopsis of his report furnished me. 284 pupils have been taught there within the last two years. There are 208 in attendance at this time. The building has been greatly enlarged and improved with the money appropriated by the last General Assembly. I suggest that a reasonable appropriation ought to be made for the purpose of buying carpets for the rooms, and perhaps other articles necessary to the comfort of the children. The managers of the asylum will recommend to you the establishment of an institution for the care and education of the feeble minded. They will present the matter to you in detail, with the reasons for their recommendation. It is a grave question and worthy of your serious attention. I believe that such an institution should be provided, as by proper training, many of the feeble minded of our State could be taught to be self-supporting.

THE MISSOURI SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND.

The reports of the superintendent and trustees of the Missouri school for the blind are very full and explicit, and make a most satisfactory showing of the progress made by the pupils of that institution, and give evidence of an honest and economical administration of its finances.

The State has always evinced an enlightened liberality in providing for the education of its blind; nor can the resources of the State 'be more humanely or wisely expended than in liberal appropriations

for their education. It is the chief object of the Missouri school for the blind to teach its pupils such branches and mechanical industries as they may most readily utilize in their own maintenance. In the language of Dr. John T. Sibley, the efficient superintendent of this school:

"The object of the school is to make the blind self sustaining, and to the extent that it fails in this, just to that extent does it fail in its chief object. The question then arises: Do the graduates of the school support themselves? In a majority of cases they do. In some cases they do not."

No stronger statement than this can be made regarding the graduates of our best colleges, and if any considerable number of the graduates of this school can be educated to the point of becoming self-sustaining, the State is amply compensated for all the money expended in the accomplishment of so grand a result.

The economy of the management is shown by the fact that an unexpended balance of $11,218.44 remains of the amount appropriated by the last General Assembly. In the report made to me by Mr. Richard M. Scruggs, president of the board of trustees, an appropriation of $52,000 is asked for the years 1885-6, as follows:

For maintenance..

For pay of officers, employes, etc..

$36,000 00 16,000 00

This is $5,000.00 less than the sum appropriated for the last two years. I trust that you will not hesitate to appropriate the sum asked for. During the years 1883-4, 147 pupils were in attendance, which is an increase of 34 over the years 1881-2. The reports of the superintendent and trustees, which will be laid before you, will give you, in detail, all the information necessary to a thorough understanding of the work and wants of the school.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

An act was passed by the last General Assembly, etitled "An act to provide for a topographical survey of the sunk and overflowed lands of Southeast Missouri, and to appropriate money therefor," under the provisions of which, on the 25th day of April, 1883, I appointed James F. Brooks, of Cape Girardeau county, as a skilled and competent civil engineer to take charge of and supervise the work of the survey.

This appointment was made upon the recommendation of many of the representatives and leading citizens of southeast Missouri, who strongly endorsed his competency to successfully manage that important enterprise.

The sum of $9,000 was appropriated to pay the expenses of making the survey and preparing proper charts, maps, plats, profiles, field notes, explanatory notes and other necessary information as the act requires.

Of this sum the engineer has drawn from the State Treasury $8,142.23. He has made no report to me of the progress made in his work. Complaints were made to me that he was not performing the work contemplated in the act under which he was appointed, and I addressed several communications to him, calling upon him for a report or showing of the progress made in the survey. After repeated solicitations, he visited Jefferson City and assured me, in person, that he was engaged in the performance of his duties, and that he would complete the survey in a manner satisfactory to the people.

Since that visit I have heard nothing from him, and know nothing of the progress made in his work. I would have removed or suspended him from his office if the power to do so had been vested in me, but, having no power to interfere, I have been compelled to await the final result of the matter, without action upon my part, although dissatisfied with his conduct and methods. Such a survey should be made of the sunk and overflowed lands of southeast Missouri, as is contemplated in that act, as it is believed that a vast quantity of valuable land may be reclaimed and made productive. I trust that you will take such action as will insure a survey of the lands, and to that end you should confer the power upon the Governor to remove the engineer in charge, whenever it shall be made to appear to him that he is neglecting his duty. An investigation of the conduct of the present engineer should be had, and if it be ascertained that he has neglected his duty while receiving this large amount of money from the State, or if he has improperly drawn the money, he should not be permitted to escape the just consequences of his conduct.

COUNTY ROADS.

The present road law should be revised, it having failed to accomplish the good that was expected of it, the result being bad roads over the greater part of the State, which, with care and industry, could be made good natural roads, at least during the greater part of the year. I think the contract system should be substituted for the present system. This plan provides for the employment, by the County Court, of as many day or annual laborers as may be necessary, who shall work under the supervision of an experienced builder of roads, and whose whole time shall be devoted to the repairing and construction of roads

and bridges. I am informed that Maryland and New York have had this plan in operation for years, and it has met the sanction of the public. This force will have to be paid by a tax levied for that special purpose. The improvement in the character of our roads would more than compensate for the additional cost of their construction and main tenance, and nothing adds more to the reputation of a county than the excellency of its public roads. Of course this tax will have to be paid in money, and that means a higher road tax, but in the end, the system will be found cheaper and more effective than the present slovenly method.

THE WORLD'S EXHIBITION AT NEW ORLEANS.

This exhibition is now in operation. It has the sanction of the Congress of the United States, and all the nations of the earth have been invited to exhibit their wares in this great bazaar, by the Presi dent of the United States. Under the act of Congress, each State and Territory was invited to recommend the name of some suitable person for commissioner at the exhibition, to represent the State, and some other one as the alternate, to the President of the United States for commissioner. Upon the recommendation of Edward Harrison and Judge Breckenridge, of St. Louis, I appointed F. F. Hilder, of St. Louis, as such commissioner, and upon my own volition I appointed Hon. C. P. Ellerbee, of the same city, as the alternate. These gentlemen received no compensation from the Government or State. Mr. Hilder entered actively upon his duties at once. By his industry and the assistance given in St. Louis, and by the citizens of Missouri, he has accumulated large exhibits of the arts, manufactures and products of the soil and mines of this State. Under date of Dec. 18th, 1881, he writes me from New Orleans: "I am busily engaged in getting into shape the large arrival of goods from Missouri. When completed I think I shall have a display which will be a credit to the State, and better than could have been expected, considering the small amount of funds I have had to work with, compared to other States." Not a dollar has been given by the State to this great enterprise. The money upon which Maj. Hilder has operated is that advanced by the generous citizens of St. Louis, and $5,000 of the $1,000,000 loaned to the exposition by an act of Congress. Whatever sum was advanced to Maj. Hilder by those citizens, for the advancement of the interests of this State at the exposition, should be returned, with reasonable interest, by an act of this Assembly as soon as sufficient evidences of the advancements are presented to this body. It is well that Missouri is represented at this great exposition. It cannot afford to be presented there as a beggar