For the protection of widows, orphans, and other persons, whose estates are managed by fiduciary trustees-in which estates the Governor avers that "robberies are becoming too frequent and far too respectable"-he urges the necessity of further legislation, and "recommends the passage of a statute punishing with exemplary penalties all acts of embezzlement committed by executors, administrators, guardians, conservators, or trustees, under any testamentary or express trust." The existing law, which requires testamentary trustees to render annual accounts to the courts of probate, he avers to be little better than a dead letter, and hints at the ways in which it is usually violated or evaded. He recommends the passage of an act enforcing the execution of the said law, and ordaining that, if any guardian, conservator, or testamentary trustee fails to render to the Probate Court his annual account justified with oath and vouchers, "it be made the duty of the Court, of its own motion, and on reasonable notice given to the parties in interest, to remove such delinquent, with disallowance of compensation, and appoint a suitable person in his place.' The present laws relating to manufacturing, mechanical, mining, and other like corporations, the Governor characterizes as "discordant and scandalously loose." He calls on the Legislature "to reform them, reducing corporations of a common class to a common level, more effectually securing the wages of operatives in their service; and, above all, to uttorly extirpate certain corporations which have grown up within a few years, and which are gross frauds on the law and discreditable to the State." An act to punish the dishonest handling of property belonging to corporations, or to estates in trust, mentioned above, was passed by this Legislature, entitled "An act concerning embezzlement," providing as follows: SECTION 1. Every officer or agent of any public, municipal, or private corporation, every executor, administrator, guardian, conservator, or any trustee under a testamentary or any express trust, who shall wrongfully appropriate and convert to his own use the money, funds, or property of such corporation, estate, ward, trust, or other person, shall be guilty of embezzlement, and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not to exceed ten years, or by such fine and imprison ment both. There being some doubt whether the existing statute for the punishment of perjury was applicable to the willful false swearing of officers of financial institutions who are by law required to make returns to the various departments of the State government, the Governor recommended the passage of a law removing all possible doubt on the subject. An act "relating to perjury" has been passed by this Legislature, providing that "every person who shall testify falsely to any material matter where an oath or affirmation is required by law, or procure another so to do, shall be imprisoned in a jail not more than six months, or in the State prison not more than five years; and when he shall so testify or affirm with intent to take the life of another, he shall be imprisoned in the State prison during life." In order to prevent a recurrence of the lamentable disasters caused by the breaking away of storage reservoirs, like those which occurred at Mill River in Massachusetts in 1875, and at Staffordville in Connecticut in the spring of 1877, resulting in great destruction of property and loss of life, Governor Hubbard suggests "the appointment of a board of civil engineers, charged with the supervision of reservoirs and reservoir dams, and that no such structure be built, enlarged, or materially altered without the written sanction first obtained of such board, nor until the plan and specifications thereof shall have been approved by them, nor be put to use until the work shall have been completed to their acceptance; and that it shall be the duty of said board to examine any existing reservoir or dam, on written complaint by any three persons claiming to be endangered thereby, and to order such repairs or alterations thereof as they shall find necessary for the protection of life or property, with ample powers to enforce their orders.' He gives some details of the manner in which the building of these reservoirs is usually contrived to profit the builders at the peril of the people residing below them; and reminds the Legislature that "no man, or set of men, in corporate bodies, or otherwise, should be allowed, of their own mere will and motion, to pile up and suspend great floods of water above the heads of any community, and thus threaten their life and property, and compel them to live in daily and nightly fear of an avalanche." A bill was passed by the House of Representatives on March 16, 1878, creating a commission, composed of the Surveyor-General and one civil engineer from each Congressional district, to supervise all reservoirs and dams in the State, and defining their duties. At the same sitting the House passed in concurrence a joint resolution "relieving the town of Stafford from State tax for three years." By another resolution the sum of $3,000 was appropriated in aid to Stafford. Early in the session the Legislature deliberated on the currency question, with reference especially to the resumption act and the silver bill, so called, which was then under consideration in the Federal Congress. In the Connecticut Legislature each side of the question was favored by a number of members who advocated opposite measures. After repeated debates, and the rejection of amendments and substitutes severally offered, the following resolutions were finally adopted, on the seventh day of the session: Resolved, That we condemn any attempt to postpone the time for the resumption of specie payment now provided by the act of Congress." which shall in any way tend to repudiate any porResolved, That we disapprove of any legislation tion of the public debt; that we are opposed to the Bland bill (so called), now pending before Con gress. Resolved, That we request our representatives in both branches of Congress to oppose the measure. Resolved, That the Secretary be requested to forward a copy of these resolutions to each Senator and Representative from this State in Congress. The Legislature of 1877 appointed a special commission, consisting of six prominent citizens, "to examine and report upon the whole system of public expenditures in the State, and report such retrenchments as may be made without detriment to the public service, and all expenses, if any there are, unauthorized by law." The Commissioners performed the work intrusted to them, and by the beginning of February, 1878, presented a full report on its results. They find the expenditures in almost all parts of the public service to have steadily increased; stating, among numerous other instances, that the board of prisoners, which cost $8,449.74 in 1846, rose to over $39,000 in 1870, and to $87,358 in 1877; that the board of boys in the Reform School has run from $4,639 in 1870 to $46,768 in 1877; and that in the expenses of the Legislature there has been an increase of 400 per cent. during the past thirty years. This increase of expenditures the Commissioners ascribe to various causes, some of which they condemn, and suggest the remedies. They recommend biennial sessions of the Legislature, the abolition of some offices, and a proper reduction of salaries as well as of fees and costs in the various branches of public service. The Commissioners specify the objects of their recommendations, concluding their report with detailed tables, and the following summary: We estimate that the annual saving for the State, if all our recommendations are adopted, will not be less than as follows, viz.: They at the same time characterize it as a chronic evil" of over fifty years' standing," and urge the immediate introduction of a more The present simple and intelligible system. incumbent of that office has recognized the justice of the Commissioners' criticism, and, with a written communication, dated February 28, 1878, he sent to the Legislature a supplemental analysis of his previously submitted report for 1877, wherein the items of different kinds of expenditure are set down under separate heads, stating that he has prepared the said analysis for the assistance of the Legislative Committee on that subject, and submits his new classification to them "with the request that they would make any suggestions that they might deem likely to improve it." The following is the new method of classification of expenditures exhibited in the said supplemental analysis: General Account of Expenses of Departments for Expense of soldiers' children... The Legislature at this session took into consideration the matters set forth in the Special Commission's report, and acted on them by bills or resolutions, some of which were passed, some left undecided, or continued to the next General Assembly. A noteworthy feature of the report seems to be that the Special Commissioners severely criticise the manner in which the State Comptroller's accounts are classified, items of expenditure that belong to distinct classes being there promiscuously crowded under one and the same head; a practice calculated to bring confusion and become a source of mistakes and dangerous abuses. The January session of 1878, the last one held in the old State House, practically ended on March 16th, when the Legislature, pursuant to a concurrent resolution passed the 15th, adjourned thence to meet in the new Capitol building on the 26th, but transact there no new business except on special communications from the Governor or the Insurance Committee. At the point of leaving the old hall for the last time, the members of the House of Representatives passed a resolution" authorizing the State Comptroller to sell the furniture of both Houses"; and then adopted another resolution unanimously "directing the Comptroller to present to the Speaker the chair, the block, and the gavel used in this session." The Speaker accepted the present, and thanked them for the courtesy. At the appointed hour of March 26th the Legislature assembled in the new Capitol and dispatched the business specified in the resolution before mentioned. In this place they passed, among others, a resolution authorizing the Governor and the other State officers to remove to the new State Capitol, and the transfer of the old State House to the city of Hartford. After a two days' continuance in the new Capitol the session was finally closed with the usual formalities on the 28th of March. Among the laws and resolutions passed at this session are the following: "An act creating a State Board of Health, composed of six members to be appointed by the Governor." This bill was long and warmly debated, with hearings of physicians and other competent persons before the Judiciary Committee, to whom it had been referred for consideration and report. At the vote first taken on its passage it was rejected in the lower House; a large number of members opposing the measure, chiefly on the ground of the expense which the establishment of such a Board would cost the State. The matter was subsequently reconsidered, and the bill finally passed in concurrence on March 13th. By a special message sent to the Senate on the 28th, the Governor nominated the six members of the Board of Health, two of them for the term of two years, two for four, and two for six years. His nominations were confirmed by the Senate. "An act relating to salaries of State officers, and fees of the Secretary." It fixes them as follows: SEOTION 1. After the first day of January, A. D. 1879, the several officers herein named shall annually receive the following salaries: Secretary, fifteen hundred dollars; Treasurer, fifteen hundred dollars; Comptroller, fifteen hundred dollars; School Fund Commissioner, two thousand dollars; Executive Secretary, twelve hundred dollars; State Librarian, eighteen hundred dollars; Adjutant-General, twelve hundred dollars; Quartermaster-General, twelve hundred dollars; Paymaster-General, six hundred dollars; executive messenger, two dollars per day. SEC. 2. All fees paid into the office of Secretary shall be paid by him into the Treasury of the State. Approved March 27, 1878. "An act to punish the making of false annual statements by officers of fire-insurance companies." It inflicts the penalty of five hundred dollars for the first offense, and of one thousand dollars for the second. "An act relating to railroads." It provides that any person, detained at railroad crossings by railroad cars longer than five minutes, is entitled to sue the railroad company, and recover fifty dollars from it. "A joint resolution authorizing the Governor to appoint a commission of three members, to inquire into the necessity of erecting another State hospital for the insane poor." "A joint resolution in aid of the family of Wells Shipman, the night-watchman of the State Prison, murdered by convicts on September 1, 1877.' It appropriates eight dollars a month for his widow. during her widowhood, and six dollars and fifty cents a month for his little daughter until she becomes fourteen years old; both appropriations to be paid quarterly. In the House of Representatives this resolution was passed unanimously. Three resolutions were passed by the House of Representatives, on February 28th and March 15th, respectively, proposing the following three amendments to the State Constitution, to be continued to the next General Assembly, and published with the laws passed at the present session: First. Proposed amendment to the Constitution relating to biennial, sessions of the Legislature: Members of the General Assembly shall be elected on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1880, and biennially thereafter, and they shall hold their offices for two years from and after the Wednesday following the first Monday of the January next succeeding their election. Their compensation shall not exceed three hundred dollars for the term for which they are elected, and one mileage each way for the regular session at the rate of twenty-five cents per mile: they shall receive one mileage at the same rate for attending any extra session called by the Governor. The regular sessions of the General Assembly sball commence on the Wednesday following the first Monday of the January next succeeding the election of its members. The Representatives elected from the several towns on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1878, shall hold their offices for two years from and after the Wednesday following the first Monday of January, 1879. The Senators elected on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1877, shall hold their offices until the Wednesday following the first Monday of January, 1881. If the General Assembly of 1879 holds an adjourned session during the year 1880, its members shall receive for all services performed during said year a sum not exceeding five dollars per day for not exceeding twenty days. If this amendment is adopted, there shall be no election held on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, 1879. Second. Proposed amendment concerning vacancies in judicial offices: All vacancies arising in the offices of judges of the courts of Common Pleas, district courts, city courts, and police courts, shall be filled by the General Assembly for the remainder of the unexpired terms only. The provisions of this amendment shall apply to any vacancies that may be filled by the General As sembly of 1879. Third. Proposed amendment concerning tenure of office of judges: The judges of the Supreme Court of Errors and of the Superior Court hereafter appointed, shall hold their offices during good behavior, but may be re moved by impeachment; and the Governor shal also remove them on the address of two thirds of each House of the General Assembly. No judge of the Supreme Court of Errors or of the Superior Court shall be capable of holding office after he shall arrive at the age of seventy-five years. A joint resolution authorizing the Etna Life Insurance Company to capitalize its surplus of $600,000 was vetoed by the Governor, on reasons set forth in his message for that purpose. The resolution with the Governor's objection was reconsidered by the two Houses on March 28th, and passed over his veto by a vote of 14 to 6 in the Senate, and 167 to 58 in the House of Representatives. Concerning the charters and other interests of Connecticut insurance companies, the Legislature of 1878 passed numerous bills and resolutions, several of which the Governor returned without his approval; as he likewise returned a large number of other bills passed on different subjects, by reason, as he explains in his messages, that the bills severally contained serious defects either in the substance or in the structure. Many of them he returned "after consultation with the chairmen of the several committees by whom the bills had been reported, and with their consent." On reconsideration, the bills having defects of a structural character were for the most part amended by the Legislature in accordance with the Governor's suggestions; the others were persisted in, or continued to the next General Assembly. The new Capitol building at Hartford is now considered finished, and in actual use for the purposes which it was intended to serve; it having been this year occupied by the Legislature for their sittings, and by the Governor with the other State officers as the permanent place of transacting the public business. The State Board of Commissioners on the erection, in their annual report for 1877, which was communicated by the Governor to the Legislature on January 17, 1878, give a comprehensive idea of the whole structure and its several parts in a summary statement, specifying their forms and dimensions as well as the quality and quantity of the materials employed in their construction, and the cost. The official statement on these matters in the Commissioners' report is as follows: The exterior of the building is finished except the dome; and its solid brick partitions, brick arches for the floors, iron girders, beams, joists, and rafters, and roof of copper and slate, make it not only substantial and enduring, but fire-proof. The dome, which is to be of marble, rests upon heavy masonry from the foundation to the roof, where it is strongly braced and supported by iron beams, braces, anchors, and bolts, devised by accomplished engineering skill, and is designed to stand unmoved, with the entire structure, through ages of time. In furnishing the Senate chamber and hall of the House of Representatives, the Commissioners have provided a seat and convenient desk for each member. In the House they will place 250 seats and desks. The desks for the presiding officers and clerks are by designs of the architect, and are not only convenient, but in harmony with the general design of the building. The anterooms on each side of the House and the Senate are conveniently arranged; and there are more than twenty committee rooms, pleasant, well ventilated, and warmed. Four of Low's steam-boilers, of fifty horse-power each, located in a vault outside of the building, furnished the heated air for making this spacious building comfortable in all its parts in the severest weather. The system of hot-air pipes and radiators, on well-designed and scientific plans, is by Mr. C. B. Richards, of Hartford, an accomplished mechanical engineer, who also designed the ventilating flues. The Com missioners are satisfied that in these essential par ticulars of heating and ventilation they have secured a gratifying success. After examining original and improved plans, with detailed estimates, through its special committees, the Legislature finally fixed upon the sum of two aud a half million dollars as the total amount, to House. This sum has been approved by three ditbe expended in the construction of the new State ferent Legislatures; and the Commissioners have made it a special object to obtain the best building possible for this amount of money, but on no account to exceed two and a half million dollars in their expenditures. The dimensions of the building are as follows: Extreme length Depth of center part. Depth of wings.... Depth of intermediate part... Height from cellar to ground floor figure..... 295 feet 8 inches 189 feet 4 inches 111 feet 8 inches 102 feet 8 inches 11 feet 6 inches 14 feet 6 inches 14 feet 6 inches 15 feet 0 inches 92 feet 8 inches 164 feet 6 inches 257 feet 2 inches The dome tower rises in the center of the building in a rectangular shape to the roof, and from there upward in the twelve-sided shape, with buttresses ameter is 53 feet 4 inches. From roof to bottom of and columns on each of the twelve corners. Its di cone it is 75 feet 2 inches; the cone is 27 feet 4 inches in height; the lantern 47 feet; globe and crowning figure, the "Genius of Connecticut," 15 feet. Four small towers, square in shape, rise with their finials 153 feet from the ground. The Representatives' hall is 84.4 by 56 feet, and has a clear height of 48 feet 8 inches. The Senate chamber is 50 by 39.7 feet, with a clear height of 37 feet. The library room, 55 by 85 feet, is on the second floor, as is also the Supreme Court room, 50-6 by 31-4 feet, and the height of each of State officers, committees of the General Assembly, is 34 feet 8 inches. There are sixty rooms for the use retiring-rooms, etc. There are substantial vaults, with double iron and steel doors, and combination locks, for the use of the Treasurer and School Fund Commissioner; and there are also vaults connected with other offices. An elevator six by eight feet in size, to be moved by steam, is placed near the center of the building. The roof is of wrought iron throughout, and the fittings are arranged so as to avoid any welding whatever. The entire floors are built with wrought-iron beams and brick arches. The foundations are massive, and of granite and brownstone. The dormer-windows are of marble, with carved trimmings. The main entrances are built of solid marble piers and polished granite columns, over which are richly carved caps. All of the vestibules, halls, and corridors are supported by granite and marble columns, except the two lightshafts, which are inclosed by iron columns and ornamented railings. The main stairways, of which there are two, are very solid and imposing; they are of marble, with steps and platforms of granite. In these stairways are forty-six polished granite columns, resembling in appearance the Scotch granite. The granite for these beautiful columns came from a Connecticut quarry near Stony Creek, on Long Island Sound. These stairways lead from the ground floor to the galleries of the hall of the House of Representatives, or one flight above the second floor. All of the woodwork finish is of oak, black walnut, and ash. The white glass is of the best polished French plate. There are 126 columns of polished granite and 30 columns of marble in the building, the material for which was taken from quarries in Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, and Rhode Island. The engineer has not completed his accurate mea surements, but the Commissioners are enabled to give approximately, and they believe nearly accurately, the following quantities of the principal material in the building: 7,800,000 hard brick; 2,100,000 pounds iron; 300,000 square feet plaster; 152,000 cubic feet stone masonry; 114,000 cubic feet marble in building; 47,000 cubic feet marble in dome; 33,000 cubic feet granite; 39,303 feet steam pipe; 22,674 feet gas pipe; 12,073 feet water pipe. Of the brick, 1,200,000 will be in the dome, 800,000 of which are now in place; and of the 47,000 cubic feet of marble required for the dome, 20,000 cubic feet are in place. The National Greenback Labor party convened at Hartford on the 17th of August, being represented by eighty delegates from all of the counties, and nominated a full State ticket, as follows: For Governor, Charles Atwater, of New Haven; for Lieutenant-Governor, Henry Manchester, of Danbury; for Secretary of State, Lucian W. Pinney, of Winsted; for Treasurer, Loren F. Judd, of New Britain; for Comptroller, Charles J. Winters, of Norwich. The following platform was adopted by the Convention : Whereas, Both the old political parties have sanctioned legislation that has created excessive expenses, debt, and taxation; fostered monopolies, diminished the value of all kinds of property, except evidences of debt, and brought upon the people all the evils of a contracted and fluctuating currency; and Whereas, This policy has formed privileged classes, changed the obligations of contracts, lowered wages, thrown laborers out of employment, and produced an enormous amount of needless suffering; and Whereas, Governments should discourage great accumulations of wealth in few hands, and should promote industry, frugality, and equal prosperity for all: therefore the National Greenback Labor party of Connecticut resolves: ARTICLE I. We denounce as crimes against the people the law making the greenback only a partial fegal tender, the act creating the national banking scheme, the act changing currency bonds into coin bonds, the act exempting bonds from taxation, the act repealing the income tax, the act demonetizing silver, the act for issuing interest-bearing bonds for the purchase of silver bullion to be converted into subsidiary coin, the act for the forced resumption of specie payments, the act for the indefinite increase of the national-bank circulation and the enormous contraction of the volume of the circulating medium. We recognize the financial legislation of the Government from the beginning of the war as the arbitrary dictation of a syndicate of bankers and usurers, with the single purpose of robbing the many to enrich the few. ART. II. To remedy and counteract the evils complained of we demand the Government shall issue a full legal-tender paper money adequate in volume for the employment of labor, the distribution of its products, the requirements of business, and for the payment of all bonds in absolute money as soon as possible, and no further issue by the Government of any bonds. ART. III. We call for the immediate repeal of the so-called resumption act and the national-bank act, demanding the retirement at once of the nationalbank circulation, and the substitution therefor of full legal-tender paper money. ART. IV. The public lands, belonging to all the people, should be sacredly held in trust for the homes of American citizens; that the Government should furnish aid to families desirous of settling thereupon, in amounts sufficient to enable them to cultivate and improve the same, instead of squandering the public domain upon corporations or private speculators. We demand a graduated tax on all lands. ART. V. We demand that the Government at once establish postal savings banks, for the purpose of receiving deposits by the people for safe keeping, and loaning money to the people, on ample security, at a rate of interest not exceeding the actual expense of creating and loaning the same. ART. VI. In the language of Peter Cooper, "Nothing can be bought cheap from foreign countries which must be bought at tlie expense of leaving our own raw material unused, and our own labor unemployed"; therefore we demand a protective tariff and the labor to manufacture the same is found in on all articles of which the raw material is produced the country; all articles which we do not or can not produce or manufacture to be admitted free. ART. VII. An income tax based upon a constitutional limitation and graduating upward, but leaving untouched all incomes under $1,000. ART. VIII. That labor, being the basis of man's existence, and the source of all wealth, deserves our first consideration. We therefore demand that labor bureaus, State at well as national, be established for the collection of statistics relative to the condition of the producing classes, and the management to be given to competent men, known to be in sympathy with the design for which said bureau is created; that wise, judicious, and equitable laws may be enacted in regard to the hours of labor, and the employment of minors in the manufacturing establishments. ART. IX. We demand a thorough reform in the system of public-school education, so as to establish agricultural, mechanical, and commercial schools in addition to our common schools; that all books should be procured at the expense of the State government, and that not less than one lecture per week be delivered upon the dignity of labor and its paramount importance in the affairs of men in every-day life. ART. X. Equal taxation of all property owned by individuals or corporations. ART. XI. We demand a thorough reform in the administration of the affairs of the State. It is the duty of the Legislature, elected by the people, to appropriate definite sums for the various State departments, the officials in charge of said departments being limited to the amounts so appropriated. ART. XII. We demand a general supervision by the State of all railroad, gas, and other monopolies. There should be a uniform tariff rate for passenger and freight traffic on railroads, and definite laws curbing their encroachments. ART. XIII. We demand the abolition of the system of letting out by contract the labor of convicts in our prisons and reformatory institutions. ART. XIV. We are opposed to the importation of servile Chinese labor to come into competition with the free labor of this country. ART. XV. We deprecate and denounce all seditious and violent measures, and appeal only to the good sense and love of justice and patriotism of the people, and invoke them to redress their cruel and outrageous wrongs only through the medium of the ballot-box. When the reading of this platform had been concluded, a discussion ensued, some among the delegates having severally proposed certain additions to it, as a resolution advocating woman's right to suffrage, and one prohibiting the exportation of wheat and flesh-meat because they are needed at home. Their motions did not prevail. The Democratic party convened at New Haven on September 17, 1878, when the en |