REPORT.

To the Honorable Secretary of State of the State of Michigan:

SIR-In pursuance of the statute in such cases made and provided, we, the undersigned, submit the following Report of the condition and management of the State Prison for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1863.

It gives us great pleasure to say that the success which has formerly characterized this institution under its present efficient officers, still continues. As there have been but few changes, such as daily experience and observation might naturally dictate, in the general management of the Prison for the past two years, there must of necessity be quite a similarity between this and other reports previously submitted.

The desolating war which was ravaging some portions of our once happy country one year ago, still hangs over it in all its horrors and uncertainty, causing not merely the sacrifice of millions of treasure, but thousands of lives, making heavy drafts upon all grades of our population, and more particularly upon that portion termed the floating class, to which it furnishes an acceptable employment and profitable wages. From this cause there has been a great decrease of crime in society at home, and a consequent diminution in the number of convicts received at our Penitentiary during the year, and lessening the amount charged for convict labor in the meantime some $5,836 42, as a comparison of the tabular statements for 1862 and 1863 will clearly show. Added to this, we find a very marked and rapid advance in everything used and consumed, which has largely increased the cost of maintaining the Prison. These remarks apply with most significant force to the expense of supporting the families of all our Prison officers. Their sal

aries are scarcely adequate to ordinary times, and when we consider the high price of fuel, groceries, clothing, &c., we wonder how they make an honorable living. In consideration of the services they render the State, all their salaries ought to be increased.

The decrease of from 75 to 100 convicts during the year, is not sufficient to lessen any of the departments, or enable the Prison to be conducted with any fewer guards or other officers, while it greatly diminishes the amount of earnings for convict labor. In considering the financial condition of the Prison, it is no part of our aim to make it appear to you in our report, that this is a paying institution. This is not a political document in which we may expatiate upon the necessities, or needless causes of taxation in support of our State institutions; but we should sufficiently bear in mind that a large amount of our taxation is the result of crime, in general. A man may declaim upon State taxes and State debts, while he ought to declaim loudly upon the parent of those taxes and those debts. Do we reflect what a dreadful picture of crime, of taxation, of robbery and human violence it would entail upon this State, to again place in confinement double the number of convicts we now have in Prison, and render it a self-supporting institution? When there is a decrease or loss of convict labor in Prison, there is a corresponding decrease of crime and county taxation in all the communities of the State. When we regard only the present effects of this war upon society, it is in some respects pleasant to contemplate; but this very idea, that as we increase the regiments of our army we decrease the regiments of convicts in our penitentiaries, forces upon us an after calculation that we shudder to think of.

Glory, patriotism, bravery and conquest are bright and glit tering things, but who when he is delighted in looking upon these things is armed against the mischief which they veil. It well becomes us to look not only to our property and homes, but to our hearts, and see if we are sufficiently fortified against all its fearful effects and depraving influences. During this