"C."— Estimate of Earnings and Expenses of the Illinois State Peni tentiary for the remaining of the fiscal year ending November 30, 1872. Stone department and quarry, if the profits of last year are taken as a basis, will average at least... Total earnings.. EXPENSES. Per month. For 10 months Warden house.... Expenses, including all salaries (except stone foreman) convict Total expenses.... NOTE-Expenses for salaries are based on the present pay-rolls. clothing, fuel, etc., are based on the recent contract for supplies. Expenses for subsistence 'MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR. STATE OF ILLINOIS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, HON. JOHN DOUGHERTY, President of the Senate, HON. WM. M. SMITH, Speaker of the House of Representatives : I have the honor to submit to the General Assembly a communication of this date, addressed to me by the Auditor of Public Accounts, in relation to the state of the law for the assessment and collection of revenue. As will be observed from the communication above mentioned, it is probable that one hundred and fifty millions of property, estimated on a proportional assessed valuation, evades taxation under present laws, so that if, as the Auditor supposes, the property of the State is assessed at one-fourth of its actual value, six hundred millions of dollars of the property pays no taxes. This state of things, even if approximately true, makes it of the greatest importance that the present General Assembly should devise some measure that provides for the imposition of the public burdens upon all property in the State in proportion to its value. And it also appears, from the statement of the views of the Auditor, that it is a matter of extreme doubt whether the changes introduced into the system of county government by the Constitution of 1870 does not, in some important respects, render the present revenue laws inoperative. There is, no doubt, reason to apprehend that the introduction of the system of county commissioners in counties that are not under township organization, and the restrictions upon the exemp. tions of property from taxation, contained in the 3d section of the 9th article of the Constitution, and other provisions in that article, have so dislocated and deranged the machinery provided by existing revenue laws, as to render their practical enforcement a matter of great uncertainty. I trust, in view of the probabilities of an early adjournment of the General Assembly, that it will not be considered improper for me to ask attention to the urgent necessity for some general law for the incorporation of cities and towns. Vol. III-9 The great value of the Constitution of 1870, in my judgment, is found in the fact that it prohibits local and special legislation "incorporating cities, towns or villages, or changing or amending the charter of any town, city or village," yet the fact that many bills have been. proposed in both Houses for that purpose, and that the General Assembly and the Governor have been constrained, the one to pass and the other to approve, some measures that are special and local in their object and spirit, and only general in their form, demonstrates that a comprehensive general law based upon liberal principles, embracing the idea of judicious classification of cities and towns with powers appropriate to each class, leaving much to the people, is a want but little less pressing than a clear, just and equal, revenue law. Unless some such law is speedily provided, no department of the government will be able much longer to resist the demand for laws of doubtful constitutionality, and when either department is forced to yield, it is nearly impossible to return to the rigid but wise rules provided in the Constitution; and I trust I will be pardoned for urging attention to the enactment of laws providing for ascertaining compensation to owners of property taken for public uses. It is doubtful whether any law for that purpose is now in force, or whether any supposed law for that purpose now on the statute books sufficiently conforms to the present Constitution. The assertion of the rights of the people to their own property as against the State itself, to say nothing of their rights as against corporations and persons who are sometimes intrusted by law with this attribute of sovereignty which can alone take private property, devolves upon the General Assembly. Corporations created for the construction of railroads, and for other popular improvements or works, will appropriate the property they need; no one need fear that they will be long delayed by any effort of a citizen to protect himself; so that the real question to be settled is, whether any effectual remedy exists, under the laws now in force, for the ascertainment of damages any one will sustain by the appropriation of his or her property. Actions at law or in equity for the purposes are expensive and uncertain, so that a cheap and simple law is of the highest importance. JOHN M. PALMER. AUDITOR'S OFFICE, ILLINOIS, SPRINGFIELD, March 25, 1872. HIS EXCELLENC JOHN M. PALMER, Governor of Illinois : SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d inst., containing the following inquiries: First-Does there exist a necessity for the passage of a general revenue law at the present session of the General Assembly? If there does, in your opinion, exist such necessity, please give briefly your reasons therefor." Second—“In case no such law should be passed at the present session, could the old revenue laws for the levy and collection of taxes, in your opinion, be enforced under our present Constitution? and if not, please state the difficulties which prevent." In reply to the first question, I have no hesitation whatever in expressing the opinion that there does exist a necessity for the passage of such a law at the present session. I have only time to-day to "briefly," as you suggest, give some of the reasons for that opinion: As political questions, which have mainly engaged the attention of our people for the past few years, are becoming settled, public attention is being directed to our internal business relations and obligations, and as our great resources and wealth as a State is being rapidly developed, and a corresponding increase of expenses incurred in establishing and maintaining our State institutions, and defraying the expenses of our State and local governments, the principles of taxation and the laws for the levy and collection of State and local revenues are becoming more and more considered and critically examined. Hence some of our old revenue laws, which have heretofore been acquiesced in, will, I am satisfied, be contested, if not repealed, and if contested, will be held by the courts invalid. The first great necessity for an immediate and radical change and revision of our revenue laws grows out of the undeniable and admitted fact that real estate and tangible personal property in the State have been compelled to pay more than their proportion of the taxes; and from proper evidences before me on which to base an estimate, I do not hesitate to say that intangible personal property, such as moneys, credits, bonds, stocks, etc., in value to the amount of at least one hundred and fifty millions of dollars, has heretofore and will continue to escape or evade taxation under present laws. And when it is considered that this class of property is best able of all property to contribute its share of taxes, and that the present year the probable amount of taxes for State and local purposes will be $25,000,000, it will be seen that a continuance of this state of things is nothing less than positive wrong and injustice. The greater portion of this property, which at present evades taxation, is owned by railroads, banks, bankers, brokers and stock-jobbers. A few figures will illustrate this fact: There are about 7,000 miles of railroad in this State. Eighteen corporations own 4,668 miles of this in the State, and the value of the assets of these eighteen roads, as made to the Railroad Commissioners, and obtained in part from other sources, is about $175,000,000. The assessed valuation of all railroad property in the State for 1871, being 4,860 miles, was only $22,556,126, which amount was increased by equalization to $25,516,042, or about one-seventh of the value, as stated by the roads. However, it is probable that the property of the roads assessed represents an actual value of about $75,000,000, leaving $100,000,000 of value unasBessed. A statement of the banking facilities of the city of Chicago, in December, 1871, shows the amount of individual deposits to be $29,483,585 in the banks of that city, other than savings banks; and the capital and surplus funds of bankers, brokers, etc., other than savings and |