USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol II > Part 18
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9 Laws of Indiana, 1865, ch. XLIX.
10 Laws of Indiana, 1865, ch. XXVII; Senate Journal, 1865, 113, and House Journal, 1865, 165. Opponents of this charged that Morton had no shadow of authority for making the loan.
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REORGANIZATION
national and local phases of this question were never kept separate. Nationally it involved the whole ques- tion of Reconstruction, which produced so much dis- cord in congress from 1865 to 1870. The discussions in the Indiana Assemblies of this period would lead the readers of the Journals to think the Assembly was charged with the entire question of Reconstruc- tion in the south.
Governor Morton had opened up this question in public addresses before the Assembly of 1865 con- vened. A joint resolution accepting the Thirteenth amendment was introduced early in the session and opposed by all the arts of parliamentary practice up to its passage in the senate by a vote of 26 to 24 and in the house by a vote of 56 to 29.11 The opposition was along political lines, the Democrats opposing on the ground that such questions as the social status of negroes should be left entirely to the state.
The recognition of the freedom of the slaves of the south was but a gentle breeze compared with the storm caused by the proposed enfranchisement of the negroes. Here, at first, party lines could not be formed. Governor Morton was conservative, and in a speech at Richmond, September 28, 1865, tried to temper the extreme demands of the Quakers, led by George W. Julian, for immediate and full negro suffrage.12 Morton favored a probationary and edu- cational policy for the negroes before enfranchise- ment.18 A large part of the Republican party in Indiana at that time opposed negro suffrage but the rejection by the south of the Fourteenth amendment
11 Senate Journal, 1865, p. 315; House Journal, 1865, p. 396. For the resolutions, see Laws of Indiana, 1865, p. 135.
12 Indianapolis Journal, Oct. 2, 1865.
13 George W. Julian, Political Recollections, 263, seq. "The ballot for the negro was a logical necessity."
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
and the later extreme measures of congress gradu- ally consolidated the party until by 1869, when the Fifteenth amendment came up for ratification, the party supported it almost solidly. In the meantime the Fourteenth amendment had been ratified by the Assembly of 1867 without a serious struggle.13ª The Fifteenth amendment was sent to the Assembly, March 1, 1869. James D. Williams, later governor, moved to postpone the "firebrand" till March 6, or until all legislative work was accomplished. This was the well-known sign of an approaching bolt. The Republicans seemed determined on forcing through the resolution adopting the amendment. Consequent- ly after a long caucus on the night of March 3, seven- teen Democratic senators and thirty-seven Demo- cratic representatives, resigned from office. These were all the Democratic members except three sena- tors, and six representatives, all of whom were from doubtful districts.18b The resignations had all the effect of a popular referendum. The governor, March 5, ordered a special election for March 23 to fill the vacancies. The Democrats put the main question squarely before the people.18€
13ª Senate Journal, 1867, p. 96; House Journal, 1867, p. 184. For discussion, see Brevier Reports on above dates.
, 13৳ Indianapolis Sentinel, March 5, 1869.
13e See letter, "To the People of Indiana," by Democrats in congress, and the "Address" by the resigning members. Indian- apolis Sentinel, March 6, 1870 (quoted in Indiana Magazine of History, IX, 144) : "If all legal and constitutional barriers and middle walls of partition between the two races are to be broken down; if our schools are to be thrown open, or our school funds, raised by white men, are to be divided with this people; and if they are to vote, and hold office, and sit as jurors,-then will our whole State be flooded by this population. If they labor, they will come in competition with, and strike down the wages of, white men and women; if they will not labor, then our pauper
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REORGANIZATION
The Republicans as a rule confined their cam- paign to denouncing the Democrats for resigning and causing trouble and expense. The Republican members also issued an "Address to the people". It contains a good historical resume of the Fifteenth amendment rather than an argument in its favor.14 The result was the reelection of all the members. In fact no organized campaign seems to have been made by the Republicans. In seven senatorial and four- teen representative districts no candidates were nominated by them, the temper of the voters in those districts being well known.
The governor called an extra session for April 8, 1869. The Democrats stayed away from the state house until they secured, or thought they secured, a pledge from the Republicans that the Fifteenth amendment resolution would not be brought up, at least until all necessary legislation had been disposed of. The amendment was postponed by agreement until May 14. On the preceding day ten senators and forty-one representatives handed in their resig- nations. However, before the resigning members left the Assembly rooms the senate barred its doors, counted a quorum and passed the amendment. In the house the speaker ruled that a majority could pass a resolution and so the amendment resolution
asylums, jails, and penitentiaries will be filled with them. Hold- ing these views, the only remedy left in our hands to prevent the ratification of this great iniquity was to restore to you, as the fountain head, the offices bestowed upon us, and take your opinion as to whether we have reflected your will and have stood faith- fully by the trust you reposed in us. We hope, if you approve of these doctrines and actions of your representatives, that you will be willing to come out and devote one day to the establish- ment of principle."
14 Indianapolis Journal, March 8, 1869.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
was passed.15 These details are given not alone for the intrinsic interest of the subject but to illustrate political methods and morals.16
The Fifteenth amendment was not the only trou- blesome legislation necessary on the negro question as a result of the war. The state had for many years maintained a state colonization society with a state agent. Since the negroes were now free this agency was no longer needed and consequently was abol- ished.17 In the special session, convened November 12, 1865, the question of the repeal of Article XIII of the state constitution forbidding free negroes from coming into the state was submitted. After two weeks of rather animated discussion the repeal reso- lution passed the house,18 but failed in the senate by a vote of 22 to 22.19 A like fate met a bill to provide by taxation common schools for negroes the same as for whites. The general objection was that if such fav- ors were shown, colored people by tens of thousands would flock into the state.
A bill enabling negroes to give testimony in the courts was enacted into law, however.2º The colored people themselves were becoming politically inter- ested. They held a state convention at Indianapolis, November 9, 1865, which petitioned the voters of the state for suffrage as well as the status of citizens generally. They claimed a population of 6,051 scat- tered over fifteen counties, property valued at $912,- 314, and that they annually paid in taxes $28,471.
15 Brevier Reports, XI, 224-247. See, also, the Indianapolis Journal and Sentinel on these dates for opposing views.
16 The best discussion of this whole question is by W. C. Gerichs, Indiana Magazine of History, IX, 131, seq.
17 Laws of Indiana, 1865, ch. XVII.
18 House Journal, Special, 1865, 277.
19 Brevier Report, Special, 1865, 164.
20 Laws of Indiana, Special, 1865, ch. LVI.
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CARE OF DEPENDENTS
Again in 1867 bills to provide schools for colored people were killed in the Assembly, this time in the house.
Not until the special session of 1869 was the re- striction removed and colored children admitted to the common schools the same as white children.21 Nothing more was done toward abolishing Article XIII of the constitution until the Assemblies of 1879, regular and special, which submitted an amendment to the constitution striking out the political restric- tions on colored people. This was ratified at a special election, April 5, 1880, and the last legal political disability of the colored man was removed.22 This had been one of the chief political questions at issue between the two leading parties in Indiana since 1840.
§ 140 CARE OF DEPENDENTS
The long war had caused much suffering and at its close there were many widows and orphans and crippled soldiers in destitute circumstances. Under the stress of the war, neighborhood charity, seconded here and there by county and township aid, had met all the needs of this kind, but with the return of peace more permanent conditions had to be supplied. It was confidently expected that the national govern- ment in time would take care of these victims but their need was insistent. An emergency bill was signed by the governor, March 4, 1865, levying a tax of three mills on the dollar and one dollar on the poll, the proceeds to be distributed by the governor to hos- pitals and by county commissioners and township trustees to destitute families.28 This relief was to
21 Laws of Indiana, Special, 1869, ch. XVI.
22 Charles Kettleborough, Constitution Making in Indiana, Index.
28 Laws of Indiana, 1865, ch. XL.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
extend only one year, after which the counties would give required aid, providing, however, that soldiers and their dependents were not to be classed as paupers.24
The debt of the state to disabled soldiers and their families was recognized by all patriotic people. No one felt it just or honorable to leave these unfor- tunates to the precarious charity of county boards. No one was more interested than the war governor, Morton, unless it was his successor, Conrad Baker. As previously noted, during the war, Governor Mor- ton had opened a temporary soldiers' home in Indi- anapolis. On May 15, 1865, he issued an address to the people asking their assistance in the establish- ment of a permanent home. At a state meeting in Indianapolis, May 24, 1865, a permanent organiza- tion was effected for soliciting funds. August 27, a temporary home was opened at the City Hospital building, Indianapolis. There were gathered here in a short time upwards of 200 disabled soldiers. In the spring of 1866 the park known as Knightstown Springs in Rush county was bought for $8,500 and there the home was established, April 26, 1866. The total cost including the purchase price of the springs, $25,560.84, had been raised by popular subscription. The general management and establishment of the home were placed in the hands of William Hanna- man, in whom the people had the fullest confidence on account of his record with the state sanitary com- mission.
From reports to Mr. Hannaman, made by the county auditors, there were then, 1867, 2,070 orphans whose fathers had lost their lives in the war. To the shame of the state some of these were in the poor houses. All were in need of care and the governor
24 Laws of Indiana, Special, 1865, ch. VII.
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REFORM SCHOOLS
recommended that the property at Knightstown be taken by the state as a home for all those left in need by the war. If, as was then probable, the nation established soldiers' homes and took as its guests its disabled soldiers then the estate could be used en- tirely as a home and school for the orphans.25 Fol- lowing the governor's recommendation the Assembly by act of March 11, 1867, authorized the purchase of the Knightstown Springs estate and established there the "Indiana Soldiers' and Seamen's Home". It was to receive the widows of disabled soldiers and sailors and their orphans under fifteen years of age. Pensions drawn by soldiers who were living at the home were to be used by the home.26 The home was reorganized by the law of February 15, 1887, but its general policy was not changed.27
§ 141 REFORM SCHOOLS
Another subject closely allied to the one just dis- cussed was the disposition of juvenile criminals. The subject had been a favorite one with reformers dur- ing the decade preceding the Civil war. The consti- tution of 1851 had commanded that "The General Assembly shall provide Houses of Refuge for the reformation and correction of juvenile offenders". On account of the fear of taxation the General As- semblies preceding the Civil war had not carried out this injunction. Juveniles, guilty of any and all kinds of derelictions were huddled into the squalid jails with experienced criminals, unless indeed, as had frequently happened under Morton's adminis- tration, the governor pardoned them to prevent it. Public sentiment was at the time weighing the rela- tive merits of the house of refuge and the reform
25 Morton's Message, House Journal, 1867, p. 85.
26 House Journal, Governor's Message, 1867, p. 30.
27 Laws of Indiana, 1887, ch. XIV.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
school. Barnabas C. Hobbs and Charles F. Coffin were interested in this movement and had furnished Morton with elaborate reports on the reform schools of New York, Ohio and Illinois.28 The Assembly compromised the situation by establishing a reform school and calling it a house of refuge for juvenile offenders.29
The governor was authorized to appoint a gov- erning board of three, select a site and with the board choose a superintendent. Incorrigible children could be placed in the institution by their parents; desti- tute children in danger of becoming immoral or idle, by township trustees; any one under eighteen, con- victed of crime or misdemeanor, by the consent of the jury trying the case; infants charged with crime, by the grand jury hearing the charges; and finally cir- cuit and common pleas judges might send any infant under eighteen charged with crime, after a private examination of the case. All children entering the school were to remain till of age unless sooner re- leased by the superintendent.
The superintendent had the power to apprentice a pupil to learn a trade. The cost of maintenance was charged, half to the county whence the child came, the other half to the state, except that when parents placed their own child in the institution, they became liable for the whole cost. All children were to be taught to read, write and calculate. The first board, composed of C. F. Coffin, A. C. Downey and Joseph Orr, met, April 23, 1867, and organized the institution along the general lines it has since followed.3º It became an industrial reform school
28 Senate Journal, 1869, p. 288.
29 Laws of Indiana, 1867, ch. LXVII.
30 Documentary Journal, 1870-71, Pt. I, p. 146: "The State, acting the part of a cherishing mother, gathers those waifs from
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REFORM SCHOOLS
in which the boys were cared for in families, each with a man in charge. The governor located the school on a farm of 225 acres near Plainsfield, where it still remains.31 The first superintendent was Fran- cis B. Ainsworth, an assistant then in the Ohio reform school. A model farm with orchards, gar- dens, wheat, corn, meadow, live stock, bakeries, laun- dries, carpenter shops was soon in successful opera- tion, with school, church choirs, bands, reading rooms and Sunday schools. The experiment proved highly satisfactory. The institution has saved thou- sands of children from the ragged edges of society. In 1883 it became the "Indiana Reform School for Boys" and in 1904 the "Indiana Boys' School."
The success of the house of refuge at Plainsfield encouraged those who had been for several years asking that female offenders be provided with a home. A bill to that effect was introduced by David Stewart, of Rush county, and in due time became a law.32 The only serious objection was raised by some professional politicians who objected to the $50,000 appropriation necessary. The movement received impetus from the scandals recently revealed in the state penitentiary where sixteen women were at that time incarcerated.33 The association for the relief of friendless women, whose manager, Mrs. Sarah Smith, addressed the senate, May 4, pushed the
the purlieus of vagrancy and vice, who, among loving and genial friends, and under appropriate teachers, are inspired with noble desires and worthy motives, and trained for honest toil and use- ful citizenship. Many a mother here finds a 'door of hope,' when all appeared iost; and many a friendless orphan finds a rescue from crime, who would otherwise only live to become the victim of our penal code."
31 House Journal, 1869, p. 48.
$2 Laws of Indiana, 1869, ch. XXII.
33 Brevier Reports, XI, 116, and 159.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
measure. May 3 they presented a memorial to the senate setting forth conditions and asking that the friendless girls be given the same chance as was be- ing given the boys at Plainsfield.34
The law provided that the institution be located at, or within five miles of, Indianapolis, to be gov- erned by a board of three appointed by the governor. The superintendent and all her assistants were to be women. The school was to be divided into two de- partments, reformatory and penal. The latter was for criminals beyond the age of fifteen and the for- mer was for girls under fifteen.
The board was organized, July 23, 1869, with E. B. Martindale as president. During the course of the year building was begun on state lands east of Indianapolis but the appropriation of $50,000 was expended before the buildings were finished. In that condition they remained until the meeting of the Assembly of 1873 when money sufficient to finish the buildings was appropriated. The institution was opened, September 6, 1873, with Mrs. Sarah J. Smith, superintendent. The buildings cost $97,556, and fur- niture $7,766. September 9, 1873, two girls were ad-
34 This petition is printed in the Indianapolis Journal, May 4, 1869: "Must our homeless and friendless daughters who are alike waifs upon the world without a friendly counselor, con- stantly exposed to crime, and in the path of ruin, not so much because of any predisposing fault of their own as because par- ents, church and State have failed to give them sympathy, and to inspire them to seek a better and higher life, now fail to find the protecting shield of the State thrown over them? Our jails find no suitable home for those who have been so unfortunate as to be sent thither, and our courts are deterred from executing the demands of justice because the ends of the penal law cannot be reached without degrading them, and the erring are set at liberty to seek again the companionship of vice.
"All our cities and villages are waiting for the rellef your timely ald can give them."
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FEEBLE-MINDED
mitted to the reformatory and, October 10, follow- ing, seventeen women prisoners were transferred from Jeffersonville.
The work thus started has continued. By act of March 9, 1889, on recommendation of the board, the name was changed to the "Reform School for Girls and Woman's Prison." At that time there were 59 women in prison and 144 girls in the school. Febru- ary 7, 1899, the name became the "Indiana Industrial School for Girls and the Indiana Woman's Prison." By act of March 1, 1905, the two institutions were separated and the industrial school for girls was located five miles west of Indianapolis on a beautiful tract of land.35
§ 142 FEEBLE-MINDED
A large number of feeble-minded children in the state were known to be without proper care. In many families they were mistreated for exactly opposite reasons. In some places they were hidden away be- cause the parents were ashamed; in others they were not allowed freedom because of parental affection. For many years after the state had made provision for these unfortunates to enjoy themselves as freely as they were capable, parents refused to let them go from home, fearing mistreatment.
The movement for a school for the feeble-minded had its origin in the founding of the orphans' home and the two reform schools. By act of March 15, 1879, the General Assembly established an asylum for the feeble-minded at Knightstown. The children were housed in a wing of the building occupied by the soldiers' orphans. This asylum, under the same management as the orphans' home, was opened, No-
35 For information concerning this institution, see the annual reports to the governor.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
vember 1, 1879. The soldiers did not take kindly to this arrangement by which the children of their dead comrades were associated with the feeble-minded. There was nothing to support the policy but short- sighted economy. The two schools remained togeth- er, however, till the act of March 7, 1887, separated them.36 This act established the Indiana school for the feeble-minded youth at Fort Wayne. The school was to be composed of two departments, one indus- trial, where those capable might work and go to school; the other, a mere custody of those of such low grade mentally that work and study were im- practicable.
There being no building in or near Fort Wayne, suitable for the home, temporary quarters were established at the eastern Indiana hospital at Rich- mond, in the new buildings of that institution. Mean- while the board purchased, May 19, 1887, 54 acres of land near Fort Wayne and began the erection of buildings for a permanent home. These buildings were completed, July 8, 1890, on which date the school was removed to its permanent home. At that time there were three hundred and seventeen enrolled.37
36 Laws of Indiana, 1887, ch. XXVIII. "The Institution Is to be divided into two distinct departments one industrial and the other custodial. The Industrial department Is to be a depart- ment for culture, In which shall be placed such feeble-minded children who are actually, in a practical sense, capable of im- provement, in which the rudiments of a common school education are to be taught in connection with, and subordinate to, culture in manual and industrial occupations. The objective point to be attained in this department is future usefulness, self-care and self-support. The custodial department shall be an asylum for low-grade feeble-minded, idiotic, epileptic children. In this de- partment special attention shall be paid to mental, physical and hygienic treatment."
37 For detailed information, see Annual Reports made to the governor.
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TAX SYSTEM
§ 143 TAX SYSTEM
The taxing system of the state had received very little attention by the Assembly since 1840. At that time a general change from a per capita tax to an ad valorem system had been made. The property then consisted almost wholly of real estate and visible per- sonal property, such as farmers and merchants pos- sessed. The constitution of 1851 had merely limited the Assembly to a uniform and equal rate of taxa- tion. As long as the burden of taxation fell entirely on tangible property this worked very well but dur- ing the Fifties an enormous amount of money was invested in corporation stock, especially railroads. The government was very friendly to these under- takings and rarely was a railroad appraised for tax- ation at more than one-fifth its real value. Before this question was adjusted the Civil war came on, bringing still greater burdens and difficulties. The incidence of taxation was little understood, so that corporations as a rule almost escaped.
At the beginning of the war the national treasury was empty. A direct tax was laid on the states, Indi- ana's part being $904,875. The state promptly as- sumed this burden and in the course of the war offset it with sums spent in fitting out troops for the na- tional government. The legislative part of the state government broke down during the war and only the systematic precaution of the governor saved its finances from inextricable confusion.
The state debt at the close of the war was $7,418,- 960.50, of which $6,036,080.33 was on account of bonds issued in 1847 at the state's settlement with its creditors. A sinking fund had then been started which if honestly administered, would have liquidat- ed this debt in 1866, but the money from the sinking fund had been diverted to other purposes. The As-
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
sembly of 1865, special session, levied a tax of ten cents on the hundred dollars to form a sinking fund to redeem the old canal bonds, empowering the board to buy for the fund the bonds whenever possible at advantageous prices.38 This tax was repealed, Feb- ruary 22, 1871. Not till December 21, 1872, was any systematic revision of the tax law accomplished. This law provided for three forms of taxation, a poll tax, a direct property tax and a specific stock tax. The poll tax was to fall on all males between the ages of 21 to 50. Property was divided as usual into real estate such as land and immovables fixed on the land and personal such as household goods, stocks, bonds, steamboats, money and like effects of all kinds. Property was to be assessed at its true cash value, that is what it would bring at a fair cash sale. Capital stock, franchises and such intangible prop- erty were to be assessed at the same rate by the state board of equalization, except that where the tangible property of a corporation was assessed the capital stock should not be. Mortgaged real estate was con- sidered as belonging to the mortgagor and no exemp- tion allowed. The law was drawn with considerable care, specifying how, when and where all species of property should be assessed. Telegraph, express, railroad, bank, and other corporate properties, in- cluding mills and factories, were rather minutely described. Real estate was to be appraised by the assessors every second year and personal property annually. The county commissioners, auditor, and assessors were constituted a county board of equali- zation. The governor, lieutenant governor, secre- tary, auditor and treasurer of state were constituted a state board of equalization. It met at the capital biennially on the year real property was assessed.
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