will feel a just pride in the Indiana building, and I trust the action of the Board of Managers who have so wisely planed and constructed it will meet with your hearty approval. This building in a great measure is the exhibit of Indiana. Strangers who look upon it will judge the State very much by her building, and no citizen will have cause to be ashamed of this building which will compare favorably with any other State building on the ground. I can not speak too strongly in behalf of this great work. It is an opportunity never again to be realized for the State to take her proper place in the front rank with the leading States of the Union. Other States may have more territory, other States may furnish a larger amount of some product, other States may excel in some special resources, but what State can show such a field of varied resources as Indiana? For years we have been the most extensive coal producers west of the Alleghanies. Our building stone is in demand in all parts of the country and the development of this industry is scarcely begun. Our timber is the best and most varied of any State. Our oil fields have become the most extensive, while the natural gas product of the State is without an equal anywhere. But while these natural resources are most abundant and conspicuous, Indiana may well claim distinguished prominence for her agricultural yield. No State in the Union will produce so much corn, wheat, oats, rye and barley to the acre as may be realized by the farmers of Indiana. The great Northwest may excel us slightly in raising wheat, but no corn can be raised in that section. The Pacific Coast may excel us some in the production of fruit, but few cereals thrive there. The Atlantic States may raise more potatoes than we do and the South more cotton and cane, but for a bountiful yield of everything that an allwise Providence has given to man Indiana can make a better showing than any other State or country of the world. Do we, as citizens of the State, realize that within our border we have the largest wagon factory of the world, besides the largest plow factory, the largest glass producing plants, the largest grain drill factory, and that recently we have acquired the largest reaper and mower factory, while Evansville stands foremost of all cities as the hard wood lumber market of any country, and Jeffersonville and Michigan City have the largest ship building concerus west of the Atlantic Coast? I can not speak too highly of our educational advantages. Indiana bears the palm in this field. Recently a representative of the State of Massachusetts visited the schools of the leading cities of the country, and, after thorough examination, declared that the High Schools of Indianapolis were the best to be found anywhere. The same may be said of the schools in other cities of the State, and we should ever bear in mind the great advancement we have made in education, and cherish the high standing our State has attained. Our mines were never more profitable; our live stock interests have developed within the past few years most wonderfully; our dairy interests are now attracting wide-spread attention, and this promises a field of profit to farmers; our wool product is increasing; floriculture and horticulture are hand in hand in the work of progress, and the future for Indiana is full of bright assurances of unusual prosperity. Let us not hesitate in the great duty before us. The Board of Managers have rightly placed Indiana where she belongs, and I trust their recommendation for an additional appropriation to carry on the great work will meet with your prompt and hearty endorsement. We are not poor, and never was Indiana so well prepared for an emergency like this, as now. GOVERNOR JENNINGS. In the last Legislature a bill was presented making an appropriation for a monument to the memory of Jonathan Jennings, the first Governor of the State of Indiana, who lies buried in an unmarked grave near Charleston, Clark County. He was a man of high character and patriotism. He served the State in her infancy with distinction in the National Congress, and as Chief Executive, and it would be a most worthy and proper act for you, as representatives of the people, to make provision for a monument to his memory. PUBLIC HEALTH. During the year many thousands of people from every country will visit the United States to attend the World's Fair, most of whom, of necessity, will have to pass through our State. This fact will subject us to dangerous contagious diseases more than we have ever experienced before. I therefore call your especial attention to the recommendation of the State Board of Health that will be found in their annual report. TOWNSHIP LIBRARIES. The interest which is growing in libraries in Indiana should receive the fostering care of the Legislature of our State. Other States are in advance of us in this direction, which are behind us in other lines of advancement. Farmers' Institutes' Reading Circles, Educational Conventions, and Library As80ciations, are calling for some system of libraries which shall put good books within the reach of those who want them, especially the young people who are taught to read and have nothing within reach to feed their minds upon after. I would recommend that some system of distributing reading matter be devised, either by township libraries or whatever may seem to your honorable body the most practicable. THE STATE HOUSE. This structure, in which all the people of the State possess a justifiable pride, and in which millions of dollars' worth of valuable property are involved, requires vigilant watchfulness and care on the part of those to whom it is entrusted, that it may be protected from the hand of the vandal, and secured, as far as possible, from destruction by the elements. Those whom you have elected in the past to discharge this service have left no occasion for censure, even in the slightest degree. Their unremitting attention to the grave responsibility imposed upon them deserve this hearty commendation. CONCLUSION. The time is at hand when I shall take my leave from the high office to which I succeeded after the death of Governor Hovey. I have tried, in the fear of God and men, to faithfully perform the responsible duties imposed. On you, the representatives of the people, I invoke the blessings of Almighty God. COUNTIES. The Senate and House of Representatives being in joint |