granted, by an act of congress, to the state, and the legislature gave them, in turn, to the several counties in which they were situated. The meandered lakes, except in a few special cases, have never been the subject of state or congressional legislation. It is conceded, I think, that, as long as they remain lakes, they are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state of Iowa. They are, in fact and admittedly, the property of the state. A number of these bodies of water, which were, at the time of the original survey, meandered and platted as lakes, have since become dry; some from natural causes, and some have been drained. Others are in process of drying out, and will doubtless at an early date become arable land. Considerable litigation has already occurred over the title to some of these lake beds, and much more is in contemplation. Many of the counties of the state in which swamp lands were situated transferred the same by blanket conveyances to land companies or individuals. These transfers.

were usually for little more than a nominal consideration, and it was evidently never intended to convey lands which had not been surveyed-which, so far as the state was concerned, did not exist. These meandered lakes were never considered in computing the land area of the state. The purchasers from these counties have, probably in every instance, received the full complement of lands intended to be conveyed, and no further equity exists. In some instances, counties have subsequently quitclaimed certain meandered lakes to private individuals or syndicates; but never having title thereto, and never having claimed title, none has passed, and no equity has thus been created. The holders of these quitclaims-I dare not call them purchasers, for they have never purchased; nor grantees, for nothing has been granted-have gone into the enterprise as a speculation; and while no criticism attaches to the transaction no sympathy should follow a failure to get something for nothing. To the end that the temptation to speculate in these lake-beds may be removed, and the property of the state conserved, I recommend that a legislative grant be made of all the lake-beds that have, or that may hereafter, become dry, either to the State University or to the State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts; or perhaps better still to both these institutions jointly; and that a commission be appointed to make selection from time to time, and report

the same to the executive council for confirmation, under such provisions for hearing and appeal as may be deemed wise in the premises.

Iowa is not possessed of a surplus of water surface, and all the ponds and lakes capable thereof ought to be preserved, and the commission should designate these in its report. All others should be made arable as speedily as practicable, and our educational institutions may be, I think, wisely made the beneficiaries of the fund available therefrom. I have no very accurate information of the extent of these lands, but from estimates, more or less reliable, I am of the opinion they will yield several hundred thousand dollars in the near future.

It should be made the duty of the attorney-general to prosecute or defend any suits necessary to the enjoyment of the grant by these institutions, for it must be borne in mind that the counties wherein the same are situated occasionally make claim thereto; in other instances title is predicated on quitclaims; and squatters claim some under the homestead acts; while adjacent land-owners in yet other instances claim them as accretions. A test case can be made to determine all these questions, and at nominal expense

PARDONS.

It has been the custom for some years to release convicts, confined in our penitentiaries, upon parole, conditioned that they scrupulously absent themselves from saloons and places where intoxicating liquors are kept or sold, and in all respects demean themselves as worthy citizens. If the party violates these conditions, he is rearrested and returned to the penitentiary to serve the balance of his term. In the last ten years 664 suspensions of sentence for felony have been granted, and 269 for minor offenses. Of these only fifty-three have been revoked. Doubtless some more of the released convicts have resumed vicious practices without having been detected. A large percentage, however, have been restored to lives of usefulness, and the dignity of the law has in no measure suffered violence. I think the plan should be encouraged by express statutory provision, and I recommend, in case the offender violates the terms of his parole, that he be made to forfeit the good time he may have earned prior to his release.

Not only is exercise essential to life and happiness, but labor as distinguished from exercise is likewise necessary. Confined idleness tends strongly to insanity, as the records of all penitentiaries clearly prove. For the state to deny to the incarcerated the benefits and inspiration of cheerful, invigorating, productive labor, of some kind, is actually cruel. This being conceded, the problem becomes perplexing. Few, if indeed any, will favor placing the product of convict labor in competition with free labor. If, therefore, a system of parole can be safely inaugurated, and the released convict compelled to go to work at some respectable calling and continue thereat, and be required also to save some of his earnings, or give satisfactory reason for failure so to do, and to make regular reports of his doings, the amount of wages earned, and his expenditures thereof, and how he has invested his savings, the expense of his maintenance in the penitentiary will be saved to the state, the wealth of the world will be increased by the added product of his toil, and, better than all, the actual reformation of the convict will be effected. There is no safeguard against vicious practices equal to industrious and economical habits. When satisfactory evidence of merit is furnished by a record of honorable conduct, a full pardon should be granted, and the convict be restored to citizenship. There is a large number of inmates of the penitentiaries to-day, who can be safely paroled under such a system; and convictions are had every month of young men, who have heretofore borne favorable reputations, but who through idleness have drifted into bad company and evil habits. The arrest, the indictment, the trial, the shame, and the disgrace incident to conviction are frequently sufficient to effect a reformation, but under the present system a term in the penitentiary seems unavoidable. A suspension of sentence by the governor upon the recommendation of the trial judge, under conditions above indicated, should, I think, be authorized, and actual incarceration in many cases thereby averted. The most dreaded ordeal of the repentant convict must of necessity be the actual entrance within the walls of the penitentiary. The suspension of this can but be a great incentive to reform. In addition, it would afford public recognition that honorable surroundings and virtuous antecedents are worth something, even to a prisoner at the bar, and that previous good character will receive favorable consideration from the same bench that pronounces sentence. There however, are classes of crimes, especially larceny, robbery,

and burglary, the deliberate and habitual perpetrator of which should be kept in prolonged if not perpetual confinement. I see no reason why the maximum punishment in this class of cases should not be materially increased, and the limit universally imposed for second offenses, subject always to parole, and the constitutional exercise of executive clemency, upon satisfactory evidence of merit. Such a policy would present the alternative of permanent reformation or constant incarceration. In other words, the system of indeterminate sentence, as practiced in some states, impresses me as favorable and advantageThe statute should not attempt to cover every detail of the parole conditions, but should leave much to the sound discretion of the chief executive, and subject to such modifications from time to time as experience might suggest.

ous.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

In this connection, I recommend that the governor be authorized to release at his discretion, and upon the recommendation of the board of control, any inmate of either of the industrial schools, and that all persons confined in these institutions, male or female, be discharged upon attaining their majority.

MILITARY.

On the 25th day of April, 1898, the president of the United States made a requisition on Iowa for three regiments of infantry, and two light batteries of artillery, for service in the Spanish war. This order was subsequently modified to include four regiments of infantry, and the call for artillery was revoked. Afterwards a second requisition was made to increase the regiments from 834 to 1,336 enlisted men, and two light batteries of artillery were again included. Under these several calls, four organizations, numbered consecutively the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, Fifty-first, and Fifty-second regiments of Iowa volunteer infantry, consisting of 216 commissioned officers and 3,120 enlisted men, and two light batteries of artillery, consisting of six commissioned officers and 220 enlisted men, were mustered into the service of the United States. The two batteries were subsequently discharged before leaving the state. The Forty-ninth regiment was sent first to Jacksonville, Fla., and thereafter to Cuba, where it did service during the winter of 1898-9, and was discharged at Savannah, Ga., on the 13th day of May, 1899. The Fiftieth

regiment was first ordered to Jacksonville, Fla., where it remained in camp for several months, when it was returned and mustered out at Camp McKinley, Des Moines, on the 30th day of November, 1898. The Fifty-first regiment was ordered into camp at San Francisco, Cal., where it remained some months. It was then conveyed to the Philippine Islands, where it rendered active service in suppressing Aguinaldo's insurrection, and was returned to San Francisco, Cal., and there discharged on the 2d day of November, 1899. The Fifty⚫ second regiment was sent to Chickamauga, and there remained in camp until the 28th day of August, 1898, when it was returned to Camp McKinley, Des Moines, and discharged on the 30th day of October, 1898. The losses by death sustained by these regiments were as follows: The Forty-ninth regiment lost 54 men; the Fiftieth regiment lost 32 men; the Fifty-first regiment lost 41 men; and the Fifty-second regiment lost 36 men; total loss by death, 163. Words of highest praise of the troops furnished by our state have been heard from many sources. Brigade and corps commanders have spoken of the regiments and of their officers in most commendatory terms, and the conduct of the men, both in camp and on the firing line, was ever gentlemanly, soldierlike, and heroic. Iowa's military record, of which she has been and is so justly proud, has not suffered by reason of anything that has occurred in connection with the service of the men who volunteered at the call of the president of the United States in 1898.

In anticipation of the declaration of war against Spain, the Twenty-seventh General Assembly, shortly before its adjournment, appropriated five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000), to be paid on the requisition of the governor "in the defense of the state and in aid of the national government in case of war. Of this sum, $149,484.01 was used in equipping and furnishing the troops herein before referred to; in caring for the sick in hospitals at home and in distant camps; and in supplying comforts for the men while in the service. A detailed statement of these expenditures will be found in the report of the adjutant-general, to which your attention is respectfully directed.

In the expenditure of this money, a liberal construction was given to the language employed in the appropriation, and no request for supplies of any kind by officer or enlisted man, either in camp at Des Moines or while in the service, was ever