States has proved that
this can best be done at some period prior to the election, so as
to give to every legal voter, in an election precinct, an
opportunity to challenge the claim of any person whose right is
deemed questionable. Laws to accomplish this have been in force in
several other States for many years, and have been carried out
successfully and with the general approval of the people. Believing
that an act providing for the registration of all legal voters is
the most effective remedy yet devised for the prevention of frauds
on the sacred right of suffrage, and that a registry law can be so
framed that it will deprive no citizen, either native born or
naturalized, of his just rights, I respectfully recommend to your
earnest consideration the propriety of enacting such a law.

The comprehensive geological survey of the State recommended in this
message was promptly brought about through the able co-operation of the
Hon. Alfred E. Lee, representing Delaware county in the House of
Representatives, who drew up and reported a bill on February 9, 1869,
making provision for the important object in view. Through the
intelligent activity of Governor Hayes and Representative Lee, the bill
became a law, April 2, 1869. The thorough scientific survey of the
State, since completed under the supervision of Professors Newbury,
Andrews, and Orton, has been of immeasurable value in the way of
developing the mineral resources of Ohio.

Governor Hayes in this message demands laws to secure honest elections,
because "to corrupt the ballot-box is to destroy our free institutions."
He recommends laws securing the representation of minorities on election
boards, and advocates stringent registry laws.

In the second annual message, delivered at the close of his first term,
which we give below, he recommends increased powers to the State board
of charities; better provision for the chronic insane; the establishment
of a State agricultural college; the founding of a home for soldiers'
orphans, and restoring the right of suffrage to soldiers in the national
asylum, to college students, and others who had been disfranchised under
Democratic legislation. He urged also the ratification by Ohio of the
Fifteenth Amendment. We shall speak of the gratifying result of these
recommendations in our next chapter.

_Fellow-Citizens of the General Assembly:_

In obedience to