136 



CONNECTICUT. 



laws was one including any beer requiring a 

 revenue stamp (Schenk-beer) among " intoxi- 

 cating liquors." A bill passed the Senate, but 

 failed of final enactment, according to which 

 the selectmen could forbid the sale of liquor 

 to any individual at the request of one of 

 his immediate relatives, and likewise on the 

 complaint of any resident in the town. Both 

 Houses concurred in a bill giving female citizens 

 the right of the ballot upon the liquor question, 

 but afterward rescinded the law. A bill to 

 allow women to vote for school-officers was 

 rejected. An education bill requires schools 

 to be maintained thirty-six weeks in the year 

 in every district containing one hundred and 

 ten or more children of school age. Another 

 demands that children between eight and four- 

 teen years of age be sent to school at least sixty 

 days in each year. An act concerning the 

 employment of children prohibits any one from 

 employing a child under fourteen years of age 

 not furnished with a certificate that it has at- 

 tended school as the law requires, An act re- 

 garding convict-labor provides that the direc- 

 tors of the State Prison shall give public notice 

 in the newspapers of all the cities of the State 

 for four weeks before making any contract for 

 the labor of fifty or more of the prisoners in 

 any trade or occupation, and shall inquire into 

 the effect of such proposed employment upon 

 the interest of the State, the moral and physi- 

 cal condition of the prisoners and upon free 

 labor, and give a hearing to all who may wish 

 to be heard in the matter ; and if it shall ap- 

 pear upon inquiry that such employment will 

 not be for the interest of the State, or will be 

 detrimental to the moral or physical condition 

 of the prisoners, or will seriously injure the 

 citizens of this or any other State engaged in 

 that trade or occupation, it shall be prohibited. 

 It was adduced in the debate over this bill that 

 the hatting industry of Connecticut suffered in 

 consequence of the employment of over 800 

 convicts in the New York prisons at hat-mak- 

 ing, as there are only 7,000 felt hat-makers in 

 the country. 



The law of Connecticut on the conduct of 

 criminal trials has heretofore been different 

 from the law and practice in the courts of all 

 the other States and in the United States 

 courts. The defense has been allowed the ad- 

 vantage of the opening and closing arguments 

 in criminal cases, making it a much more diffi- 

 cult thing to procure a conviction than in other 

 States. The Assembly this year enacted a 

 statute making the procedure in Connecticut 

 courts conform in this regard with the usual 

 practice. A new jury law was made, provid- 

 ing that the selectmen of each town shall draw 

 twice the number of names required, and that 

 county jury commissioners shall erase half the 

 names from the list ; it is contempt of court to 

 solicit that one's own name or the name of 

 another be placed on the list. The qualifica- 

 tions of the juror are that he shall be an elector, 

 of good character, and over thirty years of age. 



A law was enacted for the prevention of 

 contagious diseases in cattle, especially tuber- 

 culosis or plearo-pneumonia. The cattle com- 

 missioners are given the discretionary power 

 to condemn and slaughter cattle afflicted with 

 the disease. The State pays half the value of 

 the condemned animals. A resolution was 

 passed praying the Legislature of New York to 

 repeal the law which compels the masters of 

 vessels sailing through Hell Gate to pay half 

 pilotage to the pilot tendering his services in 

 case a master requires no assistance and pilots 

 his own ship. A second resolution begs Con- 

 gress to correct this injustice by the passage 

 of an equitable general pilot law. 



A tax levy of one and a half mill on the 

 dollar was ordered to be paid by the 10th of 

 November. The principal appropriation bills 

 were $130,000 for new buildings for the insane 

 poor at Middletown, and $113,500 for the con- 

 tractor for the new State Capitol, to compro- 

 mise claims amounting to $200,000, of which 

 the commissioners had awarded only $45,000. 



The total appropriations of $2,000,000 from 

 the State and $500,000 from the city of Hart- 

 ford have been exhausted in the building and 

 fitting up of the Capitol. 



The second annual report of the Board of 

 Health and Bureau of Vital Statistics covers 

 the year 1878. The total number of registered 

 births was 13,499, of deaths 9,352, of marriages 

 4,285, of divorces 401 ; showing a decrease in 

 the births of 378, in deaths of 344, in marriages 

 of 24, and in divorces of 26. The ratio of male 

 to female births was 10974 to 100, the ratio of 

 1877 having been 109-18, and the mean ratio 

 of the twenty years anterior 110 - 44 male to 

 100 female births. In 2,855 marriages, the 

 contracting parties were of American, and in 

 721 of foreign birth ; in 674 they were of mixed 

 nationality. 



The educational statistics of 1879 show a 

 registered attendance in schools of all kinds of 

 130,597 out of a total population of school age, 

 or between four and sixteen years of age, of 

 138,428 children: the percentage of children 

 attending school being, therefore, 94'34. In the 

 public schools the number of scholars on the 

 rolls was 99,662 in winter, and 91,860 in sum- 

 mer. The number of public schools was 1,638 ; 

 teachers in winter 2,741, of which number 

 1,968 were females; average monthly salaries 

 for male teachers $57, for female teachers $35. 

 The total expenditure for public schools was 

 $1,390,972, against $1,509,158 in 1879, and an 

 average expenditure of $1,563,016 for the five 

 years previous. 



The valuation of the principal cities and 

 towns in the grand list of 1879 was as follows: 

 Hartford, $45^558,490 ; New Haven, $45,760,- 

 809; Norwich, $13,431,430; Bridgeport, $11,- 

 422,483; Meriden, $8,890,848; Waterbury, $7,- 

 810,731; Stamford, $6,648,145; New London, 

 $6,531,494; Middletown, $6,298,444; Norwalk, 

 $5,593,218; Danbury, $5,185,300; Stonington, 

 $4,851,163; New Britain, $4,589,304; Derby, 





