INDIANA. 



391 



The House of Refuge for Juvenile Offenders 

 was opened in 1868, and has received in all 

 1,384 boys. There were 329 at the beginning 

 of 1880, and 347 at the close. Of the 134 ad- 

 mitted during the year, 34 could neither read 

 nor write; 30 were sent up for incorrigibility, 

 43 on no specific charge, and the rest for penal 

 offenses. Of the 1,037 who have passed through, 

 80 per cent, have proved useful citizens. There 

 were 13 deaths. The cost of keeping an in- 

 mate is estimated at $100. The counties pay 

 one half. The commissioners express the opin- 

 ion that boys who have committed no crime 

 are not fit subjects for compulsory education 

 and reformation, and that so much of the stat- 

 ute as authorizes their commitment should be 

 repealed. It appears that of the 256 admitted 

 during the last two years, not one half were 

 offenders. There are now eight families and 

 six family-buildings, two being double. They 

 can accommodate 400 boys. The net cost of the 

 institution to the State was $16,994 for the year. 



The Hospital for the Insane began the year 

 with 629 inmates and ended with 1,010, having 

 admitted 914, discharged 533, and treated dur- 

 ing the year 1,543. Of these, 262 were cured, 

 69 improved, 34 unimproved, 146 died, eight 

 were discharged as not insane and six as idiotic, 

 and eight eloped. 



A department for women was opened, and 

 soon filled by the patients who were sent from 

 the counties; since which only acute cases have 

 been received. The male department was not 

 full. The average cost per capita was $184.64 

 per annum. The building for women had cost 

 $680,000, and was not quite completed. A 

 change in the statutes relating to insanity in- 

 quests is asked for by the hospital authorities. 

 The Institution for Educating the Deaf and 

 Dumb holds property of the State valued at 

 $430,341. The ordinary expenses for the year 

 were $50,005; the per capita cost, $154.33. 

 The Institute for the Education of the Blind 

 has property valued at $374,644. The current 

 expenses for 1880 were $25,912, or $211.05 

 per capita. The enrollment was 127 pupils, 

 66 male and 61 female. The reports of these 

 three benevolent institutions show a reduction 

 in the per capita cost as given in the following 

 table, covering twelve years, of the average 

 daily number of patients and annual cost of 

 maintenance : 



The new State-House is paid for out of a 

 separate fund. The total cost must not exceed 



$2,000,000. The estimate as revised is $1,- 

 984,890. On December 31, 1880, $378,337 had 

 been paid out by the Board. The fund is de- 

 rived from surplus revenues and from delin- 

 quent taxes. The building is expected to be 

 completed in 1882, and ready for use the fol- 

 lowing year. On the death of Architect May, 

 Adolph Scherer was appointed supervising ar- 

 chitect. The corner stone was laid on Septem- 

 ber 28th. Governor Porter insists in his in- 

 augural that it should again be uncovered, and 

 memorials of Indiana's action in the war placed 

 with the other records. 



The Insurance Department was subjected to 

 a legislative investigation in 1878, and from 

 the collections of 1880, as compared with those 

 of the two previous years, it seems to have be- 

 come more efficient in collecting the taxes and 

 fees. The fees amounted to $24,634 in 1880, 

 against $12,487 in 1879, and $14,624 in 1878; 

 the taxes to $51,305 in 1880, against $21,227 

 in 1879, and $36,292 in 1878. The total re- 

 ceipts in 1880 were $75,940. The following 

 is a summary of the insurance reports for the 

 year 1879-'80 : number of fire-insurance com- 

 panies of other States and foreign countries 

 doing business in Indiana, 96, of which 21 

 were foreign and 75 American companies; 

 amount of premiums received, $1.521,591; of 

 losses paid, $701,293 ; number of' extra-State 

 life companies, 30; receipts from premiums, 

 $935,174; losses paid, $535,806. The State- 

 tax collected from the fire companies amounted 

 to $26,103 ; from the life- insurance companies, 

 $13,622. 



The first annual report of the Bureau of Sta- 

 tistics and Geology contains a remarkably ex- 

 tensive and elaborate collection of statistical 

 data, prepared under the supervision of the 

 chief of the bureau, John Collett ; but owing 

 to the difficulties of obtaining correct facts, and 

 the refusal of many of the State officials to 

 make the inquiries and reports expected of them, 

 the volume contains usually the framework and 

 first rough approximation of a statistical rec- 

 ord more complete than has been attempted in 

 other States. 



The office of Mine Inspector was created by 

 an act of the Legislature to regulate the work- 

 ing of mines, passed in 1879, and the ap- 

 pointee. Herbert H. Richards, commenced his 

 duties on the 1st of May of that year. The 

 first annual report states that there are 177 

 mines in operation in seventeen counties. The 

 invested capital is $1,135,562; the number of 

 men employed, 3,459 ; the year's product, 1,- 

 196,490 tons of coal. The mines were found 

 by the inspector greatly deficient with respect 

 to ventilation and other matters. The quan- 

 tity and value of the coal mined in the State 

 reported to the Bureau of Statistics differ, to 

 a surprising extent, from the reported amounts 

 in the Mine Inspector's report, being over 

 twenty times as great. 



The number of school-houses in Indiana has 

 increased from 7,403 in 1865, valued at $3,827,- 



