416 



KANSAS. 



unimproved, 1 not insane, transferred 4, lost 

 by death 29, by elopement 3 ; leaving in July, 

 1880, 221 in the asylum. One of the build- 

 ings was destroyed by fire March 8th. The 

 Insane Asylum at Topeka was opened June 1, 

 1879. During the year 197 have been admit- 

 ted, 39 discharged recovered, 15 improved, 10 

 unimproved, 12 lost by death ; leaving, June 

 30, 1880, 121 in the asylum. Many insane are 

 excluded from the State asylums for want of 

 room, and additional accommodations are asked 

 for. An institute for the education of the fee- 

 ble-minded, such as have proved successful in 

 other States, is called for by the Governor. 

 There are, according to the census, 134 persons 

 of defective intellect in the State, of whom 66 

 are under the age of twenty-one years. The 

 Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, established 

 in 1865, had 109 pupils in 1879-'80. 



The number of school districts in Kansas in 

 1880 was 6,134, being an increase during the 

 year of 512. The number of schoolhouses 

 built was 388; their estimated cost, $359,269. 

 The whole number of schoolhouses erected 

 in the last four years was 1,402, at the cost of 

 $1,048,974, showing a greater activity in ex- 

 tending the system of public education than at 

 any previous period. The total number of 

 schoolhouses in the State is 5,242. The total 

 value of school property, exclusive of school 

 lands, is estimated to be $4,633,044. The to- 

 tal school population, comprising all between 

 the ages of five and twenty-one, is reported as 

 340,647. The number of pupils on the school 

 rolls was 231,434. The average daily attend- 

 ance is stated as 137,667. -The large percent- 

 age of children not attending school at all, and 

 the proportion not regularly attending, are 

 the subject of comment in the biennial report 

 of the retiring Superintendent Lemmon. The 

 average daily attendance is only 40 per cent, of 

 the school population. The increase in the 

 number of inhabitants of school age within 

 the biennial period was 64,032. The number 

 of teachers employed was 7,780 3,506 males, 

 and 4,274 female teachers. The school reve-, 

 nuc for the two years ending June 30, 1880, 

 including balance on hand June 30, 1878, of 

 $261,467. 72, and $248,837.04 at the close of June 

 30, 1879, amounted to $4,039,069.75, while the 

 expenses during the same period aggregated 

 $3,408,181.20; $445,624 have been invested, 

 for the school fund in bonded securities within 

 the two years. The permanent school fund 

 invested in interest-bearing securities at the 

 close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, 

 amounted to $1,683,229.59, to which may be 

 added $98,828.35 cash in the treasury, making 

 in all $1,782,057.94; in addition to which 

 lands have been sold for future payments to 

 the amount of about $1,000,000. This is the 

 largest school fund possessed by any State in 

 the Union, in proportion to age and popula- 

 tion ; to which will be added from time to time 

 the receipts from the sales of the very large 

 body of school lands yet undisposed of. The 



permanent school fund, which has already 

 grown to an extraordinary amount, and is still 

 accumulating, began to be made up in 1865. 

 While $2,783,229 have been realized thus far, 

 the greater part of the school lands remain 

 still unsold. The sales authorized during the 

 biennial period, of sections 16 and 36, yielded 

 $355,279. A State land commissioner and a 

 commissioner of appraisement are recommend- 

 ed to be appointed, in order to obtain better 

 prices and save expense in the sales of the pub- 

 lic lands. 



The State University has grown in 14 years 

 from an institution employing four teachers 

 and containing 55 students to one in which 438 

 students are taught by 14 instructors. It has 

 a library of 5,500 volumes and a large cabinet 

 of natural history. The appropriations for the 

 two years amounted to $61,550. Most of the 

 school lands allotted to the University have 

 been sold. Including the amount of the sales for 

 future payment, the permanent fund amounts 

 to about $120,000. 



The Normal School was attended at the close 

 of the year by 247 students. The building 

 which was destroyed by fire two years before 

 was replaced by another equally commodious, 

 which was finished in 1880 at a cost of $45,579, 

 of which nearly half was borne by the city of 

 Emporia and Lyon County, in which it is situ- 

 ated. The school has a productive permanent 

 fund of the amount of $121,593, in addition to 

 the invested fund which yields some $6,000 a 

 year. 



The second biennial report of the State Ag- 

 ricultural College shows this institution to be 

 in a very satisfactory condition. In 1878-'79, 

 the whole number of students in attendance 

 was 207 151 males and 56 females. In 1879- 

 '80, the number is increased to 203 mules and 

 73 females, making a total of 276. 



During the two years of the last administra- 

 tion eight new counties have been organized, 

 making the total number eighty-one. It de- 

 volves upon the Legislature to make a new ap- 

 portionment in 1881, and ten more counties are 

 expected to be organized and given representa- 

 tion in the Legislature. The unorganized coun- 

 ties of Hodgeman, Pratt, Stafford, Trego, De- 

 catur, Ness, Graham, and Sheridan have never 

 been attached to any judicial districts, and no 

 court has jurisdiction of crimes committed 

 within their limits. The Legislature is there- 

 fore expected to pass a law attaching this ter- 

 ritory to organized counties for judicial pur- 

 poses. The county of Wallace, also, though 

 organized in 1875, has no county government 

 and holds no court, so that crime goes unpun- 

 ished and citizens are without the protection 

 of the law. It is therefore desired that the 

 law of 1875 be repealed, and the county at- 

 tached to the jurisdiction of some regular coun- 

 ty court. 



In pursuance of an act of the Legislature of 

 1879 appropriating $20,COO for the protection 

 of frontier settlements against Indian depreda- 





