MICHIGAN". 



521 



making up the returns. The capacity of the 

 two institutions is found short of the demand 

 upon them. The number of insane in the State 

 needing asylum care is estimated at one in 

 each 1,009 inhabitants, or over 1,600, while 

 only 1,100 remained in the two asylums Sep- 

 tember 30th. At that date numerous applica- 

 tions were on file, and vacancies were anxiously 

 being waited for. 



The Commissioners appointed under an act 

 of the Legislature, approved May 31, 1879, to 

 locate a school for the blind, a class before 

 cared for at the Institution for the Deaf, 

 Dumb, and Blind, at Flint, being unable to 

 agree upon a permanent site, made a tempo- 

 rary lease of a building at Lansing, and the 

 school was opened on the 29th day of Septem- 

 ber, 1880, with 33 pupils in attendance. From 

 applications on file, and the number of blind 

 children in the State known to be entitled to 

 the privileges of the school, the Commission- 

 ers estimate that the number will reach 75 

 during the year. The design of the school is 

 to educate the blind to maintain themselves, 

 and the teaching force includes instructors in 

 instrumental and vocal music and sewing. At 

 the date of the report but $6,081.87 of the 

 appropriation of $45,000 had been expended. 



The first annual report of the Board of Con- 

 trol of the Michigan Reform School for Girls, 

 established under an act of the Legislature of 

 1879, shows the location of the school at Adrian 

 on forty acres of land lying just north of the 

 city limits. The site, together with $3,000, 

 was donated by the citizens of Adrian. The 

 school lias not yet been opened. Two cottages 

 are in process of erection. 



The annual report of the State House of 

 Correction and Reformatory at Ionia shows: 



Inmates September 30, 18T9 232 



Keceived during the year : . . . 



Discharged by expiration of sentence 



" by order of courts 



720 



Died. 



Pardoned by the Governor 



In institution September 30, 1630 387 



Average daily number of inmates 247 



Average cost of each inmate per year $121 77 



The infractions of the law for which the in- 

 mates were committed include almost every 

 crime or offense known to the law, except 

 murder, and range from simple assault, or 

 " failing to file a liquor bond," to manslaugh- 

 ter ; 656 are credited with their first convic- 

 tion, 132 with their second, 59 with their third, 

 while one each is charged with a ninth and 

 tenth; 146 claim to have been temperate, 172 

 moderate drinkers, and 548 confess to intemper- 

 ate habits. Evidencing remarkable degenera- 

 tion, 802 report temperate parents and 798 pious 

 parents, while only 34 acknowledge intem- 

 perate parents and 44 parents not pious. The 

 warden questions the correctness of these fig- 

 ures, and asserts that " idleness and illiteracy 

 are undoubted producers of crime," regardless, 

 it is to be presumed, of the alleged or real 

 piety or impiety of parents. 



The annual report of the Inspectors of the 

 State Prison gives the following facts: 



In prison October 1, 1879 777 



Admitted during the year 281 



- 1,058 



Discharged by expiration of sentence 253 



Died 5 



Released on order for new trial 2 



Released on order of Supreme Court 4 



Pardoned by the Governor 13 



Escaped 3 



280 



Remaining in prison September 80, 1880 778 



The average number in prison during the 

 year was 812 - 5, and the total expense of sus- 

 taining the prison $84,517.66, or an average of 

 $104 and a fraction per man. The net earn- 

 ings for the year were $95,129.67, or $10,- 

 612.01 in excess of the expenses. 



The following table, carefully compiled from 

 official sources for the Lansing u Republican," 

 bears flattering testimony to the growth of the 

 State in population during the last decade : 



The total population of this State, June 1, 

 1880, is officially reported by the Census Bu- 

 reau to be 1,636,335, of whom 862,278 are males 

 and 774, 057 females; 1,247,989 are native-born 

 and 388, 346 foreign-born; 1,614,087 are classed 

 as white and 22,248 as colored. The division 

 by counties is as follows, with comparative 

 statements of the population in the various 

 counties organized in 1874, when the last State 

 census was taken, and in 1870, when the ninth 

 census of the United States was taken : 



