MICHIGAN. 



561 



manufacture and sale of liquor within their 

 limits. The Supreme Court of the State de- 

 clared the law unconstitutional by reason of 

 defective title, after thirty-live counties had 

 voted for prohibition and" two counties had 

 given a majority against it. Certain provisions 

 also of the high-license law passed by ti 



attire had been declared unconstitutional 

 by the Supreme Court. 



The Republican platform included the fol- 

 lowing: 



We cordially indorse the progressive temperance leg- 

 islation enacted by the !a.-t Li ^i^lature, and regret 

 that its roll fruits were not realized, owing to the tech- 

 nical detects in the law held by the Supreme Court to 

 be in conflict with the Constitution. We record our- 

 selves as in favor of an impartial enforcement of the 

 temperance laws of the State, and recommend to the 

 next Legislature the re-enactment of a local-option law 

 that shall be free from constitutional objections. 



The Democratic platform included the fol- 

 lowing: 



That the multiplication in this State of petty boards, 

 commissions, and officials, with such powers' and sur- 

 roundings as insure neither official responsibility nor 

 the respect of the Legislature or the people, leaves the 

 matter of appropriations for State institutions to be 

 largely controlled by logrolling combinations: and 

 -. as well as to 'the lack of "system, we attribute 

 great and constant increase of appropriation. There- 

 fore we submit that the case is one demanding the 

 election of a Legislature and State officials free to 

 make the changes which economy and good business 

 methods may dictate. 



These two planks presented the principal 

 State issues during the canvass. The fight 

 centered mainly upon the Legislature and Gov- 

 ernor. Governor Luce, being an uncompromis- 

 ing temperance man, was opposed, for this 

 reason, by some within his party, but he gained 

 strength from other sources. As a result of the 

 election, 24 Republicans and 8 Democrats were 

 chosen to the Senate, and 70 Republicans and 

 30 Democrats to the House of Representatives. 



On the assembling of the Legislature, Hon. 

 James McMillan, of Detroit, was elected to 

 represent the State in the United States Senate 

 for six years from March 4. 1889, receiving the 

 unanimous support of the Republicans in both 

 houses, in his nomination and election. 



Educational. The Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, in his forthcoming report, will 

 show the school population of the State to be 

 620,923. between five and twenty years of age, 

 and the enrollment for the year to have been 

 4-25.218. The total number of districts in the 

 State is 7.0S7, and the average length of school 

 taught in them 7'6 months. There are 7.4:2* 

 school-houses, and the estimated value of school 

 property :- .103. The whole number 



of districts not having school during the year, 

 from various causes, was only 81, being 37 

 fewer than during the previous year. The 

 State h.-is now four strictly educational col- 

 leges. The State Univer.-ity at Ann Arbor, 

 during 18S7-'88. enrolled 1.675 in its various 

 department?. The State Normal School at 

 Ypsilanti enrolled 948, the Agricultural College 



at Lansing, 312, and the Michigan M: 

 School at Houghton about 1<>0. The colleges 

 of the State were flourishing in 1888. 



The principal educational questions being 

 agitated in the State, other than those ; 

 ing the institutions, are: Uniformity of text- 

 books, free text-books for public schools, and 

 a change from the school-district plan to the 

 township-unit system. These questions are 

 not new in the State, but bills are being intro- 

 duced in the Legislature, and their enactment 

 vigorously urged. 



Prisons. The State has two prisons com- 

 pleted and in operation, and a third one. 

 ing about $300,000, is being finished at Mar- 

 quette, in the upper peninsula. On Dec. 1, 

 1888, the total prison population of the State 

 was as follows : State House of Correction and 

 Reformatory at Innia, 332: State Prison at 

 Jackson, 754. The prison population of the 

 State decreased since Dec. 1. 1884, from 1.334 

 to 1,086, Dec. 1, 1888, while the population 

 increased about 350,000 during the same 

 period. Most of the labor performed in the 

 two prisons is under the contract system, al- 

 though during the past two or three years the 

 State-account system has been in operation, to 

 a certain extent, in the House of Correction at 

 Ionia. The manufacture of furniture and knit 

 goods is under the State-account plan there, 

 and all contracts with outside parties have ex- 

 pired, except one for the manufacture of cigars. 

 Although the State-account system can not be 

 said to have proved a failure, yet it has failed 

 to meet the most sanguine expectations of 

 those who advocated the change from the con- 

 tract plan. Four pardons were granted during 

 the year and two sentences commuted by the 

 Governor. 



Insane Asylam*. The State lias four asylums 

 for the insane, in which are 2,400 patients. 

 During the past two years it has been deemed 

 the better policy to meet the increasing de- 

 mands for asylum room by the erection of cot- 

 instead of establishing new plants. Dur- 

 ing the year five cottages were thus erected, 

 with a capacity to accommodate fifty patierts 

 each, and the plan seems to give general satis- 

 faction, at a much less expense per patient than 

 by the establishment of new institutions. 



"Other Stott Institutions The Reform School 

 for boys, at Lansing, had an average attend- 

 ance during the year of 444 ; the Industrial 

 Home for girls, at Adrian, 213. The State also 

 has a blind school at Lansing, in which it cares 

 for 88 ; and the deaf and dumb school at Flint, 

 298. These two institutions are entirely free 

 in hoard, care, and instruction. The Soldiers' 

 Home at Grand Rapids is entirely free to de- 

 pendent soldiers. Durins the year. 450 de- 

 pendent soldiers of the State were supported 

 and cared for. 



The State Public School at Coldwater, a home 

 for dependent children and orphans estal 

 many years since, has for its object the taking 

 of children out of poor-houses and other places 



