NEW YORK (STATE). 



605 



year ending Aug. 30, 1888, oat of a total of 

 $15,686,012. 3i expended for education, the sum 

 of $14,980,841.47 wa^ paid tor support of com- 

 mon schools, which is an increase of over 

 $1.000,000 over 1887. Of this sum, *9. 

 464.14 was expended in cities and $5,771,- 

 : in towns. The total number of teach- 

 ers employed during the year was 31,726, of 

 whom 5.651 were males and 26,075 females. 

 Their average annual salary in citie- 



'2. and" in towns $266.75. The total 

 amount paid for teachers' wages was $!'. 

 091.93. There were 1.772.958 children of 

 school age, 997,155 in the cities, and 775,803 

 in the towns. Of these 1.033.269 were en- 

 rolled, and 630,595 were in average daily 

 attendance. The State Superintendent says 

 in his annual report : " We have a compulsory 

 education law upon our statute books, but it 

 is & law which does not compel. It has never 

 been acted under to any considerable extent, 

 and, this being so after fourteen years of trial, 

 it is fair to presume that it never will be." 



Normal Schools. In the nine normal schools 

 of the State there was a total enrollment dur- 

 ing the school year 1887 of 5.995 pupils, and 

 during 1888 of 6,328. The total enrollment in 

 the normal departments proper for 1887 was 

 2,884; for 1888, 3,012. The value of normal- 

 school property is estimated at $1.327,775.84. 

 The cost of the schools for 1888 v. 

 131.71. A tenth school, at Oneonta. estab- 

 lished in 1887, will be opened in 1889. 



For many years the State has recognized that 

 these schools would not be able to train teach- 

 ers in sufficient numbers to meet the needs of 

 the common schools. It has undertaken there- 

 fore to supply the deficiency by organizing 

 teachers' classes in the academies and union 

 schools. During the school year 1887-'88 there 

 were 195 of these classes organized in 142 

 different schools. The number of students 

 that received instruction for ten consecutive 

 weeks or more, was 3.258. The number com- 

 pleting the course of study, and for whom 

 tuition was allowed from the State appropria- 

 tion. wa< -J 



Prisons. Superintendent Lathrop, in his re- 

 port for the year ending Sept. 30. 1888, an-, 

 nounoes that " the prisons have distinctly and 

 positively receded in condition and in their tend- 

 ency during the last year. In the previous year 

 there had been much difficulty and embarrass- 

 ment, which were incident to the change of 

 the labor system in the prisons and the establish- 

 ment of new industries, or the change from the 

 contract system to public account of the same 

 industries formerly pursued. But at the open- 

 ing of the last fiscal year these changes had 

 become far advanced, the system of public 

 account had been generally introduced and put 

 into practical operation, and any other change 

 w as not anticipated, at least until the new 

 tern had had a fair trial. The prime factor on 

 which the solution of the problem of successful 

 operations in the prisons then depended, so far 



as the public-account system was concerned, 



:h'rient appropriation of moi, 

 carry on that system, which was the mil; 

 tern then permitted by statute, in an effective 

 way. This was withheld, and the 

 been in every sense discouraging and detri- 

 mental, in spite of the greatest diligence and 

 most assiduous energy of the officers who have 

 conducted the prisons." 



The report attributes the causes of the c! 

 to the legislation of 1888. The million-dollar 

 prison appropriation bill, introduced early in 

 the session, was reduced to $250,000 and p. 

 In a month this sum was exhausted, and a fur- 

 ther appeal was made, which procured s 

 000 additional. The Legislature thus appro- 

 priated in all only $750,000 to provide for the 

 employment of 2,600 men. when during the 

 previous year the preceding Legislature had 

 furnished $1,300,000 for the employment of 

 an average number of 1,300 men. then engaged 

 on the prison industries. Before the year was 

 half completed the money was exhausted, and 

 on July 1 the superintendent looked forward 

 to six months or more of idleness and the 

 attendant evils. At his request the Governor 

 convened the Legislature in July to provide for 

 the emergency. The passage of the Yates bill 

 at that session overthrew the public-account 

 system, as well as every other system of pro- 

 ductive labor. It introduced idleness instead 

 of industry, withdrew the convicts from the 

 shops and put them into their cells. The 

 change in the law wrought a great decline in 

 the material and moral conditions that have 

 existed in the State prisons. As a result, the 

 deficit is more than twice as large as in any 

 other year since the reform prison system was 

 established. In 1888 the cost of maintenance 

 was $404.509.94 and the deficit $153,924.46. 



On September 30 the number of convi 

 the prisons was as follows: at Auburn, 1.248; 

 at Clinton. 755 ; at Sing Sing. 1.405; total, 

 3.408. This total is an increase of 129 over 

 1887. At the same date there were confined in 

 the several penitentiaries in the State 622 

 State convicts. 828 in the State Reformatory 

 at Elmira, and 108 in the House of Refuge for 

 Women at Hudson. 



The Insane. The following was the number 

 of patients in the several asylums at the close 

 of the fiscal years ending Sept. 30, 1887 and 

 1888: 



On September 30 there were 450 patients in 

 the Idiot Asylum at Syracuse, and 194 in the 

 Custodial Asvlum at Newark. 



