724 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (MONTANA.) 



agents, $9,175; licenses, $46,546.47. Building and 

 loan associations paid $120. 



The receipts of the Secretary of State's office 

 were $20,409.15, against $13,532 in 1900. The 

 State Land Office showed receipts of $292,129, 

 against $200,275 the previous year. 



The total amount collected by the counties in 

 1900 for occupation 

 licenses was $547,- 

 806.37. Of this 70 

 per cent, went to 

 the county funds, 5 

 per cent, to the 

 wolf bounty fund, 

 and 25 per cent, to 

 the State general 

 fund. 



Valuations. 

 The taxable prop- 

 erty of the State 

 amounts to $167,- 

 087,653, which is an 

 increase of about 

 $14,000,000 over 

 that of 1900. The 

 total value of the 

 real property is 



JOSEPH K. TOOLE, $79,602,029 and the 



GOVERNOR OF MONTANA. personal $71,699,- 

 893, while the rail- 

 roads are assessed at $15,485,761. In 1900 the 

 railroad valuation was $15,100,000. 



The Attorney-General decided in July that the 

 law requires telephone companies to pay an an- 

 nual tax of 75 cents a year on every instrument 

 in use, except those that are used in interstate 

 business. 



Education. The State Normal School, at Dil- 

 lon, graduated a class of 5 in June, making 21 in 

 all that the institution has sent out. During the 

 year covered by the report 129 pupils attended; 

 the highest daily attendance was 71; of the whole 

 number reported, 28 were pupils of the summer 

 school. 



The State University has registered constantly 

 increasing numbers since its first year, 1895, when 

 there were 118 pupils. In 1901 there were 253. 

 The amount received from the Legislature, $35,- 

 765, was all expended, with claims of about $800 

 unprovided for. 



The School of Mines, opened in 1900, had an 

 attendance of 59 in December. Its appropriation 

 of $32,861 has been expended. A new department 

 mining engineering has been established; the 

 chair was endowed by Charles W. Clark. 



At the State College of Agriculture, at Bozeman, 

 has been instituted a course of about eleven weeks 

 in winter for those desiring practical study in 

 farming who can not remain through the year. 

 The local board has been anxious to secure for 

 present use the money in the college fund which 

 was kept in the State treasury for the purpose 

 of paying the interest and principal of the bonds, 

 and asked permission of the State Board of Edu- 

 cation to bring a friendly suit to determine 

 whether the money could be applied to the ex- 

 penses of the institution. 



The last annual report of the superintendent 

 shows that teachers receive relatively high sala- 

 ries in the State, the average for men being $130 

 monthly and for women $80. 



A memorial library was dedicated at Billings, 

 Oct. 1, the gift of Frederick Billings, of New York, 

 in memory of his brother, Parmly Billings, son of 

 the late Hon. Frederick Billings, in whose honor 

 the town was named. 

 The annual apportionment of State school funds 



in February distributed $105,842.20. In 1900 the 

 amount was $80,428.50. The superintendent is 

 taking measures to enforce the compulsory edu- 

 cation law, requiring at least twelve weeks of 

 schooling for every child between eight and four- 

 teen. 



Charities and Corrections. Since the Sol- 

 diers' Home, at Columbia Falls, was opened in 

 1897, 120 have been admitted, 23 have died, and 

 67 were remaining in May. 



The insane asylum has about 480 inmates, 130 

 of them women. 



The Orphans' Home closed the year with 104 

 inmates, an increase of 12 over the year next 

 preceding. The average cost of maintenance was 

 $3.33 a week. The whole cost was $18,459. 



The Children's Home Society showed receipts 

 amounting to $2,889.89, and disbursements of $2,- 

 554.71. The superintendent had charge of 58 

 children during the year, of whom 31 were new 

 ones, and 27 former inmates. The average num- 

 ber at the home was 8. Since it was started the 

 home has had charge of 178 children. 



There were in December 404 convicts in the 

 Penitentiary, of whom 1 was a white woman and 

 4 were colored women. The authorities say that 

 lack of employment is the chief criticism to be 

 made upon the institution, and they desire a 

 change in the Constitution of the State which has 

 a provision to prevent convict labor. 



Products and Industries. From a census 

 bulletin on manufacturing industries it is learned 

 that the number of establishments in the State 

 in 1900 was 1,080, while in 1890 there were but 

 289. The percentage of increase in population is 

 less than a third of the percentage of increase in 

 the number of establishments during the past ten 

 years. The population increased 75.2 per cent.; 

 the increase in manufacturing establishments was 

 273.7 per cent. The value of products, including 

 custom work and repairing, in 1890 was $5,507,- 

 573, and in 1900 $57,075,824. Anaconda, Butte, 

 Great Falls, and Helena furnish 43.7 per cent, of 

 the establishments of the State. The average 

 number of wage-earners increased in the decade 

 from 2,386 to 10,101, and the total wages from 

 $1,652,413 to $7,956,830. Slaughtering, wholesale, 

 is reported in 1900, with a product of $934,640. 

 The manufacture of malt liquors has increased 

 from a product valued at $204,645 in 1890 to $1,- 

 276,331 in 1900. This industry has been stimu- 

 lated by the quality of the barley grown in cer- 

 tain parts of the State. The lumber product was 

 valued at $2,949,992. 



The report of Wells, Fargo & Co. credits Mon- 

 tana with an aggregate production of metals in 

 1900 of $67,987,150 value. The gold product, as 

 estimated by the Director of the Mint, was $4,- 

 698,000; the silver, $8,901,148. Oil has been dis- 

 covered in the Kintia lake region. 



The total production of the 21 coal-mine prop- 

 erties of Montana in 1900 was 1,693,773 tons of 

 bituminous coal, valued at $2,369,054. In that 

 year the companies operating the coal-mines paid 

 for labor $1,743,052. The total coal acreage owned 

 by organized companies and individuals amounts 

 to 16,069 acres, 1,900 of which is regarded by the 

 owners as worked out and having but little value 

 as far as the deposit of coal is concerned. 



The production of coke in Montana during 1900 

 amounted to 54,692 tons, valued at $318,871.07. 

 In all, 228 ovens were in operation. 



The number of sheep in the State in 1901 was 

 4,527,000; it was estimated that $4,000,000 was 

 received for wool and pelts. 



Insurance. During the fiscal year closing 

 May 1 7 new insurance companies were licensed 



