754 



WEST VIRGINIA. 



With regard to the finances, the Governor, 

 after referring the Legislature to the reports 

 of the Auditor and Treasurer, gives the follow- 

 ing statement : 



Balance in the Treasury October 1, 1869 $ 66,167 10 



Amount received during the year 567,321 11 



In all $633,488 21 



Amount expended during the year 420,012 63 



Balance in the Treasury, October 1, 1870 $213,475 58 



This statement makes a favorable showing 

 for the finances, but still does not set forth 

 the whole amount in the Treasury. To do 

 this there must be added to the above balance 

 the invested irreducible school-fund, amount- 

 ing to $229,300, making the amount of funds 

 actually in the State Treasury, at the begin- 

 ning of the fiscal year, $442,775.58. 



The Auditor estimates the receipts and ex- 

 penditures for the current year as follows : 



Receipts .. $606.37900 



Expenditures 639,997 80 



Balance in the Treasury subject to appropria- 

 tionatthe end of the year $66,381 20 



Internal improvements, tending to facilitate 

 land and water transportation, seem to be 

 rapidly progressing in several parts of the 

 State, and promise most beneficial results. 

 The Governor makes particular mention of the 

 various and expensive works which are vigor- 

 ously pushed forward on the Baltimore and 

 Ohio and the Chesapeake and Ohio Eailroads. 

 He points also to the improvements on the 

 Great Kanawha and on the Little Kanawha 

 Rivers, especially the former, which is under 

 the management and superintendence of the 

 "Board of Directors of the Great Kanawha 

 River Improvement." 



For the education of youth, the free school 

 system has been introduced in the State, and 

 since its establishment the evidence of its ad- 

 vantages has been steadily growing more clear. 

 The increase of school-houses during the year 

 was 495, and the whole number of school- 

 houses, in 48 out of the 53 counties in the State, 

 is 2,113. The number of youth of school age 

 in the State is 162,430, a gain of 11,483 over 

 the number reported the year previous. The 

 whole number of pupils attending the public 

 schools last year was 87,330 ; during the year 

 previous, 73,310. The average attendance dur- 

 ing last year was 55,083 ; during the year pre- 

 vious, 39,363. The permanent or irreducible 

 school fund now on hand amounts to $254,- 

 860.17. The amount of moneys received dur- 

 ing the year, for school purposes, was $562,761 ; 

 and the total value of school property, reported 

 from 48 out of the 53 counties, is $1,057,473.- 

 94. There are three Normal Schools for the 

 training of teachers in the State, superintended 

 by a Board of Eegents. The West Virginia 

 University, whose new hall has been completed, 

 continues to meet with success. 



Charitable institutions are provided for by 

 the State with commendable solicitude. The 

 Hospital for the Insane at Weston is well man- 

 aged. The number of patients in the hospital 



at the time of the last annual report was 202 ; 

 since that time 42 have been admitted, and 37 

 have been discharged or have died. The num- 

 ber in the hospital at the time of making the 

 present report was, 207. The whole number 

 under treatment during the year was 244 ; the 

 average daily number, 205. The general health 

 of the patients was good throughout the year. 

 With regard to the insane confined in the jails, 

 or otherwise supported at public expense in 

 the State, a joint resolution had been adopted 

 by the Legislature at the previous session, 

 authorizing the Board of Public Works to make 

 temporary provision for them, and the Governor 

 was directed to communicate with the authori- 

 ties controlling similar institutions abroad, 

 "with a view of getting accommodations 

 for the insane of West Virginia in the asylums 

 of other States." The Governor made inquiries 

 to that end himself, and caused them to be 

 personally made abroad by the Superintendent 

 of the Hospital for the Insane. Their en- 

 deavors have resulted in making them ac- 

 quainted with the fact that for the class of 

 insane designated in the resolution there was 

 no accommodation to be obtained in the asy- 

 lums of other States, they being themselves 

 crowded. Wherefore he concludes, "these un- 

 fortunate people must be provided for by our- 

 selves within the State." 



The West Virginia Institution for the Blind, 

 and Deaf and Dumb, was established and opened 

 in 1870, at the town of Komney, in Hampshire 

 County. It is too small to accommodate the 

 applicants. 



There is a "State Vaccine Agent" in West 

 Virginia, appointed since 1863. His report, 

 which he has lately presented, covers the whole 

 period from 1863 tothe present time. The re- 

 port will be found interesting and instructive, 

 as it relates to an important branch of the 

 public health, and shows the means which may 

 be adopted to prevent the spread of one of the 

 most destructive maladies with which the 

 human family is afflicted. 



In the State Penitentiary there are 114 con- 

 victs, two of whom are females 112 cells are 

 now finished. One tier of them was built dur- 

 ing 1870. 



The Governor called the attention of the 

 Legislature to the law " providing for a regis- 

 tration of the qualified voters," and to the dif- 

 ficulty experienced in securing its proper exe- 

 cution during the year 1870, more especially 

 at the recent general election of October. This 

 he mainly ascribes to the arrest and imprison- 

 ment of registrars and members of boards of 

 registration by United States officials, who 

 construed the provisions of the so-called En- 

 forcement Act in a manner different from the 

 construction given it by the State authorities. 

 He says : " These proceedings carried on under 

 color of authority of the United States were 

 potent in preventing the registration officers 

 from discharging their duties under the State 

 law." He insists on the necessity of protecting 



