372 



KANSAS. 



the Board of Charities appropriations to the amount 

 of $71,444 were returned in July to the treasury. 



Prisons. The Penitentiary contained 891 prison- 

 ers, June 30, 1896. Of these 17 were women. For 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, the expendi- 

 tures of the institution were $151,600.29, the earn- 

 ings $148,916.50. 



The Hutchinson Reformatory has received 133 

 inmates 33 of them from the Penetentiary and 100 

 from the courts of the State. All are between the 

 ages of sixteen and twenty- five. There were 107 re- 

 . maining June 30. Thirteen per cent, can neither read 

 nor write, and only 12 percent, have ever studied any- 

 thing higher than the common branches. The in- 

 mates on entering are placed in the second of 3 

 grades, and are then advanced or put back accord- 

 ing to their conduct. The Industrial School for 

 Girls, at Beloit, and the Reform School for Boys, at 

 Topeka, are lacking in proper facilities. 



The military prison at Fort Leavenworth was 

 abolished June 30, 1895, and the control of the 

 property was transferred from the War Depart- 

 ment to the Department of Justice, and by this 

 same act this first United States penitentiary came 

 into existence July 1, 1895. By the law the mili- 

 tary officers remained in charge until the Attorney- 

 General could appoint and commission civil offi- 

 cials, and the final transfer was made Sept. 1, 1895. 

 The number of convicts in 1896 was 525. 



Militia. The State National Guard consists of 

 133 commissioned officers and 1,480 men, exclusive 

 of the Governor's staff. 



Banks. One new national bank has been or- 

 ganized during the year. The total number of sus- 

 pended banks in two years was 15. In 1895 the 

 deposits of all suspended banks amounted to $159,- 

 553.96, of which 60 per cent, were adjusted during 

 the year and the total losses did not exceed $70,- 

 000. In 1896 the failures amounted to $177,000, of 

 which one bank has paid $53,234.78. 



The banks that failed in 1896 were the Stock- 

 growers' and Farmers' Bank in Meade, the State 

 Bank of Argonia, and the Argentine Bank in Ar- 

 gentine. 



Railroads. The thirteenth annual report of the 

 Railroad Commissioners, issued in February, covers 

 the year ending Nov. 30, 1895. 



The following table shows a recapitulation of the 

 business of the Kansas lines for the year ending 

 June 30, 1895 : 



Of the 24 roads in the preceding comparisons, 13 

 are now in the hands of receivers and 2 others have 

 recently been in like situation. Only 2 of the 26 

 roads making operating reports to the board paid 

 a dividend for the year, and these dividends 

 were light, one 2 per cent, and the other 24 per 

 cent. 



One hundred persons were killed during the year, 

 and 424 were injured. 



A controversy arose in January over the freight 

 charges for grain shipped to Gulf ports. A reduced 

 rate which had been in operation was withdrawn 

 Jan. 20. 



The arbitrators prepared a tariff of rates on Kan- 

 sas roads, lowering some and raising others, appar- 

 ently to meet the requirements of the interstate 

 commerce act, prohibiting higher rates from inter- 



mediate points on the same haul than from termi- 

 nal points. 



A hearing of the complaint made by the Railroad 

 Commissioners was had by the Interstate Commerce 

 Commission, and a decision was rendered in Sep- 

 tember. The Kansas "Capital" says that when 

 the hearing was had the commissioners and their 

 counsel "surprised both the railroads and the In- 

 terstate Commission by seizing advantage of the 

 decision just rendered by the Supreme Court, com- 

 pelling beneficiaries of rebates to give testimony of 

 any secret advantage enjoyed. At this hearing the 

 first of such testimony ever offered in such a case 

 was given, and the immediate results were impor- 

 tant. The railroad managers learned of secret cuts 

 and rebates in violation of agreements among 

 themselves and the information given before the 

 commission was immediately followed by greatly 

 reduced published rates." 



Changes were also made in the rates for shipping 

 cattle, and on complaint, the Railroad Commis- 

 sioners ordered the old rates restored in April. 



In November an action was brought against the 

 Santa Fe road, under the Kansas law of 1891, which 

 provides that no corporation more than 20 per 

 cent, of whose capital stock is owned by aliens, 

 shall acquire real estate in Kansas, and that if any 

 real estate should be acquired in violation of this stat- 

 ute it shall be forfeited to the State. It was charged 

 that the action was inspired by those who were op- 

 posed to the reorganization plan recently adopted by 

 the stockholders of the road. The court appointed 

 a receiver and ordered him to take charge of the 

 property, which consists of nearly 500 miles of rail- 

 road, together with depots, shops and engine houses, 

 office buildings, real estate and other property. 

 The alien land law was aimed at corporations 

 formed for the purpose of acquiring and holding 

 lands in the State, and was not intended to apply 

 to railroads which own lands by special statute and 

 by virtue of their State charters and whose stock 

 is a merchantable commodity, 20 per cent, of which 

 might at any time be purchased by aliens. In De- 

 cember a decision was given in the Jefferson Coun- 

 ty circuit court that the alien land law does not ap- 

 ply to railroad corporations. 



Insurance. The 61 foreign fire insurance com- 

 panies doing business in the State have paid $13.- 

 176 which was levied upon them under the law of 

 1895 providing for a 2-per-cent. levy for the benefit 

 of the Fireman's Relief fund. Payment was gen- 

 erally resisted by the companies, and an effort was 

 made by some of them to have the constitutionality 

 of the law tested. The money collected is appor- 

 tioned among the cities of the State. The Superin- 

 tendent of Insurance reports also that many com- 

 panies disregard the " valued-policy " law. 



Products. A bulletin of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture shows the yield of the more important crops 

 grown in the State in 1896. The total yield of 

 winter wheat is 27,153.365 bushels, or ll,(i41J24 

 bushels more than in 1895. Its total value is put 

 at $13,016.229. The corn crop is 221,419.414 

 bushels, or 19.962.018 bushels more than last year. 

 Its value is $35,633,013, against $46,189,772 for the 

 previous year's crop. Of oats the yield is 19,314,- 

 772 bushels, against 31,664,748 bushels the year pre- 

 vious. The value of the crop was $2.706,652. 

 Spring wheat shows a yield of but 601.523 bushels. 

 The combined value of winter and spring wheat, 

 corn, and oats raised in 1896 is $51,596.859, and 

 that of the same crops in 1895 was $59,273,079. 

 There is an increase of $626,641 in the value of 

 live stock over that reported last year. 



There are at present nearly 3,000 private irriga- 

 tion plants in the State. 



From the report of the Inspector of Mines it ap- 



