456 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



43 pupils. The Board of Education directed that in 

 1896 and thereafter candidates for admission to the 

 normal schools must be graduates of high schools, 

 or must have received an equivalent education. 



The increase in 1895 over 1894 in average mem- 

 bership of the public schools was about 13,000, and 

 in the average attendance about 15,000. The cost 

 of the public schools was $11,820,191. 



The Nautical Training School has an average of 

 more than 100 cadets, and graduated in 1895 a class 

 of 24, and in 1896 one of 25. 



The annual report of the Perkins Institute for 

 the Blind, rendered in October, shows a total of 261 

 inmates, an increase of 17 during the year. 



The acquisition of the Bradford estate enables 

 the institution to offer equal advantages for girls 

 as well as boys. A cottage has been erected 4 stories 

 in height, with a capacity for 30 girls. The Howe 

 Building also has been doubled in its capacity. Be- 

 quests have been made during the year aggregating 

 $26,770. 



The main building of Mount Holyoke College 

 was burned Sept. 27, with a loss of $150,000. 



The report of the Free Public Library Commis- 

 sion shows that there are 256 towns and cities in 

 which free libraries are owned and controlled by 

 the municipality, and 36 towns and cities have free 

 libraries in which the municipality has some repre- 

 sentation in the management. There are 17in which 

 the free libraries have no connection with the town, 

 and 20 that have no free library. 



Charities. Of these institutions, the Governor's 

 message says : " The opening of the Medfield Insane 

 Asylum in May last relieved in a considerable de- 

 gree the overcrowding of other institutions. At the 

 Hospital for Epileptics 3 new buildings are ap- 

 proaching completion. A healthful site in Rutland 

 has been secured for the Hospital for Consumptives 

 and Tubercular Patients, and the building is well 

 advanced." 



The Legislature provided for 2 buildings at the 

 School for the Feeble-minded, at Waltham, at a cost 

 not exceeding $60,000, and for a hospital at the Eye 

 and Ear Infirmary, not to cost more than $100,000. 



Prisons. The net cost for support of the State 

 Prison in 1896 was $137,843, which is $632 less 

 than in the preceding year. The total sum spent 

 was $150,011. The warden's report upon the in- 

 dustries gives the sum of $44,421.28 as the profit 

 from the labor of prisoners. By deducting this 

 amount from the cost of support there is given a 

 balance of $93,421.97, which is the actual cost of 

 the prison for the year ending Sept. 30, 1896. The 

 net cost shows a decrease of $16,149.76, compared 

 with the preceding year. 



Just 234 prisoners were committed ; 111 prisoners 

 were discharged, 8 died, 6 were removed to the 

 lunatic hospital, 7 were pardoned, 2 were removed 

 to the Reformatory, and 7 were given permits to be 

 at liberty ; 796 remaining in custody at the close of 

 the year. 



In the Massachusetts Reformatory there were 

 1,011 prisoners Oct. 1, 1895. During the year suc- 

 ceeding 799 were committed and 877 discharged, 

 leaving 933 Oct. 1, 1896. The cost, of maintenance 

 during the past year was $204,817, and the net cost 

 was $196,752. The prisoners earned $25,798.18. 

 By taking this amount from $196.752.40 there re- 

 mains a balance of $170,954.22. 



The numbers in other prisons, Jan. 1, were as fol- 

 low : In the county prisons, 3,421: Boston House 

 of Industry, 1,529; State Farm. 823 ; Reformatory 

 for Women, 342. 



The Prison Association held a meeting in Decem- 

 ber. The reports showed that the expenditures for 

 relief during the year amounted to $683. Board 

 has been paid while the discharged prisoners sought 



employment, tools have been supplied, and in many 

 cases the beneficiaries have been sent to their 

 homes. 



The principal successful legislative work of the 

 year was a law authorizing the establishment of a 

 reformatory by Suffolk County in place of the House 

 of Correction. 



Militia. The number of the enrolled militia of 

 the prescribed age is 406,835, an increase of 17.864 

 over last year. The amount paid to cities and towns 

 for armories is $35,350 out of $39,000 appropriated. 

 All the expenses amount to $181,877.97. On Jan. 



1, 1895, there was standing to the credit of Massa- 

 chusetts on account of the appropriation by the 

 General Government for equipping the militia of 

 States $10,861.42. The allotment of July 1, 1895, 

 was $12,574.31. 



Banks. During the year ending Oct. 31, 1895, 

 the 187 banks received 1,214,171 deposits, amount- 

 ing to $80,768,468.89, and there were placed to the 

 credit of depositors $16,025,893.44 in dividends; 

 during the same period 962,205 withdrawals were 

 made, the amount withdrawn being $74,309,785. 7(>, 

 leaving the aggregate amount at the credit of de- 

 positors on that date $439,269,861.15, represented 

 by 1,302,479 accounts, an average of $337.25 to each 

 account. The total assets of the banks amount to 

 $466,426,722.72. 



In addition to the large increase in the deposits 

 of the saving banks, the returns of the 119 co-oper- 

 ative banks show an increase of "dues capital" 

 paid in of about $1,550,000, and an increase of near- 

 ly $1,940,000 in assets. 



Cattle. During 1895 there were examined upon 

 request 235 herds, comprising 2,325 animals, of 

 which 26'5 per cent, were diseased. The owners of 

 cattle killed received about $35 a head. 



Highways. The system of mile lengths of model 

 State roads has proved very successful. In 1894 

 $300,000 was appropriated for the purpose ; in 1895, 

 $400,000 ; and in 1896, $400,000. The money is ob- 

 tained by the sale of State 4-per-cent. thirty-year 

 gold bonds ; the State also furnishes steam rollers 

 free to certain towns. 



Cambridge. On June 3 Cambridge celebrated 

 her fiftieth anniversary as a city and her two hun- 

 dredth and sixty-sixth as a settlement, with a pro- 

 cession, an entertainment for children, memorial 

 tree exercises, a firemen's muster, a display of fire- 

 works, a banquet, and a reception. 



The Veterans' Preference Act. The act 

 passed by the Legislature of 1895 over the Gov- 

 ernor's veto for giving preference to veteran sol- 

 diers for employment in the public service was 

 brought to a test in the Supreme Judicial Court in 

 a case in the detective department of the district 

 police, where the civil-service commissioners ga.'e 

 preference to a veteran who had passed no exami- 

 nation over an applicant who stood first on the list. 

 The court decided that this was illegal, because it 

 is of opinion " that sections 2 and 6 of the Statutes 

 of 1895, Chapter 501, so far as they purport abso- 

 lutely to give to veterans particular and exclusive 

 privileges, distinct from those of the community, in 

 obtaining public office, can not be upheld as enact- 

 ments within the coTistitutional power of the Gen- 

 eral Court." 



Legislative Session. The session opened Jan. 



2, and closed in June. George P. Lawrence pre- 

 sided in the Senate, and George V. L. Meyer was 

 Speaker of the House. 



The Governor's message advised the Legislature 

 that care should be taken to improve the quality of 

 citizenship : and to this end he urged a stricter en- 

 forcement of the naturalization laws in the State 

 courts, with perhaps a probationary period of resi- 

 dence after naturalization, to be prescribed by con- 



