MICHIGAN. 





in 1880: and 2.093.889 in 1890. By tin- State cen- 

 sus of 1S!4 it was 2.241,641. Capital. Lan>ing. 



(ioveriiinent. The following were the State offi- 

 iluring the year: Governor, John T. Rich : 

 Lieutenant Governor, J. R. McLangbten (acting) ; 

 uiry of State, Washington Gardner: Treasurer. 

 James M. Wilkinson ; Auditor, Stanley W. Turner: 

 Attorney-General. Frederick A. Maynanl : Adjutant 

 General, Charles M. Green; Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction. Henry R. Pattengill all Republi- 

 cans : Bank Commissioner, T. C. Sherwood, resigned 

 in November, succeeded by D. B. Ainger ; Insurance 

 Commissioner, T. R. Giddings; Oil Inspector, Xeil 

 McMillan: Land Commissioner. W. A. French: 

 Railroad Commissioner. S. R. Billings ; Food Com- 

 missioner. C. K. Slorrs : Labor Commissioner. C. II. 

 Morse : Fish and Game Commissioner. II. W. Davis ; 

 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Charles D. 

 Long: Associate Justices. Claudius B. Grant, Rob- 

 ert M. Montgomery, Frank II. Hooker, Joseph B. 

 Moore all Republicans. 



Finances. The treasury receipts during the year 

 were $5,256,059.37. and the disbursements $4.634.- 

 054.73 : the cash balance at the close of the year 

 was stil2.422.43. In 1895, at the close of the' fis- 

 cal year, the general fund was overdrawn about 

 $128,000, but in 1896 there was a balance in the 

 fund of $450.537.21. The total receipts to the gen- 

 eral fund were 4.220,143.58, and the disbursements 

 $3,769,606.37. During the year the railroads oper- 

 ating in the State paid in specific taxes $735,040.74 ; 

 fire insurance companies, $127,143.45; life insur- 

 ance companies, $80,823.90 ; guarantee insurance 

 companies. $3.661.07 ; plate-glass insurance com- 

 panies. $290.05 : steam-boiler insurance companies, 

 S576.23; telephone companies, s23.459.36; tele- 

 graph companies, sl9.036.75 : express companies, 

 $2,742.34 A total of $960.364.77 was paid to the 

 different funds from the specific taxts collected; 

 55 co-operative insurance associations doing busi- 

 ness in the State paid fees amounting to $1,190. 

 The rate of taxation in 1895 was 2'6 mills ; in 1896 

 it was 1-6 mill. 



The State's bonded debt is $10.992.83. and the 

 balance of the trust fund debt is $5.766.702.72. 



Following are some of the larger items in the 

 appropriation bills: University of Michigan, $194,- 

 333.32 ; Industrial School for'Boys. $66,750 : State 

 House of Correction. $18.000 ; State Normal School, 

 $64,062.50: Michigan Mining School. $40.000; Agri- 

 cultural College, $19.800; Industrial School' for 

 Girls, $53.416.40: military account, $111.665.64 ; Sol- 

 diers' Home. $84,000 : School for the Deaf and Dumb, 

 $70,771 ; School for the Blind. $22.000 ; Home for 

 Feeble-minded, $39.500 ; five asylums, including the 

 Asylum for the Criminal Insane at Ionia. $125.- 

 327.63. Outside of the regular appropriations the 

 State paid for the support of the insane in the sev- 

 eral asylums $492.420.04. 



Valuations. The Auditor's tabulation of the 

 assessed and equalized valuations of the counties 

 shows the following items : Real estate, valua- 

 tion as assessed, $775,046,084; personal property. 

 $138.944.544.25: total valuation as assessed. $924.- 

 994,237.35 : valuation as equalized, real estate. s(!54.- 

 43! 1.656.30: personal property, si 12.155.493.70; to- 

 tal valuation as equalized, $814,536.028. 



Statistics of Voters. According to the last 

 State census, the total number of voters was 651.- 

 920, an increase of 2T13 per cent, in ten years. Of 

 this number, 393.225 are native and 258.695 foreign 

 born. The percentage of the foreign born is greater 

 in the north : in the southern four tiers of counties 

 it is 30-82: in the central. 44'50 : in the northern 

 counties of the lower peninsula. 48-44 : and in the 

 upper peninsula, 74'71. In the incorporated cities 

 the males of voting age number 230,786, of whom 



113.335 an- foreign born. Outside the cities are 

 421.134. of whom 145,800 are foreign bom. "\ 

 are 34.545 males of voting age. or 5 - 30 percent, of 

 the total, unable to read or write. Of these. 1' 

 are native and 23.66S foreign born. 



Charities. The number of inmates at the Sol- 

 diers' Home in March was 609. with 45 in the wom- 

 en's building. The running expenses 1'or the \ear 

 aggregated about $82.000. "The State gave $8,000 

 for the women's building. 



The Kalamazoo Asylum for the Insane had under 

 treatment in the spring 1,197, with a normal capa- 

 city of only 1,000. 



Prisons. The biennial report from the Jackson 

 State Prison shows the following statistics : Num- 

 ber of inmates July 1. 1894. 856; received since. 

 494 ; total, 1.350 : remaining in custody July 1, 1896, 

 N24. The total earnings for the two years were 

 $226,103.27: total expense, $246.058.11"; or a net 

 expense to the State of $19.954.84. The expense of 

 the prisoners per capita pet day for two years has 

 been 43'3 cents ; the earnings per capita per day for 

 two years have been 38'4 cents. The daily exp'ense 

 for food per capita has been 8'6 cents ; for clothing, 

 2' 7 cents. 



The number under contract during the past two 

 years was 418. representing 260.820^ days, for which 

 the State received a trifle over 50 cents a day a man. 



The new parole law has thus far worked very 

 successfully. 



The report of the Marquette Prison shows the 

 daily average of prisoners in 1895 to have been 148, 

 and in 1896 it was 210. The per capita cost to the 

 State in 1895 was $148.64, and in 1896 $147.62. 

 Owing to the great business depression, it has been 

 impossible to secure any contracts for the employ- 

 ment of inmates, and the warden has put aside all 

 labor-saving machinery, in order to give employ- 

 ment to as many men as possible. Military drill 

 has been introduced. 



Education. The report of the President of the 

 University of Michigan, rendered in October, shows 

 the attendance to have been 3.019. which is larger 

 than that in any preceding year. Degrees to the 

 number of 757 were conferred. The proportion of 

 women to men in the university was 20'5 per cent. 



The last Legislature directed the regents of the 

 university to establish a homoeopathic medical col- 

 lege as a branch of the University of Detroit, and 

 discontinue the existing homoeopathic college main- 

 tained at Ann Arbor. The regents declined to com- 

 ply with the act. and a mandamus was applied for 

 to compel the regents to comply. The ground for 

 refusal was that it was not. in their judgment, for 

 the best interests of the university, and that the 

 Legislature has no constitutional right to interfere 

 with its management. These contentions are both 

 held good in the opinion of the court, which con- 

 cludes that the regents have the sole control of the 

 university. 



The State has always paid 7 per cent, upon the 

 university funds as on the primary-school funds ; 

 but the present Auditor held that the Legislature, 

 having in 1887 made legal interest 6 per cent., the 

 university is entitled to only that amount : and the 

 regents appealed to the Supreme Court. The deci- 

 sion was in favor of the university, because it is a 

 general rule of construction that where an act is 

 passed for a particular purpose it is not abrogated 

 by general legislation, sufficiently broad to include 

 it. unless the intent to abrogate it is clear. 



The annual report of the public schools shows 

 the total enrollment in ungraded schools to be 212.- 

 055. and that in graded schools to be 264.626. The 

 total number of schoolhouses is 7.835. and their 

 value $16.766.822. The average monthly wages of 

 male teachers was S46.17. and of female teachers 



