MASSACHUSETTS. 



509 



are exempted from municipal assessment. The 

 total valuation of the Commonwealth was, 

 nevertheless, larger by $4,732,120 than in 1863. 

 The rate of taxation varied during the year 

 from 32 cents to 3.45 per $100 in different 

 parts of the State. The following table ex- 

 hibits the number of polls and valuation of real 

 and personal property in the several counties : 



The number of savings institutions in oper- 

 ation at the close of 1864, exclusive of two in- 

 corporated by the Legislature of that year, and 

 not fully organized, was 98. From abstracts 

 prepared by the officers- of these institutions, 

 their conditions were as follows : 



The -whole number of depositors in ninety- 

 seven savings tanks (the Mercantile Sav- 

 inss Institution, of Boston, not being in- 



of whom the nimber was 241,683. All the 

 towns raised the sum required by law as a con- 

 dition of receiving a ghare of the income of the 

 State School Fund ($1.50 per child between the 

 ages of five and fifteen), and more than 85 per 

 cent, of them raised twice, or more than twice 

 the amount. The total sum expended in the 

 Commonwealth for popular education, exclusive 

 of collegiate and professional schools, is esti- 

 mated at more than three millions of dollars 

 annually. More than one-fourth of the whole 

 number of towns neglected to keep their schools 

 open the full term required hy the law. The four 

 normal schools were reported in a flourishing 

 condition and unusually full, notwithstanding a 

 large proportion of the pupils of those at 

 Bridgewater and Westfield have at various 

 periods during the war enlisted as volunteers. 

 The number of persons connected with the 

 colleges of the Commonwealth, either as alumni 

 or students, who have entered the military 

 service since the commencement of the rebellion, 

 is very considerable. Harvard University has 

 sent upward of 500, nineteen per cent, of the 

 whole number living ; Amherst College 146 ; 

 and Williams College not less than 200. 



The statistics of the three State lunatic asy- 

 lums for the year ending Sept. 30, are as follows : 



eluded in the "Abstracts'") 



The number of depositors in the year 1S63 

 (ninety-five banks) was 



Showing: an increase in 1864 of. 



$291,610 

 272.219 

 19,397 



The amount of deposits (in ninetv-seven sav- 

 in-; banks) ". $62,557,604 30 



Against an amount in the year 1S63 (in ninety- 

 five banks) of .' 56.SS3.S2S 55 



Exhibiting an increase in 1S64 of $5,673,775 75 



The increase of deposits during the four 

 years ending June 1, 1864, was $17,503,369.30. 

 The number of banks of discount in Massa- 

 chusetts, organised under its laws, was, on 

 Jan. 1st, 1864, 181, having a capital of $66,- 

 991,200. Of these, 52, with a capital of $25.- 

 801,700, became national banking associations 

 during the year, and 47 have signified their 

 intention to become such, leaving 82, with an 

 aggregate capital of $26.274.500, which have 

 taken no steps toward changing. The number 

 of new national banks in the State was 25, 

 with an aggregate capital of about $4,000,000. 



The amount raised by voluntary taxation for 

 the support of the public schools (including 

 only wages of teachers, fuel, etc.) for the school 

 year 1S63-M was $1,536,314.31, being an in- 

 crease over the previous year of $102,299.11. 

 The aggregate return of expenditures on public 

 schools alone (exclusive of the cost of repairing 

 and erecting school-houses, and of school-books) 

 was $1,679,700.24, being au increase of $112,- 

 750.76 over the previous year, and being an 

 average sum of $6.95 cents for every person in 

 the State between the ages of five and fifteen, 



The State supports three almshouses, at 

 Tewksbury, Monson, and Bridgewater. 



During the year 1864 no new project was 

 suggested or put into execution for adding to 

 the coast defences of the Commonwealth ; but 

 the earthworks planned by the General Gov- 

 ernment to protect the harbors of Xewbury- 

 port, Salem, Marblehead, Gloucester, Plymouth, 

 and Provincetown, were completed, armed, 

 and garrisoned ; while steady progress was 

 made on the permanent works at Boston and 

 Xew Bedford. The Boston forts were supplied 

 with some ordnance of very heavy cahbre, 

 adding greatly to the strength of the harbor 

 defences. Of the million dollars appropriated 

 by the Legislature of 1863 for coast defences, 

 the sum of $354,346.11 was expended in 1864, 

 chiefly in the purchase of heavy ordnance at 

 home and abroad. Seventy-three guns, besides 

 a large supply of powder and projectiles, were 

 procured, and plans for harbor obstructions, 

 with calculations and specifications, were de- 

 posited in the State Ordnance Bureau. 



In October, 1863, work was resumed, under 

 the auspices of the Commonwealth, upon the 

 railway tunnel through the Hoosac Mountain, 

 and the expenditure up to Xov. 15th, 1864, 



* Besides seven eloped. 



