MICHIGAN. 



treason, was abolished in Michigan twenty years 



go, und repeated efforts to re-tore it since have 



1 iticirectu.il. Solitary imprisonment for 



!.-titutcd in i-aso of 



murder in , In 1849, undor the 



it. finperin- 

 ia given to the 

 in their discretion, to 

 this d.i-s <>f convicts with the others, 

 thifl has been done to a considerable 

 . In their report for the current year 

 tho inspectors say that, "so for as wo can 

 . ilic.ro is nothing in the history of pris- 

 -titution to sustain tho opinion 

 that solitary confinement superinduces insan- 

 Thero is no case on record where a 

 ior first developed insanity while in soli- 

 iniinemcnt here." The labor of convicts 

 in the Static prison is let by contract to the 

 highest bidder, but the amount thus realized 

 falls far short of tho current expenses. Tho 

 expenditures for 1866 were $105,919.19, while 

 tho receipts for convict labor were only $33,- 

 t'.'ii.-j:!. The contracts, however, were let dur- 

 ing tho war nt low rates, varying from 28 to 

 50 cents per day, which are expected to be 

 greatly .increased for the next year. Only 

 three prisoners were pardoned by the Govern- 

 or. In his annual message ho discusses the 

 pardoning power at some length, and says that 

 he is " clearly of the opinion that the executive 

 has no right to annul or make void, by an ex- 

 ercise of the pardoning power, the acts and de- 

 (ir-ions of the judicial tribunals, in the trial, con- 

 viction, and sentence of any person, unless in 

 one of two events: 1. Tho discovery of such 

 new facts as would, if proved upon the trial, 

 have established the innocence of tho accused; 

 or, 2. Such as would have mitigated the offence 

 as proved, and thereby entitled him to a less 

 penalty than that which has been adjudged." 

 These views have been sharply criticised in the 

 public prints by a writer, understood to be an 

 ex-governor of the State, who considers them as 

 excluding all idea of pardon in the proper sense 

 of the term, and as conceding to the convict 

 only that strict justice which he may demand 

 as a right. 



Tho State Reform School reports an increase 

 of inmates during tho year from 217 to 259. 

 : the hr.v none are sent to this institution 

 who are over sixeeen years of age, anil the 

 average age of those received is thirteen and a 

 quarter. They have hitherto for the most part 

 been employed in chair and hat making, but 

 the institution has now a farm of one hundred 

 and thirty-four acre?, upon which considerable 

 has boon expended by inmates during the 

 year. The Reform School is what its name 

 imports, and an earnest effort is made to in- 

 struct and save the younger class of offenders 

 against the laws, a largo proportion of whom 

 are orphans, many of them made such by tho 

 war. A -re;;t loss was sustained tOWtfO the 

 close of Hie year in tho death of Cephas B. 

 Robinson, superintendent. 



The school system of Michigan in justly tho 

 of tho State, it bei .thy a free 



i, under which any child uny obtain an 

 i-i Miration as complete as can be obtained else- 

 where in the country. The common schools 

 are free. Every town of importance has it* 

 graded union school, in which boys can be 

 prepared for tho university at a very small ex- 

 pense, and the normal school at Ypsilanti it 

 turning out every year a large number of teach- 

 ers well drilled in the theory of their profession. 



The number of children in the State between 

 the ages of five and twenty is 821,311. In- 

 crease within tho year, 22,704 a larger in- 

 crease than ever in one year before. The 

 number attending the common schools, 246,957 

 an increase over 1865 of 18,328. Value of 

 school-houses, $2,854,990; increase, $499,008; 

 teachers, male, 1,687; female, 7,495 ; expendi- 

 tures for schools, $1,587,104.12 ; students at the 

 normal school, 595; at the agricultural col- 

 lege, 108. The attendance at the university 

 and the degrees conferred were as follows : 



Attendance. Degrees conrd. 

 Department of literature, sci- 

 ence, and arts 353 67 



Department of medicine 4U7 74 



Department of law 385 108 



Total 



.1,205 



249 



No preparatory school is connected with the 

 university the union schools of the State 

 supplying that want and the standard for ad- 

 mission is as high as that for any other institu- 

 tion in the country. The students for the year 

 represented twenty-two states and all the Ca- 

 nadian provinces. 



Besides the institutions above mentioned, 

 there are denominational colleges at Hillsdale, 

 Kalamazoo, Albion, Adrian and Olivet, in which 

 males and females are educated together. The 

 attendance in these was as follows: Hillsdale, 

 609; Kalamazoo, 217; Albion, 292; Adrian, 

 869 ; Olivet, 346. The great majority of pupils 

 in each of these institutions is in the prepara- 

 tory department. 



In the State Asylum for the Insane at Kala- 

 mazoo, 298 patients were treated during tho 

 year, of whom 48 were discharged fully re- 

 covered and 19 with marked improvement; 

 82 died, and 82 left without improvement. 

 The whole number treated since the asylum 

 was opened is 607, of whom 273 were males, 

 834 females, 801 married, 263 unmarried, and 

 -]:! widows or widowers. Of these, 178 recov- 

 7(3 were improved, 102 unimproved, 79 

 died, and 172 remain in the asylum. This in- 

 stitution, as well as tho Asylum for the Deaf, 

 Dumb, and Blind, at Flint, is filled to its utmost 

 capacity, and considerable assistance is asked 

 from the State to increase tho buildings for both. 



The wheat crop, especially in tho two southern 

 tiersof counties, was considerably lessthnn usual, 

 and a portion of it was gathered in bad condi- 

 tion. The total crop of the State did not pro- 

 bably exceed 1-2,000,000, or three-fourthjs a full 



