400 



KANSAS. 



The State has claims against the General 

 Government, amounting to upward of $850,000, 

 but no steps have yet been taken to press 

 them to a settlement. The amount of taxable 

 property in the State, according to the figures 

 given by the Board of Equalization, is about 

 $66,000,000, while the percentage of taxation 

 levied by the Legislature was based on esti- 

 mates which placed it at $76,000,000. The 

 estimated population of Kansas, in 1868, was 

 300,000 ; the number of acres of land more or 

 less improved, was set down at 2,000,000. The 

 following figures, given in a report of the 

 Surveyor-General, in July last, refer to the 

 productions of the year 1867 : 



Total value of live-stock $40,300,000 



The work on the new capitol buildings at 

 Topeka has been prosecuted with considerable 

 vigor, and the eastern wing, which is the only 

 portion likely to be finished at present, is rap- 

 idly approaching completion. The entire plan 

 is formed with a view to the future wants of 

 the State, and will be carried into execution as 

 the wants of the government demand. The 

 whole structure, which is to be built of mag- 

 nesian limestone, will be one of the finest of 

 the kind in the country. The eastern wing 

 alone will cost the State $450,000. 



New buildings are contemplated for nearly 

 all the State institutions, and a movement was 

 made in the last Legislature to concentrate them 

 at one or two points, instead of having them 

 scattered, as they now are, over the whole 

 State. This matter was referred to a commit- 

 tee, who reported a bill in favor of concentrat- 

 ing the State University, State Normal School, 

 and State Agricultural College at one point, 

 and the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, the Institu- 

 tion for the Blind, and the Insane Hospital 

 at another. It did not become a law at the 

 last session, but it is probable that this, or 

 some similar plan, will be adopted whenever 

 provision shall be made for the erection of 

 new buildings for these institutions. 



The number of inmates in the Penitentiary 

 on the 30th of November was 170, which 

 shows an increase of 44 during the year. 

 The annual cost of their support, exclusive of 

 earnings, is over $50,000. At the Insane Asy- 

 lum 29 patients were cared for during some 

 part of the year, 12 of whom were discharged 



entirely restored to reason. The cost of 

 maintaining this institution was about $18,000. 

 The Deaf and Dumb Asylum afforded support 

 and instruction to 28 persons, at a cost of 

 $15,000. Thirteen pupils enjoyed the advan- 

 tages of the Institution for the Blind, and 

 $10,600 were expended by the superintendent. 

 New buildings -for all the eleemosynary estab- 

 lishments are required as soon as the finances 

 of the State will allow of their construction. 



The following statement shows the condition 

 of the public schools, and the funds from 

 which they derive their support, as compared 

 with last year : 



Kansas promises to become the State of 

 railroads, lying as it does nearly in the centre 

 of the country east of the Eocky Mountains, 

 and containing the focus to which numerous 

 lines converge only to strike out again in all 

 directions into the vast country west of the 

 Mississippi. There are already six hundred 

 miles of railway completed and in operation 

 within the limits of the State. The Union 

 Pacific Eailroad, Eastern Division, has been 

 completed from Wyandotte and Leavenworth 

 westward to Sheridan, near the western boun- 

 dary of the State, a distance of 405 miles. A 

 bridge across the Missouri River at Leaven- 

 worth is in contemplation, and will very mate- 

 rially enhance the value of this great work. 

 The road, so far as finished, has been used by 

 the Government in carrying the mails, and in 

 transporting troops and supplies, at a saving of 

 expense which more than -compensates for the 

 aid rendered to the enterprise by public sub- 

 sidies. The Central Branch Union Pacific 

 Railway has been put in operation from At- 

 chison to Waterville, in Marshall County, a 

 distance of one hundred miles. The Missouri 

 River road, running twenty-five miles, from 

 Wyandotte to Leavenworth, has been finished 

 and is operated as an extension of the Mis- 

 souri Pacific. The Leavenworth, Lawrence, 



