MICHIGAN. 



497 



House of Correction until they are reformed, 

 as is proposed, will be a strong inducement for 

 them to enter more directly upon the work of 

 self-improvement, and thus a shorter period of 

 imprisonment will be required to fit them again 

 for society than if sentenced for a definite term. 

 The influence of the proposed change will be 

 most salutary as a restraining force in commu- 

 nity, and will put punishment before the peo- 

 ple in its proper light, namely, as a healing or 

 curative measure. One of the formidable ob- 

 stacles to the reformation of persons received 

 into this prison is, their mistaken idea that im- 

 prisonment is inflicted to satisfy justice, or to 

 pay them off, in privation or suffering, for some 

 real or fancied wrong to somebody or some- 

 thing which they have committed; failing to 

 see, as they generally do, that the spirit of the 

 law that punishes, and of the pardon that for- 

 gives, is essentially the same, being only dif- 

 ferent instruments for restoring to society 

 sound members. And the superintendent 

 would have the law so changed that sentences 

 to the House of Correction should be limited 

 until discharge by the circuit or other judge, 

 on recommendation by the superintendent or 

 inspectors, upon the ground of improved char- 

 acter. 



The State Eeform School is situated at Lan- 

 sing, and receives juvenile offenders under sev- 

 enteen years of age. Number of inmates at the 

 beginning of the year, 257. Admitted during 

 the year, 99 ; discharged, 109 ; number remain- 

 ing, 247, which is a decrease of 33 in two years. 

 Of those admitted 13 were ten years of age, 9 

 were eleven, 10 were twelve, 17 were thirteen, 

 16 were fourteen, 19 were fifteen, and 15 were 

 sixteen ; 33 were children of American parents, 

 and 66, including 9 colored, were children of 

 persons foreign born. The offences for which 

 they were received were as follows : vagrancy, 

 1 ; assault and battery, 2 ; burglary and larceny, 

 2; grand larceny, 2 ; petit larceny, 86 ; returned, 

 7. The sentences are until they reach the age 

 of twenty-one, with large liberty in the Board 

 of Control to discharge for good behavior. 

 ' The pupils are, for the most part, employed 

 in making chairs. 



The trustees of the Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb, 

 and Blind, at Flint, report their receipts for the 

 years 1867 and 1868 at $124,572.13, which has 

 been expended as follows : previous indebted- 

 ness, $8,174.08; construction account, $51,- 

 954.20 ; general expense account, $59,038.58 ; 

 unclassified expenditures, $5,405.27 total, 

 $124,572.13. The number of inmates at differ- 

 ent times has been as follows : June, 1865, 94 ; 

 June, 1866, 109; June, 1867, 116; June, 1868, 

 119 ; at the end of the year, 140. Whole num- 

 ber in attendance since the last report, 181, of 

 whom 36 were blind, and 145 deaf and dumb. 

 Egbert L. Bangs is principal of the asylum, and 

 Mrs. Zelinda K. De Mott, matron. In addi- 

 tion to the usual instruction by means of the 

 sign-language, articulation and lip-reading are 

 taught to those who appear to' be fit subjects, 

 VOL. viii. 32 A 



and with very gratifying results. Children are 

 not received until they are ten years of age, 

 and the principal recommends their being kept 

 at home with their parents until they arc 

 twelve. They are allowed to remain in the in- 

 stitution for seven years, and it is thought that 

 the period of age from twelve to nineteen is 

 more useful to the pupils receiving instruction 

 than any earlier. 



The maintenance expenses of the Asylum 

 for the Insane at Kalamazoo, for 1867 and 1868, 

 were $114,913.52; the construction rand re- 

 ceived, during the same period, $153,839.37, not 

 all of which is yet expended. The following 

 shows the number of patients : 



Additional accommodations for patients were 

 prepared during this period, but they are all 

 occupied. E. H. Van Duzen is medical super- 

 intendent. The following statistics, of the 

 whole number of patients admitted since the 

 asylum was opened, will be of interest : 



Born in the United States, 563 ; Ireland, 68 ; 

 Germany, 64; England, 39; Canada, 28; Scot- 

 land, 16; other foreign countries, 17; unascer- 

 tained, 13. Of the whole number, 90 had re- 

 ceived a collegiate education, and 529 a com- 

 mon-school education. Their civil condition 

 was as follows : 



The wheat crop of the State was better than 

 that for the preceding year, and more than an 

 average crop. The receipts of wheat and flour 

 at Detroit were sixty per cent, greater than for 

 1867. Spring crops were also unusually good, 

 and the year was one of general prosperity to 

 the farming community. To this statement, 



