720 



WEST VIRGINIA. 



The military claims of the State against the 

 General Government for expenditures incurred 

 in supplying military forces during the war 

 have been finally settled, and the balance of 

 $127,679.28 due the State has been paid into 

 the treasury. 



West Virginia has not yet contracted any 

 State debt, but is liable for a portion of the 

 State debt of Virginia under a provision of the 

 constitution that " an equitable proportion of 

 the public debt of the Commonwealth of Vir- 

 ginia, prior to the 1st day of January, 1861, 

 shall be assumed by this State ; and the Legisla- 

 ture shall ascertain the same as soon as may 

 be practicable, and provide for the liquidation 

 thereof by a sinking-fund sufficient to pay the 

 accruing interest and redeem the principal 

 within thirty-four years." The amount of this 

 debt is still undetermined, its adjustment hav- 

 ing been postponed on account of the pend- 

 ency in the Supreme Court of the United States 

 of a suit brought by Virginia against West 

 Virginia to recover jurisdiction over the coun- 

 ties of Berkeley and Jefferson. 



The free schools of the State attained a 

 greater prosperity last year than at any former 

 time since the organization of the State. Their 

 condition in 1869, as compared with that of 

 1868, is shown in the following statement : 



1868. 

 1,769 

 1,810 



1869. 



2.164 



154,864 



78,342 



264,995 

 295,950 

 231.200 

 956,116 



Number of schools in the State 



" teachers employed 



" persons between the ages 



of 6 and 21 152,621 



" children attending school, 54,724 

 Amount expended for building pur- 

 poses $244,389 



Current expenditures , . . 276,465 



Permanent school fund 209,800 



Value of school property 717,346 



The number of school-houses in the State is 

 1,708, of which 366 were erected during the 

 year 1869. 



The number of pupils attending the State 

 Normal School, at Marshall College, at its last 

 session was 96 ; the attendance upon this 

 school will be largely increased when the new 

 building, now in process of construction, is 

 completed. The branch of the State Normal 

 School, at Fairmont, held its first session dur- 

 ing the past year, when about 100 pupils were 

 in attendance. Both of these schools, as well 

 as others in the State, have received donations 

 from the Peabody Educational Fund. The 

 West Virginia University is said to be exert- 

 ing a wide influence for good throughout the 

 State. The. attendance is larger than at any 

 previous time, and comprises pupils from nine 

 different States and Territories. The accommo- 

 dations of this institution will be greatly in- 

 creased by the completion of the University 

 Hall, the construction of which is now rapidly 

 progressing. 



On account of the recent organization of the 

 State, charitable and reformatory institutions 

 adequate to the needs of the community have 

 not as yet been established. For want of ac- 

 commodations at home, many proper subjects 

 for public maintenance are sent to the Asylum 



for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, at Staunton, 

 Virginia. Great need is felt for a reformatory 

 school for juvenile offenders against the law, 

 who are, at present, sent to the county jails or 

 the penitentiary, and are thus subjected to the 

 bad influence resulting from contact with hard- 

 ened criminals. The attention of the Legisla- 

 ture has recently been called to the necessity 

 of providing institutions for these classes, and 

 for the destitute families of soldiers who fell 

 in the late war. Owing to a want of funds, 

 but little progress has been made during the 

 past year in the work upon the main building 

 of the Hospital for the Insane, although there 

 is an urgent necessity for additional accommo- 

 dations in this institution. The number ex- 

 cluded, for want of proper provision for their 

 maintenance, is estimated to be not less than 

 150 persons. The number of inmates of the 

 hospital at the close of the year was 202, 

 showing an increase of 22 over the number at 

 the close of the previous year. The average 

 number for 1869 was 149 ; for 1868, 132. The 

 cost of supporting the Hospital for the year 

 was $29,239.59, which is estimated to be an 

 average cost of $2.54 per week for each pa- 

 tient. Since the hospital was opened, in 1864, 

 530 have applied for admission, of whom 303 

 have been admitted and 227 refused admission. 

 The number of convicts in the penitentiary at 

 the beginning of the year 1869 was 78 ; during 

 the year 52 were received, 27 discharged, 7 

 pardoned, and 20 escaped, of whom 11 were 

 recaptured. The number confined at the close 

 of the year was 87. The law enacted at the 

 last session of the Legislature, allowing con- 

 victs credit for "good time," is reported to be 

 producing favorable results, and further reforms 

 in prison discipline are under consideration. 

 Work upon the penitejntiary building has pro- 

 gressed satisfactorily during the year. In the 

 south wing three tiers of cells have been built; 

 56 cells in the lower tier have been completed, 

 and the convicts placed in them. 



The Legislature which assembled in the 

 early part of January continued in session un- 

 til the 4th of March; the measures passed 

 were mostly of a local nature. The fifteenth 

 amendment to the Constitution of the United 

 States was ratified by a vote in the Senate of 

 10 to 6, and 22 to 19 in the House. By an act 

 of the Legislature, to take effect on the 30th 

 of April, 1870, the town of Charleston, in the 

 county of Kanawha, was selected as the per- 

 manent seat of government. The construction 

 of the State-house at Charleston has been 

 carried rapidly forward, and it will be. com- 

 pleted about May, 1870. The building will be 

 constructed of stone, at a total cost (including 

 land) of $52,750, and will be 138 feet long, 56 

 feet wide, and 140 feet high. The first floor 

 will be devoted to offices and committee-rooms ; 

 the hall of the Senate and of the House of 

 Delegates will be on the second story, and the 

 third story will be occupied by the Supreme 

 Court and the Federal Court. 



