778 



WISCONSIN. 



in "Wisconsin, as returned by the assessors for 

 1871, was $329,508,603, Ashland County not 

 included. This sum is over $2,000,000 less 

 than the assessment of 1870. Governor Wash- 

 burn ascribes the deficiency to assessors, who 

 "undervalue nearly every class of property," 

 with a view " to lessen to their towns the bur- 

 den of State and county taxes." He says 

 that the State and county boards of equaliza- 

 tion remedy the assessors' under- valuation in 

 a great measure ; at the same time he charac- 

 terizes the present system of assessment as 

 pernicious, and, in order to entirely cure the 

 evil, urges that "more stringent laws should 

 be framed, regulating the duties of assessors, 

 and a more thorough enumeration and classi- 

 fication of property in assessment should be 

 required, so that boards of equalization can 

 more fully correct the erroneous assessments 

 of the town-officers." 



The productive trust-funds of the State be- 

 long to various institutions of learning, and 

 are as follows : 



The State has now for sale school and uni- 

 versity lands, as follows : 



School lands 336,812.48 acres. 



University lands 9,378.53 ' ' 



Normal-school lands 811,482.33 " 



Agricultural lands 86,673.45 " 



The material interests of Wisconsin, so far as 

 their development depends on increased means 

 of communication between distant points, have 

 been advanced in 1871 to a greater extent than 

 ever before. The number of miles of railroad 

 in operation within the limits of the State, at 

 the beginning of 1871, was 1,208, and at tbe 

 end of the year had increased to 1,588. 



The education of youth and literary instruc- 

 tion in its various branches are well attended 

 to and amply provided for. The schools are 

 reported to be in a very satisfactory condition, 

 and the university is at present " more flourish- 

 ing, prosperous, and promising, than at any 

 former period of its history." 



A commodious building lately erected at the 

 expense of the State for a Female College, and 

 connected with the State University at Madi- 

 son, was opened on the 20th of December, 1871. 

 The instruction and management of this col- 

 lege is intrusted to a preceptress, aided by an 

 assistant preceptress, an instructress, a female 

 teacher of music, and one of painting. 



Three normal schools for the training of 

 teachers for public schools have been estab- 

 lished in the State, at Platteville, Whitewater, 

 and Oshkosh. All of them are in successful 

 operation, the number of students in attend- 

 ance being about four hundred. The aggregate 



expenditures, necessary to maintain these three 

 schools for one year, are estimated at $40,000. 



The charitable institutions in the State are 

 generally under excellent management in all 

 respects. In the Asylum for the Insane, at 

 Madison, the number of patients under treat- 

 ment in 1871 has been 524, of whom 1G4 were 

 admitted during the year. Within that time 

 54 were discharged recovered, 52 improved, 

 24 unimproved, and 29 died ; there remaining 

 in the hospital on the 1st of September, 1871, 

 355 patients. The expense of maintaining the 

 institution during the year was $87,534.34, of 

 which sum $76,890.61 was for ordinary cur- 

 rent expenses. The estimated expenditure for 

 the year ending September 30, 1872, including 

 improvements and repairs, is $97,100. 



This hospital being overcrowded with pa- 

 tients, and unable to admit even a portion of 

 those who should be received in it, the trus- 

 tees and superintendent ask for an appropria- 

 tion of $90,000 for completing the building by 

 the addition of two wings. 



At the session of 1871, the Legislature, be- 

 sides appropriating $126,000 for the new asy- 

 lum near Oshkosh, appropriated also $92,000 

 for the old one at Madison. 



The superintendent of the last-named insti- 

 tution estimates that, " after the completion of 

 the wing of the new hospital now under con- 

 tract at Oshkosh, and filling it to its utmost 

 capacity, there will still be 300 insane persons 

 in the State unprovided for." 



In the Institution for the Education of the 

 Deaf and Dumb, at Delaware, there were, on 

 the 1st of October, 1871, 137 inmates, and the 

 building was utterly filled. The Legislature of 

 1871 appropriated for this institution the sum 

 of $38,300 ; but the expense of maintaining 

 it during the year was nearly $3,000 less than 

 the appropriation. The trustees, in their last 

 report, ask for $20,000 for the purpose of en- 

 larging the present building. 



In the Institution for the Blind, at Janes- 

 ville, there were 68 pupils. Its building is 

 ample enough to accommodate all those unfor- 

 tunates in the State who seek its benefits. 

 For 1871 the Legislature appropriated $25,373 

 for it. 



The number of convicts received at the State- 

 prison during the year was 95, and the dis- 

 charged 99. Their average number has been 

 203. Two of them are women, who are kept 

 separate, under the supervision of a matron. 

 The receipts of the prison, from all sources, 

 including $99,989.96 from the State on ap- 

 propriation, and $15,000 balance from ac- 

 count of 1870, were $147,406.60, and the dis- 

 bursements, with $150.90 on hand, were of the 

 same amount. The purchases of victuals and 

 supplies of all sorts made for the prison during 

 the year ending September 30, 1871, amounted 

 to $24,183.86 ; and the total earnings of the 

 convicts, employed in various works, to $41,- 

 913.58. 



The number of children at the Soldiers' Or- 



