220 



CONNECTICUT. 



but one of the rest, the Connecticut, has suc- 

 ceeded in resuming business. The aggregate 

 loss to the Connecticut companies was a little 

 over $11,000,000, of which the four solvent 

 companies paid $6,229.000, and of the balance 

 about $1,669,850 were paid by the others, thus 

 making an aggregate of $7, 888,850, ^ or 71.71 

 per cent., paid Chicago by Connecticut com- 

 panies. The three solvent Hartford companies 

 reduced fheir stock one-half, but subsequently 

 increased it to the former amount, the old 

 stockholders coming forward to make good 

 the impairment." 



The number of life-insurance companies 

 doing business in the State is 40, of which 

 ten are Connecticut companies. The whole 

 amount of their assets is $241,645,692; of 

 their risks, $1,576,497,000. They have 96 

 agencies in the State. Their aggregate premi- 

 um receipts for the past year were $65,847,- 

 327.83. 



The School Fund, amounting to $2,046,958.- 

 03, is well cared for. Except about one-tenth 

 part of it, which is in bank-stock, the rest is 

 loaned on real-estate securities, for about 

 seven-eighths at 6 per cent, per annum, in Con- 

 necticut ; for the remainder at 7, in New York 

 and Ohio. 



The free school law, now in operation in 

 the State, is regarded as having produced very 

 satisfactory results. The number of registered 

 children, between four and sixteen years, in 

 1871, was 131,748, or 3,280 more than in the 

 previous year. A per capita dividend of one 

 dollar for each child was distributed the same 

 year out of the interest of the School Fund. Of 

 the said number of children, " 123,588 were re- 

 gistered as attending the public schools ; 8,754 as 

 attending private schools ; and 11,947 as attend- 

 ing no school at all." The number of public 

 schools in Connecticut is 1,630, and of teachers 

 2,420, both supported by the State, at an ag- 

 gregate expense last year of $1,496,980.95. 

 " There has been an increase in the length of 

 the school year, in the number of scholars in 

 attendance, in the salaries of the teachers, and 

 in the money raised for school purposes." The 

 average amount of teachers' salaries, which 

 has been steadily increasing for several years, 

 is now 66.58 per month for male teachers, and 

 32.69 for female; the ratio of their increase, 

 as compared with what they were six years 

 ago, being, respectively, 54.50 per cent, for 

 men, and 44.58 per cent, for women. 

 ^ The Normal School, destined for the educa- 

 tion and preparation of teachers in the public 

 schools, is stated to be in very successful op- 

 eration under the present management. The 

 number of scholars attending it in 1872 was 

 150. An appropriation of $12,500 was made 

 by the General Assembly, at the previous ses- 

 sion, for the support of this school for one 

 year. 



The State scholarships for the Sheffield Sci- 

 entific School at Yale College are 40, and all 

 filled; but that school furnishes gratuitous 



instruction to all applicants who cannot afford 

 to pay for it. 



The six seats in the Board of Corporation of 

 Yale College, which had been previously occu- 

 pied by the six senior Senators in the State 

 Legislature, were given up to the Alumni by 

 an act of the General Assembly, at their ses- 

 sion in 1872. It is anticipated that the act 

 will prove advantageous to the college, and 

 satisfactory to the State. 



In the General Hospital for the Insane, at 

 Middletown, there were 272 patients on the 

 1st of AprU, 1872. During the year, there 

 had been 73 applications made for admission, 

 which could not be accommodated for want of 

 room ; and these applications would have been 

 much more numerous, had it not been gen- 

 erally known that there were no vacancies. 

 There are also 22 State beneficiaries at the Ke- 

 treat at Hartford ; eight at Providence ; eight 

 at Northampton; nine at Concord, New 

 Hampshire ; and five at Brattleboro. The in- 

 sane poor in the State, yet uncared for, are 

 above 300, most of them in almshouses. The 

 Governor states that the erection of the new 

 wing in the hospital building, for which an ap- 

 propriation was made by the General Assem- 

 bly, is progressing, and will probably be fin- 

 ished for less than the sum appropriated ; but, 

 considering the vast number of insane persons 

 who must remain outside of the hospital, and 

 need admission and treatment in it, he suggests 

 that its other wing should be contracted for 

 and constructed, and the building completed 

 according to the original plan. 



The School for Imbeciles, at Lakeville, is too 

 small for the realization of the purpose intend- 

 ed in its establishment. The State beneficia- 

 ries in it number but 20, while there are many 

 times that number in the State who need the 

 advantages of the school. The appropriation 

 made for its enlargement by the General As- 

 sembly remained unavailable, because of the 

 conditions on which it was made to depend. 



In the American Asylum for the Deaf and 

 Dumb, which is under excellent management 

 in all respects, there were 246 pupils, 53 of 

 whom are from the State. The census of 1870 

 sets down the number of this unfortunate class 

 in Connecticut at 221, among whom are 84 

 aged between five and 20 years; from which it 

 would appear that 31 deaf-mutes of proper age 

 are not receiving instruction at the asylum. It 

 may soon be the duty of the State to assist 

 this institution in the erection of a suitable 

 building, with the improvements suggested by 

 the experience of half a century. 



From statistics collected in regard to the 

 blind, it appears that, besides the 12 at the 

 Perkins Institute at Boston, their number in 

 Connecticut is 204. Many of these are blind 

 from old age ; and some not totally blind. 



The Industrial School for Girls, at Middle- 

 town, has worked successfully, and accom- 

 plishes the purpose for which its establishment 

 was intended. 'Its pupils have now reached 



