242 



CONNECTICUT. 



From the one-mill tax on the towns, $422,953.- 

 56; tax on savings-banks, $507,103.30; tax on 

 railroad companies, $298,421.04; and tax on 

 mutual-insurance companies, $327,020.08. 



The entire value of all taxable property in 

 Connecticut amounts at present to $354,099,- 

 707 ; showing an increase of more than $5,000,- 

 000 over the amount in the preceding year. 



It is estimated that the current income of 

 the State, notwithstanding the reduction of 

 the State tax from two mills to one mill, will 

 be sufficient to meet all the ordinary expendi- 

 tures of the government, and cover also the 

 extraordinary appropriations required for the 

 new State-House now in course of erection at 

 Hartford. 



The capital of the public-school fund in 

 Connecticut amounts to $2,044,190.81. Of 

 the interest which annually accrues on it, and 

 which is devoted to educational purposes, a 

 corresponding portion is distributed among the 

 children of school-age per capita, at the rate 

 of one dollar each. 



Seventy-nine savings-banks were in opera- 

 tion in the State on the 1st of January, 1874, 

 the total sum of their deposits amounting to 

 $70,769,407,95 ; showing an increase of very 

 nearly two and a quarter millions over their 

 total at the beginning of the previous year. 

 The assets of these banks had an increase of 

 $2,406,187.85 within the last year. In their 

 loans and investments in personal property 

 during that period, there was a decrease of 

 about $2,000,000 ; while the amount of their 

 loans on real estate increased by some $4,000,000 

 within the same time. This result is attributed 

 to the reduction of the tax on loans secured 

 upon property of the last-named description. 



The whole number of persons who severally 

 owned the money deposited in the savings- 

 banks at the beginning of 1874 was 204,741 ; 

 their classification in respect to the amounts 

 belonging to them, respectively, being as fol- 

 lows : Depositors of sums less than $500 num- 

 bered 158,371, the total amount of their de- 

 posits being $21,896,685; depositors of sums 

 between $500 and $1,000, 28,324, all their de- 

 posits amounting to $15,907,016; and deposit- 

 ors of sums exceeding $1,000, 18,046, their ag- 

 gregate deposits making a total of $32.965,706. 



The owners of these larger sums represent 

 less than one-eleventh part of all the deposit- 

 ors in regard to number, yet absorb nearly 

 one-half of the amount of all the deposits 

 taken together. Governor Ingersoll called the 

 attention of the General Assembly to that fact, 

 saying that " in this the true idea of a savings- 

 bank seems to have been lost sight of, and the 

 institutions, to that extent, operated as trust 

 companies for the investment of surplus capi- 

 tal ; " adding that " the very large number of 

 small depositors shows that the mass of the 

 public, dealing with these institutions, have 

 done so upon the faith that they are what they 

 were only chartered to be, institutions for sav.- 

 ings." Upon which he says that ".any legisla- 



tion in regard to them should, in the first place, 

 and before any other consideration, be directed 

 to the security of the deposits there made." 

 The better to guard the interests of those small 

 depositors against loss, he suggested that the 

 General Assembly should keep a watchful eye 

 upon the operations of the savings-banks, and 

 surround them with such salutary restraints 

 by legislative enactments as were best calcu- 

 lated "to keep that fact constantly before the 

 eyes of their officers." 



A special commission was appointed by an 

 act of the Legislature at the previous session 

 to examine into the condition of the savings- 

 banks in the State. The report presented by 

 this commission recommended the restriction 

 of the loans by savings-banks on personal se- 

 curity to forty per cent, of their deposits on 

 hand. 



Public instruction seems to progress very 

 satisfactorily. As regards the number of per- 

 sons who partake of its benefits in proportion 

 to the population, Connecticut is claimed to 

 stand first among the States in the Union. The 

 number of children who attended schools of all 

 kinds during the last year was 123,386; and 

 all of them, except 8,329. attended the public 

 schools. There are 1,648 public schools in 

 the State, and the number of teachers em- 

 ployed was about 2,500. 



In the Normal School there were 43 gradu- 

 ates during the year, the whole number of 

 students in attendance, from April 1, 1873, to 

 the same date in 1874, having been 210. 



In the Sheffield Scientific School there are 

 30 free scholarships at the disposition of the 

 State, which are said to be now eagerly sought 

 after, and have all been granted in accordance 

 with the requirements of the statute. Under the 

 acts previously passed by the Legislature, the 

 income of the fund held by the School Fund 

 Commissioner under the Federal land grant, 

 for the promotion of scientific education, 

 amounting to $8,100, is paid to the Sheffield 

 Scientific School. 



The aggregate receipts from all sources, for 

 the support of the public schools in 1873, ex- 

 ceeded $1,500,000, derived from the following 

 sources : 



From district and town taxes $1,098,428 63 



From State tax 199,272 00 



From school fund 132,848 00 



From town deposit fund 45,452 58 



From local funds 12,196 45 



From voluntary contributions 7,172 42 



From other sources 47,119 12 



Total $1,542,489 20 



The various charitable institutions of the 

 State are well provided for, although the Hos- 

 pital for the Insane, at Middletown, is the only 

 one of these institutions that is under the abso- 

 lute control of the State. The better to secure 

 the efficiency of their management, and realize 

 from them the objects for which they have 

 been severally established, an act was passed 

 by the General Assembly at the last session, 

 creating a State Board of Charities, composed 



