NEW YORK. 



State, except prisons, whether receiving State 

 :iiil or ni:iiiit:iiiii-il by municipalities or otlu-r- 

 i to the inspection of the State 

 i:-:in! of Ch-iritii-s composed of eleven mem- 

 bers appointed by the Governor, with the con- 

 sent of the Senate, besides the Lioutunant- 

 rnor, Secretary of State, Controller, 

 noy-General, and State Commissioners in 

 l.iiiKicy, nil of whom serve without pay. The 

 hoard ivpni-N annually to the Legislature oon- 

 <vriiing the various institutions visited by 

 tin-in, which embrace the State, local, incor- 

 porated, and private charities for the hiv-mr, 

 blind, deaf and dumb, idiots, inebriates, juvenile 

 di'liinp-u'iits, orphans, paupers, etc. There are 

 five State institutions for the treatment of the 

 insane, of which the oldest is the lunatic 

 asylum in Utica, opened in 1843, and having 

 accommodations for about 600. Acute oases 

 are chiefly treated here, while the chronic in- 

 sane are received in the Willard Asylum, 

 opened at Ovid, Seneca County, in 1869, which, 

 with projected improvements, will accommo- 

 date 1,000. The Hudson River Hospital for 

 the Insane in Poughkeepsie, the State Asylum 

 in Buffalo, and the Homoeopathic Asylum in 

 Middletown, are State institutions not yet 

 completed. The estimated cost of each of the 

 two former is $3,000,000; when completed, 

 each will accommodate about 600 patients. 

 Tin- institution at Middletown is smaller. On 

 September 80, 1874, there were about 1,719 

 inmates, 590 being in the Utica asylum, 879 in 

 the Willard, 212 in that at Poughkeepsie, and 

 88 in that at Middletown. There is also a 

 State institution on Ward's Island, New York 

 City, for insane immigrants. 



The prison system of New York comprises 

 three State-prisons, six county penitentiaries, 

 two State and eleven local reformatories, be- 

 sides county jails, city prisons, etc. The gen- 

 eral supervision of the prisons is vested by the 

 constitution in three inspectors elected for 

 three years. All prison-officers are appointed 

 by the inspectors. Cigars, shoes, harness and 

 saddlery hardware, tools, machinery, and axles, 

 are made at Auburn and Sing Sing, while in 

 the latter a large number of convicts are em- 

 ployed in the marble and lime works. In the 

 Clinton prison, at Dannemora, the manufacture 

 of iron, nails, etc., from ore mined on the 

 premises, is the chief employment of the con- 

 victs. All the industries are managed by con- 

 tract in Auburn, all but stone-cutting in Sing 

 Sing, and none in Clinton prison. No one of 

 the prisons is self-sustaining ; in all instruction 

 is afforded to convicts, and all have libraries. 

 The condition of these institutions for the year 

 ending September 80, 1874, was as follows : 



Including $26,231 miscellaneous expenditures 

 not distributed, the entire excess of expend!* 

 tures was reported at $588,537. This, bow- 

 ever, is reduced by stock on hand, permanent 

 improvements, and unpaid accounts of the pre- 

 vious year, amounting to $68,358 in favor of 

 Auburn, $225,748 of Clinton, and $163,870 of 

 Sing Sing. With these deductions, the real 

 excess of expenditures over earnings becomes 

 si. .1,060. The expense of maintaining each 

 convict is from $3 to $4 a week in excess of 

 ill-- income. The prisons are full, and a greater 

 capacity is needed. The six penitentiaries are 

 situated in Buffalo, Syracuse, Brooklyn, Roch- 

 ester, Albany and New York (Black well's Isl- 

 and). In the three first named, trades are 

 taught to the inmates, and evening schools are 

 lu Id. The State has no share in the manage- 

 ment of these institutions, which are nnder the 

 control of the counties where situated; but 

 State prisoners are confined in them. The 

 total number of prisoners in the penitentiaries 

 at the beginning of 1874 was 5,940. 



The excess of advances from the Treasury 

 on account of the State-prisons over receipts 

 from earnings, for a series of years, has been 

 as follows : 



1807 $366.875 



1868 612,547 



1869 695,774 



1870 481,304 



1871 $470,809 



1872 466,881 



1878 297,289 



1874 688,687 



The expense of permanent improvements 

 during the last fiscal year, the value of stock 

 on hand, and the amount due for sales and 

 convict-labor, September 30, 1874, were as fol- 

 lows : 



The statute requires real and personal estate 

 to be assessed for taxation " at the full and 

 trne value thereof," but it is maintained by 

 high authority that not more than one-third 

 in value of the property liable to taxation is 

 placed upon the assessment-rolls. The entire 

 valuation of taxable property has increased 

 from $1,500,999,877 in 1864 to $2,169,807,873 

 in 1874 ; and the State tax, including the 

 school tax, from $7,880,249 in 1864 to $15,- 

 727,482 in 1874. The valuation of 1874 in- 

 cluded $1,750,698,918 of real and $418,608,955 

 of personal estate. The rate of the State tax 

 for 1874 was 7J mills, viz. : schools, 1J ; gen- 

 eral purposes, !$; general purposes (defici- 

 ency), -^ ; bounty debt, 2 ; new Capitol, ; 

 asylums and reformatories, -fa ; canal floating 

 debt, -jV ; new work on canals and extra re- 

 pairs, | ; for payment of awards by canal ap- 

 praisers and commissioners, and certain certifi- 

 cates of indebtedness, -fa academies and union 

 schools, -jV Of the above 2 mills are for ordi- 

 nary expenditures. 



