OKEOOF, 



671 



the Governor, Secretary of State, and Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction. There are 

 comity superintendent! of common school-., 



elected I iv tin- peoplu for two years, and lmar.1-. 

 it ili-trict olheors. The following statistics, 

 incomplete, owing to the failure of some dis- 

 tricts to report wholly or in part, are from the 

 report of the Superintendent of Publio Instruc- 

 tion for 187S-'74: 



Number of dttrlcts ' i 



Per*ous of school ago, four to twenty years 



(21,519 raftlei and 19,879 female*) IDJHt 



Pupils enrolled in public schools (11,188 



males and 9,M8 females) _.. .--n 



Arerage attendance 15,169 



Persons of school age attcndiug private 



schools -" H 



Persons of school age attending no school. .. 10,711 

 Number of public cchoolu (.618 of ordinary 



and 19 of advanced ^radc) 630 



Number of teachers employed during the 



year 860 



Largest number employed at one time Mil 



Average monthly salaries of teachers, males. . $46 92 



females. $34 46 



Average length of public schools 1.62 quarter. 



Number of UUtricta having six mouths' school 



or more 288 



Number of private schools (48 primary, 21 



academic, and 6 collegiate) 70 



Number of public pcbooNhouses 666 



Value of school property $888,764 84 



The schools of advanced grade include those 

 in which most of the pupils pursue the higher 

 branches ; in many of those of ordinary grade, 

 probably 100, some of the higher English 

 branches are taught. The total receipts for 

 public-school purposes during the year amount- 

 ed to $204,760.13, viz. : from district tax, $47,- 

 243.04 ; from State apportionment, $31,589.- 

 37; from county apportionment, $87,573.39; 

 from rate-bills and subscriptions, $34,671.45 ; 

 from other sources, $3,682.61. The expendi- 

 tures were $215,107.12, of which $157,102.90 

 was for teachers' wages, $46,608.96 for erec- 

 tion of school-houses, and $11,396.26 for in- 

 cidental expenses. The " irreducible school- 

 fund," the income of which is apportioned 

 among the different districts, amounted to about 

 $50,000. Among the principal and most urgent 

 needs of the school system of Oregon are the 

 following : 



1. A sufficient increase of school-funds to 

 enable every district in the State to maintain 

 a free school for six months or longer during 

 each year. 



2. Some means by which a larger and more 

 regular attendance upon public schools may be 

 secured. 



8. Better facilities for training teachers and 

 fitting them for their calling. 



The State has six colleges and universities, 

 viz. : Tualatin College, at Forest Grove ; Wil- 

 lamette University, at Salem; McMinnville 

 College, at McMinnville ; Christian College, at 

 Monmouth ; Philomath College, at Philomath ; 

 and Corvallis College, at Corvallis. The State 

 Agricultural College, endowed with the con- 

 gressional land-grant of 90,000 acres, was or- 

 ganized as a department of Corvallis College 

 in 1872. It has a farm connected with it, and 

 receives an annual grant of $5,000 from the 



State. Grounds have been (elected and build- 

 in/-, erected r-r tb Unfa nftj of . p B, i ; . ;n- 



no City, but the institution ha* u< 

 been opened. 



The penitentiary is at Portland, where anew 

 building of brick has been recently er.ct.-.J. 

 The convicts are employed chiefly in brick - 

 milking, but also on the farm, in the construc- 

 tion of public buildings, and in various manu- 

 factures. The number of convict* September 

 1, 1874, was 113. The expenditures on ac- 

 count of the penitentiary, for the two years 

 preceding that date, amounted to $80,127 ; de- 

 ducting supplies on hand, permanent improve- 

 ments, etc., the actnal expenditures are stated 

 at $69,822. The earnings of the prison for the 

 same period are reported ,nt $76,026, showing 

 an excess of earnings over expenditures of 

 $6,204. 



The political campaign opened toward the 

 latter part of March by the meeting of the 

 Democratic State Convention in Albany. The 

 session lasted two days. The nominations 

 embraced L. F. Grover for Governor, 

 Chadwick for Secretary of State, A. H. Brown 

 for Treasurer, M. V. Brown for State Printer, 

 Rev. E. J. Dawne for Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, and T. A. La Dow for Congress. 

 The platform adopted was as follows : 



1. We declare our unfaltering devotion to the Con- 

 stitution of the United States and to the Union of 

 the States thereby established, and we affirm that 

 the people of the several States hare the sole and ex- 

 clusive right of governing themselves as free, sov- 

 ereign ana independent States, subject only to the 

 limitation of the Constitution, and that all powers 

 not therein expressly granted to the National Gov- 

 ernment are reserved to the States respectively, and 

 we deny the right of the Federal Government, 

 through the treaty power, to permanently domicile 

 Mongolians within any State without the consent of 

 the Legislature thereof. 



2. We affirm that the greatest danger with which 

 we are now threatened is the corruption and extrav- 

 agance which exist in high official places, and we do 

 declare as the cardinal principle of our future political 

 action, that retrenchment, economy, and reform, are 

 imperatively demanded in all the governments of the 

 people, Federal as well as State and municipal, and 

 we here proclaim ourselves the uncompromising foes 

 of the salary-grab law, ring politicians, and land-mo- 

 nopolists, whoever they may be and wherever they 

 may be found, whether they are in office or out ; and 

 we appeal to honest men everywhere, without re- 

 gard to past political affiliations, to join us in brand- 

 ing, as they deserve, these corrupt leeches on the 

 body politic, and assist us to purge official stations 

 of their unwholesome and baneful presence. 



8. The present 'Federal Administration, by its ut- 

 ter inability to comprehend the dignity or responsi- 

 bilities of the duties with which it is charged, by its 

 devotion to personal and partisan interests, by its 

 weak and inconsistent management of the national 

 finances, hy its unwarrantable interference with the 

 local self-government of the people, by its support 

 of the corrupt governments which it has imposed by 

 its power upon several States of the Union, by its 

 complicity with corrupt practices and scandals in 

 various quarters, and oy its appointment of noto- 

 riously incompetent men'to high official position, has 

 justly brought upon itself the condemnation of the 

 American people. 



4. That the persistent interference by Federal offi- 



