WEST VIRGINIA. 



757 



were transferred from Charleston to Wheeling, 

 and located in suitable buildings. 



After a recess of several months' duration, 

 the members of the legislative body met for 

 the first time at Wheeling on the 10th of No- 

 vember, 1875, when, in accordance with the 

 terms of a joint resolution adopted on the 24th 

 of the previous February, each of the two 

 Houses was called to order by its presiding 

 officer, and the session reopened. 



The financial condition of the State at the 

 close of the fiscal year ending September 30, 

 1875, was as follows : Balance in the Treasury 

 on September 30, 1874, $282,364.12 ; receipts 

 from all sources during the year, $547,426.26 ; 

 making a total of available money on hand for 

 the year of $829,790.38. 



The expenditures for all purposes during the 

 same year amounted to $576,171.97; leaving 

 a balance in the Treasury on October 1, 1875, 

 of $253,618.41. 



The amount of this balance is made up of 

 the following distinct funds : State fund, $14,- 

 458.68; school-fund, $31,973.34; and general 

 school-fund, $207,188.39. 



The lands and buildings of West Virginia 

 have been assessed anew by the revaluation 

 commissioners in 1875. From the commis- 

 sioners' table, exhibiting the increase or de- 

 crease in the number of acres for the several 

 counties in detail, it appears that the aggregate 

 number of acres in the State is 24,178,695, or 

 453,527 acres less than in the former assess- 

 ment ; while the aggregate amount of the re- 

 valued lands and buildings in 1875 is set down 

 at $110,922,030.88, or $11,233,827.27 more than 

 in 1874, when their total value was reckoned 

 at $99,688,203.61. 



The working of the free-school system in 

 the State seems to continue the same. A bill 

 proposing amendments to the school law was 

 introduced and discussed by the Legislature at 

 the previous session, and was still under con- 

 sideration. 



The State University at Morgantown appears 

 to be in a satisfactory condition, the number 

 of students who attend to the several branches 

 of 'instruction given in it being about the same 

 as before. 



The expenditures of the university during 

 the last year amounted to $29,316. 89 ; of which 

 nearly $9,000 were applied to construction and 

 repairs. Its estimated expenses for the pres- 

 ent year are set' down by the regents at $39,- 

 274.14 ; and a corresponding appropriation is 

 asked. 



The normal schools are in very successful 

 operation. 



In the State Hospital for the Insane, on 

 September 30, 1875, there were 349 patients. 

 Their highest number during the year was 357 ; 

 the lowest, 345. The number of insane per- 

 sons discharged cured, within the same period, 

 was eighteen. 



The average cost of maintaining each patient 

 through the whole year, including all expenses 



of salaries, medicines, and clothing, amounted 

 to $125.18. 



The total expenditures of the hospital for 

 the year were $69,310.53 ; of which sum $17,- 

 772.04 was for construction, $4,989.15 for re- 

 pairs, $2,919.56 for transportation of patients, 

 and $43,629.78 for current expenses. 



Of the insane persons previously detained in 

 the jails for want of room within the institu- 

 tion, all the whites have been removed to the 

 section of the hospital-building which has 

 lately been completed and furnished for their 

 reception. 



There are about a dozen colored insane still 

 remaining in the jails. For their accommoda- 

 tion and treatment, the directors of the hos- 

 pital urge the 1 erection of a substantial brick 

 building. 



The Institution for the Deaf-Mutes and the 

 Blind at Komney has recently been thoroughly 

 reorganized, and is at present in a most satis- 

 factory condition in all its departments. The 

 aggregate number of pupils of both classes in 

 attendance at the time of the last session of the 

 Legislature was 72 ; of whom 53 were deaf- 

 mutes, and 19 blind. By the beginning of No- 

 vember, 1875, they numbered 8063 and 17 

 respectively and 26 more had been already 

 admitted, though not yet within the institu- 

 tion ; making a total of 106. For the recep- 

 tion of these 26 new pupils an addition had 

 lately been made to the building of the asylum, 

 which is now capacious enough to accommo- 

 date 120 pupils. Its workshops having be- 

 come inadequate to its requirements, the Board 

 of Regents desire a suitable appropriation for 

 their erection. 



The expenditures of this institution, during 

 the year last past, amounted to $36,898.38 ; of 

 which $9,818.98 were for construction. The 

 outlay on this account for the present year, to 

 finish the new part of the building, and to erect 

 the additional workshops, is set down by the 

 Board of Regents at $11,000. 



Of the various and useful instruction im- 

 parted to the inmates of this institution, and 

 of the proficiency which they make in it, a 

 noteworthy specimen was publicly exhibited 

 on December 10, 1875, at Wheeling, whither 

 the principal of the asylum had brought about 

 twenty pupils from the two classes for that 

 purpose. The Legislature was formally invited 

 by the principal to be present at the entertain- 

 ment. Questions and problems in algebra and 

 arithmetic were satisfactorily solved and an- 

 swered without the help of written figures. 

 The exercises in Latin and geometry were 

 omitted for want of time. The deaf-mutes, 

 among other things, recited the Lord's Prayer 

 in the sign-language, and wrote on the black- 

 board. The site of any city in Europe was 

 readily found by the blind on embossed maps. 

 One of them, a boy, drew the map of West 

 Virginia on a large slate, and divided it into 

 54 counties. They entertained the audience 

 also with vocal and instrumental music well 



