208 



CONNECTICUT. 



support, is shown by the following summary 

 statements taken from the official report for 

 1875, presented by the State Board of Educa- 

 tion to the General Assembly at its session of 

 1876: 



There are 1,650 public schools in the State, an in- 

 crease of eight during the year. N umber of children 

 between four and sixteen years of age, January, 1875, 

 134,976 ; increase during the year, 1,448 ; number of 

 iditi'erent scholars in public schools, 119,489 increase. 

 U91 ; number in private schools, 9,145, an increase ot 

 723. There are 12,970 between four and sixteen years 

 of age who are in no school a less number by 60 

 than that of the year before. The winter attendance 

 is, as usual, much the largest. Of teachers, there 

 are in winter 721 males and 1,910 females, and in 

 summer no fewer than 2,324 of the latter, to 272 of 

 the former. There are 264 graded schools. 



There are still a good many school-houses in poor 

 condition, which it is the effort of the board to im- 

 prove. 



The dividend per child from the school-fund last 

 year was $1.10, and nearly $150,000 was thus used, 

 besides $202,119 paid for schools from State tax. 

 Town taxes raised $668,167 ; district taxes, $463.775. 

 Income of town deposit-fund, $46,534.97; of local 

 funds, $15,614.79. Voluntary contributions for pub- 

 lic schools, $6,881.26 ; from other sources over $41,- 

 500 was received ; and the total amount received 

 from all sources was $1,592.858.11. 



The aggregate amount of money paid from 

 the Treasury during the year for the support 

 of State beneficiaries in the various charitable 

 institutions, not including the reformatory or 

 penal, was $173,521. This charitable aid was 

 afforded through the Governor's office in 1,136 

 cases during the year, and its recipients were 

 as follows: 630 insane, 386 sick soldiers, 61 

 deaf-mutes, 17 blind, and 42 imbeciles. 



The State Hospital for the Insane, at Middle- 

 town, had 616 patients under treatment during 

 the year, of whom there remained 460 at the 

 end of April, 1876. Of this number 302 are 

 town or State paupers, and 135 indigent that 

 is, able to pay one-half of the five dollars 

 charged for weekly support. 



This hospital is filled to its utmost capacity. 

 Besides the above-mentioned number of pa- 

 tients within it, 63 insane persons have been 

 kept under treatment by State aid in the Re- 

 treat at Hartford, and in hospitals of neighbor- 

 ing States ; there were probably 50 applicants 

 for admission to the Middletown hospital, who 

 were not provided for in other hospitals. 



In the State -Reform School, at Meriden, 

 there were, during the year, 466 boys for cor- 

 rection and instruction, of whom 345 were re- 

 maining in the institution on the 1st of April ; 

 a larger number than ever before. In conse- 

 quence of the unfavorable condition of busi- 

 ness prevailing, the receipts from labor-con- 

 tracts last year were less than before, and not 

 quite sufficient to cover the expenses of the 

 institution. 



In the Industrial School for Girls, the labor 

 of its inmates has made a net earning in the 

 past year. Private donations have also been 

 made to it during that period. 



In the State penitentiary there were at the 



end of April, 1876, 252 convicts in confine- 

 ment, being 40 more than the cells of the 

 prison can receive. 



The contract price for convicts' labor hav- 

 ing been diminished by about one-third on ac- 

 count of the commercial depression, the earn- 

 ings for the last year were proportionately 

 less. The expenditures of the prison during 

 the twelve months exceeded its receipts by 

 $2,874.87. 



Among the first transactions of this session 

 was the election of a United States Senator in 

 the place of the late Orris S. Ferry, of Nor- 

 walk. In accordance with a concurrent res- 

 olution previously adopted, the two Houses 

 separately balloted on May 16, 1876, the can- 

 didates voted for in both Houses being Henry 

 B. Harrison, Republican, James E. English and 

 William H. Barnum, Democrats ; with the ad- 

 dition, in the Lower House, of Charles R. Inger- 

 soll, also a Democrat. The results were as 

 follows: In the Senate, the whole number of 

 votes being 21 Barnum, 17; English,!; Har- 

 rison, 3. In the House of Representatives, the 

 whole number of votes being 246 Barnum, 

 151 ; Harrison, 81 ; English, 5 ; Ingersoll, 2. 

 The presiding officer in each House declared 

 William H. Barnum elected. On the next day, 

 May 17th, the members of the two Houses met 

 in joint convention to finish the work of the 

 United States Senator's election, when, the re- 

 sults of each House's vote on the previous day 

 having been added together, the joint vote 

 stood as follows: 



"William H. Barnum, Democrat 168 



Henry B. Harrison-Kepublican 84 



James E. English, Democrat 6 



Charles K. Ingersoll, Democrat 2 



260 



There were seven absentees. The president 

 announced the result of the concurrent votes, 

 and formally declared William II. Barnum duly 

 elected United States Senator for the unexpired 

 term of the late Orris S. Ferry, ending March 

 4, 1879. 



The General Assembly closed its session on 

 June 28th. 



The May session of 1876 was the shortest 

 ever held in Connecticut since 1860. It was 

 also regarded as an economical one, and the 

 new enactments passed in it were less nu- 

 merous than usual. Among its acts were six 

 amendments to the State constitution passed 

 in 1875, and continued to the present session. 

 Having been approved by the requisite two- 

 thirds of each House, they were submitted to 

 the people's vote at the election of October 2, 

 1876, for their adoption or rejection. The 

 amendments were as follows : 



1. That any new town, hereafter incorporated, 

 shall not be entitled to a representative in the Gei - 

 eral Assembly "unless it has at least 2,500 inhabi- 

 tants, and unless the town from which the major 

 part of its territory is taken has also at least 2,500 

 inhabitants," etc. 



2. The " provisions of section 2, Article IV. of 



