MINNESOTA. 



681 



000 trees have been planted in groves, and a 

 larui- number by waysides and about dwelling. 

 The total valuation of taxable property in 

 the Mate, as determined by the Board of 

 Equalization, for the year 1876, was $218,850,- 

 i decrease of $4,999 from that of 1875. 

 Tin- State tax is two mills on the dollar, and 

 the average rate of taxation throughout tho 

 State for all purposes ia If per cent. The 

 receipts of the State Treasury, for the year 

 ending November 80th. were $1,151, 649.79, in- 

 cluding a balance of $180,245.29 on band at 

 the beginning of the year. The disbursements 

 amounted to $1,035,385.50, leaving an unex- 

 pended balance of $116,264.29. A suit brought 

 against the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 

 Railroad Company, to determine the amount 

 due the State in lieu of taxes, resulted in the 

 recovery of about $50,000. The total amount 

 paid by the railroads of the State in taxes on 

 their gross earnings, in 1875, is $131,559. 

 There are now 1,984 miles of railroad in opera- 

 tion in the State. The only addition made this 

 year was about 30 miles of the Worthington & 

 Sioux Falls road, from Worthington to Luverne. 

 The following table presents the important 

 railroad statistics of the year: 



The total operating expenses of these roads 

 during the year were $4,182,140, leaving the 

 earnings over operating expenses $1,798,424. 



The number of insurance companies doing 

 business in the State is 86 ; total assets, $94,- 

 028,234.41; liabilities, $68,791,025.79. Only 

 two of these companies were organized in the 

 State. The total amount paid by citizens of 

 the State for insurance, in 1875, was $1,027,- 

 699.67; losses paid in the State for the same 

 year, $422,362.12. 



The penal and charitable institutions of the 

 State have all been built up in the last ten 



ars. The amount expended for buildings is 



follows : 



State-prison $202,227 86 



Insane Asylum 476,969 00 



Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylum 142.500 00 



State University 109,860 00 



Reform School 75,200 00 



Normal schools , 228,981 08 



Total $1,285,178 88 



The expense of supporting the State-prison 

 during the past year was $39,406.78, while it* 

 earnings amounted to $18,158.87, leaving $21,- 

 247.91 as the net COM! to the State. There 

 were 166 inmates at the end of the year, and 

 the average number was 158f. 



The number of patients in the Insane Asylum 

 at the beginning of the year was 484; admit- 

 ted during the year, 853; discharged, 157; 

 number remaining at the end of the year, 530. 



The number of pupils at the Institution for 

 the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, during the year, was 

 125, of whom 108 were in the deaf and dumb 

 and 22 in the blind department. The amount 

 asked for the support of the institution in 1877 

 is $28,000. and an appropriation of $40,000 is 

 called for to complete the buildings. 



The Reform School had 139 inmates at the 

 close of the year. 



An Inebriate Asylum has been organized, and 

 a farm of 160 acres purchased at Rochester for 

 the sum of $9,000, on which buildings are to 

 be speedily erected. 



The Home for Soldiers' Orphans contained 

 59 inmates at the end of the year. 



The whole number of school-districts in the 

 State is 8,581 ; number of school-houses, 3,119 ; 

 value of school-houses, $2,763,464 ; number of 

 scholars enrolled, 151,866. The permanent 

 school-fund of the State is $3,390,000, and 

 there are school-lands enough, if sold at prices 

 equal to those heretofore obtained, to swell it 

 to $26,000,000. The State has three normal 

 schools : one at Winona, with an average at- 

 tendance during the year of 302 ; one at Man- 

 kato, with an attendance of 140 ; and one at St. 

 Cloud, with 165. The State University is in a 

 flourishing condition, and had about 300 stu- 

 dents during the year. 



The eighteenth annual session of the Legis- 

 lature began on the 4th of January, and came 

 to a close on the 6th of March. There were 

 404 acts passed, a large portion of which re- 

 lated to the powers and privileges of counties, 

 towns, and cities, or were in amendment of 

 existing statutes. Very few acts were of any 

 general interest or importance. Three amend- 

 ments of the constitution were proposed. One 

 of these changed Article IV., section 11, so as 

 to give the Governor the power to veto sepa- 

 rate items in appropriation bills without with- 

 holding his approval from the rest. Another 

 modified Article VI., section 8, so as to au- 

 thorize the Governor to assign one or more 

 judges of district courts to act on the supreme 

 bench when all or a majority of the judges of 

 the Supreme Court shall from any cause be 

 disqualified from sitting in any case. The third 

 affected Article X., section 6, and declared that 

 each stockholder in a corporation should be 

 " liable only for all unpaid installments on stock 

 owned by him, or transferred for the purpose 

 of defrauding creditors." An act was passed 

 conferring upon women twenty-one years of 

 age and upward, who have resided in the 

 United States one year, and in the State four 



