464 



KANSAS. 



the Treasury, June 30, 1878, of $311,980.18; 

 which sum' is made up of several funds, as 

 follows : 



General revenue ....................... 68 



binkin- fund .......................... JMal 2 



InUTc-it fund ....................... 48,blO 4o 



Ftnnuent school fund ................ 30,214 97 



Annual school fund .................... 101,442 49 



rniversity fund ....................... *5S 00 



Military lund .......................... 9 ?ln 2? 



Kailroad-tax fund ...................... 2,7bO 67 



Airricultural College fund .............. '223 42 



Normal School fuud ................... 4,OS3jO 



Total .............................. $311,980 18 



The amount of taxes collected for the fiscal 

 year was $705,060. The rate of taxation, as 

 fixed by the Legislature in 1876, is 5 mills on 

 the dollar, which is less than in any year be- 

 fore excepting 1861. The large amount which 

 it yielded is due to the rapid growth of the 

 State in population and taxable property. 

 The personal property of the State, excluding 

 railroad property, is valued at $25,606,163; 

 railroad property, $15,525,023 ; real estate, 

 $97,567,615; total, $138,698,801 which is 

 taxed as follows: For general revenue fund, 

 $485,445.92; for sinking fund, $27,739.72; 

 for interest fund, $110,959 ; for school pur- 

 poses, $138,698.75 ; total for all purposes, 

 $762,843.39. It required the sum of $440,- 

 716.98 to pay the ordinary expenses of the 

 State for the last fiscal year ; $60,206.94 was 

 paid to support the insane at Ossawattomie, 

 $10,170.17 to support the blind, and $15,- 

 820.74 to maintain the deaf and dumb; and 

 $100,673.09 was expended for the peniten- 

 tiary. The earnings of the convicts for the 

 same time amounted to $49,432.63, which, if 

 deducted from the gross expenditures, will 

 show the net cost of maintaining the peniten- 

 tiary to be $51,240.46. With facilities for 

 utilizing all the convict labor, the penitentiary 

 will be almost self-sustaining. 



The total bonded debt of the State on June 

 30, 1878, was $1,181,975, of which amount 

 $607,925 is held by the permanent school 

 fund, $94,275 by the sinking fund, $9,800 by 

 the State University, and $1,600 by the State 

 Normal School. The remainder, being $468,- 

 375, is held by private individuals and cor- 

 porations. From this aggregate amount of 

 bonded debt may be deducted bonds of the 

 State, $94,275 ; United States bonds, $22,600; 

 cash in the Treasury June 30, 1878, $5,871.72, 

 all belonging to the sinking fund ; leaving the 

 real balance of the bonded debt only $1,059,- 



28.28. On January 1, 1877, $54,000 of the 

 bonded debt of the State matured and was 

 promptly paid. 



daily average from June 30, 1877, to the close 

 of the fiscal year, June 30, 1878, was 465 ; and 

 the number of prisoners confined at the latter 

 date was 500. There have been discharged 

 dunog the period covered by this report, by 



expiration of sentence State prisoners, 165; 

 United States prisoners, 28 ; by pardons 

 State prisoners, 43 ; United States prisoners, 

 6 ; by commutation of sentence State pris- 

 oners, 15. Five prisoners have been returned 

 to counties for new trials, eleven transferred 

 to the Asylum for the Insane, six have died, | 

 and two escaped, of whom one has been re- 

 captured and returned to the prison. The 

 aggregate earnings of this institution, accord- 

 ing to the estimates, embracing a period from j 

 July 1, 1879, to June 30, 1881, inclusive, will | 

 be $127,400 ; while the current expenses for 

 the same period are estimated at $203,365, i 

 leaving the amount of expenses over earnings j 

 $75,965. 



At the Asylum for the Blind forty-five ] 

 pupils were in attendance at the close of the ] 

 term ending June 7, 1878. The estimates for ! 

 the current expenses for the fiscal years end- 

 ing respectively June 80, 1880, and 1881, are 

 $13,413 and $13,903. This is exclusive of the 

 sum of $3,000, which the trustees and super- 

 intendent allege is required to erect and fur- 

 nish a hospital building. 



At the Institution for the Education of the 

 Deaf and Dumb the number of pupils enrolled 

 from November 30, 1876, to June 30, 1878, 

 was 109. No death has occurred in the insti- 

 tution during six years. 



In the asylums for the insane 360 persons 

 were under treatment during the biennial 

 period ending on June 30, 1878. At the asy- 

 lum located near Ossawattomie 59 have been 

 discharged, restored ; 20 improved ; 17 unim- 

 proved ; 3 escaped ; 1 was not insane ; 30 

 have died; remaining at the institution on 

 June 30, 1878, 230. At that date 164 insane 

 persons were excluded from the State asylum 

 for want of room. A new institution is about 

 completed near Topeka, at a cost of $108,999. 



The total number of school districts in the 

 State is 5,136, being an increase since last re- 

 port of 271. Number of school-houses in the 

 State, 4,520; increase since last report, 363. 

 Value of school property, $4,527.227 ; increase 

 since last report, $250,136. Whole number of 

 persons between the ages of five and twenty- 

 one years, 266,575 ; increase since last report, 

 33,701. Number of teachers employed, 6,359, 

 of whom 2,861 are males, and 3,498 % are fe- 

 males. The permanent school fund* at the 

 close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1878, amount- 

 ed to $1,449,223.87. On the night of October 

 26, 1878, the Normal School buildings with 

 all their contents were destroyed by fire. This 

 institution was located at Emporia, on twenty 

 acres of land donated by the citizens. The 

 State University is in a flourishing condition. 

 The Agricultural College is also making satis- 

 factory progress in all its departments. 



The State Board of Agriculture reports that 

 Kansas has sprung from the twenty-fourth in 

 rank among the States in the production of 

 wheat in 1866, to nearly the first in 1878, pro- 

 ducing as she did over 32,000,000 bushels; 



