MASSACHUSETTS. 



529 



year next preceding, the number of cases was 

 444 more, though the aggregate of persons was 

 but 21 larger. The whole number of cases 

 treated within the year was 4,293, represent- 

 ing a total of 3,779 persons. 



There are 38 penal establishments of one 

 grade or another in the Commonwealth, viz. : 

 one State Prison, one Eeformatory Prison for 

 Women, one State Workhouse, fifteen Houses 

 of Correction, nineteen County Jails, and one 

 city House of Industry. The State Prison and 

 the State Workhouse are the only penal insti- 

 tutions with which the Board of Public Chari- 

 ties has any general official relations. These 

 two establishments began the official year with 

 an aggregate of 1,094 convict inmates, and 

 closed it with a corresponding aggregate of 978 ; 

 but, if the institution at Sherborn is also includ- 

 ed in the aggregation, it appears that there were 

 1,460 State prisoners at the end of the year, 

 against the 1,094 at its opening. The gross 

 expenditure on behalf of the three institutions 

 for the year was $214,910, while the aggregate 

 of receipts from the labor of prisoners was 

 $51,202. 



With regard to the pauper population of the 

 State, the statistics show that 223 of the 342 

 cities and towns of the State provided for their 

 poor in almshouses ; that 6,414 persons were 

 fully supported at these establishments, at an 

 average cost of $2.32 per week, a slight in- 

 crease in numbers with a small decrease in ex- 

 pense as compared with previous years; 2,632 

 paupers were supported outside of almshouses 

 at an average cost of $3.62 per week. The 

 whole number admitted to full support in the 

 year was 3,352, exactly 100 more than the 

 number admitted the preceding year, and the 

 total cost for full support was $809,381, against 

 $797,377 for the previous year, an increase 

 which must be charged to the Lunatic Hospital 

 account. With respect to sex, the persons sup- 

 ported were classed as 5,066 males and 3,913 

 females, four sevenths of the year's increase 

 being males and three sevenths being females. 

 This aggregate of 8,979 full-support cases in- 

 cludes 367 classed as idiots or imbeciles, 1,610 

 children under sixteen years of age, and 2,236 

 insane persons ; and nearly two thirds of the 

 year's increase is in these three classes. For 

 ten years previous to September, 1873, the 

 average number of persons partially supported 

 was a little below 25,000 annually. In the first 

 year after the close of this period there was 

 an advance of about 10,100 on this average ; in 

 the second year a still further advance of 

 21,500; in the third year another advance of 

 9,400 ; in the fourth year an additional advance 

 of 8,400. This is what the pauper returns tell 

 about the hard times, but the story of 1878 is 

 not so depressing. The average increase of 

 more than 12,000 cases annually since the fall 

 of 1873 not only wholly disappears, but there is 

 an actual decrease of about 1,900 cases as com- 

 pared with the year next preceding. The net 

 cost of pauperism to the towns and cities of 

 VOL. xvni. 34 A 



the State is $1,434,305. The institutions not 

 directly under the State control which were 

 aided by special grants by the Legislature of 

 1878 are: Massachusetts School for Idiotic and 

 Feeble-Minded Youth, $17,500; Massachusetts 

 Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, $8,000; 

 agencies for discharged prisoners, $5,500; 

 Massachusetts Infant Asylum, $8,000 ; and Dis- 

 abled Soldiers' Employment Bureau, $3,000. 

 Total appropriations, $42,000, or $6,500 less 

 than for the preceding year. The estimates on 

 account of the charitable department for the 

 year 1879 amount to $411,000; on account of 

 the reformatory and correctional institutions, 

 $415,450. 



For the educational and other institutions of 

 the State, see ;t Annual Cyclopaedia,' 1 1877. The 

 report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor for 

 the year 1878 presents the following result of 

 its investigation relative to the number of la- 

 borers in the State unemployed on June 1st: 



The report says : 



This is a national question ; nnd, from the state- 

 ment of the unemployed in Massachusetts, we are 

 able to make a most careful estimate for the whole 

 country, although, with the exception of New York 

 and Pennsylvania, Massachusetts has a greater pro- 

 portion of unemployed than any other State, because 

 her industries are so largely artificial. On the basis 

 given, the unemployed in the whole United States 

 reaches 570,000 a number too vast altogether. 



On August 8th a requisition was issued by 

 Governor Hampton of South Carolina, request- 

 ing of Governor Rice of Massachusetts the 

 rendition of one Hiram H.Kimpton, an alleged 

 fugitive from justice from the former State. 

 The statute of Massachusetts (chapter 177, sec- 

 tion 2) provides that " when such demand or 

 application is made the Attorney-General or 

 other prosecuting officer shall, if the Governor 

 requires it, forthwith investigate the grounds 

 thereof and report to the Governor all the ma- 

 terial facts which may come to his knowledge, 

 with an abstract of the evidence in the case, 

 and especially in the case of a person demand- 

 ed, whether he is held in custody or is under 

 recognizance to answer for any offense against 

 the laws of this State or of the United States, 

 or by force of any civil process, with an opin- 

 ion as to the legality or expediency of comply- 



