656 



MICHIGAN. 



Government of Mexico will have the satisfac- 

 tion of having done all it could to avert future 

 troubles and complications, having gone as far 

 as the honor and rights of the nation will per- 

 mit." 



MICHIGAN. The Treasury is reported to 

 he in a satisfactory condition. The balance of 

 cash on hand September 30, 1877, was $609,- 

 771.23 ; cash receipts for the year, $2,360,914.- 

 44; cash payments for the year, $2.570,345.32 ; 

 balance, September 30, 1878, $400,340.45. No 

 part of this balance belongs to the general 

 fund, which has been overdrawn in the sum 

 of $173,011. 



The receipts into and disbursements from 

 the State Treasury during the past four years 

 have been as follows : 



RECEIPTS. 



1875 $2,208,929 55 



1876 1,744,406 29 



1877 1,833,82477 



1878 2,360,91444 



Total $8,148,075 05 



DISBURSEMENTS. 



1875 $2.050.097 37 



1876.... .....' 1,909.50749 



1877 2,288,058 84 



1878 2,570,345 32 



Total $8,818,009 02 



Balance in Treasury September 80, 1874 $1.070.274 82 



Keceipts for four years 8,148,075 05 



$9,218,849 87 

 Payments for four years 8,818,009 02 



Balance, September 80, 1878 $400,340 35 



The total receipts in 1878 for specific taxes 

 were $635,220.51. " Of this amount," says 

 the State Treasurer, " $20,566.30 was received 

 for mining taxes from the Upper Peninsula ; 

 the remainder, $614,654.21, is an amount suffi- 

 cient to pay the interest on the trust funds and 

 on the bonded debt of the State, leaving $330,- 

 775.50 to be credited to the sinking fund. In 

 this connection, I would say that it may be 

 safely calculated that the surplus specific taxes 

 paid by railroads, insurance, telegraph, car, and 

 manufacturing companies, after providing for 

 the payment of the interest on the trust funds 

 and the bonded debt, will in two years be suf- 

 ficient to extinguish the entire bonded debt of 

 the State. This large surplus will then, under 

 section 1, article 14, of the Constitution, be 

 added to the primary -school interest fund. 

 The amount paid to the counties from this 

 fund in 1878 was $234,499.57, to which, after 

 the payment of the State debt is provided for, 

 add the surplus of specific taxes, and we will 

 have a grand total of over half a million of 

 dollars to be distributed annually for the bene- 

 fit of the common schools of our State.'' The 

 bonded debt of the State on September 30, 

 1878, was $959,150, there having been a reduc- 

 tion during the previous two years of $433,000. 

 The indebtedness of the State to the trust 

 funds on September 30, 1876, was $3,079,346, 

 and on September 30, 1878, $3,324,777. The 

 latter amount was made up as follows: 



Primary-school fund $2.869,114 15 



Five per ceut. primary-school fund 815,886 18 



University fund 452.817 56 



Agricultural College fund 130 JS4 89 



Normal School fund 63,421 82 



Kailroad and other deposits 3,808 72 



Total $3,324,777 



The aggregate value of all the real and per- 

 sonal property of the State, as returned by the 

 assessors, in 1876, was as follows : 



Keal estate $308.753.086 



Personal property 66,127,992 



Total $374,881,028 



"It is alleged," says Governor Croswell, 

 "and I have no doubt with truth, that this 

 valuation does not show much more than one 

 third of the real worth of the property as- 

 sessed. I have no information of the aggre- 

 gate amount of the assessments for 1877 and 

 1878, but have reason to believe that they are 

 made upon the same basis. A clause in our 

 State Constitution, which seems to me man- 

 datory, declares that all assessments upon 

 property shall be at its cash value." 



The number of acres of land held by the State 

 September 30, 1878, was 2,737,938". During 

 the two years preceding there were sold 302,- 

 290 acres. The value of State tax lands, on 

 which redemption had expired and the State 

 acquired a title, remaining unsold at the close 

 of the sale in October, 1878, was $2,289,596. 

 The amount unsold at the close of the sale in 



1877 was $1,856,243; showing an increase in 



1878 of $433,352. As the State has acquired 

 a large amount (which is constantly increasing) 

 of lands of this character, it is considered high- 

 ly important that some provision should be 

 made for their disposition. 



The new Capitol at Lansing was dedicated 

 January 1, 1879. The corner-stone was laid 

 October 2, 1873. The appropriations have ag- 

 gregated $1,390,000, and the building has been 

 completed within this sum. 



According to the most complete returns 

 available, the number of persons receiving aid 

 from or wholly supported by the State and 

 counties for the year ending September 30, 

 1878, was as follows : 



In county poorhouses 7,078 



Permanent paupers outside 1,225 



Temporarily relieved outside 84,701 



State Public School 412 



Asylums for insane 1,200 



Institution for mutes and blind 287 



Harper Hospital, Detroit 50 



Detroit House of Correction 2,067 



State Prison, Jackson 1,156 



Reform School 423 



County jails 7,201 



City and village lock-ups 1,160 



Total 56,965 



There is a deduction from this aggregate to 

 be made for prisoners in the jails to the extent 

 to which they may have been duplicated in the 

 returns, when committed to the larger prisons; 

 and also, for a portion of the patients at Kala- 

 mazoo and Pontiac, who are not in receipt of 

 aid from the State. The whole number of 





