MICHIGAN. 



557 



these classes, as nearly as can be ascertained, 

 is 2,500 ; thus leaving an aggregate of 54,565 

 persons who are for a greater or less part of 

 the time maintained by the State. The aver- 

 age number maintained during the year in the 

 several institutions named is about 5,500. The 

 total cost of this maintenance, assuming that 

 the State Prison and House of Correction are 

 self-supporting, and leaving their prisoners out 

 of account, was for 1878, to September 30th, 

 as follows : 



For paupers, exclusive of the value 

 of the labor in the poorhouges. .. $203,248 66 



For temporary relief 331,471 81 



For transportation of paupers to 

 and from poorhouses 4,603 77 



For transportation of paupers to 

 their friends 12,193 40 



Expenditure in behalf of the in- 

 sane 125,679 43 



$677,197 12 



Total cost of pupils in Asylum for 

 Deaf, Dumb, and Blind $42,000 00 



Cost of maintaining boys at the Ee- 

 form School 27,000 00 



Cost of maintaining children at the 

 State Public School 37,000 00 



Cost of maintaining 34 soldiers at 

 60 cts. per day each, 3,453 days. . 2,074 80 



103,07480 



Grand total of all expenditures, exclusive of ex- 

 penditures for grounds, buildings, and repairs, 

 and of interest on the cost of property in use 

 for the several purposes $785,271 92 



Nearly two thirds of the whole sum, or. 

 $551,517.66, is spent, as is seen by comparison 

 of the figures, on the poor in the almshouses, 

 and for outside relief. 



The State Prison continues to be overcrowd- 

 ed. The number of convicts on September 30, 

 1878, was 804, being 156 more than the estab- 

 lishment has cells to accommodate. The daily 

 average for the year was 808. The earnings 

 for the past two years were $204,920, and the 

 ordinary expenses $200,217, which shows a 

 balance for the whole period to the credit of 

 the prison of $4,703. During the past year 

 the disbursements have exceeded the earnings 

 in the sum of $832. This is largely due to the 

 general depression in business, which has great- 

 ly lessened the demand for convict labor, and 

 made it impossible to contract for the work of 

 the prisoners at as favorable rates as formerly. 

 The whole number of convicts in the prisons 

 of the State on September 30th was 1,519, of 

 whom 134 were females. 



The State House of Correction at Ionia was 

 opened for the reception of inmates on August 

 15, 1877. The entire building is complete, with 

 the exception of one wing of cells, and the in- 

 closing wall constructed. The total cost of 

 construction thus far is $256,029. The whole 

 number of prisoners up to September 30, 1878, 

 was 484, of whom 131 had been transferred 

 from the State Prison at Jackson and 353 re- 

 ceived by sentence of court. The whole num- 

 ber of prisoners in the institution on September 

 30th was 233. The cost of maintaining the in- 

 stitution from its opening to that date was 

 $58,443, and the earnings were $5,892, leaving 

 an excess of expenditures of $52,551. Much of 



the work on the buildings in process of con- 

 struction during the past year, as well as a 

 large amount of grading on the prison grounds, 

 has been done by the prisoners. No favorable 

 opportunity for contracting the labor of the 

 men has offered until recently, when an ar- 

 rangement was made for employing from 100 

 to 200 of them on permanent paying work from 

 January 1, 1879. 



The Reform School had in its charge on Sep- 

 tember 30, 1878, 327 boys, being an increase 

 of 65 over the number of the preceding year, 

 and 85 over that of 1876. Although bars and 

 bolts have been removed, the escapes have 

 been few. The boys have been organized into 

 a military company, and furnished by the State 

 with arms and accouterments. They drill reg- 

 nlarly. The Board of Control estimate the or- 

 dinary expenses for the coming two years at 

 $38,150 per year. The subject of a reformato- 

 ry for girls, to be placed exclusively under the 

 direction and control of women, has engaged 

 the public attention. In his message to the 

 Legislature of 1879, the Governor says: "If 

 you shall be satisfied that the number of disso- 

 lute girls in the State of a criminal tendency 

 is, or is likely to be, sufficient to make such an 

 institution a necessity, then steps toward the 

 undertaking would seem wise." 



The State Public School is a charity peculiar 

 to Michigan, there being no institution just 

 like it in any other State. It aims to prevent 

 pauperism and crime by removing children 

 from the corrupting and contaminating asso- 

 ciations of the poorhouse, and placing them 

 where they may be prepared for good homes 

 and useful lives. It is situated one mile north 

 of Coldwater, which is a city on the Lake 

 Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, about 

 156 miles east of Chicago, 86 miles west of 

 Toledo, and 115 miles southwest of Detroit. 

 The buildings consist of the administration 

 building, with the ground plan in the shape of 

 a cross, having a frontage of 198 feet by a 

 depth of 175 feet, in the central part, around 

 which are grouped eleven others, one of which 

 is used for a boiler-house and laundry, one for 

 a hospital, and the other nine for cottages. 

 All of these are warmed with steam, and 

 lighted with gas brought from the city. They 

 are constructed of brick, and have not only a 

 solid, but cheerful and even elegant appear- 

 ance. The latest improvements in steam-heat- 

 ing, cooking, laundry, bathing, and ventilating 

 apparatus have been introduced. The site is a 

 very commanding one, about twenty feet above 

 that of the city, having a charming prospect 

 in every direction. There is a small farm of 

 forty-four acres connected with it, on which 

 is a bearing orchard of 300 apple-trees. The 

 total cost of the whole outfit is about $177,000. 

 The system is the family and congregate com- 

 bined. The children work, eat, and school 

 together in the main building, but in all other 

 respects live as families, except that the fami- 

 lies are some'what larger, numbering from 



