558 



MICHIGAN. 



twenty-five to thirty members. The cottages 

 are the homes, over which preside cultivated 

 ladies, who care for the children as a mother 

 is supposed to, though, as a matter of fact, 

 much better than most of their own mothers 

 ever did. The school receives from the poor- 

 houses children between three and fourteen 

 years of age, who are healthy and capable of 

 receiving instruction. It was opened May 21, 

 1874, since which time 669 children have been 

 admitted, there being accommodations for 300. 

 The w^hole number of children in the school 

 on September 30, 1878, was 313. The current 

 expenses for 1877 were $30,938, and for 1878 

 $33,648. The per capita cost for each child 

 during the latter year was $81.67. The whole 

 number of children cared for during the year, 

 either in the institution or placed through its 

 agency with families, was 412. This institu- 

 tion is not a reform school ; children are not 

 ssnt there because found delinquent or crimi- 

 nal. Indigence and helplessness alone make a 

 child eligible. 



The Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo 

 has provided treatment during the past two 

 years for 1,133 patients, the daily average 

 being 645. The number of inmates Septem- 



ber 30, 1878, was 497. The total receipts 

 during the two years were $303,394, and the 

 disbursements $299,400. In July, 1878, the 

 Eastern Asylum for the Insane, near Pontiac, 

 was opened with accommodations for 400 lu- 

 natics. It was built at a cost of $448,401. Its 

 arrangements and equipments are such as to 

 furnish the most approved means and appli- 

 ances for the treatment of insane persons. 

 The land comprises 307 acres, and was given 

 by the citizens of Pontiac. On December 81, 

 1878, there were 326 patients in the institu- 

 tion. 



In the institution for educating the deaf and 

 dumb and the blind there were enrolled during 

 the year 257. In his message to the Legisla- 

 ture of 1879, the Governor says of this insti- 

 tution : "It comes before you with no defi- 

 ciency, but for the first time in its history with 

 an overplus, to be covered back into the Treas- 

 ury." The trustees recommend an appropria- 

 tion of $10,000 for constructing on the prem- 

 ises a separate building for the use of the 

 blind. 



The condition of the public schools is shown 

 in the following exhibit made by the Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction : 



The Agricultural College has become more 

 thoroughly identified with the farming inter- 

 ests of the State, and is growing in popular 

 favor. The whole number of students in at- 

 tendance during the past year was 239 ; the 

 number of graduates was 33. The managers 

 ask for an appropriation of $13,600 for the 

 construction of a new hall, with a view to the 

 admission of females and the co-education of 

 sexes at the college. The whole number of 

 students attending the State Normal School 

 was 648 in 1877, and 608 in 1878. The num- 

 ber graduated in both years was 184. The es- 

 timated current expenses for the payment of 

 eight professors and four teachers, with janitor, 

 for each of the years 1879 and 1880, are $18,- 

 795, and for incidental expenses $5,505. The 

 interest on the endowment fund is estimated 

 at $4,200, and the receipts from tuition and 

 for diplomas at $1,800, leaving an appropria- 

 tion of $18,300 for each of the coming two 

 years necessary to meet current expenses. The 

 amount asked is about the same that has here- 

 tofore been allowed. The last Legislature ap- 



propriated $30,000 for the construction of an 

 additional building. This has been completed 

 at a cost of $32,115. 



The total amount of appropriations made 

 by the Legislature in the last four years for the 

 various educational institutions are as follows: 



These amounts, added to the amounts re- 

 ceived for interest, make a total expenditure 

 for educational purposes by the State for the 

 last four years of $1,527,655.76. 



There are forty corporations owning or op- 

 erating railroads in Michigan. They represent 

 a railroad mileage of ,967 miles, of which 

 3,539 miles are within the State. During the 

 past five years there have been built and put 



