WISCONSIN. 



829 



The entire State tax, direct and indirect, 

 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1878, 

 represented by the receipts into the general 

 fund, amounts to $1,128,837.81, and if levied 

 upon the taxable property of the State would 

 amount to I'l mill upon the dollar, or about one 

 eighth of the total tax paid by the people. The 

 amount is $79,000 less than was received the 

 year before, which, with the large deficiency 

 existing in the general fund January 1, 1878, 

 and the expenses of the publication of the Re- 

 vised Statutes, accounts in part for the increase 

 in the State tax now being collected. It is ex- 

 pected that this tax will pay all the expenditures 

 of the year 1879, and in addition very mate- 

 rially reduce, if it does not entirely extinguish', 

 the deficiency in the general fund which has 

 appeared on each first day of January for sev- 

 eral years last past. 



The whole number in attendance at the In- 

 dustrial School for Boys at Waukesha during 

 the year was 527, the average attendance being 

 380, and the number present at the close of the 

 year 419. The expenditures for the year 

 amounted to $48,721. The city of Milwaukee 

 has conveyed to the State a most eligible site 

 of nearly nine acres for the Industrial School 

 for Girls, and a building has been erected. 

 The number of convicts confined in the State 

 Prison September 30, 1878, was 346, the aver- 

 age number for the year being 337. The re- 

 ceipts from all sources were $76,743, and the 

 disbursements $65,088. The current earnings 

 of the prisoners are about two thirds of the 

 current expenses. During the year 727 pa- 

 tients were cared for at the Northern Hospital 

 for the Insane, at a cost of $146,819, includ- 

 ing $32,707 expended for repairs and improve- 

 ments. The average number of patients was 

 543, and the number under treatment at the 

 close of the year 559. The Wisconsin State 

 Hospital for the Insane had a total of 530 

 patients during the year, the average having 

 been 380, and the number under treatment at 

 the close of the year 393. The expenditures 

 amounted to $114,444, inclusive of $18,105 for 

 repairs and improvements. Milwaukee Coun- 

 ty has availed itself of the provisions of the law 

 of 1878 (chapter 298), and has under contract 

 an asylum designed to accommodate 250 pa- 

 tients. When this is completed, it is expected 

 that the pressure upon the State hospitals will 

 be so removed that most if not all of the in- 

 sane in the State may be comfortably provided 

 for. The expenditures by the Institution for 

 the Education of the Blind amounted during 



the year to $19,951, including $2,582 for build- 

 ing purposes. The average number of pupils 

 in attendance was 77, and the total during the 

 year 90. At the Wisconsin Institute for the 

 Education of the Deaf and Dumb 180 pupils 

 were enrolled, and the average number in at- 

 tendance was 140. The expenditures were 

 $29,522. In April various charges of immoral 

 and corrupt conduct on the part of trustees and 

 teachers connected with this institution were 

 brought to the attention of the Governor, who 

 accordingly ordered an investigation to be 

 made. The gravest of the charges, including 

 all of those against the trustees, were proved 

 to have been unfounded. 



From the report of the Railroad Commis- 

 sioner it appears that 92 miles of new railroad 

 were built during 1878, making the total num- 

 ber of miles now in -operation 2,834, including 

 94 miles of narrow gauge. The whole num- 

 ber of passengers carried was 2,429,925, an in- 

 crease of 476,697 over last year. The tons of 

 freight carried were 3,448,490, an increase of 

 414,199 over last year. Of the whole number 

 of passengers carried, only two were killed 

 and two injured. u The total absence of all 

 serious complaints against railroads," says 

 Governor Smith, "shows most conclusively 

 that our present law is well suited to the pur- 

 poses for which it was enacted, and. under the 

 watchful supervision of the Commissioner, is 

 being most faithfully obeyed." The amount 

 of aid to railroads, in bonds or otherwise, by 

 towns, villages, cities, and counties, outstand- 

 ing January 1, 1878, was $4,723,180. On this 

 point the Commissioner says: " I believe that 

 in about every instance where county aid has 

 been voted, the result has been fruitful of liti- 

 gation, overburdensome to the people, un- 

 equal in its results, and has created a feeling of 

 dissatisfaction and unrest that checks enter- 

 prise and is positively vicious in all of its ef- 

 fects. In my judgment, all laws authorizing 

 counties to aid railroad enterprises ought to be 

 repealed." With reference to rates established 

 by law, that certain companies shall not de- 

 mand a greater compensation than was pre- 

 scribed by their published tariff rates in force 

 June 15, 1872, the Commissioner says : 



"While these companies may lawfully charge the 

 rates that were prescribed by those tariffs, reduc- 

 tions have been made in them from time to time ; 

 and a new classification and revised tariff recently 

 promulgated by the Chicago. Milwaukee and St. 

 Paul Company, and filed in this office just as these 

 pages are going to press (January 20, 1879), shows 

 very material reductions in the rates, as they had 

 previously existed, for transporting of gram and 

 flour, cattle, and hogs. The reduction on grain and 

 flour in the eastern part of the State is but slight, 

 but it is from $2 to $4 per car from Madison ana 

 Portage, and all points on the line west of those 

 places. The rate for live stock has been reduced |2 

 per car from the same points, and $5 per car at Spar- 

 ta and all stations west. A new class has also been 

 established, called the " fifth class," which includes 

 certain articles, when shipped in car-loads, that had 

 previously been in the "fourth class," and a reduc- 

 tion of 20 per cent, made in it. In no case have rate* 



