CONNECTICUT. 



269 



was 19,011,381, and of these only five were 

 fatally injured. The accidents at highway 

 crossings were fewer than usual, and resulted 

 in nine deaths, as compared with fourteen the 

 year before. The number of regular Sunday 

 trains has increased, but the number of Sunday 

 excursions has diminished. 



Charitable Institutions. On June 30 the num- 

 ber of patients in the Connecticut Hospital 

 for the Insane was 1,146, an increase of 127. 

 The number of new patients admitted during 

 the year was 361, and the number of removals 

 by death or discharged was 234. The wing 

 completing the new South Hospital building 

 has been finished at a cost less than the sum 

 appropriated. 



The revenue derived from the board of pa- 

 tients is enough for all the ordinary expenses 

 of the hospital. 



For the purpose of providing accommoda- 

 tions for 150 more of the sick and indigent 

 soldiers of the late war, the last Legislature 

 appropriated $15,000 for the enlargement of 

 Fitch's Home at Darien. This enlargement is 

 now completed, and gives room for more than 

 200 additional inmates. 



Reformatory Institutions. On July 1, the num- 

 ber of boys in the State Reform School was 

 447, an increase of thirty-four as compared 

 with the previous year. The number of boys 

 received during the year was 238, and the 

 number discharged was 204. The three cot- 

 tages that have been built accommodate 150 

 boys, or about one third of the whole number, 

 and the superiority of the system is evident. 



The State-Prison directors report that the 

 work for the enlargement and improvement of 

 the prison is going on, and, when it is com- 

 pleted, the State will have substantially a new 

 prison with all the modern improvements, at 

 a cost far less than that of any similar institu- 

 tion in the country. The highest number of 

 convicts confined at any one time during the 

 last year was 310, whereas the new prison will 

 have cells for 450. The ordinary expenses of 

 the prison exceeded its income by $2,401.32. 



Bureau of Labor Statistics. The law fixing the 

 limit of child-labor at thirteen years is meeting 

 with general approval. Employers, as a rale, 

 favor the law and gladly obey its requirements, 

 but many of the parents, impelled by poverty 

 or motives of gain, are disposed to evade it. 

 The Commissioner recommends the enactment 

 of a statute exempting from attachment the 

 wages of mechanics and laborers. Such a 

 statute would take away that basis of credit 

 which is now furnished by the factorizing laws, 

 would compel the storekeeper to refuse to 

 trust except in cases of undoubted personal 

 character and responsibility, and would tend 

 to bring about weekly payments in factories. 



Education. At the close of the last fiscal 

 year, the principal of the school fund amounted 

 to $2,022,204.27, a loss from the previous 

 year of $7,919.47. A part of this loss came 

 from the foreclosure of certain old mortgages, 



and the rest was the result of the readjustment 

 of the stock of the City Bank of Hartford. 

 The total amount of money raised in the State 

 during the last year for the support of the 

 common schools was $1,663,019.17. Of this 

 sum about $759,000 came from town taxation ; 

 about $448,000 from district taxation ; about 

 114,000 from the earnings of the school fund ; 

 nearly $48,000 from the town deposit fund 

 and local funds ; about $228,000 were appro- 

 priated by the State ; and the balance, of about 

 $66,000, came from voluntary contributions 

 and other sources. 



The number of children between the ages 

 of four and sixteen was 152,166. The number 

 registered in the schools was 125,539, but of 

 these many attended school only a few days, 

 and many more only the sixty days required 

 by the law. The number of children that did 

 not attend school at all was 20,388. 



Rbpde Island Boundary. The commissioners 

 appointed to settle the boundary question be- 

 tween Connecticut and Rhode Island, report 

 that their work has been completed, and that the 

 boundary-line, as agreed upon, is satisfactory 

 to all, and makes a just and impartial division 

 of waters that have hitherto been undivided. 



Political. The Democratic State Convention 

 met in New Haven on September 28, and 

 nominated the following ticket: For Gov- 

 ernor, Edward S. Cleveland ; Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, Edward E. Bradley ; Secretary of State, 

 Bryan F. Mahan ; State Treasurer, William W. 

 Skiddy ; Comptroller, Malcolm R. Griswold. 

 The platform contains the following: 



In legislative enactments the Democratic party pays 

 due regard to the fullest liberty of the individual con- 

 sistent with law and order. We recognize the fact 

 that no law to prevent the abuse in the use of alco- 

 holic liquors can be enforced against public senti- 

 ment ; and we adhere to the views heretofore ex- 

 pressed by the Democratic party that a well-regulated 

 license law, thoroughly executed, will best promote 

 the cause of temperance and good order in society. 

 But a license law, under the control of an exclusively 

 partisan board of county commissioners, who act for 

 their party rather than the welfare of society, will 

 fail ot its primary object. 



A decrease, in the past four years, of nearly $600,- 

 000 of the surplus in the State treasury, as shown by 

 the Treasurers official reports, and an increase of 60 

 per cent, in the State tax the present year, placing 

 additional taxes upon the people to the amount of 

 $260,000, call for a return to the Democratic econ- 

 omy of 1873, when, under Governor Ingersoll and a 

 Democratic Legislature, precisely one half of the 

 amount of the present tax was laid. And that low 

 tax was continued, under Democratic rule, for four 

 years, notwithstanding extraordinary expenses were 

 required for building the State Capitol. We demand 

 that the principles of economy, essential at all times, 

 shall be strictly adhered to while the State is in debt 

 over $4,000,000. 



We believe in the largest political liberty, com- 

 patible with good order, and approve of laws that 

 shall absolutely protect voters from intimidation and 

 corruption by the privilege of a secret ballot. 



We believe that the prosperity of the country de- 

 pends upon the unity and harmony of the business 

 and industrial interests with the wage-workers, and 

 to this end the Democratic party denounces all that 

 tends to degrade the laborer. It is pledged to all 



