462 



KANSAS. 



748.29; township, $2,650,030.90; city, $2,487,- 

 436.17 ; and school district, $2,748,714.50. On 

 Jan. 1, 1887, this burden of local indebtedness 

 had increased to $19,397,851. But this is not 

 the end. Since the 1st of January, 1885 a 

 period of two years municipal bonds aggre- 

 gating in amount $11,222,000 have been voted, 

 but are not yet issued. If all the bonds thus 

 voted were issued, the municipal indebtedness 

 of Kansas would be as follows : 



County $14,373,651 



Township 9,415,306 



City 3,975,484 



School district 2,855,410 



Total $30,619,851 



" It is hardly probable, however, that half of 

 the bonds now voted, but not yet issued, will 

 ever be earned. But the aggregate of our 

 municipal indebtedness, even if one half of the 

 bonds voted should never be issued, will exceed 

 $25,000,000, and it seems to me time to put a 

 stop, firmly and thoroughly, to this wasteful 

 extravagance. 



"It will be observed that $12,083,018 of the 

 bonds already issued, and $11,146,600 of those 

 voted but not yet issued, have been voted to 

 aid in building railroads. This system of bond- 

 voting to build railroads began twenty years 

 ago, and continued for nearly a decade. Then 

 came a period of business and industrial de- 

 pression, followed by an era of attempted re- 

 pudiation, the effects of which are still lingering 

 in the courts. Three years ago another epi- 

 demic of railroad bond-voting broke out, and 

 has since spread throughout nearly every sec- 

 tion of the State." 



Education. The school population of the 

 State persons between the ages of five and 

 twenty-one years is now 497,785, an increase 

 of 86,585 over 1884. The pupils enrolled 

 number 365,239, an increase of 61,638 during 

 the same period. The average daily attend- 

 ance was 219,908, an increase of 12,569. The 

 teachers employed in 1884 numbered 8,342 ; 

 those employed in 1886 numbered 9,387. The 

 average wages paid teachers, per month, were : 

 males, $42.02; females, $33.85. There has 

 been a steady increase in teachers' salaries, for 

 many years. There are in Kansas 6,791 school- 

 houses, having a total of 8,180 rooms, valued 

 at $6,592,757. School-buildings costing $1,- 

 093,042 have been erected during the past two 

 years. The receipts and expenditures for 

 school purposes during the school year ended 

 July 31, 1886, were: Balance in district treas- 

 uries, Aug. 1, 1885, and receipts $4,476,791.- 

 69 ; total expenditures, $3,849,017.59, leaving 

 in hands of district treasurers, July 31, 1886, 

 a balance of $627,774.10. 



The State University at Lawrence, the Agri- 

 cultural College at Manhattan, and the Normal 

 School at Emporia, are all prosperous, with 

 a steadily increasing enrollment of students, 

 and constantly improving appliances for edu- 

 cational work. The permanent fund of the 

 University now aggregates $111,210.92; that 



of the Normal School, 73,298.21 ; and that of 

 the Agricultural College, $501,086.33. 



In the State University during the past fiscal 

 year 419 students were in attendance, notwith- 

 standing the fact that several of the lower 

 classes had been discontinued. The Legisla- 

 ture appropriated $50,000 for the erection of 

 a building to be devoted to natural history, 

 and this building has been completed. The 

 new department of pharmacy has been fully 

 organized, and had, during its first year, twen- 

 ty-three students enrolled. 



At the State Agricultural College the new 

 hall has been completed ; forty-four acres have 

 been added to the farm; and the value of the 

 college property has increased, during the past 

 two years, from $145,857.95 to $207,678.03. 

 The attendance has increased from 395 to 428. 



In the State Normal School during the year 

 ending June 30, 1885, the enrollment was 605; 

 for the next year it reached 724. The Legis- 

 lature, in 1886, enacted a law "to further en- 

 dow the State Normal School," by granting to 

 it twelve sections of land, known as the salt- 

 spring lands. These, except two quarter-sec- 

 tions, have been sold for an aggregate of $78,- 

 882. The permanent school fund amounts to 

 $4,061,887.93. 



The Penitentiary. The necessity for a female 

 prison and a ward for the insane is apparent. 

 The institution is crowded beyond its capacity. 

 On July 1, 1884, it contained 751 prisoners; 

 July 1, 1885, this number had increased to 

 840; July 1, 1886, to 869; and on Jan. 1, 

 1887, the number was 954. There are only 

 700 cells in the institution. 



The Penitentiary continues self-sustaining. 

 For the year ending June 30, 1885, the earn- 

 ings aggregated $190,466.91 ; expenditures, 

 $148,201.02; excess of earnings, $42,265.89. 

 For the year ending June 30, 1886, the earn- 

 ings aggregated $220,785.07; expenditures, 

 $169,579.71; excess of earnings, $51,205.3( 

 Excess of earnings over expenditures durii 

 the two fiscal years, $93,471.25. In the ex- 

 penditures are counted a total of $45,129. ( 

 for permanent improvements, so that the earn- 

 ings of the institution, during the last biennial 

 period, exceeded its expenditures $138,600.29. 

 The total cost of maintaining the prisoners has 

 been steadily reduced. For 1870 it averaged 

 60 cents a day; for 1875, 52^ cents; for 

 1880, 41^ cents; and for 1886, 41| cents. 



Snpreme Court. An amendment to the Con- 

 stitution, proposing an increase in the number 

 of Supreme Court judges, was voted down at 

 the last election, by an overwhelming major- 

 ity. " The court can, however," says the Gov- 

 ernor, " be relieved in another way, and with- 

 out expense to the tax-payers. If appeals in 

 civil cases were limited, the business of the 

 Supreme Court might be largely decreased. '. 

 have ascertained that nearly one fourth of the 

 cases now filed in that court involve sums of 

 less than two hundred and fifty dollars." 



The Divorce Laws. On this subject the Gov 



