520 



MAINE. 



year will be only If mill, which is the lowest 

 rate of State tax for support of the govern- 

 ment that has been levied within fifty years, 

 with the exception of the tax levied by the 

 Legislatures of 1846, 1860, and 1861. 



In 1868 the State debt was $8,100,000, and 

 every dollar, except $699,000, was incurred 

 on account of the war for the suppression of 

 the rebellion. The payment of $5,300,000, 

 which has been made on the principal, leaves 

 only $2,800,000 of the debt, and will impose a 

 tax for interest of only $84,000 per annum. If 

 anything more were needed to guarantee the 

 high credit of the State, it would be found in 

 the constitutional provision which prohibits the 

 incurring of any obligation in excess of $300,000, 

 except for purposes of war. 



The total receipts for the year were $1,245,- 

 350.78, and the expenditures $1,245,015.85. 

 The cash balance Dec. 1, 1885, was $318,- 

 516.52, and Dec. 1, 1886, it was $318,851.45. 

 The receipts for the year were derived from 

 the folio wing sources: State taxes, $855,874.04; 

 county taxes, $12,560.76 ; tax on savings-banks, 

 $235,015.90; tax on railroad, telegraph, ex- 

 press, and insurance companies, $113,507.50; 

 interest on deposits and taxes, $2,017.01 ; mis- 

 cellaneous sources, $26,375.57. Some of the 

 larger expenditures were as follow : On ac- 

 count of public debt, $59,000 ; interest on pub- 

 lic debt, $312,791 ; sinking-fund, $80,479.95 ; 

 educational purposes, $388,354.01 ; agricult- 

 ural purposes, $18,807.06; penal and reforma- 

 tory institutions, $24,100; deaf, dumb, and 

 blind, $16,673.39 ; protection of fish and game, 

 $10,205.62 ; insane State beneficiaries and State 

 paupers, $56,840.61 ; pensions, $23,805.68 ; rail- 

 road and telegraph tax paid to towns and cities, 

 $21,536.85; Indian tribes, $19,290.85; county 

 taxes collected in 1885 and paid to counties, 

 $12,519.18; miscellaneous and current ex- 

 penses of the State government, $168,530.26. 



Charitable and Penal Institutions. The Hospital 

 for the Insane shows commendable progress in 

 every provision for the comfort and cure of the 

 inmates. At the beginning of the year, Dec. 

 1, 1885, there were resident in the hospital 

 486 patients 241 men and 245 women; 231 

 have been admitted si ace 127 men and 104 

 women; making the whole number under 

 treatment 717 368 men and 349 women. Of 

 these there have been discharged 189 106 

 men and 83 women; leaving at the close of 

 the year 528262 men and 266 women. The 

 hospital has now been in operation forty-six 

 years, during which time 6,844 patients have 

 been admitted, and 6,316 have been discharged. 



The Reform School for Boys is well con- 

 ducted. The trustees will ask for an appro- 

 priation for an experiment of the cottage plan, 

 where the boys are treated as though they 

 were in a family, having smaller numbers as- 

 sociated together, and thereby increasing the 

 direct influence of those to whose charge they 

 are committed. 



Of the State Prison the Governor says : 



"The work of the prisoners, principally en- 

 gaged on carriage-making, is of a very excel- 

 lent order. The carriages, I think, are not sold 

 at prices to interfere with the rights or inter- 

 ests of citizens of the State who are engaged 

 in the same line of business. It is, of course, 

 necessary to keep the prisoners engaged in 

 work, both with the view to proper economy 

 and the view to their improvement and refor- 

 mation. It would be utterly cruel to keep 

 them in idleness, and it would be utterly use- 

 less to work them except to some good end." 



The Industrial School for Girls, established 

 some years since at Hallowell, has saved a 

 large number of girls from unfortunate sur- 

 roundings and has secured for them respect 

 ble employment. 



The Military and Naval Asylum for Orphans, 

 at Bath, is well managed, and continues to de- 

 serve the confidence and patronage of the State. 

 There is some effort made to enlarge the basis 

 of admission to its privileges. 



The last Legislature had under consideration 

 the subject of establishing a separate reforma- 

 tory for the female criminal class. It then re- 

 ceived a large degree of approbation from the 

 members of both Senate and House. 



The provision for educating the blind and 

 also the deaf and dumb children of the State 

 has thus far proved adequate. These unfor- 

 tunate children have had the advantages of the 

 best institutions in other States. There is 

 wish expressed by many for a State institutioi 

 to carry forward the work, but the Governoi 

 does not recommend its establishment. 



Prohibition. On this subject the Governor 

 says: 



The question of the prohibition of the liquor-traffic 

 in Maine has engaged popular attention within the 

 past year to a considerable extent. The agitation has 

 resulted in a reaffirmation on the part of the people, 

 at the polls, of their full faith in the prohibitory ^svs- 

 tem, and of their desire to see the law fairly adminis- 

 tered and properly enforced. The situation in the 

 State respecting the law may be briefly and candidly 

 stated. In from three fourths to four filths of the 

 towns ot the State the law is well enforced, and has 



E ractically abolished the sale of spirituous and malt 

 quors as a beverage. In the larger cities and towns, 

 on the seaboard, and at railway centers, it has been 

 found more difficult to secure perfect compliance with 

 the law, but it can still be said that at very few points 

 in the State is liquor openly sold. The offenses against 

 the law are in large part clandestine, and therefore 

 difficult to detect and expose by legal testimony. But 

 it is a great moral gain wnen th'e liquor-seller is driven 

 from the light of day to secret places and to stealthy de- 

 vices to carry on his hurtful and demoralizing traffic. 

 Some of the more zealous friends of the temperance 

 cause think that an increase of the penalties, especially 

 for the first offense of liquor-selling, would cure the 

 admitted evil of imperfect enforcement ; but the more 

 prudent, and I think by far a larger number, are of 

 the opinion that an increase of the penalty would do 

 harm rather than good. What is actually needed ul 

 the points named is a sound public opinion to ur<jv ami 

 uphold the enforcement of the law. Where that is 

 wanting the case is made difficult with the prohibitory 

 law, as indeed it always is with every form of law. It 

 can, however, be said with satisfaction that, even with 

 this imperfect enforcement at certain points, the law 

 has been of immeasurable value in reducing the 1 iquor- 



