646 



OREGON. 



sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of every township, 

 the proceeds of all escheats and forfeitures to the 

 State, all moneys paid as exemptions from military 

 doty, all gifts to the State for common-school pur- 

 poses, and all gilts the purpose of which is not stated, 

 and the proceeds of the 500,000-acre grant of 1841. 



Providing a new law relative to escheats and for- 

 feitures to the State. 



To provide for the maintenance of kindergarten 

 schools as a part of the public-school system. 



Fixing the price and the method of sale of school, 

 university, Capitol building, internal improvement, 

 and Agricultural College lands. 



Enacting a new bounty law for killing wild animals. 



Revising the powers and duties of county superin- 

 tendents of schools. 



Declaring the first Saturday in June of each year a 

 public holiday, to be known as " Labor Day." 



Prohibiting the sale or gift of opium, morphine, 

 eng-she or cooked opium, and hydrate of chloral or 

 cocaine, by any but regularly qualified and licensed 

 physicians and druggists, and only for the cure of 

 disease. 



Regulating the practice of dentistry by creating a 

 State board of examiners and requiring all practition- 

 ers hereafter beginning business to obtain a certificate 

 from such beard. 



Providing for the appointment of an inspector of 

 stock in each county and giving him power to sup- 

 press infectious diseases among domestic animals and 

 to exercise supervision over stock in the county. 



Providing a new law for the organization and dis- 

 cipline of the State militia. 



To license and regulate the insurance business in 

 the State and making the Secretary of State ex-afficio 

 Insurance Commissioner. 



Creating the county of Malheur. 



Creating the county of Wallowa. 



Finances. The balance in the State treasury 

 at the close of the fiscal year 1887 was $71,- 

 755.33. The estimates for 1888 anticipate an 

 expenditure of $482.709.37 for general pur- 

 poses, which, after deducting the sura now in 

 the treasury, will require a tax levy of four 

 and nine tenth mills. An additional tax of 

 two tenths of a mill for the State militia and 

 one tenth of a mill for the university will in- 

 crease the rate to five and two tenths mills. 

 The total assessed value of property in the 

 State for 1887 was over $84,000,000 ; in 1885 

 it was $78,776,011. 



Education. The following is an abstract of 

 school statistics for the school year ending 

 March 7, 1887 : 



Persons over four and under twenty years of age 

 males, 44,691 ; females, 42,526 ; total, 87,217. 

 ' Number enrolled during the year in the public 

 schools males, 27,183 ; females, 25,842 ; total, 53,025. 



Average daily attendance males, 18,973 ; females, 

 18,433 ; total, 37,406. 



Number of teachers employed during the year 

 males, 919 ; females, 1,170; total, 2,089. 



Number of pupils enrolled in private schools 

 males, 2,505 ; females, 2,429 ; total, 4,934. 



Number of school-houses built during the year, 88 ; 

 previously erected, 1,236 ; total, 1,324. 



Average salaries paid teachers per month males, 

 $45.78 ; females, $34.79. 



Number of colleges, 8 ; teachers employed, 44 ; pu- 

 pils attending, 809. 



Receipts : In school-clerks' hands at beginning of 

 the year, $100,223.26 ; received during the year from 

 district tax, $165,446.65 ; four-mill county tax, $286,- 

 377.33 ; State fund, $85,625.20; rate bills, $213,075.79 ; 

 other sources, $19,187.31 ; total receipts, $069,935.54. 



At the State University 184 pupils were en- 

 rolled in all departments during the year end- 

 ing June 30, the average enrollment being 110, 

 of which 68 were males and 42 females. A 

 law-school and a school of music are con- 

 nected with the university. The total ex- 

 penses for the year were $18,285.87, and the 

 income $21,511.50. The latter sum is derived 

 from lands given by the Federal Government, 

 private donations, and the State tax of one 

 tenth of a mill for university purposes. 



In August the corner-stone of a new build- 

 ing for the State Agricultural College was laid 

 at Oorvallis. This building is erected by the 

 citizens of Benton County upon State land and 

 given to fhe State. The Agricultural College 

 has been in existence since 1870, when by an 

 act of the Legislature it was located at and 

 made a part of Corvallis College. Since that 

 time the State has appropriated biennially a 

 fixed amount which has been expended by 

 the trustees of Corvallis College, under the 

 direction of a State board, in giving instruc- 

 tion in agricultural subjects at that institution. 

 But in 1885 the Methodist Conference, which 

 founded and maintained Corvallis College, find- 

 ing itself unable to raise money for new build- 

 ings, offered to transfer the whole institution to 

 the State for the uses of the State Agricultural 

 College free from all sectarian control. The 

 Legislature of that year accepted the offer on 

 condition that the friends of the State institu- 

 tion should construct the building which is 

 now being erected. During the present year, 

 however, the Methodists have preferred a 

 claim that the offer to the State was not made 

 by their duly authorized agents or with their 

 consent, and that they still own the Corvallis 

 property with the new building included. The 

 question is not yet decided. The number of 

 students at the State institution in 1885-'86 

 was 52, and the expenses $8,470.37. 



Penitentiary. At the close of September there 

 were 267 prisoners confined in the State Peni- 

 tentiary. Of these, 165 were engaged under 

 contract in foundry work, 30 in the manufact- 

 ure of bricks, and the remainder in various 

 useful employments. Their'labor repays about 

 half the cost of maintenance. 



The Salmon-Fishery. The fishing - season of 

 1887 on Columbia river was not a success, and 

 the decreased catch is taken as an indication 

 that the resources of the river are being ex- 

 hausted. Only 356.000 cases were packed 

 during the season, 92,500 fewer than in 1886. 

 and 197,800 fewer than in 1885. The value of 

 the product is estimated at $2,124,000. There 

 are engaged in this business on the river 40 

 canneries valued at $800.000, 1,400 fishing- 

 boats worth $245,000, 1,400 nets worth $440,- 

 000, and other apparatus worth $200,000 more, 

 making the total investment over $1,500,000. 

 In the season 6,000 persons are employed. 



Statistics. The following figures show the 

 shipments of grain and other agricultural 

 products from Portland for the year end- 



