526 



MICHIGAN. 



The State debt is practically extinguished, 

 there being now outstanding only about $100,- 

 000 of bonds, none of which bears interest. But 

 there is a trust fund debt on which the State 

 pays interest permanently for the benefit of edu- 

 cational institutions. The rate of taxation is 

 12-7 cents on $100. 



Education. The following statistics cover 

 the public-school year of 1890-'91 : Number of 

 districts 7,168, increase in one year 23 ; school 

 population 654,502, increase 14,433 ; number en- 

 rolled in public schools 427,032, increase 2,328 ; 

 average school year in months, 7'7; number 

 teachers employed, 15,990; average monthly 

 wages, male, $46.78, increase 40 cents; average 

 monthly wages, female, $32.78, increase 46 cents ; 

 number of school-houses, 7,531, increase 38; 

 value of school property $13,858,627, increase 

 $571,990. The school revenue for the year was 

 as follows: From balance of preceding year, $1,- 

 095,840.35; from primary-school interest fund, 

 $795,813.47 ; one-mill tax in townships, $658,- 

 305.11; district tax, $3,451,729.93; other sources, 

 $761,436.34; total, $6,763,126.20. The total 

 amount paid teachers was $3,328,287.04. There 

 are reported 6,655 ungraded and 513 graded dis- 

 tricts. The free-text-book system has been 

 adopted throughout the State, and in 1891 the 

 city of Detroit also voted by a large majority to 

 furnish all the pupils in the public schools with 

 free books. 



The principal of the various educational funds 

 held by the State on June 30, 1891, was as fol- 

 lows : Agricultural College fund, $395,605.73; 

 Normal School fund, $64,622.62 ; Primary School 

 fund, $4,410,623.05; University fund, $518,- 

 218.01. 



The number of students at the various State 

 educational institutions for the year 1890-'91 

 was as follows : University of Michigan, Ann 

 Arbor. 2,157; Agricultural College, Lansing, 

 369; Normal School, Ypsilanti, 900; Michigan 

 Mining School, Houghton, 56 ; School for the 

 Deaf, Flint, 303; School for the Blind, Lansing, 

 95 ; State Reform School, Lansing, 715 ; Indus- 

 trial Home for Girls, Adrian, 233 ; School for 

 Dependent Children, Cold water, 206. 



Charities. Insane patients were distributed 

 among the several asylums as follow : Kalama- 



zoo, 1,011; Pontiac, 975; Traverse City, 700; 

 Ionia Asylum for Insane Criminals, 175. All 

 of the institutions are badly crowded, and many 

 insane persons are for that reason kept in jails 

 and county asylums. 



The State Soldiers' Home at Grand Rapids 

 has a total enrollment of 1,461, of whom 541 are 

 reported present. 



Live Stock. In the spring of 1891 the Sec- 

 retary of State reported in Michigan 396,940 

 horses, 405,818 milch cows, 363,625 other cattle, 

 450,830 hogs, and 1,908,372 sheep. 



Railroads. The total revenue realized from 

 the operation of Michigan railroads during the 

 year was $94,096,854.83, an increase over the 

 preceding year of $5,950,262.45. The operating 

 expenses for the same period were $63,925,091.- 

 54, a decrease of $689,763.41, leaving a net in- 

 come on traffic account of $31,809,276.64, which 

 was $6,900,470.73 in excess of the net income of 

 the year before. 



The total track mileage in the State, as ascer- 

 tained for purposes of taxation was 6,944-28- 

 miles. The amount realized to the treasury 

 from the specific taxation of railroad companies- 

 was $778,493.91, an increase of $21,204.99. The 

 capital stock paid in is reported at $338,199,- 

 052.70, making the capital per mile $23,019.28, 

 The earnings per mile were given in 1891 as 

 $6,285.11. According to the report of the State 

 Labor Bureau for the year 1891 the funded debt 

 of the railroads of Michigan was $388.889,869, 

 and the floating debt $27.490,659. The cost 

 of construction was $281,205,724. 



Banks. On Jan. 7, 1889, when the present 

 State banking law went into effect, 80 banks 

 were doing business in the State, with assets 

 amounting to $38,963,417. The report of the 

 banking commissioner for the year 1891 enu- 

 merates 124 State banks, with assets amounting- 

 to $65,191,097.53, an increase of 44 in number,, 

 and $26,228,555.34 in assets. These banks on 

 Dec. 2, 1891, reported their deposits $49,751,468.- 

 06. The common rate of interest paid savings 

 depositors was 4 per cent. The 106 national 

 banks in the State reported $70,555,261.76 in re- 

 sources, with $15,244,600 in capital stock and 

 $38,500,510.19 in deposits. 



Salt. The salt-producing territory of the 

 State is divided into 9 districts, with a total 

 manufacturing capacity of 5,900,000 barrels. In 

 the year ending Nov. 30, 1891, 113 firms operated 

 122 plants and produced 3,966,784 barrels, against 

 3,863,407 barrels in 1890. The largest district in 

 the State produced no salt during 1891. 



Labor. The State labor commissioner pub- 

 lished an elaborate report covering the year 1891, 

 largely devoted to the condition of female labor 

 in the State. The average wage of the 13.139 

 working women who reported to the commissioner 

 was 79 cents a day, $216.45 a year. Only 2,382 

 women reported that they saved anything from 

 their wages, and these averaged $62.37 a year. 

 The average expense was reported to be $202.21 

 a year, leaving an actual average saving of $14.- 

 24" per annum. The lowest wage paid was $1 a 

 week and the highest $18.75. Of the woman 

 workers, 9,108 lived at home and 730 with rela- 

 tives. The common length of the day was ter 

 hours. One reported a day of eighteen hours, 

 118 reported working fifteen hours, 168 reported 



