MICHIGAN. 



463 



obsolete law. It attempts to bring the special 

 charter roads under the operation of a statute 

 no longer in existence, and is coiiM'ijucntly in- 

 valid. 



In iWemlier un advance in wages was granted 

 I iy i In- Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- 

 "inpany to their engineers and firemen, as 

 tin' result of many conferences lid ween the com- 

 piiny otlicials and committees of the two brother- 

 hoods. The advance for freight engineers is 

 from :><>? crnts per mile to 4 cents, and for pas- 

 senger engineers from 3-5 cento per mile to 8*8 

 cent-. The company was ready to grant the ad- 

 vance in view of the promise of the engineers 

 mid liivmi'n that they will have nothing to do 

 with the strike of the switchmen, brakemen, and 



( luctors which is expected during the World's 



Fair next year. 



A decision of the Supreme Court in a suit for 

 damages against a street railroad company is of 

 great importance to such companies. The court 

 held that the plaintiff hud the same right to 

 travel upon the track as the railway company 

 had, save that it was her duty when she met a 

 car to get off and give the car precedence. She 

 was not a trespasser upon the track in any sense. 

 The right of the railway in the street is only an 

 easement to use the highway in common with 

 the public. It has no exclusive right to travel 

 upon its track, and it is bound to use the same 

 care in preventing a collision as the driver of a 

 wagon or other vehicle. Streetcars have prece- 

 dence necessarily in the portion of the way 

 designated for their use. This superior right 

 must be exercised, however, with proper caution 

 and due regard for the rights of others, and the 

 fact that it has a prescribed route does not alter 

 the duty of the company to the public, who have 

 a right to travel upon its track until met or over- 

 taken by its cars. 



The court says further that the contention 

 of the company that a street car is a vehicle, 

 the same as a wagon or omnibus, and is no 

 more bound than is any other vehicle to carry a 

 headlight or to give signals or warnings of its 

 approach, is not law. A street car, it says, can 

 neither turn to the right nor to the left : it nms 

 with greater rapidity and with greater momen- 

 tum than an omnibus or wagon ; therefore, 

 greater precaution must be taken in its running 

 to avoid collisions. 



Education. The following statistics are quot- 

 ed from the report issued in April by the Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction : Number of school 

 dist ricts, 7,220 ; number of children of school age, 

 (itii;.::!M ; number enrolled in graded and un- 

 graded schools, 446,024; percentage of attend- 

 ance, 66-9; number of private schools, 320, with 

 802 men and 520 women teachers; whole num- 

 ber of teachers at one time, 11,093 ; total amount 

 of wages paid to 3,488 male teachers, $941,636.43 ; 

 to 1-J.I521 women. $2,489,343.54; average monthly 

 wages of men, $47.23 ; of women. $33.27. There 

 were 7,616 schoolhouses, with sittings for 564,556 

 pupils, valued at $14,534,203; and 1,621 school 

 libraries, with 534.780 volumes. The net school 

 receipts were $5,509,167.14, and expenditures, 

 $5.458,841.44. 



The State Convention of Grangers protested 

 against the movement to change the present 

 system of district schools to the unit system a 



system which thev thought was practically taking 

 the control of these schools from the hands of 

 the many und giving it into the hands of the few. 



State I nst it n lions. -The total Appropriations 

 for the asylums for the insane, the institutions 

 for the deuf and dumb and for the blind, and 

 the Soldiers' Home, amounted to $2."i:5.'jn:j.i:{ ; 

 those for prisons and reformatories amounted to 

 $159,615. 



The average number of inmates in these insti- 

 t ut ions was as follows: Michigan A>vlum, 1.047; 

 Eastern Asylum, 893; Northern Asylum, 810; 

 Asylum for Dangerous Insane, 164; School for 

 the Deaf, 287; School for the Blind, 70; State 

 Public School, 198 ; State Prison. 7n~> ; House of 

 Correction, 300; Upper Peninsula Prison, 111; 

 Reform School, 433; Industrial Home, 207; Sol- 

 diers' Home, 372 ; total average, 5,677. 



The following is the per capita cost of food 

 per day : Michigan Asylum, 13-6 cents; Eastern 

 Asylum, 15*5; Northern Asylum, 18'5 ; Asylum 

 for Dangerous Insane, 14' 1 ; School for Deaf, 15: 

 School for Blind, 13-7; State Public School. 10; 

 State Prison, 8'5: House of Correction, 15'3; 

 Upper Peninsula Prison, 16-2; Reform School, 

 7; Industrial Home,8-7; Soldiers' Home, 13-2; 

 total average, 13'5. 



The asylum at Pontiac took fire Dec. 24. 

 There were 945 patients in the institution, some 

 of them, of course, being in the cottages and 

 hospitals. About 200 were turned out of their 

 accustomed quarters by the fire. The loss was 

 estimated at $150,000. There was no insurance. 

 The entire building and grounds of 440 acres are 

 valued at 795,000. 



Legislative Investigation. Secretary of 

 State Daniel E. Soper was accused, in 1891, of 

 irregularities in office ; he resigned, and the 

 Governor appointed R. R. Blacker to succeed 

 him. The charges against him were made the 

 subject of investigation by a committee, whose 

 report was unfavorable to the ex-secretary. They 

 found that he had given away books without au- 

 thority and contrary to law, some of which were 

 to be kept as State property and not to be dis- 

 posed of at any price ; also, that pay was received 

 for many of them which should have gone to 

 the State. They found evidence that supplies 

 for the State had been ordered from firms who 

 consented to throw in articles not to be used by 

 the State. They also found, by comparison of 

 letters filed with the cash book of the chief clerk, 

 that money had been received in several instances 

 and none of the amounts entered upon the cash 

 book or turned into the State treasury in the 

 proper way ; and " inasmuch as Mr. Soper occu- 

 pied his office several days and nights after the 

 committee asked him to vacate, and he busied 

 himself in going through his bills and letters, 

 taking away several hundred of the same, it is 

 inferred that much money was taken that was 

 not turned over to the State and properly ac- 

 counted for." They cited damaging testimony 

 from a letter in regard to the purchase of man- 

 ual paper. 



The committee showed from their findings a 

 shortage of $1.197.50, but avowed their belief 

 that there were other shortages which their lim- 

 ited authority would not permit them to unearth, 

 and recommended that the Governor pursue the 

 matter further. 



