MICHIGAN. 



-I'..:; 



primary schools. In 1892 $81)3.H38.57 was |.ai<l 

 by tin- Slate for tin- support of the>e schools. 



Baulks.-- 1 n the lit 1)1 a mi mil repon, submitted 

 by the commissioner in December, he eoiigratu- 

 l:iii-> the people that in the recont financial cri- 

 si> " .Michigan, with her H\2 State hanks, was able 

 to pass through the ordeal with the loss of but 

 I\vo hanks the Central Michigan savings bank 

 of Lansing, and the Hank o|'('ry>tal Palls, L. S. 

 Notwithstanding the unfavorable conditions 

 there have been incorporated during the year 

 18 new state banks, with a capital of $956,000." 



Insurance. The annual report of the hu-i- 

 ness of fire, inland-navigation, and marine in- 

 surance companies for 1892 was published in 

 .lime. At t lie beginning of the year there were 

 I'M joint-stock companies authorized to issue 

 policies on the stock plan, licensed to do busi- 

 ness in this State; of this total :! were or- 

 ganized in Michigan, 100 in other States, and 

 30 in foreign countries. The number of com- 

 panies authorized to transact business in the 

 State at the close of the year was 131. The 

 capital represented at the beginning of the year 

 was as follows : Michigan companies, $1,000,000; 

 companies of other States, $50,264,444; foreign 

 companies (deposit), $6,000,000; total, $57,264,- 

 444. The only mutual companies now authorized 

 to insure against fire are those organized under 

 Michigan laws. 



Education. A proposition was made this 

 year to provide the State University with a fixed 

 fund by giving it one fifth of a mill for every 

 dollar of State tax levied. This was deemed 

 rather extravagant, but the bill passed at one- 

 sixth of a mill. At the present assessed valu- 

 ation the university would realize from this tax 

 $188,333.33 for the year 1893-'94. Subsequent- 

 ly another bill was passed placing at the disposal 

 of the university half of this sum, or nearly 

 $95,000, in the year 1893. The receipts for 

 1891-'92 from students and other sources out- 

 side of State funds and appropriations were 

 *'J.~>:;.530.44,or an annual average of $126,765.22. 

 The total current expenses for the two years 

 were $483,279.11, or an average of $241,639.55 

 for each year. This gave an average annual 

 deficit of $114,874.33, which was partially offset 

 by a land-grant fund of $38,590 each year. 



The university had 2,774 students in the 

 spring term, of whom about half are residents- 

 of the State. 



The State Normal School at Ypsilanti has 

 over 1,100 students and 40 teachers. 



The school population in 1892 was 674,279, 

 and the whole number enrolled in public and 

 private schools. 474,081 ; the ratio of enrollment 

 to school population, 70-30. The number of 

 school houses was 7,666, and the seating capacity 

 5(53,576. The number attending higher institu- 

 tions of learning was 7,529. The whole number 

 of teachers was 16,100, of whom 3,359 were men, 

 whose average monthly wages were $47.72, while 

 those of the 12,749 women employed as teachers 

 were $34.15. 



Charities. The School for the Blind received 

 from the Legislature $42,000 for the year 1893- 

 '94. An additional sum of $5,000 is to be ap- 

 propriated for a mechanical building where the 

 trades of willow-ware making, cane seating, 

 hammock and net weaving, etc., can be taught. 



Two hundred dollars \early is to bo paid to 

 some oculist to examine the (>.- of the pupils 

 and ascertain whet her their sight can be restored 

 by treatment, at AMU Arbor. This was brought 

 flout by the recent ca3 of Miss Keene, whose 

 sight was restored after twenty-six years of 

 total blindness. The study of music is one of 

 the principal features of the institution. There 

 are in the school 16 pianos. The average at- 

 tendance for each year of the last biennial period 

 was 7N and 74, the per capita cost being $230.32. 

 In 1893 the average number was 85. 



The School for the Deaf had a total enroll- 

 ment for the two years of 343, and an average 

 number of 292. 



The State Public School was established to 

 provide a temporary home for dependent chil- 

 dren. The total number of inmates each year 

 of the biennial period was 474 and 497. 'The 

 average number was 195 and 204. The_pcr cap- 

 ita cost was $167.39. 



The most important work of the State Public 

 School is that of indenturing children. The re- 

 sponsibility of placing them rests almost entirely 

 with the county agent, whose duty it is to visit 

 the home of the applicant and determine wheth- 

 er it is best to place a child there. 



The Home for the Feeble- Winded, provided 

 for by the last Legislature, will relieve this school 

 to a great extent. 



The establishment of an insane asylum in the 

 upper peninsula, as provided for by the Legisla- 

 ture, was a much-needed measure. About one 

 twelfth of the population of the State is resi- 

 dent in that section. The appropriation $75,- 

 000 is to be used one half in 1893 and the 

 other in 1894. The buildings are to be on the 

 cottage plan. 



Prisons. Reports of lax discipline in the 

 prison at Jackson called for an investigation, 

 which revealed the fact that a system of traffic- 

 had grown up among the convicts which was of 

 such proportions that the time of two convict 

 bookkeepers was wholly taken up in keeping 

 track of the business, although it is one of the 

 rules that convicts shall hold no conversation 

 with one another. In view of this and many 

 other evidences of lack of discipline, an investi- 

 gation was ordered by the Legislature. The 

 committee found a lack of harmony and official 

 confidence, and general disobedience to the prison 

 rules. There are about 1,108 penitentiary con- 

 victs in the State. 



At Marquette State Prison there were 114 con- 

 victs. A new workshop has been built during 

 the year to increase the capacity of the prison 

 for turning out brooms and Knit goods. 



The report of the Reform School, which is 

 hereafter to be known as the Industrial School 

 for Boys, shows that from its establishment in 

 ls.-)<; to November. IMr..'. it has had 5,000 in- 

 mates. During the last year of that time there 

 were 774 inmates. The current expenses for 

 the year ending Nov. 30 were $59,847.91, and 

 the balance was $11,430.17. 



The Industrial Home for Girls had 304 in- 

 mntes in 189:2. 



Investigation of a Lynching 1 . A confess, d 

 murderer was lynched. May 23, at Corunna, the 

 county seat of Shiawassee County. The mur- 

 der was extremely brutal, and the supposed mur- 



