734 



VERMONT. 



State expenses for which orders were drawn for 

 the biennial term was $1,098.583.77, of which the 

 following is a summary: Administration of jus- 

 tice, $328,706.02; agricultural, $23,525.04; county 

 commissioners, $1,032.07; Dairymen's Associa- 

 tion. $2,000; educational, 112,542.88; executive 

 departments, $49,017.98; fish and game, $8.770.94; 

 inline, $259.578.98; legislative expense, $69,104.- 

 23; libraries, $10,514.07; Maple Sugar Makers' As- 

 sociation, $1,000; military, $39,820.00; moieties 

 under liquor law, $41.25; noxious animals, $2,957.- 

 50; penal, $82,102.26; pensions, $480; public 

 health, $22,431.09; printing, $18,470.45; Railroad 

 commissioners, $6,315.13; soldiers' claims under 

 No. 86, 1898, $11.132.02; Soldiers' Home and de- 

 ceased veterans, $25,207.25 ; special appropriations, 

 1898, $19,627.39; special commissions, $3,532.22; 

 total. $1,0!S,5S3.77. 



Adding to this sum what the Treasurer has 

 paid by authority of law, without orders from 

 the Auditor, it appears that the State expenses 

 for the biennial term were nearly $1,180,000. 



Education. Among the statistics given by the 

 superintendent in August were the following: 

 Total school expenditures, $1,074,221.88; cost per 

 pupil of total expenditure, $16.28; current ex- 

 penses, $873,397.03; cost per pupil of current ex- 

 pciiM's, $13.24; number of children between five 

 and twenty-one years, 90,048; number in attend- 

 ance, 65,964; number of male teachers, 510; num- 

 ber of female teachers, 3,232; number of Vermont 

 normal school graduates, 032; number of college 

 graduates, 201. 



The Insane. There were 551 patients at the 

 Insane Asylum, Waterbury, at the close of the 

 year, 51 in excess of its normal capacity. The 

 cost per capita each week was $3.50. Private 

 patients paid $5,023 during the year. At the Brat- 

 tleboro Retreat there were 291 inmates, who were 

 cared for at a weekly cost of $3.75 each. This in- 

 stitution has accommodations for 350. 



Railroads. The seventh biennial report of the 

 Railroad Commissioners covers the term ending 

 July 1. Many and great improvements have been 

 made in the condition of the trunk line railroads 

 during the past two years. New and heavier steel 

 rails have been substituted for old and lighter 

 weight rails; iron bridges of increased carrying 

 capacity have replaced most of the old wooden 

 ones and some of the iron bridges of lesser 

 strength; passenger depots have been rebuilt or 

 repaired ; and the roadbeds have been greatly im- 

 proved by an unusually large amount of ballast- 

 ing and renewals of ties. The Central Vermont 

 Company has expended more than $425,000 upon 

 it- system since it took possession of the property, 

 May 1, 1899. Large expenditures have also been 

 made for permanent improvements on the lines 

 of the Boston and Maine and the Rutland Railroad 

 in this State. Notwithstanding the large outlay 

 of money by railroad companies to insure safety, 

 expedition, and comfort to passenger traffic, 

 and quick shipments of freight traffic, the average 

 receipts per passenger per mile and the average 

 receipts per ton per mile by the railroad companies 

 of the State have gradually decreased during the 

 pa-t ten yi MI-. 



The electric railways have 04.01 miles of main 

 lino and 9.07 of branches and spurs. 



Tin- number of fatal accidents reported is 41; 

 accidents not fatal. 45. Twelve of the 11) com- 

 panies reporting have paid dividends for the fiscal 

 years lx'.i7- - !>S and 189R-'99, and 4 that did not 

 pay a dividend showed a surplus from operation; 

 the others showed deficits. 



Highways. The first annual report of the 

 Commissioner of Highways shows that in 1900 the 



total mileage of the highways was 14,825 miles, 

 and 124 miles of permanent roadway was built at 

 a cost of $101,331.84, and the State paid $87,257.17 

 of the cost. 



Insurance. The cost of State supervision of 

 insurance was $4,201.42 for the year ending June 

 30, 1900. The National Life Company, of Mont- 

 pelier, celebrated its semicentennial in July. 

 During the year this company wrote new insur- 

 ance to the amount of $1,005,015; and at the end 

 of the year had outstanding insurance to the 

 amount of $5,311,170. 



The Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Com- 

 pany, in its seventy-third annual report, shows 

 that the company has increased its surplus in the 

 last fiscal year from $88,907.43 to $97,024.21. The 

 number of policies issued during the year was 12,- 

 549, insuring property to the amount of $17,080,- 

 702; premium notes taken, $1,308,345; making the 

 whole amount of premium notes in force Aug. 1, 

 1900, $4,280,041, and the aggregate amount at risk 

 $54,341,490. The assessment is 4 per cent., a rate 

 that has been maintained since and including 181)7. 

 The outstanding policies number 41,529. 



Banks. The State Inspector of Finance finds 

 that there are 22 savings banks and 19 trust com- 

 panies. Their united deposits are $38,000,000, a 

 gain during the year of $1,703,044. The number 

 of depositors is 118,354, of whom 103,799 are resi- 

 dents of the State, or almost 1 in 3 of the whole 

 population in Vermont. The nonresident deposi- 

 tors number 14,555, with deposits of $0,421,508. 

 The average credit to each depokor is $323.52. 



The doors of the Merchants' National Bank, 

 Rutland, were closed March 20 in consequence of 

 the defalcation of the cashier, C. W. Mussey, for 

 about $150,000. The shortages had been adroitly 

 concealed so as to deceive not only the com- 

 mittee of directors which periodically went over 

 the accounts, but 3 bank examiners, all experts, 

 who have examined the bank within a year. The 

 cashier was tried and sentenced to seven years in 

 the House of Correction at Rutland. In his con- 

 fession he implicated the proprietor of a music 

 store in Rutland, whose trial did not take place 

 before the close of the year. 



About April 15 a shortage of $25,000 was dis- 

 covered in the funds of the Waterbury National 

 Bank. The missing funds, it was found, had been 

 lost by the teller, J. C. Farrar. in stock specula- 

 tions. His sentence was six years. The capital 

 of the bank was not impaired. 



Cattle. According to the report of the Cattle 

 Commission, 72,893 cattle were tested for tubercu- 

 losis during the year, and of that number 2,903 

 were killed. The total amount paid owners for 

 cattle killed was $30,902.25. 



Legislative Session. The General Assembly 

 met Oct. 4, and adjourned Nov. 27. Fletcher D. 

 Proctor was Speaker of the House. 



An election was held to fill the vacancy caused 

 by the death of United States Senator Morrill. 

 It had been temporarily filled by the appointment 

 of Hon. Jonathan Ross, who was a candidate for 

 election by the Legislature. The other Republican 

 candidates we're ex-(!ov. William P. Dillingham, 

 Hon. W. W. Grout, and Charles A. Prouty. Sen- 

 eca Hazleton was the choice of the Democrats. 

 The choice wns made on the third ballot; Mr. 

 Prouty had withdrawn ; the Democratic members 

 transferred their votes to Mr. Dillingham, and he 

 was elected by a vote of 162 out of 270. 



The Constitution permits constitutional amend- 

 ments to be offered only once in ten years, and 

 this was one of the years. Four were proposal. 

 One of them was to do away with this restriction 

 and allow amendments to be offered at any regular 





