NEW YORK. 



553 



office is three years and who receives a salary 

 of $5,000. The incumbent during the year was 

 Charles R. Skinner, whose term of office will ex- 

 pire on April 6, 1901. His report shows that 

 the number of children of school age was 1,550,079 

 (an increase of 31,271), of which number 510,173 

 were outside of the cities. The number of chil- 

 dren attending school was 1,179,351, of whom 

 458,819 live outside of the cities. There are 1,001 

 private schools in the State, an increase of 100. 

 The number of children attending private schools 

 was 161,708, an increase of 80,260. There were 

 33,992 teachers employed during the year, 17,876 

 of this number teaching outside of the cities. 

 The increase in the number of teachers employed 

 was 919. The average annual salary of teachers 

 outside of the cities was $318, and in the cities 

 $771. During the year $16,484,646 was expended 

 for teachers' salaries, an increase of $1,328,368. 

 Of the amount expended, $11,534,571 was in the 

 city schools and $4,950,075 in those of the country 

 districts. The total expenditures during the 

 school year of 1899 were $28,052,999, a decrease 

 of $422,881. The expenditures in the cities were 

 $20,854,544, a decrease of $360,529, and in the coun- 

 try districts $7,198,445, a decrease of $62,351. The 

 net decrease in the total amount of money ex- 

 pended for school purposes is caused by a falling 

 off in the moneys expended for new building sites, 

 furniture, and repairs. In 1898 $8,611,548 was ex- 

 pended for such purposes, while in 1899 but $6,- 

 417,915 was expended. This, combined with a de- 

 crease of $23,269 in the expenditures for libraries, 

 more than offsets the increase of $1,328,368 in 

 teachers' salaries, and produces the net decrease 

 of $422,881. On May 12 the superintendent made 

 the following public offer : " I hereby offer, in 

 behalf of the State of New York, free tuition in 

 our State normal schools to 48 men and women 

 of Cuba and Puerto Rico (24 from each island) 

 who are willing to attend these institutions not 

 less than two years for the purpose of fitting 

 themselves for teaching, pledging that they will 

 return to the islands and devote at least five 

 years to active service in the public schools." 



The annual report of the State Board of Re- 

 gents shows that there were 31,499 students in 

 1899 in New York colleges, professional, technical, 

 and other special schools, compared with 69,776 

 in New York high schools and academies. Also 

 that there has been during the past year a de- 

 cided advance in the standards of business edu- 

 cation in New York State, and largely on ac- 

 count of the movement in this State there has 

 been also a distinct increase in the interest taken 

 in business education in other States. 



Charities. The charities are under the care 

 of a board, whose annual report is prepared from 

 the sworn statements filed by the treasurers or 

 other responsible officers of the charitable insti- 

 tutions, societies, and associations subject to the 

 board's supervision. William R. Stewart is presi- 

 dent of the board. Subject to the provisions of 

 the State charities law are 12 State charitable 

 institutions, 8 schools for the deaf, 1 for the blind, 

 and an institution for juveniles, mainly supported 

 by State appropriations, and more than 1,000 

 other institutions, societies, and associations 

 under private control, including hospitals, homes, 

 dispensaries, orphan, and other asylums, re- 

 formatories, day nurseries, and general and spe- 

 cial relief societies. The beneficiaries of these 

 institutions aggregate more than 2,500,000, and 

 the expense of their maintenance amounts to 

 nearly $22,000,000 annually. The number and 

 classification of beneficiaries in institutions Oct. 

 1, 1898, were: Aged, and friendless persons, 6,627; 



almshouse inmates, 11,788; blind, 723; deaf, 1,721; 

 dependent children, 31,090; disabled soldiers and 

 sailors, 1,354; epileptics in almshouses, 193; epi- 

 leptics in Craig Colony, 322; hospital patients, 

 9,622; idiotic and feeble-minded in alniHhouses, 

 1,085; idiotic and feeble-minded in State institu- 

 tions, 1,288; juvenile offenders, 3,514; inmates of 

 reformatories, 1,686; total, 71,013. The number 

 of idiotic and feeble-minded of both sexes in idiot 

 asylums is: Syracuse State Institution for Feeble- 

 minded Children, 540; New York State Custodial 

 Asylum for Feeble-minded Women, at Newark, 

 406; Rome State Custodial Asylum, at Rome, 

 342; New York City Institution, on Randall's 

 island, 470. During the year ending Sept. 30, 

 1898, the number of poor for whom provisions 

 was made was 1,913, as against 2,074 during the 

 previous year, a decrease of 161. This left 86 

 in State almshouses Oct. 1, 1898, of whom 80 were 

 males and 6 females. The per capita expendi- 

 ture was $14.62, against $13.56 in 1897. 



Prisons. These are under the care of a super- 

 intendent, who holds office five years and receives 

 a salary of $3,000. The incumbent during the 

 year was Cornelius V. Collins, whose term of 

 office will expire on April 17, 1903. The criminal 

 statistics for the fiscal year show that the num- 

 ber of convictions reported by county clerks in 

 courts of record was 3,567, a decrease of 956. 

 The number of women convicted in courts of 

 record was 209, a decrease of 39. The number 

 of convictions in special sessions courts reported 

 by county clerks was 43,555, a decrease of 19,847. 

 The number of women convicted in courts of 

 special sessions was 3,055. The resolution of the 

 Assembly appointing a committee on prison labor 

 instructed its members particularly to inquire 

 into the effect of the present system of convict 

 labor upon free labor. The general conclusions 

 of the committee were: 1. That the present sys- 

 tem has not yet succeeded in furnishing employ- 

 ment for all the convicts in State prisons. 2. 

 That the financial results are as yet inadequate 

 and unsatisfactory. 3. That the labor classes of 

 the State are not at the present time suffering 

 from the competition of convict labor, as the 

 same is carried out in the prisons and penal in- 

 stitutions of the State. 4. That the unsatisfac- 

 tory results up to the present time will be in 

 some degree obviated by greater experience and 

 organization. 5. That the principle of the great- 

 est diversification of industries, coupled with a 

 complete supply for the special market for any 

 line of goods manufactured, will best preserve 

 the laboring classes from convict competition in 

 the future. 6. That the industries in the peni- 

 tentiaries and marketing of the products should 

 be placed under the same control as industries 

 in the State prisons. 7. That the cell systems 

 of the three State prisons should be rebuilt by 

 convict labor, and also that a new wall should 

 be constructed at Sing Sing in the same manner. 

 8. That the policy of prohibiting by legislative 

 enactment the employment of convicts upon cer- 

 tain industries should be discountenanced, and, 

 generally, that if the present system be carried 

 out faithfully and intelligently, and without in- 

 terference, it will demonstrate within a few years 

 the wisdom of those who caused its adoption, 

 and will prove a better system of convict labor 

 than has ever before been employed in this State. 



Labor Statistics. This department is under 

 the charge of a commissioner, who receives a sal- 

 ary of $3,000. The incumbents during the year 

 were John T. McDonough, who, having become 

 Secretary of State, was succeeded on Jan. 23 by 

 John McMackin. The report for 1898 shows that 



