CONNECTICUT. 



255 



Railroads. The permanent investment in rail- 

 roads has reached the enormous sum of $87,- 

 459,646.19. There are now, completed and in 

 use, within the State limits, 1,360 miles of 

 road, over which were carried, during the 

 year, 16,352,617 passengers, nearly a million 

 more than in any previous year. Their gross 

 earnings amounted to $16,234,942.44, yield- 

 ing an average profit of four and one half per 

 cent, on $56,953,678.25, their. aggregate capital. 



The report of the Treasurer shows that these 

 corporations have paid protesting, however, 

 against its excessiveness the sum of $456,128.- 

 55 in taxes to the State. 



Schools. There was expended, during the last 

 fiscal year, in support of the common-school 

 system, $1,813,486.11, of which sum the State 

 and the school fund together furnished $336,- 

 289.50, and the balance was raised by local 

 taxation. More than 60 per cent, of the amount 

 derived from taxation comes from twenty-five 

 of the largest towns, and one third of it from 

 the six largest cities. There are in the State 

 149,466 children, between the ages of four 

 and sixteen, 120,537 of whom attended these 

 schools some portion of the year. The Gov- 

 ernor says : 



I have heretofore expressed an apprehension that 

 our public schools, in the smaller towns of the State, 

 are not as good as they were thirty years ago. Fuller 

 information convinces me that such is the fact. In 

 more than half the towns there are fewer children 

 and less wealth than formerly ; but the same num- 

 ber of districts, school-houses, and schools are main- 

 tained. In the 1,447 districts of the State, 56 schools 

 average 5 or less pupils ; 346 schools average over 5 

 and do not exceed 10 ; 322 schools average over 10 and 

 do not exceed 15 ; 213 schools average over 15 and do 

 not exceed 20. 



The building, constructed at the expense of 

 the State and the town of New Britain, is now 

 completed and occupied by the Normal School. 

 The junior class that entered in September is 

 unusually large. A model school is in success- 

 ful operation. 



Conrts. The judicial expenses, amounting to 

 $226,848.42, are $6,359.37 less than those of 

 the previous year. During the year ending 

 Dec. 1, 1883, the records show that the aggre- 

 gate sessions of the Superior Court, in the 

 trial of civil and criminal cases, occupied 790 

 days, scarcely more than one third of the time 

 of .the judges of that court, if they, unassisted, 

 did the whole of the service. 



Agriculture. In this State nearly 45,000 per- 

 sons, and more than $135,000,000 of capital, 

 are employed in agriculture. The changed 

 condition occasioned by the development, with- 

 in a few years, of railroad transportation, com- 

 pels the farmer of New England to avoid com- 

 petition with the cheap lands of the West, by 

 giving attention to such lines in his occupation 

 as require special knowledge and skill. To as- 

 sist in sustaining in Connecticut such a policy, 

 bounties have been given to agricultural socie- 

 ties ; an experiment station has been estab- 

 lished, the first in the country ; and the Storrs 



Agricultural School, for the special education 

 of farmers, has been assisted by annual appro- 

 priations of money. 



Fish-Culture and Shell-Fisheries The action of 

 the State in creating commissions to supply 

 the lakes, rivers, and streams with a variety of 

 hVh, and to promote the cultivation of oysters, 

 has been productive of the most satisfactory 

 results. The Shell-fish Commission has, within 

 a few years, developed an industry that gives 

 employment to a large number of men, in- 

 volves large amounts of capital, and promises 

 to continually increase its proportions. 



The Fish Commissioners express the opinion 

 that the present modes of fishing in Connecti- 

 cut river are so destructive as to threaten the 

 speedy extermination of shad, and in their 

 annual report they call upon the Legislature 

 to investigate the matter of the pollution of 

 the rivers and streams of the State by refuse 

 matter from mills and factories. 



The commissioners review with regret the 

 temporary failure to secure a permanent res- 

 toration of the salmon to its old haunts in the 

 State. In 1874 New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 Massachusetts, and Connecticut combined to- 

 gether and placed in the tributaries of the 

 upper Connecticut about 1,000,000 young sal- 

 mon. In 1878, as was anticipated, the salmon 

 appeared in considerable numbers, averaging 

 about fifteen pounds each ; but, as it was a 

 very large and valuable fish, nearly all that 

 entered the river were taken. A few suc- 

 ceeded in making their way up to the foot of 

 Holyoke Dam, but were there stopped by this 

 impassable barrier. The result has been the 

 disappearance of the salmon, never to return 

 until a practicable fish-way shall be erected at 

 the Holyoke Dam. 



Charities. The State has, during the year, 

 wholly or partially, cared for 2,712 persons in 

 its hospitals and other humane institutions, at 

 a total expense of $257,261.17; and the people 

 have, it is estimated, at the same time con- 

 tributed, in local taxation, to the same class of 

 charities more than $500,000. 



The Insane Hospital at Middletown is in- 

 tended to accommodate only 775 patients; 

 but at no time during the year were there 

 fewer than 842, while the average number 

 was 854. The hospital comprises several cot- 

 tages, besides the main building and annex. 



The results of the school, established at 

 Middletown, in 1869, for the care and train- 

 ing of friendless and neglected girls, have been 

 exceedingly gratifying. The statistics show 

 that more than two thirds of its wards, in 

 number not less than 500, have been saved 

 from a life of degradation and vice. During 

 the year there were 48 commitments, and 54 

 girls were placed in country homes or among 

 relatives. .There are now in the school 192, 

 between the ages of eight and nineteen, dis- 

 posed of in families, occupying five separate 

 buildings. 



License Law. The returns of county commis- 



