Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/521

 MICHIGAN 503 tion in the elements of learning and are trained to habits of industry. Two family houses have recently been erected, affording accommoda- tions for 75 boys of the smaller and better class, where they may be free from the example of the more vicious. The number of inmates Sept. 30, 1872, was 218 ; received during the year, 101; released, 97; remaining Sept. 30, 1873, 222. The state public school for neg- lected and dependent children was established by the act of April 17, 1871, and was opened May 22, 1874. The grounds embrace 27 acres, and the buildings comprise a large central struc- ture for school and industrial purposes and sev- eral cottages in which the pupils may be sep- arately classified, having accommodations for 165 inmates; the number in the institution on Aug. 15, 1874, was 135. The children are kept in school 4 hours a day, and those that are old enough work three hours a day. It is es- timated that there are about 300 children in the state between the ages of 4 and 16 years who come within the design of this institution. The asylum for the insane was opened in 1859. The grounds embrace 195 acres, part of which is occupied as a farm and garden. With the new building to be completed in 1875 the in- stitution will have accommodations for 300 patients in the female and 260 in the male de- partment. The expenses are defrayed chiefly by receipts from inmates and from counties for the support of poor patients, with appropria- tions by the legislature to meet deficiencies. The number of patients Dec. 1, 1870, was 305 (156 males and 149 females) ; received during the succeeding two years, 155 (99 males and 56 females); discharged, 155 (recovered 56, improved 32, unimproved 40, died 27) ; re- maining Sept. 30, 1872, 305 (157 males and 148 females). The number in the institution on Aug. 14, 1874, was 465, of whom 232 were males and 233 females. The legislature in 1874 appropriated $400,000 for the erection of another insane asylum, and Pontiac has been selected as the site. The institution for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind was organized in 1854. Workshops have re- cently been connected with it, in which the pupils are taught mechanical occupations. The mental training is similar to that given in oth- er institutions of the kind. The farm and grounds contain 94 acres. The number of pu- pils in attendance during the two years 1871 and 1872 was 219, of whom 171 (93 boys and 78 girls) were deaf mutes and 48 (25 boys and 23 girls) blind. The number remaining Sept. 30, 1872, was 164, of whom 137 were deaf mutes and 27 blind. The Detroit house of correction is a city institution, but it receives all females sentenced to the state prison and criminals convicted of misdemeanors from all parts of the state, for whose board payment is made by the state or counties. The prison- ers are principally employed in the manufac- ture of chairs and cigars, under the direction of the superintendent, and the earnings exceed the expenses. Provision is made for the edu- cation of the inmates, and in the house of shel- ter connected with the institution a limited number of the girls are surrounded with the influences of a home. The number of prison- ers Jan. 1, 1873, was 443; received during the year, 2,409 ; discharged, 2,321 ; remaining Dec. 31, 1873, 531, of whom 416 were males and 115 females. Of those received during the year, 1,804 were from the city of Detroit, 595 from other parts of the state, and 10 from other states (United States prisoners). The commissioners also have the general oversight of the county jails and poorhouses. The number of jails is about 50. They vary from cheap log structures to expensive and impo- sing edifices, some costing less than $100 and others $50,000 or $60,000. The estimated value of jail property is $400,000. The aver- age number of inmates is about 300 ; annual cost of maintaining jails, $50,000. There are 51 poorhouses, each having a farm connected with it ; but few of the buildings have been constructed especially for the purpose. The whole number of paupers received in the county poorhouses and Washtenaw and Wayne county asylums for the insane, during the year ending Sept, 30, 1873, was 3,798; average number maintained, 1,482 ; number under 16 years of age, 577 ; number of persons tempo- rarily relieved outside the poorhouses, 13,785; whole amount expended from the poor fund, $403,096 18, of which $147,722 53 was for the maintenance of poorhouses, and $158,039 25 for temporary relief outside; estimated value of farms and appurtenances, $698,554 57; of paupers' labor, $7,628 50; of products of the farms, $60,519 15. The whole num- ber of insane persons received was 412, aver- age number maintained 284 ; whole number of idiots 196, average number 178 ; whole num- ber of blind 47, average number 39 ; whole number of mutes 12, average number 11. Of those received during the year, 1,551 were na- tive-born whites, 139 colored, 16 Indians, 36 of unknown birth, and the rest foreigners. Michigan has an excellent system of nearly 6,000 free public schools. Districts having fewer than 30 children between 5 and 20 years of age are required, under a heavy penalty, to have three months' free school annually ; dis- tricts with 30 to 800 children, five months; and districts with over 800, nine months. The actual average length is a little over seven months. The state superintendent of public instruction has the general oversight and su- pervision of these and all other educational institutions of the state, including in some respects all the local and denominational col- leges. A county superintendent of common schools is elected in each county for two years, whose duty it is among other things to examine candidates for the position of teacher and grant certificates for his county. The state superintendent of public instruction may grant certificates effectual throughout the state.