REPORT

OF

COMMITTEE ON STATE INSTITUTIONS.

The Committee upon State Institutions respectfully report to the House of Representatives:

That they have visited, in a body, the Institutions of the State at Jacksonville, at Normal and at Champaign, and that they have given them as careful and complete an examination as the limited time at their command would permit.

In company with the chairman of the committee on the part of the Senate, the chairman of the house committee devoted an entire day to the Jacksonville Institutions, in advance of the committee's visit, and the committee in a body devoted two additional days and evenings to a critical examination of the Institution for the Insane, the Blind, the Deaf and Dumb, and the Feeble-Minded; and without burdening their report with details, the committee report that their visit to these Institutions was not one of ceremony, but was wholly,devoted to busi

ness.

We found, in the Institution for the education of the Deaf and Dumb, about two hundred and sixty-five pupils. They were healthy, cheerful, orderly, devoted to their studies, and apparently well advanced in their peculiar education, and making rapid progress. And we are gratified that the management of the educational and all other internal affairs of the Institution is in a high degree creditable to the officers and teachers who have it in charge; and as a very important part of the education imparted to the interesting class of pupils for which the Institution was devised, we commend the mechanical department, including, especially, the shoe shops, the cabinet shops and

the printing offices. In each of these the pupils are doing work which would do credit to any similar establishment in private hands; and we refer to the printed annual report of the Institution, already commu nicated to the General Assembly, as a specimen of the handiwork of the pupils. But with all these evidences of the excellent condition of its internal affairs, we find all departments of the Institution are overcrowded for want of sufficient room in the dormitories, the chapel, the dining rooms and the school rooms; and besides this present want of room in all departments, the committee find that the south wing of the building is in imminent danger of falling down, with all its crowded inmates. And we fully concur in the representations as to the dangerous condition of this wing, which are made in the annual report of the Institution. The committee are also satisfied, after a very thorough and careful examination, that the report does not exaggerate the necessity for repairs and improvements, in any particular, and we recommend that sufficient appropriations be made for these purposes.

The Hospital for the Insane was very carefully scrutinized in all its departments. As the result of these investigations the committee are satisfied that its present management is all that could be desired, considering the crowded condition of the wards, and the want of necessary and almost indispensable conveniences, which are presented in the annual report--to which reference is here made for the more particular information of the house.

Of the school for the education of the Blind, we only now say that we found it worthily maintaining its high reputation, and in the highest degree deserving the public favor, and the support of the State; but here as in other Institutions the want of sufficient room is manifest-the female pupils alone have any sufficient accommodation, while the male pupils occupy an old frame workshop, wholly unfit for the purpose. We recommend that ample provision be made for this worthy institution, either at the present site or elsewhere.

Last among the State Institutions at Jacksonville, we refer to that of the education of Fecble-Minded Children. Of that we may say, in a single sentence, that it has already produced the most important resuits, compared to its means and facilities, of any State Institution which has come under our observation. Nothing short of a personal visit will enable the members of the house to judge of the advancement which has been made in the physical and mental training of the Feeble-Minded by this Institution. Dr. Wilbur, the principal, and his devoted assistants, have earned the thanks of the humane every

where, for the labors of love which they have wrought with the poor unfortunates who have been submitted to their care-by which they have so thoroughly demonstrated the capacity and the right of the Feeble-Minded to be educated by the State. We commend the Institution to the nurturing care and support of the General Assembly.

Your committee spent two entire days in the Institutions of Normal; no commendation of ours can add to the reputation already so worthily possessed by the State Normal University. We ask, in its behalf, a continuation of public favor, and of liberal support by the State. And for details of its present condition and wants, we refer to its annual report, printed with that of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home we unanimously concur in the saying, that it is fulfilling the highest and noblest conceptions of its founders. It is emphatically a home where pleasant personal relations, government truly parental in character, and the happiness and culture of its more than three hundred inmates are written upon their happy faces. It is an Institution of which every humane and patriotic citizen should be proud; and we commend its orphan inmates to the liberal and direct support of the House and of the General Assembly. For its condition and its needs we refer to the annual report of the Institution as every way reliable.

Last among the State Institutions examined by your committee was the Industrial University at Urbana. The chairman and others of your committee visited that Institution with not the most favorable opinion of its condition or its prospects for usefulness; but a very thorough examination of its internal affairs, a better acquaintance with its Regent and Faculty, a watchful examination of its methods, a criticism of its classes, and a better knowledge of its organization and designs, have removed our doubts and have convinced us that it is worthy the highest confidence of its friends and founders, and of the whole people of the State. It is emphatically a school of industry, where the knowledge which pertains to the industry of the State is already more efficiently and thoroughly taught than we had anticipated, and where has been founded a system of education of incalculable value to the science and practice of agriculture and the mechanic arts.

We would too much extend this report should your committee attempt to give the details of their observations at this Institution; but we commend it to the confidence of all who feel that the spirit and necessity of the age demand in our State the peculiar education and training which best fits men and women for lives of practical usefulness,

In conclusion your committee, instead of making any special recommendations as to any of the State Institutions, respectfully report back the following bills, or substitutes therefor, which have been referred to them, and recommend each to the favorable consideration of the House, viz:

House bill, No. 200, being a bill for "An act making appropriations for the support of the Illinois Institution for Feeble-Minded Children."

Also, House bill, No. 77, being a bill for "An act for the support of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb."

Also, House bill, No. 220, for "An act appropriating money for the ordinary expenses of the Illinois Institution for the Education of the Blind."

Also, House bill, No. 185, being a bill for "An act to incorporate the Illinois Institution for the Education of Feeble-Minded Children." Also, House bill, No. 121, for "An act appropriating money to pay deficiencies of appropriations for the current expenses of the Illinois Hospital for the Insane, and to defray the current expenses of said Hospital," etc.

Also, House bill, No. 284, for "An act making appropriations for the Illinois Industrial University."

Also, bill No. 315, for "An act to make appropriations for the Sol. diers' Orphans' Home," etc.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

E. R. ROE,

Chairman.

1

MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR,

WITH REFERENCE TO

THE PURCHASE OF COIN MADE BY THE STATE TREASURER AND AUDITOR FOR THE PAYMENT OF THE STATE DEBT.

HON. WILLIAM M. SMITH,

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

SPRINGFIELD, March 15, 1871.

Speaker of the House of Representatives:

I have the honor to transmit to you, to be laid before the House of Representatives, a copy of the report of E. N. Bates, State Treasurer, and C. E. Lippincott, State Auditor, with reference to the purchase of coin made by them for the payment of the State debt, together with exhibits A, B, C, D and E, which are made a part thereof.

JOHN M. PALMER.

SPRINGFIELD, March 18, 1871.

HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN M. PALMER,
Governor of Illinois :

SIR-In compliance with law and your instructions of January 31, 1871, (a copy of which is hereto annexed, and marked "Exhibit A,") we have the honor to submit the following report of the purchase of coin for the payment of the principal, interest and exchange of the State debt, called in by your proclamation of January 9, 1871:

Cost of gold, including premiums and commissions....$3,466,328 75

Average cost

Vol. I-89

$111 1000

817