Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/326

This page needs to be proofread.

MICHIGAN


280


MICHIGAN


dation of bossage from the base upwards through two stories, after which come smooth stone blocks. The plan, moreover, was afterwards generally imitated. Not very large, but imposing in effect, it presents, he- low, a colonnade, above, between bold cornices, a wall decorated with antique reliefs, and then an upper story with semicircular, double-light, windows similar to those of the facade. The coraposit* capital used here was afterwards generally adopted as a decorative clement. To Michclozzo are also due a court in the Palazzo Vecchio and another in the Corsi Palace, as well;vs a palace built for the Medici in Milan, of which only a small [)art luus been preserveii. In this, iis also in a palace at Ragusa by the same master, the upper floor had windows with the pointed arches of an ear- lier style. At Milan his Portinari chapel Ls still to be seen in Sant' Eustorgio. .\s compared with Dona- tello and BruncUeschi, Michelozzo is given the higher place by some critics, though others rank him lower.

Wolff, Micht:toz:o di Bnrtolommeo (Strasburg, 1900); Pbiluppi, Florem (Leipzig, 1903); Woebmann, Kunstgesch., II (Leipzig, 1905).

G. GlETM.^NN.

Michigan. — The State of Michigan is bounded on the north by Lake Superior, on the east by Canada, Lake Huron anti Lake St. Clair, on the south by Ohio and Indiana, and on the west by Lake Michigan and the State of Wisconsin. It has an area of .58,915 square miles.

Geogr.vphv. — Michi.gan consists of two distinct parts separated by the .Strait of Mackinac and known respectively as the Lower and Upper Peninsula. The Lower Peninsula, the most important part, consists of ivgricultural lands ini'ludingthe "Fruit Hrlt " about thirty miles wide, e.xtend- ing along the shore of Lake Michigan, in which all fruits of the northern states flourish and all the general farm- ing crops of the northern states are grown. Some large tracts, formerly covered with pine, are sandy and of small value, but the greater part of the land is fertile. There are salt works and gypsum mines and some coal fields in this section, as well as brick-clay. The Upper Peninsula is moimtainousand rocky, interspersed withlevel tracts of good soil. It is rich in iron and copper, furnishing seventy per cent of all the iron produced in the United States and fourteen per cent of the copper of the world. There are still largo tracts of virgin forest, and the land suitable for agriculture has not yet been fully settled. Statistics. — The population as shown by the last State census taken in 1904 was 2,530,016, of which 2,253,938 were in the Lower Peninsula. It is estimated that the population has increased at least 20 per cent since that time. Agriculhire. — The agricultural prod- uce for the year 190S is estimated at 60,420,000 bushels of corn, 15,732,000 bushels of wheat, 41,847,- 000 bushels of oats, besides large quantities of beans, sugar-beets, potatoes, and other crops. The value of its wool was §2,732,000. It had 2,130.000 sheep, 704,000 horses, 2,451,000 neat cattle, and 1,388,000 swine. Mining. — The value of the output of the mines is estimated at -5106,514,000 for the year 1907. Manufactures. — The value of the manufactures for the last statistical year, 1905, is estimated at $429,- 039,778, consisting of iron works, furniture and other woodworks, salt works, automobiles, and manufac- tures of many other descriptions. Fisheries. — Michi-


gan has the largest fresh water fisheries in the United States, the catcli for the year amounting to $686,375 in the Great Lakes in the last statistical year 1903. Commerce. — Is carried on by water as well as by rail- road, and its volume is very extensive. Means of Communication. — Steam vessels and vessels of all kinds navigate the Great Lakes, except during two or three of the winter months. There are 8723 miles of steam railroads and 930 miles of electric roads exclusive of city street railroads.

Edii('ation.\l System. — University of Michigan. — Founded at Detroit (1817) with Rev. .John Monteith anil Fallier Richard as its entire faculty. Its present organization and location at Ann Arbor, date from 1837. It. has a collegiate staff of 409 professors, instructors, assistants, and administTative oflicers and (1908) had 5,188 enrolled students. Besides the classical course it has schools of medicine and law. Students of both sexes are admitted and residents of Michigan have tuition free. It is supported liy three- eighths of a mill tax on all property in the state and interest on original endowment fund and students' fees and appropriations by legislature, and is governed by a board of eight regents, two being elected every second year who hold office eight years. Stale .\gri- cultural College, founded in 1855, locatetl at Lansing, besides scientific and practical agriculture has techno- logical classes. It has 90 instructors, had 1191 stu- dents in 1908, and is supported by interest, on endow- ment fund, one-tenth of a mill tax and a])iiropriations from U.S. Treasury and by state Legislature, students' fees, and receipts for produce. ('«//(;/( ii/M/Z/iC'.-, opened in 1886, located at Houghton in the I'pper Peninsula in the midst of copper mines, has 32 instructors, had 266 students in 1908, and is supported by legislative appropriations and students' fees.

Normal Schools. — There are four in the state, located at Ypsilanti, Mount Pleasant, Marquette, and Kalamazoo. They employ in all 170 instructors, have an average attentlance of 6,281 pupils, and are sup- ported by legislative appropriations and students' fees.

Special Schools. — .\ school for the deaf, established in 1854, located at Flint, has 48 instructors, an average attendance of 320 pupils, and is supported by legis- lati\'e appropriations. A school for the blind was es- tablished (1881) at Lansing, and has 15 instructors, an average of 131 pupils, and is supported by legislative appropriations. The Employment Institute for the Blind, established 1903, located at Saginaw, has 7 instructors and 102 pupils, and is also supported by legislative appropriation. The State Public School for Destitute and Ill-treated Children was opened in 1874 at Colihvater. Instruction is given in niainial labour and primary school grades. It has 5 teachers, 8 cottage managers, average of inmates 526, average age of children 6 /'„ years. Supported by legislative appropriation.

Public School System. — Each township and city is divided into school districts of convenient size, each of which has its school house and teacher or teachers. In cities, villages, and such townships as so determine by vote, graded and high schools are maintained as well as the primary schools, and all are supported by taxa- tion of the property in each school district. There are 17,286 teachers in the public schools and 743,630 pupils, the total appropriation from all sources was $19,202,449.61 in the last fiscal year. This does not include the private or denominational .schools. All children between the ages of seven and fifteen years are compelled by law to attend some school, either public, parochial, or private at least four months in each year, unless shown to be properly taught at home.

HisTouY. — The first settlers in Michigan (about 1641) were the hardy and adventurous French Canadians who established trading posts at Sault Ste. Marie and Michillimackinac (now "Mackinac"'), which they reached by way of the Ottawa River, thence