Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/265

MASSACHUSETTS 253 292,402 personal estate, $30,569,512 bank stock not included in the valuation of cities and towns, $217,452,120 deposits in savings banks, and $84,775,750 property of corporations above real estate and machinery taxed in cities and towns. The number of polls was 414,800, on whom the tax amounted to $875,486. The total municipal taxation for state, county, city, and town purposes, including highway tax, amount- ed to $28,700,605. During the decade ending with 1874 the taxable property of the common- wealth increased to the extent of $1,032,678,- 594. The yearly valuation and the annual in- crease during this period were as follows : YEARS. Property returned by local assessors. Deposits in savings banks. Corporate excess above real estate and machinery. Total. Increase. 1865... 1866 $991,841,901 00 1,081,816,001 00 $59,936,482 52 67,732,264 31 $79,941,570 77 88,015.184 91 $1,181,719,954 29 1,237,063,450 22 $66,287,834 77 105343495 93 186T 1 165 893,413 00 80,431,583 71 85,522,968 02 1 331 847 964 73 94 784 514 51 1868 . 1,220,498,939 00 94,838,336 54 92,826.758 60 1,407,664,084 14 75816069 41 1869 1,341,069,403 00 112,119,016 64 95,167,745 25 1,548,356,164 89 140,692,130 75 1870 1 417,127 376 00 135,745,097 54 92 063 976 00 1 644 936 449 54 96 580 284 65 1S71 1,496,678,258 00 168,704,077 54 101,208,665 00 1,761,591,000 54 116654551 00 1872 1873, including bank shares. 1874,. " 1,696,599,969 00 1,794,216,110 69 1,862,170,677 57 184,797,318 92 202,195,343 70 217,452,120 84 104,757,278 03 90,938,561 07 84,775,750 50 1,986,154,560 95 2,087,350,015 46 2,164,398,548 91 224,563,560 41 101,195,454 51 77,048,533 45 All business corporations are taxed for their real estate and machinery in the place where situated, and their capital stock is taxed by the state at its value over and above the local as- sessment, the proceeds being distributed to the cities and towns wherein stockholders reside. The property exempted from taxation is valued at $55,088,592, distributed as follows: reli- gious societies, $30,455,075 ; literary, $13,886,- 791; charitable and benevolent, $7,726,031; scientific, $2,064,200; agricultural, $956,495. The amount exempted in Boston is $18,713,- 100, of which $10,650,700 is for churches. The provisions made by the state for the care of the defective and dependent are liberal and systematic. The charitable and correctional institutions are in charge of separate and inde- pendent boards of trustees or inspectors, ap- pointed by the governor and council. They are, however, under the general supervision of the board of state charities, comprising seven members, who collect and publish statistical information concerning them, and recommend to the legislature such action as may seem ex- pedient. On Sept. 30, 1874, the wards of the commonwealth, or persons entirely at its charge, exclusive of prisoners, were 3, 626 ; and adding the blind, the deaf mutes, idiots, and others over whom the state exercises some supervision, the total was 4,103. Including the cost of maintaining the county and city prisons, and of supporting and relieving towns' poor, which is not directly borne by the state, more than $2,000,000 was paid in 1874 for purposes of charity, reform, or correction; and this amount does not include $470,000 of state aid to soldiers. The ordinary appropria- tions for public charitable and correctional in- stitutions amounted to $568,500, besides $270,- 000 for charitable purposes outside of institu- tions, half the latter sum being exceptional. Included in the former sum was $95,000 for the insane, $260,500 for the almshouse, work- house, and juvenile reformatories, $120,000 for the state prison, $30,000 for deaf mutes, $8,500 for the eye and ear infirmary, $30,000 INSTITUTIONS. Established. jf til p. t! < 1 r| Worcester lunatic hos- pital 1833 1854 1858 1854 1854 1854 1848 1856 842 858 621 3,022 715 798 456 140 476 480 469 881 480 403 328 93 $320,006 183,625 99,906 96,858 47,209 49,310 89,587 83,934 $107,534 96,218 89,876 88,199 45,601 46,432 53,065 21,085 Taunton lunatic hospit'l Northampton lunatic Tewksbury almshouse . Monson primary school Bridgewater workhouse Westborough reform school Lancaster industrial school Total 7,452 3,606 $920,485 $547,960 for the blind, and $20,000 for idiots. The total income of the state from these insti- tutions was about $110,000. The institutions, besides the state prison, owned and managed by the state, with the most important statistics for 1874, were as follows : Of the total receipts, $343,828 was from ap- propriations for current expenses, while $282,- 000 was granted for new buildings. The entire expenditures amounted to $885,647. Each of the above named institutions has a farm, the smallest containing 134 and the largest 375 acres. In 1874 they reported a valuation of $2,400,911 on real estate and $608,949 on per- sonal. The institutions at Westborough and Lancaster are reformatories, the former for boys and the latter for girls ; admission to both is by sentence of the courts, and for the term of minority. The establishments at Monson and Bridge water were originally almshouses ; the legislation of 1866 converted the one into a primary school and the other into a work- house ; and the almshouse department of each was abolished in 1872. The school at Monson is for children of poverty, boys and girls ; ad- mission is granted by the board of state chari- ties. Several hundred children are annually released from these institutions on probation or indenture, and are regularly visited by the state visiting agents. The general duties of