After making the corrections indicated, the total number of beneficiaries of the state of Illinois, in the eight charitable institutions and the state reform school, during the past two years, was 7,549. The number remaining and actually present in the institutions, September 30th, 1878, was: Northern Hospital for the Insane.. State Reform School.. Total 525 534 458 403 7 200 290 65 192 . 2,674 This is an increase of twenty-seven and a half per cent. over the number present at the close of the year 1876. AVERAGE NUMBER. In stating the average number present during the two years, a certain difficulty is always felt, in consequence of the fact that a part of the institutions enjoy a vacation, while the others do not. The average is obtained by ascertaining the number of days' board furnished to inmates, and dividing it either by the number of days in the year or by the number of days in the school term, as the case may be. There is only one average for the institutions without vacation, but for the educational institutions there are two. To compare the two classes of institutions, the average for the year must be taken. But to give a correct idea of the size of the several schools, the average for the school term needs to be stated also. We therefore state both; but in calculating per capita expense, we use only the averages for the year, which are shown in the following table : The averages for the term, in the educational institutions, are as follows: The average number, for the two years, in all the institutions, in 1875-6, was 1,940; in 1877-8, it was 2,280; an increase of nearly twenty per cent. The average for the next two years will be still greater. Two causes operate to bring about this increase the natural growth of the population of the state, and the enlargement of the institutions, of which the former is primary and the latter an inevitable consequence. The increase in cost, we are happy to say, does not keep pace with the increase in numbers; and the per capita cost is steadily diminishing, as will appear in a subsequent part of our report. ORDINARY EXPENSES. The ordinary expenses of the institutions are paid out of the appropriations made for that purpose, and from the petit or contingent funds derived from receipts from other sources than the state treasury. In all cases the petit fund is reckoned as part of the ordinary expense fund. For the information of the general assembly as to the disposition made of the ordinary expense funds, we furnish the following tables, of which the first two show the items of expense incurred during each of the two past years, separately, and the third contains our estimate, in detail, of the annual expenses of the next two years. CLASSIFIED SUMMARY Of the ordinary expenses of nine State Institutions, for one year, from October 1, 1876, to September 30, 1877. Expenses not classified. 751 34 2,234 45 340 70 7 25 1,350 13 555 54 80 05 2,857 57 1,063 24 896 17 810 97 133 10 567 29 12,292 57 3,792 58 984 43 189 75 512 80 6,200 54 50 00 485 61 179 55 134 97 234 311 1.512 80 Total. $107,713 62 $96, 835 16 $57, 176 73 $77,804 92 $24,979 22 $ 31, 639 52 $ 42, 498 83 $ 12, 840 40 $ 30, 582 99, 8 482 071 39 CLASSIFIED SUMMARY Of the ordinary expenses of nine State Institutions, for one year, from October 1, 1877, to September 30, 1878. Total.. $ 104, 080 098 106, 905 73 $ 80, 040 41$ 87,774 33 $27,779 31 $53,062 88 $44,890 35 $ 18, 478 23 $ 34,546 678 557, 558 00 details of an estimate of the ordinary expenses of nine State Institutions. for two years, from July 1, 1879, to June 30, 1881. Total. 300 00 2,500 00 1,000 00 108,000 00 $ 120,000 00 200 00 1,000 00 $95,000 00 500 001 500 00 1,000 00 500 00 1,000 00 500 00 500 00 300 00 50.00 1,000 00 6,550 00 1,850 00 9,000 00 $88,000 00 $27,000 00 $58,000 00. $ 44,500 00 $20,500 00 $36,000 00 $ 597, 000 00 TABLE showing the |