Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1878.djvu/42

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XL
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

Lot 5, in square 575, was damaged to the amount of $3,000.

Lot 9, in square 576, was damaged to the amount of $5,233.60.

The report of the commissioners was ratified by the court, no exception thereto having been taken.

No demand having been made upon the Secretary of the Interior for the assessed value of any portion of the property, within fifteen days after the appraisement, the full amount of the assessed values was, in accordance with the law, deposited in the court to the credit of the owners of the lots and improvements. The title to the property is, therefore, now vested in the United States.

The following allowances were made by the court for costs and fees: To the United States district attorney, $300; to the marshal of the court, $99; to the clerk, $22.05; to the National Republican and the Law Reporter, for advertising, $57.50. The court allowed the commissioners $200 each for their services. From the order making this allowance an appeal has been taken on the ground that it is excessive.

The department paid to M. Ashford, esq., for making the abstracts of titles, $220.

GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.

The twenty-third annual report of the Board of Visitors is one of unusual interest. It is accompanied by tables showing the number of patients treated during the year, also the number treated from the beginning; their sex, nativity, duration of the mental disease of those admitted, also those who died, forms of disease, age of patients when admitted.

The whole number under treatment during the year ending June 30, 1878, was 947; admitted during the year, 182. The number of males was 721; females, 226. Discharged, recovered, 60; improved, 41; unimproved, 7; died, 46.

The average number of patients treated daily during the year was 781, a larger average than ever before recorded. The accommodations are intended for 563 patients, so that the present necessity for more room is both evident and urgent. It is gratifying to note that, in the face of this overcrowded condition of the hospital, the general health of the inmates is excellent, the percentage of death being but 4.85, the lowest, with the exception of a single year, in the history of the institution.

The products of the farm and garden are estimated at $23,844.83. The total expenditures for the year were $174,276.52. This includes all the expenses of the hospital and care of grounds and buildings.

The estimates for the year ending June 30, 1880, are as follows:

1st. For the support, clothing, and treatment of the insane, $179,250.

2d. For general repairs and improvements, $10,000.

3d. For airing courts for the recreation of the inmates, for the completion of rooms in the upper story of the bakery, for changing roof of