The per capita cost of gross maintenance, based on the operating expenses and the daily average attendance, was $155.36. The value of the produce raised on the institution grounds and used during the year is estimated at $1,272.61, or $1.70 per capita, and the cost of producing it at $521.10.

The last legislature authorized a number of necessary improvements and additions and much of the work contemplated has been done. Plans for a new $50,000 hospital have been prepared and submitted to our Board. The site is chosen and the construction work is under way. The building formerly used as a hospital is to be remodeled and refurnished for an infirmary, the Home having been granted $15,000 for this purpose. A ten-room cottage is being erected by Miami County. With these new facilities, the institution will be able to accept more of its outstanding applications for admission.

While the sanitary condition of the Home has been bettered, the need was for radical improvement, and to meet this need the legis lature appropriated $6,500 for new sewers. The sewer lines are wisely being placed deeper than were the old ones. Considerable work has been done on a new cold storage plant and store room and the power plant is being overhauled. The $6,000 appropriation for the former was hardly sufficient, and we feel that a mistake has been made in the plans adopted.

The ordinary repairs have been kept up during the year. The principal drive has been improved by the addition of five carloads of crushed stone; a new vehicle barn has been erected; the laundry has been repainted and ventilators have been cut into the ceiling; some repairs, including a new floor for the porch, have been made in the administration building; the grounds have been improved.

There has been an improvement in the administration of the institution. There is, however, much that is unsatisfactory at the Home, in both physical conditions and the administrative system. The Board of Trustees does not place upon the Commandant the responsibility that the proper conduct of the Home demands, or that is contemplated by the law.

The Home has good medical service and the health of the members is as good as could be expected considering their age and infirmities. A new rule of the trustees is to the effect that applicants who have property valued at more than $600 shall be rejected. This grew out of the fact that the Home was being called upon to maintain some persons who had property of their own.

SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' ORPHANS' HOME-KNIGHTSTOWN.

A. H. Graham, Superintendent.

Real estate, 247 acres. Capacity, 600. At the beginning of the year the Home had an enrollment of 510 children. During the year 40 were added and 77 withdrawn, leaving the enrollment at the end of the year 473. All of these were present September 30, 1907. The daily average attendance decreased during the year from 452.5 to 444. The average number of officers and employes during the year was 88.25.

The per capita cost of gross maintenance, based on the operating expenses and the daily average attendance, was $220.48. The value of the produce raised on the institution farm and used during the year, is estimated at $2,742.50, or $6.18 per capita, and the cost of producing it at $1,811.77.

This Home has been visited at various times during the year. and always found in good condition. The maintenance appropriation proved ample for the year's needs and the usual ordinary repairs have been kept up. In anticipation of an appropriation made by the last legislature, the institution has purchased two new boilers of a good type. A new and useful feature is the outfit for canning fruit and vegetables. This not only provides the children with better and less expensive food, but also gives them healthful employment.

We are always pleased to speak of the neatness and cleanliness of the Home, of the good school and of the wholesome, healthful condition of the children. We feel that there can be improvement in the business methods and that greater activity should be shown in placing the children out in family homes. The institution is not doing the best work that it is fitted to do. By keeping children so long in the Home, dependence is encouraged. They should be placed out in family homes where they could live independent lives rather than be dependents in an institution. The Board of Trustees has taken some advanced steps. The superintendent has rendered years of faithful service to the State. It is a pleasure to speak of this.

INDIANA STATE SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF-INDIANAPOLIS.
Richard O. Johnson, Superintendent.

Real estate, 89 acres. Capacity, 340. At the beginning of the year the school had an enrollment of 325 children. During the year 32 were added and 83 were withdrawn, making the enrollment at the end of the year 274. All of these were present September 30, 1907. The daily average attendance increased during the year from 314.02 to 315.78. The average number of officers and employes during the year was 89.

The per capita cost of gross maintenance, based on the operating expenses and the daily average attendance, was $218.06. The value of the produce raised on the institution farm and used during the year is estimated at $1,028.62, or $3.25 per capita, and the cost of producing it at $617.17.

The last legislature wisely changed the name of this institution to the Indiana State School for the Deaf.

The school has maintained well its literary and industrial training during the past year. The management is looking forward to the time when the new buildings will be ready for occupancy, and only such repairs as were absolutely necessary have been made. The appropriation for this purpose was only $1,000. The administration of the present school and the construction work of the new institution have fully occupied the superintendent's time. He has faithfully given his best ability to the trying and responsible duties devolving upon him.

The legislature of 1907 added $367,277.00 to the sum previously appropriated for the erection of the new buildings. The site is on a tract of eighty acres of land, four miles north of the center of Indianapolis. Some delay in the work of construction has occurred. The estimated expense of the new buildings is far more than we were at first led to believe. The contracts awarded call for $926,370.50 and it is estimated that additional requirements. and expenses, including the grading, sewers, equipment, etc., will amount to $128,500, bringing the total cost to $1,054,870.50.

INDIANA SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND-INDIANAPOLIS.
George S. Wilson, Superintendent.

Capacity, 130.

Real estate, 8 acres. Capacity, 130. At the beginning of the year the school had an enrollment of 128 children. During the year 25 were added and 28 withdrawn, leaving the enrollment at the end of the year 125. All of these were present September 30, 1907. The daily average attendance decreased from 129.01 to 128.37. The average number of officers and employes during the year was 52.

The per capita cost of gross maintenance, based on the operating expenses and the daily average attendance was $285.55.

Indiana School for the Blind-this is the new name properly given by the last legislature to this institution.

The property of the school has been kept in a good state of repair considering the age of some of the buildings. The grounds. look well. An addition to the laundry, for which the legislature appropriated $1,200, was built during the summer. The number of pupils remains about the same from year to year. The usual work has been carried on in the three departments of the school-literary, industrial and music. No effort is made to make the industrial department a revenue producer, the only object being the training of the children. Altogether the school appears to be doing well and running smoothly. It is thought the new dormitory for girls, affording as it does separate quarters and better accommodations, has been instrumental in increasing the attendance of girls. and that a new dormitory for boys, an appropriation for which was. asked, but not granted by the last legislature, would have a like result. The superintendent thinks the total number of blind children the school will be called upon to educate will never greatly exceed the present population.

SCHOOL FOR EEEBLE-MINDED YOUTH-FORT WAYNE.

A. E. Carroll, Superintendent.

Real estate, 564.55 acres. Capacity, 1,207. At the beginning of the year the school had an enrollment of 1,035. To this number 67 were added during the year, and there were 69 withdrawals, leaving the enrollment on September 30, 1907, 1,033. On that date there were 1,032 children present in the school. The daily average attendance of inmates during 1907 increased from 1,017.37 to 1,019.28. The average number of officers and employes was 158.54.

The cost of gross maintenance for the year was $117.52 per capita, based on the operating expenses and the daily average attendance. The value of the produce raised on the institution farm and used during the year is estimated at $7,447.48, or $7.31 per capita, and the cost of its production $5,585.61.

The additional land so much needed by the school has been purchased in accordance with the provision made by the last General Assembly. The colony farm now contains 510 acres and is in much better position not only to maintain the stock belonging to the institution, but to afford employment for the able-bodied boys. With the additional facilities for drainage provided for by the same legislature, the farm will soon be in better condition. The past year's crops were not very satisfactory. The use of soft coal in a heater designed for hard coal so smoked the building, and the hard water used so discolored the walls of the lavatories that the colony building had to be repainted the past summer.