Vermont

Finance.

The wealth of Vermont, as estimated by the bureau of the census, increased from $842,000,000 in 1922 to $947,000, 000 in 1929. The per caput increase was from $2,389 to $2,637, the latter figure being still below the average per caput wealth of $2,918 for the entire United States in 1922.

The gross receipts of the State treasury for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936, amounted to $19,039,797. Disbursements for the same period were $18,338,119. The balance in the treas ury at the end of the fiscal year was $1,614,825. Of the receipts $13,679,078 was provided from miscellaneous sources and $5,360, 719 from taxes. The chief items of miscellaneous revenue were proceeds from temporary loans, $4,500,000; motor vehicle fees, $2,231,204; proceeds from liquor control board, State refunding bonds, $1,515,665; and Federal highway projects, $1,134,49o. Of the tax receipts, $2,161,019 was from the gasolene sales tax, $1,545,585 from corporation taxes, $564,215 from a State income tax, $326,743 from inheritance taxes, $249,067 from the flood tax, and $240,768 from the electric tax.

The State debt on June 30, 1936, was $8,400,032. Of the total debt $5,525,000 represented flood bonds issued to repair the flood losses of Nov. 1927, and $686,000, war bonds. The debt of the local governments within the State totalled $17,634,45o in 1932.

There were on June 30, 1935, 92 banking institutions in the State, 43 of them national banks (statistics of national banks as of Dec. 31, 1934) with total resources and liabilities of $211,700, 000. Their capital, surplus and undivided profits totalled $39,300, 000 and deposits were $166,600,000. Of the deposits were in savings accounts. Vermont ranked fifth among the States in per caput deposits in savings banks.

Education.

The public school system is directed by the board of education, and administered by the commissioner of education, assisted by superintendents in each district. Attend ance is compulsory for all children between 8 and 16 years of age. In 1934 there were 88,300 children between 5 and 17 years of age and during the 1933-34 school term 66,176 were enrolled in the public schools. In addition there were approximately 11,400 pupils in private and parochial schools. There were 2,774 elemen tary and high school teachers in the State schools, drawing a salary of $2,266,000 in 1934, or $770 each. High school enrolment to talled 12,632 in the public high schools and 2,543 in the private high schools and academies. All expenditures for the public school

system totalled $3,593,000 for the year 1933-34. This amounted to $9.61 per capita of population as against $13.58 for the United States, or $54.23 per capita of enrolment as compared with $64.76 as the average for the United States. The average daily attend ance in the public schools in 1934 was 58,533 ; the average num ber of days attended per year per pupil enrolled was 151.6.

There are two-year normal school courses given at the Uni versity of Vermont, and in normal schools at Castleton, Johnson and Lyndon. One-year teachers' training courses were given in six high schools in 1935-36. In 1922 high school graduation was made a requirement for entering either the one-year or two-year normal courses.

The University of Vermont, chartered by the State in 1791, occupies a 75 ac. campus on a hill overlooking the city of Burlington and the Champlain valley. It is composed of an undergraduate college, college of engineering, college of medicine and college of agriculture. Its library, containing about 145,000 volumes and 48,000 pamphlets in 1936, is the largest in the State. Middlebury college, at Middlebury, chartered in 1800, is a liberal arts college of high standing, doing excellent work. Norwich university at Northfield is the State military college at which engineering courses and military training are emphasized. St. Michael's Roman Catholic college is at Burlington.

Charities and Correction.

The department of public wel fare is charged with the scientific treatment and care of the State's unfortunates. It also has charge of the administration of the State charitable and penal institutions, which are as fol lows: School for Feeble-minded Children, at Brandon; Indus trial School for Delinquent Boys and Girls, at Vergennes; State Prison and House of Correction for Men at Windsor; State Prison and House of Correction for Women at Rutland; Hos pital for the Insane at Waterbury; the Vermont Sanatorium for Incipient Tuberculosis at Pittsford. The State makes other pro vision for insane by paying for them at the Brattleboro Retreat, a private hospital not operated for profit. The Washington County hospital at Barre for the treatment of tuberculosis and the Caverly preventorium at Pittsford for undernourished or tuberculous chil dren are private institutions at which patients are cared for at State expense. The department maintains Kinstead Receiving home for dependent and neglected children at Montpelier.