The public institutions are: the asylum for the insane at Ossawatomie, the asylum for the deaf and dumb at Olathe, the school for the blind at Wyandotte, the state uni versity at Leavenworth, the state agricultural college at Manhattan, and the state peni tentiary at Leavenworth. The constitution requires the legislature to establish " a uniform system of common schools, and schools of a higher grade, embracing normal, preparatory, collegiate, and university departments." In the year ending July 31, 1879, the whole number of school districts was 5,575; persons of school age (between 5 and 21 years), males, 160,542; females, 150,768; total, 311,310; number of pupils enrolled, males, 107,095; females, 101,314; total, 208,409; average daily attendance, males, 62,120; females, 61,876—total, 123,996; number of teachers, males. 3,128; females, 5,579—total, 6,707. The total of receipts for school purposes was $1,878,563; of ex penses, $1,590,791. The permament school fund on June 30, 1879, amounted to $1,601,631. The amount of school property in 1878 was $4,527,227.
There being in the interior of the state no navigable rivers, the railroads are the chief means of transportation and travel. There were in the state in 1879, 2,500 in of railroad in operation, the assessed value of which was $15,525,033. The law prohibits the cor porations from charging over 6 cents per mile for transporting passengers. The principal roads, with their number of miles within the state, are: The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe, 469; Kansas Pacific, 476; Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston, 144; cen tral branch of the Union Pacific, 100; Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, 156; Missouri River, Fort Scott, and Gulf, 159; St. Joseph and Denver City, 138.
Topeka is the state capital. The capitol building is a large and handsome structure. The governor is elected by the people for 2 years and receives an annual salary of $3,000. The lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and superinten dent of public instruction are elected in the same way, for the same term, each receiving an annual salary of $2,000. The attorney-general, elected in the same way and for the
same term, is paid $1,500 per annum. The legislature is composed of a senate and house of representatives, and the number of their members respectively changes as new counties are organized. The apportionment of 1876 fixed the number of senators at 40, and of representatives at 123; the former being elected for 2 years, the latter for 1 year. Their compensation is fixed by the constitution at $3 per day for actual service and 15 cents per mile for travel to and from the capital. The sessions commnnce annually on the 2d Tuesday of January. The annual election is held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November. The supreme court, consisting of a chief-justice and 2 associate justices, is elected by the people for the term of 6 years; the district courts, of one judge each, are elected by the people for 4 years; the probate court of each county, consisting of one judge, is elected for 2 years. Married women may sue and be sued, carry en in th,Jir own names any trade or business, and have full control of their earn ings. The property of a wife at marriage is not merged with that of her husband, but remains her own. Neither husband nor wife is allowed to bequeath more than half of his or her estate away from the other without written consent. Divorces are allowed for abandonment for one year, adultery, impotency, extreme cruelty, drunkenhess, gross neglect of duty, and imprisonment in the penitentiary subsequent to marriage. The total bonded debt of the state in 1878 was $1,181,975. The electoral votes of Kansas for president and vice-president of the United States have been cast as follows: 1364, 3 for Lincoln and Johnson; 1868, 3 for Grant and Colfax; 1872, 5 for Grant and Wilson; 1876, 5 for Hayes and Wheeler; 1880, 5 for Garfield and Arthur.