The State Board of Health, appointed by the governor with the confirmation of the senate. comprising three persons, one of whom must be a physician, appoints the county health of ficers, inspects public institutions in the inter est of health and sanitation, makes quarantine regulations and advises counties and municipali ties regarding drainage, water supply and gen eral problems of sanitation. The State dairy and food commissioner is charged with the en forcement of all laws touching frauds, adultera tions and impurities in foods. The practice of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy. nursing, em balming and optometry is regulated by laws. the administration of which is in the hands of a series of State appointed boards.
Education.— Provision for public edam ticrn was made at the first session of the Tern torial assembly in 1869. Owing to the low dens ity of population the problem of elementary education has been largely the problem of rural education. Educational facilities, however. have more than kept pace with the growth in The increase in the number of schoolhouses was slow to 1905. but since I909 the number has doubled, reaching, in 1914. a total of 879. The number of teachers has him wise shown a marked increase. In 1894 there were 407; in 1904, 763; in 1914, 1,488. Less than 12 per cent of the teachers are men. The cost of education in 1914 was 37.A3 cents per pupil per day. In 1914 there were 29.155 pupils en rolled. Since 1901 free textbooks have been provided. Certification regulations were first adopted in 1876. Various changes were made is the law till, in 1917, the whole matter was care fully gone over and an entirely new system of certification was adopted. In 1916 there were 26 four-year high schools in the State with a total enrolment of 1,648 pupils. At first ;ell.< education was surpassed in importance by pet rate education. The situation is now quite the reverse. In 1872 was established the short lived Wyoming Institute, a Baptist school, at Laramie. Two years before, Saint Mary's School. a Roman Catholic institution. had hers established at Laramie. but made little head way till after a decade. in 1885 this was supplanted by the much larger and better eip ped school in Cheyenne established by the Sea ety of the Holy Child Jesus. The first kinder garten in Wyoming was privately established Cheyenne in 1886 In 1844-95 the Wyonorg Collegiate institute was founded at Big Hors but lasted only a short time. In 1905 was opened the Cheyenne Business College, and. 1909, under the auspices of the Christian Church there was established Beefs Collette at Jireh, Niobrara County. The State thsiversitv at Laramie, the creation of which was timed as early as 11378 by the governor of the Territory was nit established till 1887 In 1R70 the Prat. mtant Episcopal Church opened an Intim school among the Shoshones. In recent years the task of educating the Indians has been un dertaken more seriously both by the churches and the government. The Wyoming School
!menial, a periodical devoted to educational matters, issued under the auspices of the State Teachers' Association, was published for a time in the 90's. 1904 it was re-established. There has been steady improvement in the standards of education and in school administra tion. In 1917 was created the State Board of Education, comprising seven members ap pointed by the governor for six years. The hoard prescribes educational policies for the State, exercises general supervision over pub lic education, prepares outlines of study, estab lishes standards of work and rules for the certi fication of teachers. The general administration of the rules and regulations of the board is in the hands of the commissioner of education, ap pointed by them. Each county elects a super *menden' of schools on a non-partisan basis and each school district elects its own trustees. Teachers' institutes are provided by law. At the 1917 session of the legislature the State ac cepted the terms of the act of Congress provid ing for Federal aid in vocational education.
The Territory of Wyoming was created in 1i458; the State in 1890. Equal suffrage was adopted by the first session of the Territorial assembly, making Wyoming the first Territory or State to permit full woman's suf trage. This provision was incorporated in the State constitution drawn up in 1889 and after ward ratified. In general, women voters in Wyoming have not aligned themselves with any one party or on any single issue but divide as the male voters divide. The principal executive officers are the governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor, commissioner of taxation, superintendent of public instruction, attorney general and examiner. The governor receives $4.000. The salaries of the remaining range from $2,400 to $3,600. Besides the above there is a State fish commissioner, game warden, food commissioner, highway engineer, commissioner of labor, geologist and adjutant-general. There are three justices in the Supreme Court. each receiving $5,000. There are seven judicial dis tricts, the judges in each receiving a salary of S4.500. The State legislature, which meets bi ennially for not more than 40 days, comprises 27 senators and 57 representatives. The salary of each is $5 a day and mileage. The capitol is at Cheyenne. Wyoming has but one representa tive in Congress. There are 22 counties with the usual county officials. In 1910 there were 48 incorporated cities and towns. Most cities have the mayor-council type of government. In 1911 an act of the legislature made the commission form permissive Only one city adopted this type of municipal government and afterward abandoned it. A bill to provide for the city manager type was introduced in the 1917 ses sion of the legislature but was defeated. A list of the Territorial and State governors appears elsewhere on this page.