TRUSTEES' REPORT.

COLUMBUS, OHIO. December 16, 1901.

Hon. George K. Nash, Governor:

DEAR SIR: In submitting this, the sixty-fifth annual report of the Boar of Trustees of the Ohio Institution for the Blind, it is our pleasant privilege to report for the instituion a prosperous and efficient year. The health of the household has been exceptionally good and there has especially been unusual freedom from the epidemic troubles so difficult to guard against in the case of so large a population contained in one building.

The reports of the superintendent and financial officer, herewith attached, will furnish detailed information as to the definite work of the year, the money expended and the surviving condition of the various funds. Acting under special appropriations, the board had improvements made to an aggregate cost of $15,482.61 during the year. The outside woodwork of the building was given two much-needed coats of paint at a cost of $1,500.00. Changes of a most desirable character were made on the front veranda and in the business offices of the institution at a cost of $5,982.61. The old engine house was given another story and thoroughly remodeled, so as to give additional room for laundry and other purposes, at a cost of $7,000. Two new green houses and a store house in connection were built in the rear of the main building at an expense of $1,000. These improvements, as well as others of a minor character in the halls, offices and living rooms of the institution, have served a most excellent use and in no instance has the sum allowed by the legislature for the purpose been exceeded.

The per capita cost per pupil of maintaining the institution for the last fiscal year is seen by the financial officer's report to have been $214.99, salaries and trustees expenses included, as against $205.57 the previous year. The per capita for the whole household was $168.96, as against $164.46 for the previous year. The slight increase shown is due to the very general advance in the price of provisions and the purchase from the current expense fund of beds and bedding for the entire household. An attempt has recently been made to compare the expense per pupil in state institutions generally with that of private charitable insitutions, to the presumed discredit of the management of the former. If such a comparison is made in the case of the institution for the blind, allowance must be made for the fact that of the per capita cost of this institution, $51.56