in the country, and having provided it with suitable buildings and a competent crops of professors, should make its advantages available to persons of that class in the several States. I would commend the mater to the consideration of Congress, with the suggestion that probably some method of appointment could be devised, similar to that made use of in the military and naval schools of the Government, which should secure to the people of the States an impartial distribution of the benefits of this, the only institution of its grade. The directors urge, and justly, that Congress, having aided largely in the endowment of colleges for hearing-youth, ought, in some way, to provide similar facilities for a class of persons who, though bereft of one sense, have proved themselves capable of receiving and profiting by education as readily and as fully as their more favored brethren.
The receipts for the support of the institution during the last fiscal year exceeded the disbursements $389 40. The disbursements for the erection and fitting up of buildings were $8,380 30 less than the receipts, and the amount received for the improvement of grounds exceeded the disbursements $2,302 01.
The directors have purchased for the institution the estate known as Kendall Green. Eighty-one acres of land, lying within two miles of the Capitol, and adjoining the former premises of the institution on two sides, were secured, together with two dwelling houses and other valuable improvements, for the sum of $85,000. Toward the payment of this the directors are providing by subscription for $15,000, together with the interest that has accrued or may become due up to the 1st of July, 1872.
There will then remain to be paid the sum of $70,000, for which the task Congress to make an appropriation. I have examined the land in question, and consider that a due regard to the interests of the institution demands its retention. Prior to the purchase of Kendall Green, the premises of the institution comprised but nineteen acres, an amount plainly insufficient. The price agreed upon for the new purchase is low, compared with the present market-value of land similarly situated, and its proximity to the old corporate limits of the city insures a prospective rise in value, promising a handsome profit, should it be found desirable hereafter to sell any portion of the land. I therefore recommend that the appropriation be made.
The board of directors submit the following estimate for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1873:
| Support of the institution, including $500 for books and apparatus | $48,000 |
| Payments falling due on or after July 1, 1872, on the purchase of the Kendall Green property | 70,000 |
| Improvement of grounds | 6,000 |
| Deficiencies the current year | 9,500 |
| Total | 133,500 |
