STATE INSTITUTIONS. Age, wealth and population considered, the state of Wisconsin is unexcelled in the matter of public institutions. Its educational, as well as its penal and charitable institutions, have been liberally established and supported, and every effort has been put forth to raise to the highest degree the character and efficiency of them all. This state, like others, has been aided in no small measure in the establishment of educational institutions by the far sighted bounty of congress. Liberal grants of public lands have greatly stimulated the ambition and furthered the efforts of the people of this state to provide amply for the advanced as well as the elementary education of their children. An elaborate and well organized system of common schools, high schools and normal schools, lead up to the state university, which already stands with dignity among the leading universities of the country. There are over six thousand public common schools and one hundred and fifty high schools, employing over twelve thousand teachers. These schools are supported partly by the the income of the "trust funds," so called, and partly by the levy of a fixed general tax, provided by law. All fines and penalties collected under any penal statute are also payable to the trust fund. The school fund income realized from various sources, during the year 1896, the following amounts: |