Cottage No. 2 is now in process of construction, and will be com'pleted about March 1, 1907, and when completed will afford accommodations for women transferred from one of the Hospitals.

The Adminstration Building has been raised one story and extended 20 feet in front, making the offices and living rooms of the Superintendent much more pleasant and furnishing additional room for employes in the third story.

The old quarters of the employes, located over the dining room, have been torn out, and an Assembly Hall or Chapel installed in their place. The exit from this hall is not considered quite safe in case of fire or panic, hence we would recommend an appropriation for the purpose of raising the corridors connecting the wards with the Main Building, thus allowing two extra exits, whereby the men could march directly into the wards from the Chapel.

The standpipes for fire protection have been installed in the Administration and Ward Wings of the Main Building, thus furnishing as good fire protection as is possible in a building of this kind.

A horse barn 50x100 feet and a granary 30x40 feet with machine sheds on each side 16 feet wide, have been erected within the appropriation of $1.000. The horse barn is believed to be a model of its kind. A small greenhouse has also been built, which will add much to the comfort and pleasure of the inmates at this institution.

Provision for additional accommodations at this institution will be referred to in another part of this report.

FERGUS FALLS STATE HOSPITAL.

The buildings completed at this institution consist of a cold storage plant and a rendering room, additions to the slaughter house.

The horse barn formerly located behind the West Wing of the Main Building has been moved about 1,500 or 1,600 feet in an easterly direction and there placed upon a good foundation erected by the institution inmates, making a barn very complete in all of its appointments. This was done for a two-fold purpose. It was felt that the barn was not located in the right place, and that particular location was desired as a site for the new Dormitory for Nurses, which is now under construction, the outer walls being in place and the roof, at the date of the writing of this report, being in process of construction. building will furnish rooms for about 100 nurses.

This

Another building which is very nearly completed is a barn and granary combined, the central part being two stories high, with granary in the lower part and a hay mow in the upper, with a wing on each side accommodating 50 cows each.

Work has just been commenced for the completion of the Tower for which an appropriation was made at the last session of the Legislature. We desire to call your special attention to the appropriations recommended at this institution. The remodeling of the kitchen and storeroom building and the arranging of the upper floors for employes' rooms is very important.

Much of the plumbing at this institution is old and in an unsanitary condition, and should be replaced. We call your attention to the appropriation asked for this purpose.

It will be absolutely necessary to have silos for the cow barn referred to above, and an appropriation of $800 is asked for this purpose. Minor appropriations are asked for, and we call your attention to requests made in the general table of appropriations asked for.

ROCHESTER STATE HOSPITAL.

At this institution we have constructed a large addition to the laundry, which will be used as ironing and sorting rooms. This was a much needed improvement. We have also put in new dry rooms in the laundry.

A 200-horse power engine has been added to the power equipment. Sixteen rooms have been fireproofed and are now ready for the plumbing.

We are just installing electric motors which will replace the engines in the laundry, in the carpenter shop, at the stone quarry, and in the kitchen. We have also installed a large electric air compressor, together with an electric pump which will take the place of two large steam pumps formerly in use, one of which has been kept in place for emergency

purposes.

This institution asks for the necessary appropriation to erect a Nurses' Dormitory on the same lines as those at St. Peter and Fergus Falls. Fifty-five thousand dollars is asked for this purpose, and we would respectfully urge that this appropriation be made.

The work of fireproofing this institution goes steadily on, and in order that it may be done as reasonably as possible, appropriations ought to be made from year to year so as to utilize the help in the Hospital. We respectfully ask for an appropriation of $10,000 for the fireproofing. of Sections B and C. Two years ago an appropriation of $16,000 was made for the purpose of building a connecting corridor between the Main Building and the Woman's Detached Ward. We found that with the increased cost of all material this was not a sufficient amount, and in order

to complete the plans for this work an appropriation of $8,000 additional

is necessary.

The present cow barn is old and the framework in a very bad condition, bulging out at the sides, the frame evidently being too weak to stand the pressure of the hay. We would ask an appropriation of $2,500 for remodeling the old barn,

Other minor appropriations are requested and will be listed in the general table of appropriations asked for.

ST. PETER STATE HOSPITAL.

Very little new work has been completed at this institution during the two years past. The Administration Building was completed as nearly as possible with the funds available. Through inadvertence two years ago several items were left out in asking the Legislature for money with which to complete this building, some changes have since been made, and price of materials so advanced as to make it impossible to complete and furnish the building with the money heretofore appropriated. We submit the matter to the Legislature without recommendation leaving it to determine what shall be done under the circumstances.

The horse barn at this institution has been rebuilt, the expense therefor being paid out of the Extraordinary Repair Fund.

We are now engaged in installing new boilers and a new 75 k. w. dynamo, with an electrically-driven pump at the pump house, so as to do away with the present expensive method of pumping water for this institution, which is done by a separate steam plant necessitating an engineer and all other expense incident to operating a plant of this kind.

Two years ago $40,000 was appropriated for a Tubercular Hospital or Nurses' Dormitory, as the Board of Control should elect. The Board decided that the latter was of the more importance, and we are now engaged in erecting a building for that purpose. The institution itself is putting in the necessary tunnel to connect the Main Building with the Dormitory so as to make steam and water connections immediately.

We desire to call your special attention to the South Detached Ward, which is in an unsanitary condition and should be rebuilt and fireproofed, and should have new plumbing installed therein. The necessary appropriation is asked for.

The St. Peter institution is one of the oldest in the state, and will need more money to put it into proper condition to meet modern requirements than any other institution in the state. We would urge

the careful perusal of the recommendations made by the Superintendent in his report published in this volume, and ask for as liberal treatment for this institution as can be possibly accorded in view of the necessities of the other institutions of the state. We have made our recommendations and trust that they will be fully observed.

About 100 acres of the farm land belonging to the St. Peter institution was located on the opposite side of the Minnesota River and below the City of St. Peter; 44 acres of this land was condemned by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad during the summer of 1905, and the damages paid to the state was $4,400.00. This does not leave land enough to warrant farm operations so far from the institution proper, hence would recommend that the Board of Control be given authority to sell the balance of this land, and the amount received used for the purchase of additional lands for the institution. We ask that the Legislature appropriate the $4,400.00 paid into the treasury for the same purpose.

SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND.

The Boys' Building, which was under construction when the last report was made, was completed in March, 1905, and was immediately occupied by boys who had been quartered in the Hospital Building and in the gymnasium of the Main Building.

In the summer of 1905 and 1906 some changes, additions and renewals were made in the Main Building, much of the plumbing in the North Wing and Center Building was taken out and replaced, floors were renewed, and various rooms replastered and remodeled. The system of fire protection was improved and considerable repairing of a general nature to the outside of the building was finished. The boiler house or main steam plant was entirely reconstructed and a new boiler was installed.

The Superintendent renews his recommendation made two years ago that the old frame Faribault Building be removed, it being unsanitary and unfit for further use in its present location. The suggestion is made that it be moved to the rear of the boiler house and there fitted up for laundry purposes. Its removal will necessitate the addition of dormitory facilities; hence we recommend the erection of another Boys' Dormitory and the appropriation of $25,000 for that purpose.

The other appropriations necessary at this institution are mentioned in the general table.

SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.

During the past two biennial periods much of the Repair Fund appropriated for this institution has been used for purposes which would come under the head of Extraordinary Repairs at the larger institutions. A large amount was spent for boiler heads in 1903. In 1905 about the same amount was expended for the renewal of a large portion of the electric wiring. In order that much of the repair work may be done to place this institution in that condition where the state can feel a just pride in its appearance as well as its utility, the amount asked for repairs. should be granted.

No new buildings of any kind have been erected during the biennial period, but the superintendent requests a large appropriation for the purpose of building two wings on the present school building, one devoted wholly to school purposes; the other, in part to an auditorium. The aggregate amount of appropriations asked for by all the institutions. forbids us to recommend the building of these two wings, although we feel that the institution is entitled to them, but we would recommend the building of one of them, and ask for an appropriation of $35,000 for that purpose.

The schoolrooms at present in use, located in the mansard roof of the Main Building, are unsafe, poorly lighted, and totally unsuited for the purpose. Hence the above recommendation.

We would also recommend that an appropriation of $1,500 be added to the appropriation made two years ago in order that a dynamo of sufficient size may be procured and installed.

Other minor appropriations asked for will be found in the appropriation table in another part of this report.

SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED AND COLONY FOR EPILEPTICS.

The welfare of this institution should, and we have no doubt will, receive careful consideration at the hands of the Legislature. The report of the Superintendent shows that at the present time there are 200 applicants on the waiting list, and that if applications continue to be filed in the future as they have in the past, and there is little doubt that they will, the total number of applicants will reach 400 during the coming biennial period. As a rule these applicants await their turn for admission. The requests coming to this Board to make exceptions to this rule, however, are burdensome and difficult to dispose of. Each applicant for special action considers his case the most pressing, and if denied, that either it has not received proper consideration at the hands of the Board or favoritism has been shown. Many such applications are within the knowledge of the members of the Legislature, and none know better