The most noted of these is “The Institution for the Instruction of the
Blind,” located in Philadelphia. The buildings of this institution are
valued at $183,000; its funds and investments at $266,773. The average
number of pupils in the institution for 1883 was 178; and the average
number of state beneficiaries 145, for which the state granted the sum of
$43,500.
There are also located in Philadelphia two working homes for the
blind—one for men and one for women—into which are received many of
the graduates of the Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. In
the home for men there are eighty-five beneficiaries; in the home for
women there are forty. The purpose of these institutions is, as far
as possible, to offer employment and not alms; to make its inmates
independent, so far as their disability shall permit. There is an
Institute for the Deaf and Dumb located in Philadelphia, and a Western
Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, located about twelve
miles east of Pittsburgh. In the former of these institutions there
are about 300 pupils; in the latter about 102. To the former the state
appropriates $78,000 annually. For some reason, unknown to me, the
appropriation of $40,000 asked from the legislature by the latter last
session was not granted.