204 



DELAWARE. 



right, based as it appears on no higher ground than 

 tire absurd notion that the States are mere quasi cor- 

 porations, subject to the control of a central, visitorial 

 power, lodged in the Federal Government. If this 

 theory, which is at variance with all our ideas of re- 

 publican crovernment, is followed put to its logical con- 

 clusion, then those local institutions with which our 

 dearest and fondest traditions are associated will be 

 gradually drawn into the unyielding grasp of the 

 Federal Government, and the State governments will 

 be nothing more than mere shells or empty forms in 

 which despotism will mask its hideous plots and 

 conspiracies against the rights and privileges of hu- 

 manity. 



The national banks have refused to pay the 

 State tax on bank-shares imposed by an act of 

 the Legislature passed April 8, 1869. They 

 communicated their refusal to the State Treas- 

 urer in July, basing it upon an act of Congress 

 limiting the taxing powers of the States. The 

 Treasurer did not proceed against the banks, 

 but deferred the matter until the Legislature 

 should take action upon it. The Governor in 

 his message calls upon the Legislature to in- 

 struct him to collect ths taxes, the Attorney- 

 General having expressad the opinion that the 

 position of the banks is untenable. 



A serious election riot occurred at Wilming- 

 ton on Saturday, the 16th of October, during 

 a Democratic parade. While the procession 

 Avas opposite a hall which served as a political 

 rendezvous for colored Republicans, a fight 

 commenced which soon developed into a 

 bloody encounter in which pistols were freely 

 used by the paraders and shot-guns by the ne- 

 groes. The latter sought shelter in the houses 

 and behind fences, from which points of van- 

 tage they were speedily dislodged by their as- 

 sailants, who were much the more numerous 

 party. Accounts differ as to which side com- 

 menced the attack. Both parties were suspi- 

 ciously well armed, particularly the blacks, who 

 had evidently equipped themselves either in 

 anticipation of being attacked or with the 

 intention of assaulting the procession. After 

 the negroes were routed, the mob committed 

 many excesses, breaking into houses, and mak- 

 ing a start to burn the hall ; but they became 

 less dangerous and violent shortly, although 

 the angry feelings aroused on both sides did 

 not subside until after Sunday. A large num- 

 ber of men received wounds, but no lives were 

 lost. 



The peach-crop of Delaware in 1880 amount- 

 ed to about 4,109,000 baskets, or about 3,000,- 

 000 baskets less than the great crop of 1875, 

 and about the same as the crop of 1879, which 

 aggregated 3,981,000 baskets. The bulk of the 

 crop of 1879 was harvested in the southern 

 part of the peninsula. In 1880 the most prolific 

 section was the belt of country stretching from 

 one bay to the other, north of North Murder- 

 kill, and south of Pencader and Red Lion hun- 

 dreds. The largest shipments were from Mid- 

 dletown and Smyrna. The Delaware railroad 

 shipments aggregated about 1,700,000 bas- 

 kets; 1,287,000 went to Baltimore, 565,000 to 

 Philadelphia, and 120,000 to New York, by 



water ; and 437,000 were canned and dried in 

 the State. 



A company was started at Riverside, near 

 Wilmington, for the manufacture of sugar 

 from beet-roots, and began work in 1879. 

 Only about 300 tons of beets of indifferent 

 quality were brought to the factory the first 

 year. But in 1880, by widely advertised in- 

 structions and estimates, the farmers were in- 

 duced to give their attention to the culture, 

 and 3,000 to 4,000 tons of better quality were 

 worked up in the mill. The roots yielded 

 from 8 to 14 per cent, of saccharine matter, 

 and the company paid for them from $3.50 to 

 $7 a ton. A new and improved process of 

 manufacture was used. The product was ex- 

 pected to be about 550,000 Ibs. of raw sugar, 

 200,000 Ibs. of molasses, and 1,700 tons of 

 pulp, which latter the farmers buy for ma- 

 nure. 



The Republican State Convention to select 

 delegates to attend the National Convention 

 at Chicago, met at Dover, May 6th. The fol- 

 lowing resolutions were adopted : 



Resolved, 1. That being in entire accord with the 

 Ecpublican party of the United States, we are content 

 to refer to the authoritative enunciation of its con- 

 ventions for an exposition of our principles, and to 

 point to the history of its acts as a most conclusive 

 evidence of its usefulness. 



2. That while the selection of its candidates should 

 be considered simply as a choice of agents to admin- 

 ister the functions of government in accordance with 

 those principles, the necessary condition of popular 

 approval forbids the nomination of any person so 

 liable to public censure as to render his election prob- 

 ably impossible, and under this absolute limitation 

 regulating the action of politicial parties in_ a free 

 government, any Eepublican who shall receive the 

 endorsement of the National Convention will be en- 

 titled to the undivided support of the Republicans of 

 the State of Delaware. 



3. That the delegates chosen by this Convention 

 from the State of Delaware to act in the National Con- 

 vention, to be held in Chicago, on the 2d day of June 

 next, are invested with power to vote on all questions 

 according to their individual sense of right ; that we 

 send them for consultation and trust them without 

 qualification, only reminding them that as nomination 

 without election would be in vain, in their endeavor to 

 discover the candidates who should be selected they 

 should regard the preferences expressed by those 

 States upon which we must rely for success, rather 

 than the indications of those from which electoral 

 votes can scarcely be hoped, much less expected. 



The Greenback party held a convention at 

 Dover, May 6th. The platform adopted con- 

 tained the following declaration of principles: 



We, therefore, pledge ourselves to work unitedly 

 and heartily for the accomplishment of the following 

 results. 



The General Government alone to issue money for 

 the benefit of all. 



That all rights and privileges given to national 

 banks to issue currency as money, or in lieu of money, 

 or as a circulating medium, be at once withdrawn, 

 that the people may have a currency of their own, 

 free from the control of cliques and rings, and which 

 can be supplied them, backed by the security of the 

 entire nation, and free from extortion of interest. 



The United States bonded debt was conceived in 

 injustice, and has been perpetuated through the igno- 

 rance of the people, fostered by politicians for personal 



