FLORIDA. 



19.200 



FLORIDA. The receipts of the State Treas- 

 ury from all sources for the year ending De- 

 cember 31, 1880, were as follows: 



REVENUE FROM Amount. 



License-tax $33,231 



State tax proper 117,29(5 



Genera] sinking fund tax 57,423 



Special sinking-fund tax 28,716 



Auction-tax 781 



Criminal prosecutions and costs 538 



Eailway net returns tax 27 



Jurors and witnesses refunded 7 



Commission-tax 80S 



Fees, lunatic asylum fund 815 



Maintenance lunatics refunded 272 



Common-school fund, fines 3,541 



Total for general revenue $272,914 



The current expenses of the State for 1880 

 were $167,047; for 1879 they were $215,047. 

 The appropriations fell short of the expense 

 for the two years, $33,755. 



The total disbursements during the year 1880 

 were as follows : 



EXPENDITURES FOR Amount. 



Salaries, judicial department 



Salaries, executive department 



Jurors and witnesses 



Revenue collection expenses 



Maintenance of lunatics 19,467 



Printing 5,494 



Bureau of Immigration 2,610 



Other expenditures 2,543 



Interest on bonds of 1871 20,913 



Interest on bonds of 1873 52,554 



Total payments $249,645 



Of the payments, $43,540 were for the year 

 1879, and $23,059 for previous years. 



There was a cash balance in the Treasury at 

 the close of 1879 of $10,353 ; and at the close 

 of 1880 a balance remained on hand of the sum 

 of $29,683. There were warrants and certifi- 

 cates outstanding to the amount of $31,286, 

 besides about $42,292 of juror and witness cer- 

 tificates, issued prior to 1877, a great part of 

 which has been paid by counties ; and which 

 there is a balance of appropriations to meet, 

 probably sufficient to cover all which may be 

 presented. The estimate of the appropriations 

 to be made for the ordinary expenses of gov- 

 ernment for the year 1881 is $233,073, includ- 

 ing $65,000, estimated expenses of the Legis- 

 lature ; the estimate of deficiencies required 

 to be made up for 1880 and previous years is 

 $33,755. 



The funded debt of the State consists of the 

 seven per cent, loan of 1871, $350,000 ; six per 

 cents, of 1873, $925,000 ; eight per cent. Con- 

 vention bonds, $1,500 ; seven per cent, bonds 

 of 1857, $4,000, and interest on the same, $4,- 

 760; making a total of $1.285,260, from which 

 are to be deducted $50,700 of 1871 bonds and 

 $100,000 of the bonds of 1873, bought up by 

 the sinking funds; making the bonded debt 

 $1,134,560, of which $246,900 is in the school 

 funds, $35,000 in the seminary funds, and 

 $121,600 in the agricultural funds; leaving in 

 the hands of the private holders $681,060. 

 There has been a reduction in the bonded debt 

 of $50,800 during the administration of Gov- 

 ernor Drew. There are besides $132,000 of the 



1857 bonds held by the Indian Trust Fund of 

 the United States Government, with accrued 

 interest, making a debt of $307,000. The State 

 has a claim against the United States for an 

 amount more than sufficient to cover this debt. 

 This is an old demand based upon the costs in- 

 curred in suppressing Indian hostilities. 



The retiring State government has made 

 efforts to have this matter brougbt to a settle- 

 ment, since the bonds held by the Indian Trust 

 Fund bear seven per cent, interest, which is 

 more than the United States would allow upon 

 the counter-claim if it were granted ; and also 

 because the State is at a disadvantage from the 

 fact that moneys due to the State from the 

 United States from sales of public lands or any 

 other sources can be stopped and applied to 

 the State's indebtedness. An attempt was made 

 in 1860 to obtain an adjustment of the State's 

 claim ; and a bill was introduced in Congress 

 for the purpose, which was referred to a com- 

 mittee, but never reported upon. Colonel S. I. 

 Wailes, of Washington, was appointed by Gov- 

 ernor Drew, in 1879, with the request that he 

 take as an associate Colonel W. K. Beard, of 

 Tallahassee, to represent the State before the 

 proper department ; and these agents were 

 commissioned to procure a settlement, their 

 fee to be a contingent one of fifteen per cent, 

 of the total amount collected. 



In investigating the records to establish the 

 case, important documents were found to have 

 been displaced during the military occupation 

 of the Capitol. 



Having completed the examination as far 

 as it was practicable, Colonel Beard went to 

 Washington in September, 1879, to present, 

 with Colonel Wailes, the claim at the proper 

 department, where he expected to find docu- 

 ments and other evidence bearing upon the 

 claim, and to put the claim in such definite 

 form as to be reported to Congress for the 

 necessary appropriation. On arriving in Wash- 

 ington, Colonel Beard, with Colonel Wailes, 

 went to the Treasury Department, and there 

 they were met with the objection that no State 

 claim could be adjusted or examined without 

 special authority from Congress. On the meet- 

 ing of Congress these gentlemen prepared, and 

 Senator Jones and Representative Davidson 

 introduced in the Senate and House respec- 

 tively, a resolution directing the Secretary of 

 the Treasury to examine and adjust the claim 

 of the State of Florida, and to pay her any 

 balance that might be found due after provid- 

 ing for her bonds held by the Indian Trust 

 Fund. The resolution was referred to appro- 

 priate committees and amended in committee, 

 by making the reference of the claim to the 

 Secretary of War instead of the Treasury, and 

 requiring that department to examine the claim 

 and report to Congress such amount as might 

 be found due. The resolution, as amended, 

 passed the Senate on the 28th of May, and was 

 on the same day certified to the House, but 

 failed to pass that body at that session. It 



