NORTH CAROLINA. 



583 



799,424 represents real estate ; $38,531,897 per- 

 sonal property in farming-utensils, money, sol- 

 vent credit, shares, railroad franchises, and 

 other classes; and $15,936,920 the value of 

 horses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep, and other 

 live-stock. 



The number of acres of land returned was 

 26,823,511; value, $83,034,885; the value of 

 town lots, $18,764,539 ; compared with the re- 

 port of 1872, there has been an advance in the 

 aggregate value of land of $13,500,000, or 20 per 

 cent., and in the value of town lots of $6,000,- 

 000, or 50 per cent. The value of farming-im- 

 plements has increased from about $2,500,000 

 to $10,124,553. The amount of money on hand 

 was returned as $3,106,076; solvent credits, 

 $13,518,809 ; stock in incorporated companies, 

 $893,819; other personal property, $892,582. 

 The counties giving the highest personalty val- 

 uations are Wake, $2,703,991; Mecklenburg, 

 $1,696,611; New Hanover, $1,381,162; Edge- 

 combe, $1,316,234; Forsyth, $1,192,900; Guil- 

 ford, $1,143,550. The number of horses was 

 137,133, value $5,871,006 ; mules 81,021, value 

 $3,850,285; cattle 678,311, value $3,844,964; 

 hogs 1,530,403, value $1,703,245; sheep 582,- 

 468, value $521,345 ; goats, 25,772. The num- 

 ber of horses and mules has increased 46,000, 

 or 25 per cent., since 1870. Sheep have in- 

 creased only 10 per cent, in number. Then 

 only 82,000 whites paid a poll-tax, now 118,610 

 list themselves for taxation. Then 39,500 ne- 

 groes listed, now 56,028 of them pay their 

 taxes. The entire amount collected by way 

 of taxes reaches $2,082,700, of which the 

 counties spend two thirds, the schools one 

 sixth, and the State about one fifth. The fol- 

 lowing school-taxes were collected : Tax on 

 licensed retailers, $25,844.59; on white polls, 

 $120,068.76; on colored polls, $57,232.42; 8fr 

 cents on total valuation of real and personal 

 property, $133,576.87. 



Dr. Worth, the State Treasurer, has labored 

 persistently for ten years to have a scheme 

 adopted for the adjustment of the State debt, 

 and with final success. Under the act to com- 

 promise and commute the debt, passed at the 

 session of 1879, he has taken up the old bonds 

 of the State to January 1, 1881, as follows: 



Forty per cent, class $3,579,500 



Twenty-five per cent, class 1,962,045 



Fifteen per cent, class 1,928,700 



Total $7^470^46 



He has issued in lieu of these new four per 

 cent, bonds of the State, to the amount of $2,- 

 211, 816, upon which the interest was promptly 

 paid on the 1st day of January. The old bonds 

 taken up were recorded, as required by law, 

 and burned. The total amount outstanding 

 and to be funded of the several classes was 

 as follows before refunding : 



Forty per cent, class $5,577,400 



Twenty-five per cent, class 4,700,045 



Fifteen per cent, class 3,S3S,600 



Total $14,166,045 



The first class, being the old State bonds, are 



refunded at 40 per cent, of the face value. 

 The second class were to be funded at 25, and 

 the third at 15 per cent, of their face value. 

 Of the entire debt it is possible that a consid- 

 erable percentage is lost and will never be pre- 

 sented. The new bonds taken in lieu of the 

 old bear 4 per cent, interest. The funded debt 

 will not amount to more than $4,000,000. 

 The special tax-bonds which are repudiated 

 by the people as unconstitutional and void, 

 amounting to about $18,000,000, have never 

 been declared invalid by the courts. The amend- 

 ment to the Constitution prohibiting their pay- 

 ment was ratified by the popular vote in the No- 

 vember election. Suits have been brought for 

 a recommendatory judgment against the State, 

 and by the advice of the Council of State the 

 Governor engaged extra counsel in order to 

 defend the State's interests as completely as 

 possible. Two former cases involving this ques- 

 tion were not decided finally. The first suit, 

 brought in 1869 by August Belmont, of New 

 York, was dismissed by the United States 

 Court because the order to the auditor to in- 

 clude the special tax in the tax-levy, for which 

 he sued, was anticipated by the Legislature, 

 who had passed an act prohibiting it. The 

 second suit was decided in favor of the State 

 in the first instance, but dismissed on appeal 

 by the State Supreme Court. 



The earnings of the Penitentiary approxi- 

 mated the cost, as seen in the following exhibit 

 for the two years ending November 1st. The 

 expenditures for the two years were as fol- 

 lows: 



At the State Prison $160,08347 



On Western North Carolina Railroad 82,478 97 



On Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad 48,087 76 



The receipts from convict-labor are report- 

 ed as follows : 



Work, etc., at Raleigh $47,525 83 



Work on Western North Carolina Railroad 103,096 00 



Cash for convict-labor 21,94656 



Work on Yadkin Valley Railroad 56,438 25 



Shoe department 46,320 94 



Oxford Railroad 9,849 00 



Other work, about 6,000 00 



Total $291,328 93 



From this statement it appears that, if the 

 earnings of the Penitentiary were paid for in 

 cash, the receipts would exceed the expendi- 

 tures. The number of convicts is gradually 

 decreasing. The entire number in 1880 was 

 841, of whom 400 were received during the 

 year. There were 48 discharged, and 15 par- 

 doned ; 41 died ; and 12 escaped. About 300 

 are confined at the Penitentiary. The entire 

 number received since the opening of the Peni- 

 tentiary, in 1870, is 3,822. Of those in prison 

 about three fourths are unable to read and write, 

 and comparatively few are over thirty years of 

 age, the negroes who have grown up since the 

 war furnishing a larger proportion of criminals 

 than those who were reared in slavery. The 

 care of the convicts who work on the railroads is 

 said to be insufficient, and in the Penitentiary 

 better sanitary regulations are needed, as shown 



