264 



DELAWARE. 



The expenditures include $16,467.12 for the 

 judiciary, $12,588.24 for the National Guard, 

 $17,850 for interest on State bonds, $25,000 

 for free schools; $6,000 for colored schools; 

 $10,403 to members of the General Assembly, 

 and $13,078.08 for allowances made by the 

 General Assembly. The bonded debt at the 

 beginning of the year was $824,750; against 

 which the State holds the general-fund invest- 

 ments given above, so that the actual debt is 

 only $151,700. 



Militia. During 1887 the State militia was 

 considerably strengthened and more fully 

 equipped, with the aid of money coming from 

 the General Government, and of an appropria- 

 tion of $2,000 by the Legislature. At the be- 

 ginning of the year the force consisted of but 

 312 men, partially uniformed ; at the close of 

 the year there were 560, fully equipped. 



Education. At a meeting of the Trustees of 

 the Delaware State College, held in March, the 

 contest over the resignation of President Cald- 

 well, postponed from the previous July meet- 

 ing, was ended by the president's voluntarily 

 asking for his release, in order to accept an- 

 other place. Action upon the resignations of 

 the professors was indefinitely postponed, ex- 

 cept in the case of one bona fide resignation. 

 The president reported that, for the year be- 

 ginning in September, 1887, there were but 17 

 pupils in actual attendance, of whom only one 

 paid tuition. Since its reorganization, in 1870, 

 when it was placed under State control, the 

 institution has had 236 male students, or an 

 average of 13 a year. At no time has the 

 study of agriculture and mechanic arts been 

 the leading object of the college, as required 

 by law. More than one hundred students 

 have been graduated in the scientific, aca- 

 demic, and other courses, and thus far not one 

 in the agricultural course. 



A tempory president was elected from the 

 Board of Trustees, which also appointed a com- 

 mittee to secure'for the college the appropria- 

 tion made by Congress for the establishment of 

 agricultural-experiment stations in the various 

 States. Some efforts had previously been made 

 by the trustees to obtain this appropriation, 

 but the Federal authorities expressed doubts 

 whether the college could be considered an 

 agricultural college, to which alone by the 

 statute the donation could be made. Later in 

 the year, however, the appropriation was se- 

 cured. 



Wilmington. An election for mayor and other 

 city officers was held on June 2, at which the 

 Democrats obtained their usual majorities ex- 

 cept on the vote for mayor. Great dissatisfac- 

 tion with the Democratic nominee existed in 

 his own party, in consequence of which the 

 Republican candidate, Albert Harrington, ob- 

 tained a majority of 776 votes, running over 

 1,000 votes ahead of his ticket in a total poll of 

 6,588. 



Political. The only State officers to be chosen 

 this year were three State senators and the 



lower house of the Legislature entire. Nomi- 

 nations for these offices were made in county 

 conventions, but State conventions were neces- 

 sary to select candidates for presidential elect- 

 ors and for a member of Congress. The 

 Democrats met at Dover, on August 28, and 

 unanimously renominated Congressman Pen- 

 ington, and selected an electoral ticket. Reso- 

 lutions were adopted approving the work of 

 the St. Louis Convention and the administra- 

 tion of President Cleveland, and continuing as 

 follows : 



We approve the administration of the Governor 

 and other State officers, and in State affairs we advo- 

 cate the continuance of the simple, honest, and eco- 

 nomical administration of affairs which has always 

 characterized the rule of the Democratic party ; and 

 as true Democrats we recognize and obey the popular 

 will, as evidenced by the special election held last 

 November, and declare ourselves in favor of accom- 

 plishing the reforms long conceded, by all parties in 

 the State, to be demanded by popular sentiment, 

 through the medium of a constitutional convention to 

 be provided for at as early a day as in the judgment 

 of the Legislature, acting for itself as a co-ordinate 

 branch of the State government, it may be properly 

 and constitutionally done. 



The Republican State Convention, held at 

 Dover, on September 2, nominated for Con- 

 gress Charles H. Treat, selected an electoral 

 ticket, and passed the usual resolutions in sup- 

 port of the national platform and ticket. On 

 State issues the platform reaffirmed the follow- 

 ing declarations, made at the preliminary State 

 Convention on May 17, which chose delegates 

 to the Chicago Convention : 



The free and untrammelled suffrage which lies at the 

 foundation of the institutions of the republic has been 

 overthrown in this State since the enactment of the 

 disfranchising laws of 1873. This flagrant denial of 

 citizenship to a large portion of the people who are 

 not the owners of property has produced a fruitful 

 crop of dishonesty and jobbery in the management of 

 State, county, ancl municipal affairs, while the assess- 

 ors of the city of Wilmington and the levy court of 

 New Castle County, in openly and boldly refusing to 

 place upon the assessment lists over two thousand citi- 

 zens whose right to qualify to vote was undisputed, 

 have placed themselves before the public as breakers 

 of the law, and are deserving of the execration of all 

 good citizens. 



We renew the demand heretofore reiterated by the 

 Republican party, for the speediest calling of a con- 

 vention to revise the Constitution of this State, and 

 urge upon the voters that no one should be sent to the 

 next Legislature known to be opposed to this measure 

 of reform. 



We recognize the fact that the saloon has become a 

 potent element in the politics of the State, and is be- 

 ing used to influence and control the action of the 

 people in the exercise of their political rights' and as 

 the question of licensing houses for the sale of intoxi- 

 cating drinks involves the moral as it docs the politi- 

 cal rights of the people, we believe it to be the duty 

 of the Legislature to enact laws that will make effect- 

 ive their will in this respect. We. therefore, declare 

 ourselves in favor of a law embracing the principle of 

 local option, and providing for high license when 

 granted. 



We approve of the recent act of the Legislature in 

 securing to the city of Wilmington honest elections 

 through the operations of a registry law. and declare 

 ourselves in favor of similar legislation by extending 

 the same principles to ail State and county elections. 



