NORTH CAROLINA. 



617 



another term of ninety-nine years, on condi- 

 tion of paying 25 per cent, of the annual net 

 profits of the enterprise to the Government of 

 the republic, beside the dividends due to it for 

 its shares in the capital stock. All misunder- 

 standings that may arise between the state of 

 Nicaragua and the company will be submitted 

 to arbitration. A valuable concession has also 

 been obtained by the canal association from 

 Costa Rica, on a basis similar to that men- 

 tioned above. 



It is claimed that there are many points of 

 advantage for the Nicaragua Canal. In the 

 first place, it has no such bar to its way as 

 the Culebra mountain, the cutting through of 

 which, from the fact that there is danger of 

 one side of the mountain sliding into the cut, 

 is said to be a doubtful task. It has no such 

 formidable difficulty to contend against as the 

 Chagres river, the controlling of which for the 

 rainy season is an unsolved -problem. The 

 San Juan river at Nicaragua is not comparable 

 to it, for that river is known as the only river 

 in the tropics not subject to sudden rises, and 

 floods never occur either in the lake or in the 

 San Juan for the first sixty-four miles of its 

 course. At that point (San Carlos) a dam is 

 proposed, which is said to be practicable. 

 The river tiosvs through a narrow valley, and 

 has no large tributaries, and the heavy rains 

 that fall on the Isthmus at Panama are un- 

 known in this locality. The Chagres river 

 runs beside the Panama Canal, and, though it 

 is nothing more than a slow stream in the dry 

 season, yet in the flood season it is 1,560 feet 

 wide, 28 feet deep, and very rapid. Still an- 

 other advantage claimed for the Nicaragua is, 

 that the climate is much more healthful than 

 on the Panama route. 



SORTH C1KOLIM. State Government. The 

 following were the State officers during the 

 year: Governor. Alfred M. Scales (Democrat); 

 Lieutenant -Govern or, Charles M. Stedman; 

 Secretary of State, William L. Saunders; Treas- 

 urer, Donald W. Bain ; Auditor, William P. 

 Roberts; Attorney-General, Theodore F. Da- 

 vidson : Superintendent of Public Instruction, 

 Sidney M. Finger : Commissioner of Agricult- 

 ure, John Robinson: Chief- Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court. William N. II. Smith ; Associ- 

 ate Justices, Augustus S. Merrimon and Joseph 

 J. Davis. 



Finances. The receipts for 1888, including 

 balance brought over, were $897,644.09 : the 

 expenditures. $824,611.88 ; balance, s73.n:?,2.21. 

 Of this balance, $13,450.38 was deposited in 

 the State National Bank of Raleigh, which sus- 

 pended in March, 1888. The revenues applica- 

 ble to general purposes were $515,693.78 for 

 1888, a decrease of $140.000 from 1887. This 

 decrease is partly due to a lower rate of taxation 

 in 1888, being twenty cents on $100, against 

 twenty-five cents in 18S7, and to the suspension 

 of the collection of the tax on commercial travel- 

 ers, in consequence of a decision of the Supreme 

 Court of the United States declaring the 



tax an interference with interstate commerce. 

 This tax had yielded an annual average of 

 $83,000. The Auditor and Treasurer concur 

 in the opinion that, in order to meet the ex- 

 penditures of the next two years, it will be 

 - ii-y to rai-e the general tax rate to thirty 

 cents on each $100 worth of property. The 

 chief items of expenditure for 1888 were : De- 

 partments of the State Government, $22.',M7.:j4: 

 judiciary, $46.721.82 : agricultural department. 

 s24..")00 ; asylums and in-titutions. $197.400; 

 interest on State debt, $267,687 ; Penitentiary, 

 $100,000 ; pensions to Confederate soldiers. 

 $29,583.80 ; university, $27.500 ; public print- 

 ing, $13,139.16; State guard, s4.583.82. The 

 estimated resources for the same time are 

 $702,395. These estimates are based on a t;ix 

 levy of thirty cents on $100, on the assessed 

 valuation of '$2 11. 700,000. 



The principal of the bonded debt recognized 

 in the act of 1879 was as follows : Bonds issued 

 before May. Ifc61, $5,477,400 ; issued during 

 and since the late war, by authority of acts 

 passed prior thereto, $3.261,045 ; issued in 

 pursuance of the funding acts of March 10, 

 1866, and Aug. 20, 1868, $3,888,600; total 

 recognized debt, $12,627,045. By that act this 

 sum was to be refunded in 4-per-cent. bonds 

 at a discount, and bonds have been surrendered 

 and exchanged as follow : Class 1, at 40 per 

 cent., $4,925,900; class 2, at 25 per cent., 

 $2, 591.045; class 3. at 15 per cent., $3,197,- 

 000. Total exchanged, $10,753,945. New 4- 

 per-cent. bonds have been issued for these re- 

 deemed bonds as follow : Bonds at 40 per 

 cent., $1,970,360; bonds at 25 per cent.. $647,- 

 761.25; bonds at 15 per cent.. $479,550. To- 

 tal new bonds issued, $3,097,671.25. There is 

 still outstanding of the old bonds, $1,913,100 ; 

 when the exchange is completed, the amount 

 of the 4-per-cent. bonds will be $3.613,511.25. 



Exchanges have continued under the act of 

 March 14, 1879, to adjust and renew that por- 

 tion of the State debt incurred in aid of the 

 construction of the North Carolina Railroad. 

 The commissioners have received $2,606,000 

 of the old bonds, and new bonds of the same 

 amount, bearing 6 per cent, interest, maturing 

 April 1, 1919, have been issued, and there re- 

 main $189,000 outstanding, the larger part be- 

 ing held by the United States Treasury. The 

 total debt of the State will thus be funded at 

 $6,408.511.25. 



At the last session of the Legislature, the 

 Treasurer was authorized, with the sanctiou of 

 Governor and Auditor, to sell 4-per-cent. bonds, 

 as many as may be necessary, at not less than 

 par value, and" to apply the proceeds to the 

 payment of the 6-per-cent. construction bonds, 

 wherever found. At the passage of the act, 

 these 4-per-cent. bonds were at par, but they 

 soon began to fall, and now command in the 

 market about ninety-one cents. 



Education. The whole number of white and 

 colored children between the ages of six and 

 twenty-one years in 1S87 was 560.270. The 



