618 



NORTH CAROLINA. 



white children, during the four years ending 

 in 1887, increased from 321,561 to 353,481 ; 

 the colored children from 193,843 to 212,789. 



During 1887 there were enrolled in the 

 white schools 57*2 per cent. ; in the colored 

 schools 57'8 per cent. The average daily at- 

 tendance in white schools was 35'2 per cent., 

 and in the colored schools 33*5 per cent. The 

 total expenditure for schools in 1887 was 

 $653,037.33, and the average length of the 

 school year sixty days. 



For 1888, the average length of the school 

 year was sixty-three days, the amount of money 

 spent $729,388.02, and the number of children 

 of school age 580,810 whites, 363,982 ; col- 

 ored, 216,837. The total enrollment in the 

 schools was 58 per cent., the average attendance 

 about 35 per cent. At the State University, 

 owing to the reductions in the income made 

 by the last Legislature, it has been found neces- 

 sary to diminish the number of teachers. The 

 new building for the College of Agriculture, at 

 Raleigh, begun in 1888, is approaching com- 

 pletion. It is built of brick made at the Peni- 

 tentiary. 



State Institutions. Over 400 convicts have 

 been employed on the railroads and in the 

 swamps, and have done much work also upon 

 the Supreme Court room and other public 

 buildings. There are 400 convicts under the 

 age of twenty years. 



The State asylums are insufficient for the 

 accommodation of the insane patients. A large 

 number are now confined in poor-houses and 

 jails, and there are many others in private 

 families. The State Asylum at Raleigh has 

 292 patients, and there is accommodation at 

 the Morganton Asylum for about 500. 



The Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and 

 Blind is well managed, and its pupils now 

 number 287, an increase of 47 in two years. 



Militia. The State Guard, organized in 

 March, 1877, began its existence without State 

 aid, and continued to be supported by private 

 individuals till 1883, when the Legislature 

 granted an appropriation of $150 a year to 

 each company, limiting the number of com- 

 panies to twenty-five. In 1887 this was in- 

 creased to $300. With this aid, and the Fed- 

 eral appropriation of $10,000 per annum in 

 arms, ammunition, equipment, and clothing, 

 etc., the Guard is now on a good financial basis. 

 It has increased from 1,043 officers and men in 

 1886 to 1,192 in 1887 and 1,459 in 1888. 



Railroads. There are 2,550 miles of railroad 

 in the State owned by fifty-one companies. 

 Two railroads are in great part owned by the 

 State the North Carolina and the Atlantic 

 and North Carolina. The former is leased at 

 a yearly rental of $260,000. and the State is 

 thus enabled to pay the interest on its 6-per- 

 cent, bonds issued in aid of the construction 

 of the road. The other road was built as an 

 extension of the former road to the sea. The 

 State is contemplating building branch lines as 

 feeders to the roads thus owned. 



Manufacturing. During the past two years 

 twenty factories have been established for can- 

 ning fruit and vegetables, and have been uni- 

 formly successful. There is a marked activity 

 in cotton and wool manufacture, forty-one new 

 factories having been established in 1888. The 

 only silk-factory in the Southern States has 

 been established in North Carolina during the 

 past twelve months by Northern capitalists, 

 and is highly successful. A large amount of 

 machinery has been put into the Sam Christian 

 gold-mine. Water is conveyed five miles, and 

 is forced by a 500-horse- power engine against 

 the hill-sides. 



Crops. Unfavorable weather during the 

 spring and summer injured the crops; the 

 corn-crop is unusually short, and the cotton 

 is below the average; so, also, the tobacco- 

 crop is shorter than for several years. The 

 culture of sorghum cane is increasing, and 

 three times as much land is devoted to grape- 

 culture as there was two years ago. 



Oyster-Survey. The oyster-survey has been 

 completed with the aid of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. An area of over 1,000,000 acres has 

 been examined, and 583,000 acres are reported 

 suitable for oyster-culture. Since May 1, 1888, 

 472 entries of oyster-ground have been made 

 in Hyde, Carteret, and Dare Counties ; the 

 total area entered is about 53,000 acres. 



Boundary-Lines. The survey between North 

 Carolina and Virginia, in the counties of Cur- 

 rituck, Camden, and Gates, has been completed, 

 and the line permanently marked with stones. 

 The line between North Carolina and Tennes- 

 see and South Carolina is in dispute, and refer- 

 ence to arbitration is proposed. 



Pensions. By the acts and amendments of 

 1885 and 1887, $30,000 was appropriated to a 

 certain defined class of soldiers and widows 

 of deceased soldiers, in the expectation that 

 each entitled would receive the sura of thirty 

 dollars. So great has been the number of ap- 

 plications under these acts that the amount 

 received by each applicant has been reduced 

 to a mere pittance. The number of soldiers 

 drawing pensions during the year was 1,083, 

 and the number of widows, 2,625 ; total, 

 3,708 ; making the allowance for each soldier 

 and widow, $8.25. 



Immigration. A convention of delegates from 

 nearly all the Southern States east of the Mis- 

 sissippi river met at Hot Springs on April 25, 

 under the auspices of the Southern railroad 

 and steamship companies, to promote immi- 

 gration into these States. The Governors of 

 Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia were 

 present. After a discussion it was resolved 

 that an immigration association be established 

 with headquarters in the city of New York, to 

 be styled the Southern Immigration Associa- 

 tion. The object of the association is to direct 

 immigrants, immediately upon their landing in 

 New York, to homes in the South. 



Farmers' Convention. The annual meeting of 

 the Interstate Farmers' Association was held 





