682 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (DELAWARE.) 



The Girls' Industrial School also receives in- 

 mates from all parts of the State. It receives an 

 appropriation of $2,500. 



Militia. According to 'the Adjutant-General's 

 report, 42,123 men were subject to enrolment and 

 28,080 subject to military duty. The total 

 strength of the organized National Guard is 372, 

 of whom 321 are privates. For the year 1900, 

 receipts from the State amounted to $5,078.44, 

 and disbursements to $3,308.16. In 1898 the 

 Legislature appropriated $30,000 to equip and 

 prepare troops for the Spanish War; of this, 

 $23,150.36 was expended. The Government re- 

 turned $20,870.83, leaving in the hands of the 

 State officials certain ordnance supplies. The 

 Governor paid $3,100 to the Adjutant-General and 

 another officer for preparing and presenting the 

 accounts to the proper officials at Washington. 



Railroads. The report of the Delaware Rail- 

 road shows its mileage to be 224.38. For the 

 year ending Oct. 31, 1900, the earnings were $1,646,- 

 660.34, an increase of $256,123.88. The expenses 

 were $1,112,440.97; increase, $123,697.45. 



There was a very large increase in the freight 

 revenue due to the increasing through traffic from 

 connecting lines and to the improved fruit-crop 

 on the peninsula. 



Work was begun in May on a new trolley belt 

 line which will touch the Delaware river, the 

 Atlantic Ocean, and Chesapeake Bay. The com- 

 bination constituting the circuit includes 45 miles 

 of trolley traction already in operation and 100 

 miles which are to be built. 



Insurance. The Insurance Commissioner, who 

 took office Jan. 1, made a report about Feb. 12, 

 saying, in part : 



" From the books of my office, as audited by 

 the auditor of accounts from Oct. 1, 1898, to Jan. 

 1, 1901, I find the amount turned into the State 

 treasury was $38,823.81, exclusive of the salary 

 of the commissioner. There is no record of ex- 

 penses in the office. 



" The insurance law specifies that the Insurance 

 Commissioner shall grant certificates of authority 

 to Delaware companies only when they shall have 

 a paid-up capital of $100,000. The General As- 

 sembly, at dates later than the passage of the 

 general insurance law, has at various times 

 granted special charters to insurance companies 

 with a paid-up capital of less than $100,000, and 

 in some instances as low as $25,000." 



Products. A census bulletin giving statistics 

 of manufactures of Delaware places the total 

 value of manufactured products for the State at 

 $45,387,630, an increase of 20.8 per cent, over the 

 value of such products for 1890. The number of 

 establishments in 1900 was 1,417; capital invested, 

 $41,203,239; average number of wage-earners, 22,- 

 203 ; total wages paid, $9,263,661 ; cost of material 

 used, $26,652,601. The net or true value of prod- 

 ucts is given at $29,573,449, the value of material 

 purchased in a partly manufactured form being 

 $15,864,041. 



Chief-Statistician North, who makes the report, 

 says: "The statistics indicate a healthy growth 

 in manufactures of Delaware, although a decline 

 is observable in cotton manufactures, in which 

 the number of mills has decreased from 7 to 3; 

 the manufacture of fertilizers, in which the num- 

 ber of establishments has fallen from 17 to 11; 

 and the carriage and wagon manufacture, in which 

 the number has fallen from 44 to 36. On the other 

 hand, iron and steel manufactures, shipbuilding, 

 foundry and machine-shop products, and the tan- 

 ning and finishing of leather, show large and grati- 

 fying increases." 



There are 9,687 farms in Delaware, with an 



aggregate area of 1,066,228 acres, of which 754,- 

 010, or 70.7 per cent., are improved. 



The recent decline of fruit-raising has led to 

 the substitution of other branches of farming, and 

 an increase in the production of market-garden 

 truck, corn, and wheat. It has also stimulated 

 the growth of the dairy and poultry interests. 



The peach-crop of 1901 was estimated at 

 2,000,000 baskets. 



Business. Reports are given of 20 business 

 failures in the State in 1900, with liabilities of 

 $106,477, and assets $55,790. The preceding year 

 there were 30, but the liabilities amounted to 

 about $10,000 less, while the portion not covered 

 by assets was about $2,000 less. 



Cooch's Bridge. A notable event in the his- 

 tory of the State was the unveiling, Sept. 3, of 

 a monument at Cooch's Bridge to commemorate 

 the first unfurling of the American flag in battle, 

 Sept. 3, 1777. The monument, which was erected 

 by patriotic societies and citizens, is of Brandy- 

 wine granite, and stands in the roadway. Beneath 

 a representation of the original flag of 13 stripes 

 and 13 stars is the inscription: "The Stars and 

 Stripes were first unfurled in battle at Cooch's 

 Bridge. Erected by patriotic societies and citi- 

 zens of the State of Delaware, Sept. 3, 1901." The 

 very handsome stone, standing 8 feet high, is 

 enclosed in a square, the corners of which are 

 marked by cannon, and the sides by heavy an- 

 chor chains. 



Legislative Session. The biennial session of 

 the General Assembly began Jan. 1 and ended 

 March 8. It stood, politically, on joint ballot, 

 29 Republicans and 23 Democrats. The Repub- 

 licans were still divided, as they have been for 

 years, into two factions the so-called Regular 

 Republicans, represented by 11 members of the 

 Legislature, and the so-called Union Republicans, 

 of whom there were 18. Harry C. Ellison, Regu- 

 lar, was President pro tern, of the Senate, and 

 Representative McCommons, Union, was Speaker 

 of the House, the two factions having compro- 

 mised on the organization. 



Two United States Senators should have been 

 elected, one to fill the vacancy for the term end- 

 ing in 1905 and one to succeed Richard R. Ken- 

 ney, whose term expired March 4, 1901. Forty- 

 five ballots were taken, but no candidate received 

 the 27 votes necessary to an election, so that the 

 State will be unrepresented in the United States 

 Senate for at least two ^ years, unless a special 

 session should be called* and should succeed in 

 electing. The Union Republicans voted steadily 

 for J. E. Addicks for both terms. The Democrats 

 voted for R. R. Kenney for the long term and 

 Willard Saulsbury for the short term. The Regu- 

 lar Republicans voted scatteringly. Among their 

 candidates were H. A. Du Pont, Charles F. Rich- 

 ards, L. C. Bird, Anthony Higgins, and H. R. 

 Burton. 



An incident of the senatorial contest, which 

 was very bitter and excited, was a charge made 

 by Representative W. M. Hearn, Democrat, against 

 Representative R. R. Layton of an attempt to 

 bribe him with $2,000 to remain away from a 

 session, in the interest of the Union Republican 

 candidate. The majority report of the investi- 

 gating committee recommended that the evidence 

 and the entire matter be referred to the Attorney- 

 General for such action as he should deem best; 

 this report was adopted, and the matter so re- 

 ferred. The minority of the committee reported 

 that the charges had not been sustained. 



The law for taxing manufactures was amended. 

 Under the old law, the tax imposed was 10 cents 

 on the $100 on the cost of material used in busi- 



