CONNECTICUT. 



239 



CONNECTICUT, a New England State, one of 



the original thirteen ; ratified the national Con- 

 stitution Jan. 9, 1788 ; area, 4,990 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial cen- 

 sus was 287,946 in 1790 ; 251,002 in 1800 ; 261,- 

 942 in 1810; 275,148 in 1820; 297,675 in 1830 ; 

 309,978 in 1840; 370,792 in 1850, 460,147 in 

 1860; 537,454 in 1870; 622,700 in 1880; and 

 746,258 in 1890. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, Morgan 

 GK Bulkeley, Republican ; Lieutenant-Governor, 

 Samuel E." Merwin ; Secretary of State, R. Jay 

 Walsh; Treasurer, E. Stevens Henry; Comp- 

 troller, John B. Wright ; Secretary of the State 

 Board of Education, Charles D. Hine ; Insurance 

 Commissioner, Orsamus R, Fyler ; Railroad Com- 

 missioners, George M. Woodruff, W 7 illiam H. 

 Haywood, William 0. Seymour; Chief Justice 

 of the Supreme Court, Charles B. Andrews; As- 

 sociate Justices, Elisha Carpenter, Dwight Loom- 

 is, Edward W. Seymour, and Dwight W. Pardee, 

 succeeded by David Torrance. 



Finances. For the fiscal year ending July 1, 

 1890, the State Treasurer makes the following 

 report : Balance on hand July 1, 1889, $530,- 

 372.25 ; total receipts for the year ensuing, $2,- 

 134,552.46; total expenditures, $1,767,250.45; 

 balance on hand July 1, 1890, $897,674.26. The 

 receipts were derived from the following sources : 

 Tax on mutual-insurance companies, $241,439.- 

 63; tax on stock of non-residents, $84,781.60; 

 telegraph and telephone company tax, $10,555 ; 

 savings-bank tax, $246,799.87; railroad tax, 

 $772,678.64 ; one-mill tax on property, $354,557.- 

 65; military commutation tax, $119,691.80; in- 

 terest on cash balances in the treasury, $29,243 ; 

 investment tax, inheritance tax, and other new 

 taxes, $149,525.55 ; miscellaneous receipts, $125,- 

 279.72. The receipts for the year were far be- 

 yond the estimates. This was chiefly due to a 

 largely increased revenue from the railroad tax 

 1 and to income from the new taxes on invest- 

 ments, inheritances, etc., imposed for the first 

 ! time by the last General Assembly. A large 

 I balance in the treasury was thereby produced, in 

 I view of which the Treasurer felt justified in an- 

 nouncing in September, under authority given 

 I him by the last General Assembly, that the one- 

 i mill State tax on property for the year, which 

 would have yielded about $350,000, need not be 

 levied. He further announced his readiness to 

 redeem $200,000 additional of the $1,000,000 3f- 

 per-cent. bonds issued in 1887 and redeemable at 

 the option of the State. Only $300,000 of the 

 issue will remain unredeemed after this sum is 

 retired, and the State debt will be reduced to 

 $3,540,200. 



Under the new investment tax law, the total 

 receipts by the State treasury to July 1, 1890, 

 were $129.452.06, which was considerably in ex- 

 cess of the $100,000 estimated at the time of the 

 passage of the law, as the probable receipts for 

 the first year of its operation. The taxes were 

 paid on 44,301 different bonds, choses in action, 

 etc., representing a valuation of $33,654,335. 

 These figures demonstrate the success of the law 

 in bringing to light securities that were never 

 before taxed. The list of taxable property for 

 S8 (before the law went into effect) showed n- 

 total of railroad, city, and other corporation 



bonds and money at interest owned by the peo- 

 ple of the State amounting to only $11,505,210, 

 while under this law the people have produced 

 and registered with the State Treasurer for tax- 

 ation securities of the same kind aggregating 

 over $33,000,000, nearly all of which must have 

 existed and been properly subject to taxation in 

 1888. The income from the new law taxing 

 collateral inheritances was $14,600.42 for the 

 first year of its operation ending July 1, 1890. 

 By reason of the suspension of the one-mill tax 

 for general purposes, no ad valorem State tax 

 was levied this year. 



Valuations. The assessed valuation of the 

 State for 1889 shows an aggregate of $358,913,- 

 906, against $354,557,515 for 1888. The number 

 of dwellings has increased from 108,391 to 112,- 

 072, and the valuation from $151,803,242 to 

 $158,825,997. The valuation of land has in- 

 creased about $350,000, due, in large part, to the 

 greater value of city properties. Mills, stores, 

 etc., show an increase of about $1,250,000; the 

 value of cattle, horses, sheep, etc., something over 

 $50,000; bank, insurance, and manufacturing 

 stocks, about $70,000; quarries, fisheries, and 

 mines, about $10,000 ; money invested in mer- 

 chandising and trade, about $500,000 ; and in- 

 vestments in mechanical and manufacturing op- 

 erations, about $1,750,000. 



Education. The following statistics from the 

 latest report of the State Board of Education 

 cover the school year 1888-'89: Children of 

 school age in .the State, 157,243 ; number enrolled 

 in the public schools, 127,089 ; enrolled in other 

 schools, 18,269 ; not enrolled in any school, 22,- 

 586 ; average daily attendance in the public 

 schools, 82,382 ; number of male teachers in the 

 public schools, 468; female teachers, 2,785 ; aver- 

 age monthly wages, male teachers, $74.47 ; aver- 

 age monthly wages, female teachers, $39.31 ; 

 number of schools taught, 1,629 ; number of 

 school-houses, 1,645 ; value of school property, 

 $6,275,177 ; average length of school year, 180*32 

 days. The total amount expended in the State 

 for public schools during the year was $1,984,- 

 254; of which $1,291,472 was paid for teachers' 

 wages, and $226,190 for new school-houses. The 

 total revenue available for school purposes dur- 

 ing the year was $1,990,336, of which $117,932 

 was derived from the income of the State school 

 fund, $235,864 from the State tax for schools, 

 $941,881 from town-school taxes, and 570,660 

 from district-school taxes. During the past few 

 years there has been a large increase of the pri- 

 vate and parochial schools, and the increase of 

 school attendance has fallen almost wholly to 

 them. The night-school attendance is decreasing. 

 In the greater part of the State the school- 

 district system of management still prevails. A 

 law was enacted in 1866 granting to towns the 

 right to adopt the town system by vote, under 

 which 22 of the 168 towns iii the State have abol- 

 ished their school districts, and now regulate 

 directly all public schools within their limits; 

 but the progress of the change to the new sys- 

 tem has been slow. 



At the State Normal School, New Britain, 352 

 students were enrolled during the year 1888-'89, 

 an increase of 33 over the previous year. The 

 improvements in the school buildings, authorized 

 by the last General Assembly, are nearly com- 



