GEORGIA. 



363 



islands. One of their stories is to the effect that 

 several years ago an adventurous hunter of a 

 tribe in northern Alaska took dogs and sledges 

 and went north across a frozen sea. Nothing 

 was heard of him for over a year, and he was 

 given up as lost. Then he returned and told a 

 wonderful story of finding a new land far across 

 the ice. There he built a hut and remained till 

 the waters froze over again, when he found his 

 way back to Alaska. 



Captain Leavitt also says that during a cruise 

 of one of the whaling fleet, the officers of the 

 vessel discovered land at a point farther to the 

 north than was indicated by any of the charts. 

 They sailed along its shore for a considerable dis- 

 tance and encountered a severe gale. But the 

 season was late, and they deemed it expedient to 

 return south as soon as possible, so further in- 

 vestigation was abandoned. 



Capt. Leavitt cites several circumstances in 

 support of the existence of an open polar sea, an 

 undiscovered land which will support habitation, 

 and a passage thereto. There is a remarkable 

 absence of ice drifts in the waters mentioned, and 

 but for numerous dangerous shoals the possibili- 

 ties of navigation would be encouraging. 



Antarctic Regions. The expedition long 

 planned to be sent out under Nordenskiold from 

 Melbourne, for purposes of antarctic discovery, 

 seems to be definitely arranged for. Dr. Oscar 

 Dickson, of Gothenburg, offered to furnish 5,000 

 toward the equipment of the expedition, provided 

 a sum at least equal were furnished by the colony 

 of Victoria. The autumn of 1891 is the time set 

 for sailing, and it is supposed that South Victoria 

 Land will be the point of destination. 



GEORGIA, a Southern State, one of the 

 original thirteen, ratified the Constitution Jan. 

 2, 1788 ; area, 59,475 square miles. The popula- 

 tion, according to each decennial census, was 

 82,548 in 1790 ; 162,686 in 1800 ; 252,433 in 1810 ; 

 340.985 in 1820; 516,823 in 1830; 691,392 in 

 1840; 906,185 in 1850; 1,057,286 in 1860; 1,184,- 

 109 in 1870; 1,542,180 in 1880; 1,837,353 in 

 1890. Capital, Atlanta. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, John B. 

 Gordon, Democrat, succeeded in November by 

 William J. Northen, Democrat ; Secretary of 

 State, Nathan C. Barnett, who died on Feb. 3, 

 and was succeeded by Philip Cook ; Comptroller- 

 General, William A. Wright ; Treasurer, Robert 

 U. Hardeman; Attorney-General, Clifford An- 

 derson, succeeded in November by George N. 

 Lester; Commissioner of Agriculture, John T. 

 Henderson, succeeded in November by Robert 

 T. Nesbitt ; State School Commissioner, James 

 S. Hook, succeeded by S. D. Bradwell ; Railroad 

 Commissioners, Alexander S. Irwin, L. N. Tram- 

 mell, and Campbell Wallace, who resigned and 

 was succeeded in January by James W. Robert- 

 son ; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Logan 

 E. Bleckley; Associate Justices, M. H. Bland- 

 ford and Thomas J. Simmons. 



Finances. The following is a summary of 

 the report of the State Treasurer for the year 

 ending Sept. 30, 1890: Balance in the treasury 

 on Oct. 1, 1889, $430.191.01 ; total receipts for 

 the year ensuing, $3,979,694.22; total expendi- 

 tures for the same period, $2,131,793.08 ; balance 

 on Sept. 30, 1890, $2,278,092.15. The receipts 



for the year included the sum of $1,833,000 re- 

 ceived from the sale of new bonds of the State, the 

 issue of which was authorized by the act of Oct. 

 23, 1889. On Oct. 1, 1890, the day following 

 the close of this report State bonds to the 

 amount of $2,098,000 became due and were paid 

 out of the treasury, leaving $180,092.15 as the 

 normal balance in the treasury at the close of 

 the fiscal year. 



The State debt on Oct. 1, 1889, was $8,631,305. 

 During the year, in accordance with the act 

 above mentioned, the Governor issued new bonds 

 to obtain money for redeeming a part of this 

 debt, which would become due on Oct. 1, 1890. 

 These bonds, though bearing only 3| per cent, 

 interest, were disposed of at par, the amount 

 issued and sold being $1,833,000. With this 

 sum and with $265,000, derived from the sink- 

 ing fund and other sources, the accruing bonds, 

 amounting to $2,098,000, were redeemed. Dur- 

 ing the same year non-interest-bearing State 

 bonds to the amount of $104,965 were also paid 

 and redeemed. The total debt was thereby re- 

 duced to $8,261,340 on Oct. 1, a reduction of 

 $369,965 during the year. 



The total assessed' valuation of property for 

 1890 slightly exceeded $400,000,000, upon which 

 a total rate" of 3'96 mills was levied for State 

 purposes. 



Education. The latest report of the State 

 School Commissioner contains the following 

 public-school statistics for the school year end- 

 ing in July, 1889: Number of white schools, 

 4,593 ; number of colored schools, 2,288 ; white 

 pupils enrolled, 209,276 ; colored pupils enrolled, 

 133,220; total enrollment, white and colored, 

 342,496; average daily attendance, white and 

 colored, 230,384; total expenditures for school 

 purposes, $959,881.45; teachers' wages, $823,- 

 161.74; average length of school year, three 

 months ; total population of school age, 560,281. 

 The total sum available for school purposes dur- 

 ing the year was $1,065,537.85, of which the sum 

 of $337,814.53 was raised locally and the sum of 

 $683,380.50 by the State, the remainder being 

 the balance on hand at the beginning of the 

 year. The sum of $683,380.50, raised by the 

 State and constituting the State school fund 

 for the year, was derived from the following 

 sources: From tax on shows, $1,895.80; from 

 liquor tax, $71,739.96; from one half rental 

 State railroad, $150,000 ; from dividends Georgia 

 Railroad, $2,046; from net hire of convicts, 

 $17,356.98 ; from fees of inspector of fertilizers, 

 $87,186.19 ; from special legislative appropria- 

 tion, $165,000 ; and from poll tax, $188,155.57. 

 The Legislature of 1888-'89 was commendably 

 liberal to the schools, doubling the annual spe- 

 cial appropriation and giving them the tax on 

 all assessed property over the value of $360,- 

 000,000. As a result, the total State school fund 

 for 1890 reached approximately $826,656.05, an 

 increase of nearly $150,000 over 1889, and the 

 State School Commissioner was able to order the 

 schools kept open for four months at the expense 

 of the State, or one month longer than in 1889. 



In many of the larger towns and cities local 

 taxes are levied to supplement the State fund, 

 whereby pupils are enabled to receive instruction 

 from seven to nine months. In the rural dis- 

 tricts also long-term schools, so called, are be- 



