846 



VERMONT. 



VIRGINIA. 



Immigration. Early in the year Commis- 

 sioner Valentine received advices that the agent 

 sent by him to Sweden in 1889 had induced about 

 thirty families to emigrate from that country 

 to Vermont. They arrived at Philadelphia late 

 in April, and were settled on lands secured for 

 them in the towns of Weston, Wilmington, and 

 Vershire, the larger portion going to Vershire. 

 About the same time, under private auspices, a 

 considerable colony of Scandinavians was settled 

 at Norton Mills, fn a report to the Legislature in 

 October, the commissioner expressed strong faith 

 in the success of this colonization scheme. His 

 report also presented a series of statistics, show- 

 ing that there are in the State at least 1,000 va- 

 cant farms, containing 118,000 acres, which can 

 be bought at from $3 to $5 an acre. Nearly all 

 of these farms contain buildings in fair condi- 

 tion. The efforts of the commissioner, although 

 thus far experimental, were not favorably re- 

 ceived by the Legislature. It conceived that his 

 efforts had resulted only in advertising the bar- 

 renness and cheapness of Vermont lands, and 

 that further continuance of the office would in- 

 jure the interests of the State. A bill was there- 

 fore passed abolishing the office, and no other 

 provision was made to attract immigration. 



Political. The political canvass of this year 

 was opened by the Democrats, who, in State 

 convention at Burlington, on May 29, nominated 

 the following ticket : For Governor, Herbert F. 

 Brigham ; for Lieutenant-Governor, George W. 

 Smith ; for Secretary of State, George F. 0. Kim- 

 ball ; for Treasurer, Don C. Pollard ; for Auditor 

 of Accounts, Elisha May. The following is a por- 

 tion of the platform : 



We declare ourselves emphatically in favor of a 

 ballot-reform law similar to those already proved 

 beneficial in other States, which shall give to our 

 citizens the privilege of a secret ballot. 



We oppose the present prohibition law of this 

 State, and declare ourselves in favor of a stringent 

 local license law in its stead. 



The Republican State Convention was held at 

 Montpelier on June 19. For the gubernatorial 

 nomination there was an earnest contest between 

 Lieut.-Gov. Woodbury and Carroll S. Page, which 

 resulted in the success of the latter. On the first 

 ballot in the convention Page received 386 votes 

 and Lieut.-Gov. Woodbury 337. For Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, Henry A. 'Fletcher was nomi- 

 nated ; for Treasurer, Henry F. Field ; and for 

 Secretary of State, Chauncey W. Brownell, Jr. 

 State Auditor Powell was the only candidate 

 who obtained a renomination. The platform 

 contained the following : 



In the present depressed condition of agricultural 

 and other interests, we believe it to be the duty of 

 the farmers of the State to choose representatives to 

 the coming Legislature who will advocate the appro- 

 priation of no more money than is demanded by the 

 actual needs of the State, to the end that industry 

 may be relieved of all unnecessary taxation. 



The Prohibition party met in convention at 

 Burlington on July 10, and placed the following 

 ticket in the field : For Governor, Edward L. Al- 

 len ; Lieutenant-Governor, Gardner S. Fassett ; 

 Treasurer, E. H. Field ; Secretary of State, W. P. 

 Stafford ; Auditor, H. C. Barnes. The resolutions 

 declare that the prohibitory law does not increase 

 the burden of taxation ; that the Australian bal- 



lot law, or its equivalent, should be adopted ; that 

 the work of the Woman's Christian Temperance 

 Union deserves commendation ; that " all com- 

 binations of capital to increase the cost of prod- 

 ucts for popular consumption " are to be op- 

 posed ; and that the recent " original-package " 

 decision makes prohibition a national question. 



The election, which took place on Sept. 2, re- 

 sulted in the success of the Republican ticket by 

 a reduced majority. For Governor, Page re- 

 ceived 33,462 votes ; Brigham, 19,299 ; and Al- 

 len, 1,161. For Lieutenant-Governor, the vote 

 was : Fletcher, 35,690 ; Smith, 18,280 ; and Fas- 

 sett, 1,068. Members of the Legislature were 

 elected at the same time as follow : Senate, 

 Republicans 29, Democrats 1 ; House, Repub- 

 licans 172, Democrats 62, Independents and 

 Farmers' League 5. Two Republican members 

 of Congress were chosen. 



VIRGINIA, a Southern State, one of the 

 original thirteen, ratified the Constitution June 

 25, 1788 ; area, 42,450 square miles. The popu- 

 lation, according to each decennial census, was 

 747,610 in 1790 ; 880,200 in 1800 ; 974,600 in 

 1810; 1,065,116 in 1820; 1,211,405 in 1830; 1,- 

 239,797 in 1840 ; 1,421,661 in 1850 ; 1,596,318 in 

 1860; 1,225,163 in 1870; 1,512,565 in 1880; and 

 1,655,980 in 1890. Capital, Richmond. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, Philip W. 

 McKinney, Democrat ; Lieutenant-Governor, J. 

 Hoge Tyler ; Secretary of State, H. W. Flour- 

 noy ; First Auditor, Morton Marye ; Second Au- 

 ditor, Frank G. Ruffin ; Treasurer, A. W. Har- 

 mon ; Attorney-General, R. Taylor Scott ; Su- 

 perintendent of Public Instruction, John E. 

 Massey; Commissioner of Agriculture, Thomas 

 Whitehead ; Railroad Commissioner, James C. 

 Hill; President of the Supreme Court, Lunsford 

 L. Lewis ; Judges, B. W. Lacy, Robert A. Rich- 

 ardson, Drury A. Hinton, and T. T. Fauntleroy. 



Population. The following table shows the 

 population of the State by counties, as deter- 

 mined by the national census of 1890, compared 

 with the population for 1880 : 



