810 



VIRGINIA. 



tion at Montpelicr, July 28. The resolutions ap- 

 proved the platform of the national convention 

 and declared that bribe giving and bribe taking 

 should be made felonies by national law, and that 

 the levying of taxes upon property not actually 

 owned should be prohibited. The State ticket was : 

 For Governor, Joseph Battcll ; Lieutenant Governor, 

 William Dexter; Treasurer, Daniel Sallies; Secre- 

 tary of State, Abel T. May; Auditor, Columbus L. 

 Clough. 



At the September election the entire State ticket 

 of the Republicans was successful by a large ma- 

 jority. The vote for Governor stood : Grout, 53,- 

 436; Jackson, 14,855; Battell, 831; Whittemore, 

 755. At the November election, the vote for Mc- 

 Kinley electors was 50,991 ; Bryan and Sewall, 10,- 

 146; Bryan and Watson, 461; Palmer, I.:',','!): 

 Levering, 728. The two Representatives in Con- 

 gress are Republican, as are also all the members of 

 the State Senate. The Democrats have 18 mem- 

 bers in the House, and the Republicans 225. One 

 member is an Independent, and one a Populist. 



VIRGINIA, a Southern State, one of the origi- 

 nal thirteen, ratified the Constitution June 25, 1788 ; 

 area, 42,450 square miles. The population, accord- 

 ing to each decennial census, was 747.610 in 1790; 

 880,200 in 1800 ; 974,600 in 1810 ; 1,065.116 in is-jn : 

 1,211,405 in 1830: 1.239,797 in 1840; 1.421.661 in 

 1850; 1,596,318 in 1860; 1,025.1(5:5 in 1S70: 1.512,- 

 565 in 1880; and 1,655,980 in 1890. Capital, Rich- 

 mond. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, Charles T. 

 O'Ferrall, Democrat ; Lieutenant Governor, Robert 

 C. Kent; Secretary of the Commonwealth, .lames 

 T. Lawless; Attorney-General. K. Taylor Scott: 

 First, Auditor, Morton Marye : Second Auditor, 

 Josiali Uyland. Jr.: Treasurer. A. W. Harman ; 

 Adjutant General, Charles J. Anderson : Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, John K. Massie ; 

 Commissioner of Agriculture, Thomas Whitehead ; 

 President of the Court of Appeals, James Keith: 

 Justices, John W. Riely, John A. Buchanan, George 

 M. Harrison, and Richard II. Cardwell; Clerk of 

 the Court, G. K. Taylor. 



Finances. The receipts and disbursements for 

 the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1896, were : Amount 

 on hand Oct. 1, 1895, $61,895.64; receipts from all 

 sources during the year. $3.499.301.58 ; total. $3,560,- 

 697.22. Disbursements during the year, $3.347,399.- 

 17. Balance on hand Oct. 1. 1896, $218,298.05. In 

 addition to these receipts paid into the treasury, there 

 were received from sureties of county and city treas- 

 urers during the year, under acts for their relief, 

 bonds of the State to the amount of $2,027.24. which 

 were turned over to the commissioners of the sink- 

 ing fund and canceled. Of the $3,499,301.58, there 

 were received from the United States Government, 

 for agricultural and mechanical colleges, $22,000 ; 

 from fees for registration of fertilizers by the Agri- 

 cultural Department, $8.892.67 ; arrears of taxes, 

 $33,702.81 ; from banks for governmental and 

 school support, $39,374.93 ; fees on charters, 

 $1,235.56 ; capitation tax, $2-16.685.36 : from clerks 

 of courts, tax on process, etc., $96.848.52 ; collateral- 

 inheritance tax, $2,705.50; from collection of costs 

 in Commonwealth's cases, $9,839.47; delinquent 

 lands, $57,273.44 ; from express companies. $1,448.- 

 16; fines, $27,221.93; commissions for funding pub- 

 lic debt, $8,486.27 ; from income tax, $41,747.02 ; 

 from insurance companies, in licenses, tax on pre- 

 miums, and for publishing their reports, $62.997.52 ; 

 interest from State depositories, $8,017.16 ; licenses 

 of all other kinds. $61)4.927.50. including $700 from 

 attorneys for legislative committees; notary seal 

 tax, $5,752.41 ; oyster tax, $31,980.59 ; hire of con- 

 victs, $137,203.18; from personal property, $315,- 



012.09 : from railroads for support of government, 

 $158,918.47, and for support of schools, $51,962.16 ; 

 fees from Land Office, $1.069.35 ; revenue from 5- 

 per-cent. penalty. $42,807.16 : real-estate tax for 

 support of both government and schools, including 

 some delinquent taxes, $1,149,299.83 ; sale of bonds 

 by sinking-fund commissioners. $201,064.46; from 

 steamboat companies, $2.939.64; from telephone 

 and telegraph companies, $7.118.04. Among the 

 disbursements for the year were : To public schools, 

 $959,351: to the University of Virginia. $49.999.99* 

 the annuity being $40,000 and the special appro- 

 priation $9,999.99; to the Military Institute. x37.- 

 500, $2,500 of which was a special appropriation; 

 to the Agricultural and Mechanical College, $15,- 

 000: to William and Mary College, $15,000; to the 

 Medical College, $5.000; to the Colored Normal 

 School, $15,000; to the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind In- 

 Btitution, $3-1.999; to the Female Normal School. 

 $17.500. The sum of $146,331 was paid as interest 

 on bonds held by institutions of learning, under a 

 special provision of law. The cost of the last ses- 

 sion of the Legislature was $77.135.49. The total 

 of interest paid upon the public debt was $714.1(15. 

 The expenses of the oyster Meet, etc., were $27.884 ; 

 pensions, $110,800; public printing, $35,096. The 

 following sums were collected for school-fund pur- 

 poses: From capitation tax. $359.628; from per- 

 sonal-property tax, $89.386.07; from real-estate 

 tax, $303,529.06 ; from bank tax. $12,339.08 ; from 

 tax on railroads and canals, $53,380.57 ; from tax 

 on steamboats etc., S7-12.39 ; from tax on telegraph 

 and telephone companies. $385.10; total, $819,- 

 31)9.27. 90 per cent, of which is applicable to public 

 free schools. The total amount of criminal charges 

 throughout the State was $37^.291.37. 



Taxation. There are 126 banks in the State, 

 carrying 196.791 shares, with a market value of 

 $12.338,685, and a total assessed taxation of $49,- 

 356.1S. of which $39.122.113 was paid during the last 

 fiscal year. 



The State received from railroad companies the 

 sum of $4.244.26 to defray the salaries of the Rail- 

 road Commissioner and his clerk. The assessed 

 valuation of railroad property was $53,386,040.89, 

 upon which the total tax paid was $210.880.63. 



The assessed value of all steamboat property was 

 $705,352. upon which a tax of $2,939.64 was paid. 



The Public Debt. Under the provisions of an 

 act approved Jan. 31. 1894. holders of a portion of 

 the unfunded debt, who were barred from the pro- 

 visions of the act approved Feb. 20, 1892, by their 

 failure to accept within the time prescribed, were 

 permitted to accept the terms of the last-named 

 act, and the commissioners of the sinking fund were 

 authorized and empowered to place these holders 

 on the same footing as if they had actually accepted 

 the terms of the last-named act within the pre- 

 scribed time. The commissioners of the sinking 

 fund advertised for the reception of the outstand- 

 ing bonds for exchange, and bonds to the amount 

 of $1,474.017.94 have been surrendered and funded, 

 and in lieu Thereof new bonds for the aggregate 

 sum of $1.015.184.89 have been issued. 



In relation to the question of the adjustment of 

 the State debt with West Virginia, the Governor 

 says, in his message to the Legislature: "So far as 

 I can see, Virginia is no nearer a consummation of 

 her desire to effect a settlement and adjustment 

 with West Virginia than she was twenty years or 

 more .ago." 



Education. The number of public schools in 

 operation for the year was 8,4006,124 white and 

 2,276 colored in which 8,405 teachers were em- 

 ployed. The whole number of pupils enrolled was 

 361,559, an increase of more than 5,000 over the 

 previous year. The number of schoolhouses used 



