CONNECTICUT. 



219 



frages at the coming State election, we cordially in- 

 dorse the sentiments embodied in the foregoing reso- 

 lutions. 



The election resulted in the choice of the 

 Republican ticket, on April 1st. The average 

 majority given to each of the Republican can- 

 didates over the Democratic respectively, was 

 a little more than 500, except that of the Gov- 

 ernor, Mr. Jewell, who received less than 30 

 votes more than Mr. Hubbard. The whole 

 number of votes cast at this election was 

 93,098, which was about 9,000 less than a full 

 vote. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year, there 

 was in the Treasury cash on hand amounting 

 to $845,194.14; whereby the actual debt of 

 the State, which was $5,804,610.93 in the pre- 

 vious year, was reduced to $4,923,405.86. 



The State revenue, daring the same fiscal 

 year, amounted to $2,091,035.63; made up 

 by $231,522.19 from the two-mill tax; $42],- 

 120.86 from the savings-banks; $265,890.92 

 from mutual -insurance companies ; $314,101.- 

 73 from railroads ; $217,133.63 from the Fed- 

 eral Government on the State war-claims; 

 $34,296.28 from non-resident stockholders; 

 $24,459.14 from interest on deposits; the rest 

 from miscellaneous sources. The total ex- 

 penditure was $1,978,596.74 namely, $756,- 

 600, interest on the public debt; $380,304, 

 interest on bonded debt; $199,211.56, Juvenile 

 Reform School , $7,118.65, Board of Education ; 

 $123,118.77, soldiers' orphan children ; $82,- 

 958.03, public buildings and benevolent insti- 

 tutions; $102,836, General Assembly; $55,- 

 550, paid to counties for the 50 cents per capi- 

 ta on children of school-age. 



The estimated revenue from all sources, for 

 the coming year, is set down at $2, 662, 730.40 ; 

 and the expenditures at $1,688,600, leaving an 

 estimated surplus of $974,130.40 in the Treas- 

 ury on March 31, 1873. 



The collection of the tax of two mills on the 

 dollar was considered necessary to be contin- 

 ued for the ensuing year. The State claims 

 against the General Government for war pur- 

 poses, on which amount it received above 

 $200,000 last year, are regarded as finally set- 

 tled. 



The taxable property in Connecticut amount- 

 ed, on the 1st of October, 1871, to $339,782,- 

 733, which is $11,346,132 more than on the 

 same date in 1870. It is asserted that the 

 same kind of property is very unequally as- 

 sessed for taxation purposes in different coun- 

 ties of the State, the taxed value being in some 

 much higher in proportion to the actual than 

 in others; and the establishment of county 

 boards of equalization, consisting of three 

 members chosen in each county from among 

 its own residents, is suggested, their respec- 

 tive chairmen to constitute, with the State 

 Treasurer at their head, a State Board of 

 Equalization, whose decisions should be final. 



Town and city indebtedness seems to be 

 growing steadily larger. The aggregate 



amount, in 1370, was $9,813,000, and is now 

 supposed to have increased two or three mill- 

 ions. 



There are 72 savings-banks in the State, 

 with deposits amounting to a total of $62,717,- 

 814.77, which is about $1,500,000 above their 

 deposits in the preceding year. As these in- 

 stitutions severally charge different rates of in- 

 terest on money loaned, the Governor recom- 

 mended the enactment of some stringent laws 

 to compel them to lend their money at a uni- 

 form rate. 



Trustees or officers of the savings-banks 

 are in the habit of taking a commission from 

 the borrower for the money lent to him, or of 

 handing to him, as money, bonds at par, which 

 are not worth it. This practice, the Governor 

 says, should be prohibited by law. 



Four banks still remain, in Connecticut, 

 which do business under the laws of the State ; 

 their aggregate capital amounts to $1,400,000. 

 They are respectively located in Hartford and 

 New Haven, and, being prevented by the laws 

 of the United States from issuing notes for cir- 

 culation, they confine their operations to dis- 

 counting and loaning their capital and depos- 

 its, in which they seem to carry on a profit- 

 able business. The Bank Commissioners, in 

 their last report, say that, except some irregu- 

 lar practices charged against the president of 

 one of these institutions, timely detected and 

 remedied, "there lias been nothing to censure 

 in the management of any of them ; " that 

 they are wisely and prudently conducted; 

 and that "notwithstanding the sharp compe- 

 tition of the 'national' banks and trust com- 

 panies in obtaining deposits, they have been 

 able to pay to their stockholders remunera- 

 tive dividends, and have afforded to their cus- 

 tomers as extensive accommodations as the 

 other institutions." 



A law was enacted by the General Assem- 

 bly, at the session of 1871, relative to the in- 

 surance companies, having in view the protec- 

 tion of both the insuring and insured parties in 

 their reciprocal relations, and creating the 

 office of an Insurance Commissioner for the 

 State. The new law went into operation on 

 the first of September the same year, and the 

 effects of its working are regarded as most 

 satisfactory. There are 94 fire-insurance 

 companies doing business in the State, 16 

 of which are Connecticut companies, with 891 

 agencies in the State. Their assets, in the ag- 

 gregate, amount to $69,922,213, with risks of 

 $3,514,088,333, of which $199,467,344 are in 

 the State; the premiums in the year were 

 $1,820,364. 



The Insurance Commissioner states that, 

 among the large number of insurance compa- 

 nies involved in the conflagration which de- 

 stroyed Chicago in October, 1871, 11 were 

 Connecticut companies ; and of these he thus 

 speaks: "But four of them, the ^Etna, Hart- 

 ford, and Phoenix, of Hartford, and Fairfield 

 County, were able to pay losses in full, and 



