DELAWARE. 



233 



friendship of that great statesman. In person 

 Mr. Davis was small, slight, and of delicate 

 build, but he possessed wonderful powers of 

 endurance, and he has often entertained the 

 Senate for many hours at a time with a speech 

 of great laborionsness and learned length. He 

 was bitter in his prejudices and fierce in in- 

 vective and sarcasm. His famous scheme for 

 dividing New England, and practically leaving 

 that group of States " out in the cold," will be 

 remembered as one of his favorite plans of 

 revenge, which had, after all, more of the ap- 

 pearance of a practical joke than a serious 

 measure. At the time of his death, we believe, 

 Mr. Davis was one of the Eegents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. His term of office 

 would have expired March 3, 1873. 



DELAWARE. The financial condition of 

 the State of Delaware is quite satisfactory. 

 The public debt at the beginning of the fiscal 

 period of two years, ending on the 15th of De- 

 cember, was $1,462,000, of which $1,110,000 

 consisted of bonds issued to pay bounties to 

 volunteers during the war and for substitutes ; 

 and the balance of $352,000 bonds loaned to 

 the Junction & Breakwater Railroad Company, 

 secured by a first mortgage on the road and 

 its equipments. Bonds have also been loaned 

 to the Delaware Railroad Company, guaranteed 

 by the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore 

 Railroad Company, but these are not reckoned 

 among the liabilities of the State, as the pay- 

 ment of both principal and interest has been 

 amply provided for by the corporation itself. 

 The interest on the State bonds has been paid 

 regularly and promptly, and $137,000 of the 

 principal has been redeemed during the past 

 two years, leaving the debt at present $1,325,- 

 000. The State has investments, other than 

 those appropriated to the free public schools, 

 as follows : 



Mortgage on the Junction & Breakwater Rail- 

 road Company $400,000 



1,250 shares Farmers' Bank stock at $50 per share 62,500 

 20 shares National Bank of Delaware, at $465 per 



share 9,300 



Total $471,800 



The investments appropriated to the sup- 

 port of free schools are as follows : 



500 shares Farmers' Bank stock, at $36 per share $180,000 

 Loan to Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore 



Railroad Company 85,000 



Loan to Sussex County 5,000 



2,439 shares Farmers' Bank stock, at $50 per 



share 121,950 



37 shares of stock National Bank of Delaware, 



at $465 per share 17,206 



114 shares of Bank of Smyrna stock, at $80 per 



share 9,120 



254 shares of Union National Bank stock, at $36 



per share 9,144 



Invested in Newcastle & Wilmington Railroad 



Company, paying 7 per cent 25,000 



Total $452,410 



If all these assets of the State be deducted 

 from the debt, the balance would be $400,781. 

 The interest derived from investments amounts 

 to about $27,000 semi-annually. Of the out- 

 standing bonds, $165,000 will mature January 

 15, 1875. The remainder falls due January, 



1885, with the exception of the $352,000. 

 loaned to the Junction & Breakwater Railroad, 

 which run till 1890. The receipts of the Treas- 

 ury from January 18, 1871, to December 15, 

 1872, were as follows : 



From Vacant Land $112 07 



Interest on Investments 26,272 50 



Clerks of the Peace, for Licenses 55,587 72 



Fines and Forfeitures , 441 63 



Railroads 45,858 62 



Tax on Bank Shares 5,695 76 



County Treasurers 53,762 84 



County offlce-rs (Clerks of Courts) 4,448 52 



Tax on Insurance Companies 1,650 00 



Oyster Fund 5,688 80 



Belonging to the School Fund 5,189 71 



Total $204,708 17 



The expenses during the same period were : 



Railroad Instalment $1,150 00 



Attorney-General 1,125 00 



Coupons and Bonds 169,871 60 



Judiciary 7,950 00 



Executive and Secretary of State 2,800 00 



Publishing Laws, and Printing 602 30 



Librarian 150 00 



Legislative Committee 1,000 29 



Resolutions of General Assembly 46 00 



For Second Volume of Houston's Report 1,000 00 



Incidental Expenses 16 42 



Total disbursements, as above $186,311 61 



On the 15th of December, the Treasurer had 

 deposited in the Farmers' Bank at Dover, to 

 the credit of the State, $58,046.82, and on Jan- 

 uary 15, 1873, the following sums became due 

 to the State : 



From Interests on Investments $26,272 50 



Tax on Railroad Earnings and Capitation.. . . 23,508 96 



Tax on Bank-Shares 5,695 76 



Tax from the several Counties 53,762 84 



Tax from County Officers and miscellaneous 



sources 4,OCO 00 



Total $113,240 06 



Fair progress has been made during the 

 year on the Wilmington & Western Railroad, 

 which is in course of construction. The por- 

 tion running from Wilmington to Landenberg, 

 about 20 miles, was formally opened in October. 

 The Peach-bottom road, from Oxford to York, 

 is nearly all under contract. It will be about 

 60 miles long, and will probably be completed 

 in the course of the next year. A new road 

 has been located from Broad Top Coal-Fields 

 to York. Considerable progress has also been 

 made in draining the swamp and submerged 

 lands along the Delaware River. Over 200 

 acres have already been reclaimed. 



The number of acres of improved land in 

 the State is 698,115, of which 216,958 are 

 in Kent County, 203,169 in Newcastle, and 

 277,990 in Sussex. There are 354,207 acres 

 of unimproved land, of which 295,162 are 

 woodland. The value of farms in the three 

 counties is, for Kent, $13,167,760; Newcastle, 

 $24,573,079; Sussex, $8,972,031 ; the value of 

 farm machinery in the State, $1,201,644; esti- 

 mated value of farm productions per year, 

 $8,171,677. 



One of the principal interests is that of 

 peach-growing. The aggregate amount of 

 this fruit shipped over the various railroads 

 during the last season was 3,569,526 baskets. 



