234 



DELAWARE. 



The average price above commissions and 

 freight-charges was 40 cents per basket, which 

 would give as the total return to growers, 

 $1,327,810. This is without taking into ac- 

 count the home consumption or the distilla- 

 tion of peach-brandy, which is carried on to 

 a considerable extent in some localities. From 

 May 23d to June 17th, 3,472,000 quarts of 

 strawberries were shipped from the State, 

 which at 8 cents a quart yielded $227,260. 

 The fruit-growers have held several meetings 

 to concert measures for a reduction of freights, 

 but thus far without any practical result. 



A warm controversy arose during the year 

 regarding the right of citizens of New Jersey 

 to take fish from the waters of the Delaware 

 Eiver within what is known as the "twelve- 

 mile circle," that is, a circle with a radius of 

 12 miles, having its centre at the town of New- 

 castle. Delaware claims that this circular 

 line was the original northern boundary of 

 the State, and that within it her jurisdiction 

 is exclusive to the low-water mark on the New- 

 Jersey side of the stream. ' As a license is re- 

 quired from the citizens of other States fish- 

 ing in her waters, she holds that no fish can 

 be taken from the river even adjacent to the 

 New Jersey shore where it comes within that 

 circle, unless such license is first obtained. 

 Certain New Jersey fishermen venturing with- 

 in that line were arrested in the early part of 

 the year, and this led to a correspondence be- 

 tween the Governors of the two States, which 

 resulted in an interview at Philadelphia, and 

 an agreement to bring the subject before the 

 Legislatures of the two States, with a recom- 

 mendation that commissioners be appointed 

 to settle the matter in dispute. This recom- 

 mendation was made by Governor Ponder in 

 his annual message to the Legislature of 1873. 



The city of Wilmington gives evidence of 

 continued growth and prosperity, as will be 

 seen from the following table, showing the 

 capital employed and value of articles produced 

 during the year from October, 1871, to Octo- 

 ber, 1872, in the city and suburbs: 



tne 



Y a 



3bt. 



Population of city proper 37,000 



Population of city and suburbs 40,000 



Present annual increase about 2 000 



Value of real estate in city $25,000,000 



Estimated value of personal property 18,000,000 



Number of buildings erected from October, 



1871, to October, 1872 451 



Estimated value of buildings erected $1,443,200 



Kate of city tax for 1872, 13 per cent, on 6 

 per cent, of the assessed value, equal to a 

 direct tax of about 7 mills on property. 



The bonded debt of the city is $464,200, the 

 cancellation of which is provided for by 

 sinking fund. The city has no floating del 

 Area of city proper, 8 square miles. 



Number of churches 41 



Number of public schools 15 



Number of private academies, seminaries, etc 16 



Number of banks 8 



Number of newspapers published regularly 10 



Institutions for the relief and support of the aged, 



friendless, orphans, and the poor 5 



Number of insurance companies 3 



Number of loan associations 18 



Number of secret societies Masonic, Odd-Fellows, 



etc 65 



A convention of the Kepublicans of the 

 State was held at Dover, on the 9th of May, 

 to choose delegates to the National Conven- 

 tion of the party at Philadelphia. A long 

 platform was adopted, which, besides a hearty 

 and explicit indorsement of the various acts 

 of the national Administration, contained the 

 following resolutions : 



Resolved, While we view with satisfaction the gen- 

 eral prosperity of the country, we are pained and 

 mortified to realize that the State of Delaware, under 

 the rule of a party which has been and still is in an- 

 tagonism with the great national movement of the 

 last decade, has not relatively participated in the 

 general improvement and progress ; but on the con- 

 trary has suffered in every material interest, and in 

 her character and reputation as a commonwealth of 

 free and enlightened people. 



Resolved, That having foisted on the people an 

 enormous debt, necessitating heavy taxation, the 

 ruling party has shown its utter incompetency to de- 

 vise a system of revenue that shall meet the financial 

 exigencies without oppressing the people and crip- 

 pling our productive energies, and that relief from 

 ruinous and reckless expenditures and intolerable 

 taxation demands the removal of this party from 

 power, and its substitution by one pledged to re- 

 trenchment, and to a revision of our system of taxa- 

 tion, and its adjustment in accordance with the 

 principle of justice and equality. 



Resolved, That in the persistent opposition of their 

 representatives in Congress, their press and their 

 legislators, to all measures looking to the improve- 

 ment of our school system, this Bourbon party has 

 committed itself thoroughly against popular educa- 

 tion, and a reform in this direction, that shall place 

 the blessings of good schools within the reach of 

 rich and poor alike, can only come through the sue 

 cess of the Eepuhlican party, and to this reform ~ 

 pledge the Kepublicans of Delaware. 



Resolved, That a wise political economy, as well s 

 common justice and humanity, demands that le 

 lation shall protect, as far as practicable, the ] 

 and unfortunate, and that our present statutes 

 the collection of debts, under which the last dollar's 

 worth of property may he seized and sold, and the 

 helpless victims left to abject penury and want, are 

 unwise and inhuman, and that such a law should be 

 enacted as will secure a liberal exemption of prop- 

 erty from seizure and sale for debt. 



Resolved, That security to the public and honesty 

 in officials demand that those intrusted with the 



