236 



DELAWARE. 



what sudden, we hope that it is genuine, and that, 

 in due time, they will bring forth fruits meet for 



' That the maladministration of the affairs 

 of this State, by those to whom its government has 

 been intrusted, demands condemnation ; that the 

 condition of the people requires a return to the sure 

 and economical ways of our fathers ; that the pub- 

 lic burdens have become a load intolerable to be 

 borne, and, having vainly protested against the con- 

 stantly-increasing expenditures and consequent tax- 

 ation, we earnestly ask that all who desire economy 

 instead of extravagance will unite with us in apply- 

 ing the only effectual remedy the removal of those 

 through whom the evil has come, and by whom it 

 will be continued. It is idle to grumble so long as 

 we support them, or to quarrel so long as we en- 

 courage them by our votes. 



A slight conflict between the authority of 

 the State and the national Government arose 

 during the canvass, owing to the peculiarity of 

 the Delaware election laws. The payment of 

 a county tax, which shall have been assessed at 

 least six months before the election, is one of 

 the qualifications of an elector, and under this 

 many negroes in Newcastle County were de- 

 prived of the right of suffrage by the Levy 

 Court. This result was assumed to be in vio- 

 lation of the fourteenth amendment of the 

 Federal Constitution, and the members of the 

 court and some of the collectors of the county 

 were indicted under the enforcement act, and 

 one of the collectors was tried and convicted. 

 On this subject the Governor says, in his mes- 

 sage to the Legislature of 1873 : 



I cannot, as the executive of the State, withhold 

 the expression of regret at the unwarranted assump- 

 tion of power by Congress in the enactment of the 

 law under which these proceedings were had. From 

 the formation of the Union until the enactment of 

 this law, no such claim of power for Congress was 

 ever practically asserted. The right of the States to 

 select their own officials, and to regulate their ac- 

 tions without any Federal supervision, had never 

 been denied, and for more than three-quarters of a 

 century that right had been exercised by this State 

 without Federal interference. This assumed power 

 of Congress to interfere in such local affairs is predi- 

 cated upon the recent amendments to the Constitu- 

 tion ; but it would be a forced construction of these 

 amendments, and certainly far more than was claimed 

 by their advocates before they were engrafted upon 

 the fundamental law, that would warrant a power so 

 adverse to the theory of the government, as well as 

 to all the rights of the States over their own domes- 

 tic affairs. If the fourteenth amendment confers 

 upon Congress the fearful power assumed in the en- 

 actment of the law under which these indictments 

 were found, it is difficult to find a limit to its au- 

 thority. There is but one step between the exercise 

 of Federal supervisory power over the officers of the 

 State and the power to appoint them, and at no dis- 

 tant day it may be found that the exercise of the one 

 suggests, if it does hot necessitate, the other. It is to 

 be regretted that one by one the safeguards of liber- 

 ty are disappearing in rapid succession, and the lim- 

 itations upon Federal authority so weakened or dis- 

 regarded as to form but a feeble defense against con- 

 solidated despotism. But regrets are vain, and pro- 

 tests are unavailing. The strides of Federal power 

 are unstayed, and its portentous shadow casts a 

 gloomy pall over the future history of the country. 



There was no election for State officers this 

 year. The total vote for presidential electors 



was 21,321, of which those chosen to vote for 

 Grant and Wilson received 11,115, those for 

 Greeley and Brown 10,206, and those for 

 O'Conor and Adams 460; majority for Grant, 

 909. James R. Lofland was elected as Repre- 

 sentative in Congress by a majority of 362, out 

 of a total vote of 22,392, receiving 11,377 votes. 

 The Legislature of 1873 consists of 8 Demo- 

 crats and 1 Republican in the Senate, and 14 

 Democrats and 7 Repulicans in the House of 

 Representatives. 



The principal local issues which divide par- 

 ties in the State are those of providing for a 

 more equal representation from the different 

 counties and hundreds, equalizing taxation, re- 

 pealing the tax on travel, and improving the 

 school system. 



Among the internal improvements proposed 

 is a ship-canal to connect the Chesapeake with 

 Delaware Bay. Examinations have been un- 

 der way to determine the practicability of the 

 enterprise, and the most favorable route. 



Among the barbarous practices not yet ex- 

 tinct in the State of Delaware is that of pub- 

 licly flogging criminals, and placing them in 

 the pillory. On the 23d of November eight 

 men, one white and seven colored, were pil- 

 loried and whipped in the court-yard of the 

 county-prison at Newcastle, in the presence 

 of many spectators. Most of the culprits were 

 serving terms in the prison for larceny, and 

 received on this occasion sixty lashes, besides 

 being forced to stand one hour in the pillory. 



According to the Federal census of 1870, 

 there were in the State 698,115 acres of im- 

 proved, 295,162 of woodland, and 59,045 of 

 other unimproved land. The cash value of farms 

 was $46,712,870 ; of farming implements and 

 machinery, $1,201,644; total amount of wages 

 paid during the year, including value of board, 

 $1,696,571 ; total (estimated) value of all farm 

 productions, including betterments and addi- 

 tions to stock, $8,171,667; value of orchard 

 products, $1,226,893 ; .of produce of market- 

 gardens, $198,075 ; of forest products, $111,- 

 810 ; of home manufactures, $33,070 ; of ani- 

 mals slaughtered or sold for slaughter, $997,- 

 403 ; of all live-stock, $4,257,323. There were 

 16,770 horses, 3,584 mules and asses, 24,082 

 milch-cows, 6,888 working-oxen, 19,020 other 

 cattle, 22,714 sheep, and 39,818 swine. The 

 chief productions were 895,477 bushels of 

 wheat, 10,222 of rye, 3,010,390 of Indian-corn, 

 554,388 of oats, 1,799 of barley, 1,349 of buck- 

 wheat, 3,123 of peas and beans, 362,724 of Irish 

 and 85,309 of sweet potatoes, 58,316 pounds 

 of wool, 1,171,963 of butter, 1,552 gallons of 

 wine, and 758, 603 of milk. Sold 65, 908 of sor- 

 ghum molasses, 33,151 pounds of honey, and 

 41,890 tons of hay. The total number of man- 

 ufacturing establishments was 800, using 164 

 steam-engines of 4,313 horse-power, and 234 

 water-wheels of 4,220 horse-power, and em- 

 ploying 9,710 hands, of whom 7,705 were males 

 over sixteen, 1,190 females over fifteen, and 

 806 youth. The amount of capital employed 



