VIRGINIA. 



79Y 



which adjourned in April, had been elected on 

 the issue of retrenchment and reform, but its 

 action seems to have given little satisfaction. 

 It passed no general measures of importance, 

 and failed either to reduce public expenses, or 

 to improve the credit of the State. There was 

 no election for State officers, but both parties 

 held conventions to appoint delegates to the 

 national nominating bodies, and to nominate 

 presidential electors. The Republicans de- 

 clared for the reelection of General Grant, and 

 the Democrats joined the coalition of their 

 party with the " Liberal Republicans," for the 

 support of Horace Greeley. At the election 

 in November, there were 184,879 votes cast, 

 including 42 for O'Oonor. The electors pledged 

 to vote for Grant and Wilson for President and 

 Vice-President received 93,415, and those fa- 

 voring Greeley and Brown received 91,440, 

 making the majority of the former 1,975. The 

 vote of Buchanan County, being cast directly 

 for President and Vice-President, and not for 

 electors, was thrown out. It gave Greeley 

 214, and Grant 53. Members of Congress 

 were chosen at the same time, and those 

 elected in the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th districts, 

 were Republicans, and those in the 5th, 6th, 

 7th, 8th, and 9th districts, were Democrats. 

 The Legislature now stands, 33 "Conserva- 

 tives" and 10 Republicans in the Senate, and 

 99 " Conservatives" and 33 Republicans in the 

 House. There are three negroes in the Senate, 

 and 16 in the House. An amendment to the 

 constitution, proposed by the last Legislature, 

 was ratified by a vote of 40,166 to 20,326. It 

 strikes from the last clause of the 10th article 

 the inhibition on the subject of usury, and 

 remits to the Legislature the power of regu- 

 lating interest on money. 



The public-school system of Virginia is in- 

 creasing rapidly in efficiency. The number of 

 common schools is now over 3,600, and the 

 number of pupils in attendance above 166,000. 

 The State University is in a flourishing condi- 

 tion, and the Military Institute is rapidly recov- 

 ering its prestige. The Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical College has been organized and put 

 in operation during the year. The land scrip 

 granted by Congress in aid of this institution 

 has been sold at the rate of 90 cents per acre, 

 and $285,000 has already been obtained from 

 that source. Of this, $19,000 has been re- 

 served for the purchase of a farm, and the 

 remainder invested in State bonds. The Hamp- 

 ton Normal and Agricultural Institute is do- 

 ing good service in educating colored youth 

 of both sexes, and preparing them for the vo- 

 cation of teachers. There are three Asylums 

 for the Insane, and an Institution for the Deaf, 

 Dumb, and Blind, all of which appear to be 

 well managed and efficient. The management 

 of the penitentiary is represented as improving, 

 but the expenses of the institution exceeded 

 its earnings during the year by $66,950.78. 

 There were, on the 1st of October, 823 con- 

 victs within its walls, of whom 357 were hired 



out to labor on contract at forty cents each, 

 per day. There is no separate institution for 

 juvenile offenders. 



Considerable progress has been made during 

 the year in completing the system of public 

 improvements. The Alexandria & Fredericks- 

 burg Railroad has been finished, connecting 

 Richmond and Washington by an "all-rail" 

 line. The Orange, Alexandria & Manassas 

 Railroad Company has been consolidated with 

 the Lynchburg & Danville, and will complete 

 the latter line at once. The Richmond & Dan- 

 ville Railroad Company has leased the North 

 Carolina road, and will complete the commu- 

 nication from Richmond to Atlanta, by 250 

 miles of new road from Charlotte, N. C., to 

 Atlanta, Ga. The Chesapeake & Ohio Rail- 

 road is substantially finished, establishing com- 

 munication direct from Richmond to Hunting- 

 ton on the Ohio River. The James River & 

 Kanawha Canal, which was intended to unite 

 the waters of the James and the Ohio, has 

 never been completed farther than Buchanan, 

 a distance of 198 miles. The State has ex- 

 pended vast sums on this work, without any 

 adequate return. To enlarge it to the dimen- 

 sions necessary to make it useful as a channel 

 for commerce, and to complete it to the pro- 

 posed western terminus, would cost about 

 $40,000,000. The canal company, with the 

 sanction of the Legislature, has tendered this 

 work to the General Government, on condition 

 that it assumes the responsibility of completing 

 it, but this it is not likely to do. 



A decision was rendered in the Supreme 

 Court of Appeals, on the 13th of June, in three 

 cases involving the validity of that provision 

 of the State constitution, and the act of the 

 General Assembly passed in pursuance thereof, 

 which exempt from execution, or other legal 

 process, a homestead to each householder or 

 head of a family, to the value of two thousand 

 dollars. The opinion of the court was deliv- 

 ered by Judge Christian, and concluded as 

 follows : "The inviolability of contracts, pub- 

 lic and private, is the foundation of all social 

 progress, and the corner-stone of all the forms 

 of civilized society wherever an enlightened 

 jurisprudence prevails. In our system of gov- 

 ernment it has wisely been placed under the 

 Constitution of the United States, and there it 

 rests secure against all invasion. It only re- 

 mains for me to say that, after a careful con- 

 sideration of the important question before us, 

 and deeply impressed with the responsibilities 

 which grow out of it, I am of opinion that the 

 provision of the State constitution, and the act 

 of the General Assembly, passed in pursuance 

 thereof, known as the ' Homestead Exemp- 

 tion Laws,' so far as they apply to contracts 

 entered into, or debts contracted before their 

 adoption, are in violation of the Constitution 

 of the United States, and therefore void." 



According to the census of 1870, of the total 

 population (890,056) ten years old and over, 

 there were engaged in all classes of occupa- 



