310 



FLOEIDA. 



FOLEY, JOHN H. 



Governor Stearns thus speaks of the finances 

 of the State : 



It is thus highly gratifying and encouraging that, 

 while for many years the interest remained unpaid, 

 and the volume of the debt was annually increased, 

 during the last two years we have not only paid all 

 our interest promptly, but have made an actual re- 

 duction of the principal. But while the wise pro- 

 visions of the law of 1873, providing for the consoli- 

 dation of all the bonded debt, except the seven per 

 cent, bonds of 1871, and those belonging to the 

 School and Seminary Funds, are being carried faith- 

 fully into execution, and have created an interest 

 and sinking fund sufficient to secure the prompt pay- 

 ment of the interest and the gradual liquidation of 

 the principal, and while the floating debt has been 

 reduced during the past year from $190,585.79 to 

 $185,646.14, yet the outstanding warrants on the 

 Treasury still remain at a large discount. And this 

 depreciation, as shown in the Controller's report, 

 so increases our current expenditures as to be equiv- 

 alent to the payment by the State of an interest of 

 two aad a half per cent, per month on its floating 

 debt. And yet the amount of these warrants is less 

 than three-fourths of the State tax proper in one 

 year. Why, then, are they so far below par? The 

 answer is found in the fact that our current expenses 

 annually exceed the revenue provided to meet them. 

 It will be seen by the reports of the financial officers 

 for the present year that while our current expenses 

 have been $280,837.37, the receipts applicable thereto 

 are only $254,328.58, leaving a deficiency on current 

 account of $26,508.79, by which amount the floating 

 debt would have been increased had not a portion 

 of it been funded into the bonds of 1873. Had the 

 Legislature confined the expenses within the revenue, 

 the actual reduction of the public debt for the year, 

 instead of $21,330.55, would have been $47,839.34. 



Besides the indebtedness above described, 

 the State has issued, pursuant to the act of the 

 Legislature, passed in 1870, $4,000,000 bonds 

 in aid of the Jacksonville, Pensacola <fe Mo- 

 bile Railroad, receiving as security mortgages 

 on the road. For the reason that the State 

 has held this security, which has been regarded 

 as ample protection against the bonds, they 

 have never been considered.as part of the State 

 debt proper. The suit brought by the State 

 in the Supreme Court of the United States for 

 the purpose of protecting and enforcing its 

 statutory and mortgage lien upon the railroad 

 property has not reached a final decision, but 

 has so far progressed as to give hope of a de- 

 cision favorable to the State. On the 4th day 

 of April, 1874, this whole property, from Jack- 

 sonville to Ohattahoochee, was taken posses- 

 sion of by the court, and placed under the 

 management of Major Robert Walker, as re- 

 ceiver. This officer is held by the court to the 

 strictest accountability, and, under his skillful 

 management, the credit of the road has been 

 redeemed, and the road materially improved in 

 every respect. The State is now receiving the 

 benefits of the income of the road in new iron 

 and rolling-stock, and in the improved con- 

 dition of the road-bed, whereby the security 

 of the State is enhanced, and the inducement 

 to the holders. to exchange the bonds for the 

 security is greatly increased. It is believed 

 that, as soon as the State shall have demon- 

 strated the validity of its security, and its .un- 

 disputed title to the property, the holders will 



surrender the $4,000,000 of bonds, with accrued 

 interest, to the State, in exchange for the 

 property or the proceeds of its sale, thus re- 

 lieving the State credit of a serious burden. 



On the 1st of October, S. B. McLin was ap- 

 pointed to discharge the duties of the office of 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, left va- 

 cant by the sudden decease of Jonathan 0. 

 Gibbs. 



The school-fund now amounts to $83,736. 

 The seminary -fund amounts to $83,730. The 

 two seminaries are in Tallahassee and Gaines- 

 ville, and are State institutions. Their object, 

 as declared by the act of the Legislature estab- 

 lishing them, is " the instruction of persons, 

 both male and female, in the art of teaching 

 all the various branches that pertain to a good 

 common-school education ; and, next, to give 

 instruction in the mechanic arts, in husbandry 

 and agricultural chemistry, in the fundamental 

 laws, and in what regards the rights and du- 

 ties of citizens." Each county is entitled by 

 law to send as many pupils to one or the other 

 of these seminaries, free of charge, as it has 

 representatives in the Legislature, such pupils 

 to be selected by the Board of County Com- 

 missioners in each county. The objects of these 

 institutions have never been carried into effect, 

 nor have the counties availed themselves of the 

 privilege of sending students, or taken the 

 benefit of their scholarships. It would seem 

 that the people of the State have forgotten 

 their interest in, and the object of, these sem- 

 inaries, and have allowed them to fall into dis- 

 use as State institutions. 



FOLEY, JOHN HENEY, R. A., the most emi- 

 nent of British sculptors, born in Dublin in 

 1818 ; died in London, August 28, 1874. At 

 the age of thirteen he became a student of the 

 Dublin Royal Society, where he obtained first 

 prizes in the schools for modeling and archi- 

 tecture. He went to London at the age of six- 

 teen, and studied sculpture at the Royal Acad- 

 emy, appearing first as an exhibitor in 1839, 

 when he displayed figures representing the 

 " Death of Abel," and " Innocence." In 1840 

 he produced " Ino and Bacchus," which at 

 once rendered him famous. In 1842 he ex- 

 hibited the " Houseless Wanderer," and in 1844 

 was chosen as one of the three sculptors to 

 execute the statues for the new palace at West- 

 minster, and received commissions for statues 

 of Hampden and Selden, both of which he 

 executed successfully. Mr. Foley, who had be- 

 come in 1849 an associate of the Royal Acad- 

 emy, exhibited in 1851 "The Mother," and in 

 1854 " Egeria," commissioned by the corpora- 

 tion of London, and now in the Mansion House 

 of that city. In 1856 he completed in bronze 

 " Lord Hardinge and Charger," a group which 

 was greatly admired by the first authorities in 

 British art, and a duplicate of it requested for 

 London. This was followed in 1858 by " Ca- 

 ractacus," modeled for the corporation of Lon- 

 don, and in the same year the author was made 

 a member of the Royal Academy. His diplo- 



