CONNECTICUT. 



207 



at ITartford on May 3, 1876. It was the last 

 M hold by tin- r. MIII. -ft ii-iit Legislature in 

 tin- s|iring; a recent amendment to the con- 

 stitution baring li.xud the opening of its ses- 

 MOII- thereafter on the first Wednesday- in 

 .1. iniiary, to begin in* the year 1877. K>th 

 I louses wore promptly organized. At the 

 ballot taken for Speaker in the House of Rep- 

 resentatives, the whole number of votes being 

 224, Thomas M. Waller, Democrat, was de- 

 clared elected, he having received 151 votes, 

 against 71 cast for his Republican competitor, 

 H. Lyndo Harrison. 



The aggregate amount of taxable property 

 assessed in the State for 1875 shows a decrease 

 of nearly $7,000,000 from the assessment for 

 1874; it being, in 1875, $351,785,469. This 

 unprecedented decrease is owing to the gen- 

 eral depression of values which has prevailed 

 for these three years. The diminution is chiefly 

 in dwelling-houses and land ; real-estate prop- 

 erty in general having largely depreciated. In 

 the city of Hartford, the assessment-list shows 

 an increase of nearly half a million dollars 

 ($449,252) ; in the city of New Haven, a de- 

 crease of something more than four millions 

 and a half. 



The financial condition of the State appears 

 to be satisfactory. Her revenues, during the 

 last year, had an increase of over $107,000, 

 their aggregate amount from all sources hav- 

 ing been $1,761,533.53. The public expendi- 

 tures, on account of the civil list, were some 

 $35,000 less than in the preceding year; al- 

 though their total sum, including nearly half a 

 million expended in the new State-House build- 

 ing, amounted to $1,833,335.67. The balance 

 of available cash in the Treasury on April 1, 

 1876, was $711,725.88. In 1875 the balance 

 to the credit of all accounts, at the same date, 

 was $771,544.41, showing a decrease in 1876 

 of little less than $60,000. 



For the construction of the new State-House, 

 thus far, the sum of $1,173,156.14 has been 

 expended. Of this amount, $922,500 have 

 been paid by the State, and $256,500 by the 

 city of Hartford. The amount required to fin- 

 ish the building, and already appropriated by 

 previous Legislatures, is $1,077,500. 



The bonded debt of the State remains as it 

 was, $5,014,500. 



The school-fund amounts to $2,043,960.91 ; 

 of which more than four-fifths are invested in 

 real-estate mortgages. 



There are in Connecticut eighty-seven sav- 

 ings-banks, their aggregate deposits amounting 

 to over $76,000,000. The number of depositors 

 severally owning that sum is 208,000, or con- 

 siderably more than one-third of the entire 

 population of the State, according to the last 

 census. At the end of the year the number of 

 depositors exceeded that of the preceding by 

 about 1,800, but the number of accounts closed 

 during the last year has been less than in the 

 previous one. 



The fire and marine insurance companies 



t|.-iii'_' business in Connecticut number 128, 

 el:i>-iiiod as follows: 18 Connecticut stork 

 companies and 18 mutual; 85 companies char- 

 tered in other States, and 14 foreign. The 

 abrogate amount of their assets exceeds $100,- 

 000,000. The losses paid by the Connecticut 

 companies during the year absorbed 57 per 

 cent, of the premiums received, which wan a 

 less favorable proportion than that of the pre- 

 vious year, but is considered satisfactory. 



The eight life-insurance companies of Con- 

 necticut hold assets of over $97,000,000, or 

 nearly as much as the assetH of the 128 fire- 

 insurance companies put together. The in- 

 crease in the assets of the life-insurance com- 

 panies last year was little less than $6,000,000. 

 They insure over $438,000,000, represented by 

 nearly 207,000 policies. They paid, during the 

 last year, little less than $6,500,000 of death- 

 claims and endowments. Their income from 

 all sources, in 1875, was nearly $25,000,000, 

 or about $1,000,000 less than in the preceding 

 year. Their expenditures, also, were less in 

 about the same proportion. 



The funds accumulated in the hands of these 

 companies being of a fiduciary character, not 

 unlike the deposits held by savings-banks, the 

 Governor suggested, in the interest of the in- 

 sured and their families, " that the trust should 

 be guarded by law against the powerful temp- 

 tations to which the managers of such vast 

 sums are always exposed, in a similar manner 

 to that which has been found wholesome in 

 the case of savings-banks." 



There are twenty-seven railroad companies 

 operating their roads in Connecticut; eight 

 among them paying dividends at the average 

 rate of 9.24 per cent, on their capital. The 

 stock and debts of all the companies amount 

 in the aggregate to about $76,000,000; the 

 cost and equipment of the roads represent 

 about the same sum. Their gross receipts 

 during the year show some increase over 

 those of the previous year, and a still greater 

 proportional increase in the net earnings, ow- 

 ing to a diminution made in the current ex- 

 penditures. 



The number of passengers transported by 

 all the railroads of Connecticut in the course 

 of the year was 10,750,000, or above 300,000 

 more than in the preceding year. No fatal ac- 

 cident happened to any one of the said number. 



The various industrial interests in the State 

 could not escape being affected by the general 

 and long-continued depression of business in 

 the country ; yet they appear to be in as good 

 a condition as could be expected. The seasons 

 have been propitious for the cultivation of the 

 soil, and its fruitf illness abundant. The State 

 has been exempt from public calamity during 

 the year. A severe freshet in her eastern 

 counties caused serious loss, especially by tbo 

 destruction of mill -property, roadways, and 

 bridges, in the manufacturing town of Spragne. 



The condition of the public schools, in re- 

 gard to attendance, instruction, and means of 



