DELAWARE. 



237 



10. We demand protective tariff laws for the bene- 

 fit of American industries. 



11. We demand the abolition of all superfluous 

 public offices created for the favorites of political 

 partisanship with enormous salaries. 



12. We advocate such modification of the laws of 

 this State, that power will no longer be given to un- 

 feeling men to step in and strip an unfortunate debtor 

 of every means of self-support, leaving his family 

 destitute and unprotected. 



13. A true republic can only be realized and main- 

 tained through the education and enlightenment of 

 the people, and hence education should be free and 

 industrial. 



14. The National Greenback Labor party proposes 

 to rescue the Government from the grasp of selfish 

 greed, to reinstate it upon the solid foundations of 

 justice, to make it express in its administration of 

 law the best and truest conceptions of which human- 

 ity is capable. Its mission is one of good will to 

 all ; its motto " Progress and improvement." 



The following nominations were made : For 

 Governor, Kensey John Stewart ; for member 

 of Congress, John G. Jackson. 



The election was held on November 5th, and 

 resulted as follows: 



The Legislature consists of nine Senators 

 and twenty-one Representatives, and is entire- 

 ly Democratic. Its sessions are biennial. A 

 new session commenced on January 7, 1879. 

 The Senate was organized by the election of 

 Charles J. Harrington as Speaker. The House 

 was organized hv the election of Swithin 

 Chandler as SpeakXr. Its proceedings form a 

 part of the transactions of 1879. 



Delaware is next to the smallest State of the 

 TTnion. Its area is 2,120 square miles. It is di- 

 vided into three counties. "When the Constitu- 

 tion of 1792 was adopted, and the present appor- 

 tionment of representation between the three 

 counties was made, the population of each of 

 them was nearly equal in numbers. That of 

 New Castle was 19,686; of Kent, 18,920; and 

 of Sussex, 20,488. It is therefore presumed 

 that, at this early period, it was designed that 

 the ratio of representation should be in general 

 accord with population. Even so late as the 

 adoption of the Constitution of 1831, the dis- 

 parity between the populations of the respec- 

 tive counties was not so important as to occa- 

 sion any pressing need for a change in the 

 established apportionment of 1792. But with- 

 in a comparatively recent period, the increase 

 of the population of the city of Wilmington 

 has entirely overthrown the numerical equality 

 which previously existed between the several 

 counties, and thus necessitated a change in that 

 apportionment. By reference to the Federal 

 census of 1870 it appears that the population 

 of New Castle County was 63,515 ; of Kent 



County, 29,804; and of Sussex County, 81,- 

 696; thus showing that the population of the 

 first was greater than that of the two others 

 combined. By the same census it appears that 

 the assessed value of real estate in Is ew Castle 

 County was as great, and the assessed value of 

 personal property more than three times as 

 great, as that of the other counties combined, 

 and that she paid more than twice the amount 

 of State taxes paid by both of them together 

 for State purposes. Also, her total of annual 

 wages paid in farming operations and the total 

 value of all her farm productions, respectively, 

 were quite equal to the aggregate totals, re- 

 spectively, paid or produced by both Kent and 

 Sussex. The mechanical and manufacturing 

 industries, the capital invested, the wages paid, 

 and the value of the articles produced, respec- 

 tively, were at least ten times more in New 

 Castle County than in Kent and Sussex Coun- 

 ties combined. And yet, with this great dis- 

 proportion of population and taxable property, 

 the Legislative representation of that county 

 is equal only to that of each of the other coun- 

 ties, while the city of Wilmington, with a pop- 

 ulation greater than that of either Kent or 

 Sussex County, has never had a representative 

 of her vast local interests in both Houses of the 

 General Assembly at the same time. The man- 

 ner in which a just representation shall be given 

 to this excess of population has been a subject 

 of discussion for some years. If it were based 

 solely upon population, it would place the 

 entire State under the control of New Castle 

 County. It has been suggested that an in- 

 creased representation should be given in the 

 lower House of the Assembly, without any 

 change in the Senate; also that New Castle 

 County should be divided, and the representa- 

 tion chosen in local districts. No legislative 

 action, however, has as yet been taken on the 

 subject. 



Some estimates later than the census of 1870 

 represent an advance in all the counties of the 

 State. Kent County, which is simply agricul- 

 tural, contains Dover, Smyrna, and Milford, 

 three of the finest towns in the State. Dover, 

 which is the county seat and also the State 

 capital, contains a population of 2,200, about 

 one fourth of whom are colored persons. The 

 population of the county exceeds 30,000, of 

 whom about 7,000 are colored persons. There 

 has been some immigration to the county from 

 Canada, and many small farms have been pur- 

 chased by the immigrants. In the county there 

 are 2,309 farms, nearly half of which, 987, con- 

 tain between 100 and 500 acres; there are 118 

 between 3 and 10, 160 between 10 and 20, 388 

 between 20 and 50, 680 between 50 and 100, 

 23 between 500 and 1,000, and 1 of over 1,000 

 acres. The value of the farms is estimated at 

 $14,500,000 ; farming implements at $375,000. 

 The farmers pay annually for work upon their 

 crops nearly $600,000, and those crops average 

 about $2,400,000. In 1870 the market gardens 

 of Kent produced more than those of either 



