NEVADA. 



601 



ment ; in a word, we had staring us in the face 

 an exhausted credit and a bankrupt Treasury. 

 Now we have over $660,000 in the Treasury ; 

 our entire public debt is paid, or the payment 

 provided for; taxes have been reduced from 

 $1.25 to 90 cents on the hundred dollars, and 

 can at this session be greatly reduced." The 

 receipts and expenditures for the fiscal year 

 ending December 31, 1878, were as follows: 



Receipts from all sources $480,485 20 



Miscellaneous receipts 79,102 91 



J) rom payments on State lands (in currency) .... 44.C28 36 



Total $604,166 47 



Expenditures on all accounts $365,839 Gl 



Of the $480,435.20 above set down as re- 

 receipts, nearly one half, $207,551.40, was tax 

 on bullion, paid by nine among the fourteen 

 counties on the net value of ores extracted 

 from the mines worked within their respective 

 limits. More than three fourths of this tax, 

 $159,223.74, were paid by Storey County alone, 

 on which Virginia City stands. 



The education of youth is commendably at- 

 tended to. The number of children of school 

 age, between six and eighteen years, which in 

 1876 was 7,510, has since increased by nearly 2,- 

 000, being 9,364 in 1878. Out of this number, 

 3,872 belonged to the corporate boundaries of 

 Virginia City and Gold Hill in Storey County- 

 boys 1,912, girls 1,960. The number of chil- 

 dren of this county enrolled in the various de- 

 partments was 3,484. The average school year 

 was ten months. The State receipts on account 

 of the public schools in 1878 were $236;417.64; 

 the expenditures, $204,136.78. Of the school 

 expenses in each county, three fourths are de- 

 rived from direct taxation. The amount ap- 

 portioned and paid to Storey County from the 

 State in 1878 was $20,124.87, while the sura 

 she expended for her schools in the year was 

 $102,954.72. The school fund has $104,000 in 

 State bonds, and $106,000 in United States 

 bonds. The interest received from the former 

 in 1878 was $9,970; from the latter, $11,760. 

 The teachers of the public schools receive a 

 liberal compensation. The number of those 

 employed in Storey County was 46 males 6, 

 females 40 ; and the salaries paid them were 

 much above $100 per month, especially for the 

 males. One of these was paid at the rate of 

 $180, and one of the female teachers $130. 



The charitable institutions seem to be well 

 provided for. The sum expended by the State 

 for their support, in 1878 was $51,851.12. In 

 the State Orphans' Home there were at the 

 close of the year 61 orphans, 16 o^ whom were 

 girls. The indigent insane of Nevada are kept 

 in California by contract, which was entered 

 into on March 3, 1877, and is to continue four 

 years, at a compensition per capita of one dol- 

 lar per day for each insane person. Their num- 

 ber at the beginning of 1879 was 150. The 

 proportion of the insane patients from Nevada 

 cured in 1877 was about 25 per cent, of the 

 whole number treated. 



In the State Penitentiary, at the close of 1878, 

 there were 148 convicts, and one United States 

 prisoner awaiting trial. The prisoners are em- 

 ployed in making boots and shoes to a large ex- 

 tent, and in quarrying stone. For the main- 

 tenance of the prisoners the Legislature appro- 

 priated $175,000 for 1877 and 1878. The shoe- 

 factory and stone-quarry accounts for the two 

 years stood as follows : 



Shoe-factory expense for materials $59,498 46 



Stone-quarryexpenses 1,750 29 



Total $61,248 75 



Eeceipts from sales of boots and shoes $67,743 06 



lieceipts from sales of stone 3,892 13 



Total $71,635 19 



Deducting from the appropriation the 

 amounts earned by convict labor, and the in- 

 crease in the value of personal property noted 

 in the report on the penitentiary for 1877-'78, 

 its cost to the State for the two years together 

 is reckoned at about $86,000. 



The people of Nevada have long been sub- 

 jected by railroad companies, and most of all 

 by the Central Pacific Eailroad Company, to 

 exorbitant rates of transportation for passen- 

 gers and freight, unjust discriminations against 

 persons and places, and other extortions. Sev- 

 eral attempts have been made in the past years 

 to remedy the evil through the Legislature, 

 but without avail. Upon this point Governor 

 Bradley tells them in express terms in his mes- 

 sage that " those representing railroad inter- 

 ests have always managed to create a doubt in 

 the minds of the majority of one or the other 

 House as to the constitutional power of the 

 State to legislate on the subject ; claiming that 

 the Federal Government alone could regulate 

 fares and freight." But he now informs the 

 Legislature that " the Supreme Court of the 

 United States, in the case of the Chicago, Bur- 

 lington and Quincy Railroad Company m. Iowa 

 (4 Otto), and subsequent cases, has decided that 

 the State can regulate by law fares and freights 

 on all railroads within its limits." He concludes 

 in these words : " There is, therefore, no longer 

 the color of an excuse for you to neglect pass- 

 ing stringent laws to protect our citizens from 

 the extortions and unjust discriminations of rail- 

 road companies." 



At the preceding session of the Legislature 

 an act was passed creating the office of a State 

 Fish Commissioner. This officer has already 

 accomplished much by the performance of his 

 duties. " Washoe Lake has been stocked with 

 Schuylkill catfish and an excellent Eastern 

 perch. The same kind of catfish has been 

 planted in the Humboldt and Carson Rivers. 

 A hatchery has been established in Carson 

 (which may be easily moved to any point), and 

 over 200,000 young salmon have been hatched, 

 and will soon be deposited in Walker and 

 Truckee Rivers." 



The town of Austin was visited on the 15th 

 of August by a devastating flood, with the loss 

 of two lives and the destruction of a great 



