NORTH CAROLINA. 



627 



On the 1st of November there were within 

 the walls of the penitentiary 365 convicts; on 

 the Western North Carolina Railroad, 558 ; on 

 the Spartanburg and Asheville Railroad, 1 ; 

 on the Georgia and North Carolina, 28; on 

 'the Chester and Lenoir Narrow Gauge, 50 ; 

 and on the Western (Coalfields) Railroad, 100 ; 

 making a total of 1,102 convicts on the books 

 of the penitentiary. The squad of hands em- 

 ployed on the Georgia and North Carolina 

 Railroad has finished grading to the town of 

 Murphy, in Cherokee County. The President 

 of the Western Railroad makes a very flatter- 

 ing report of the progress of the work done by 

 the convicts on his line. Having determined 

 to extend it in the direction of Greensboro, 

 the company began work at or near Egypt in 

 March, 1878, with 100 convicts, and there is a 

 good prospect of soon seeing this road com- 

 pleted to Greensboro. The Chester and Le- 

 noir Narrow-Gauge Railroad Company' has fin- 

 ished its line to Dallas, in Gaston County, and 

 the grading to Newton, on the Western North 

 Carolina Railroad. The conclusions drawn 

 from these facts by the State authorities are: 



1. That convict labor is almost if not quite as 

 valuable for road construction as hired labor. 



2. That convict labor is more valuable used in 

 this kind of work than employed at trades and 

 mechanical work in close confinement. 3. 

 That the health and general tone of the con- 

 victs is better in outdoor work. It is consid- 

 ered to be the true policy for the State to pro- 

 vide labor for them on public works altogether, 

 after the completion of the penitentiary build- 

 ings, leaving within its walls only such as from 

 feebleness or the nature of their crimes can not 

 be sent outside. In addition to the completion 

 of the roads begun by the State, and to which 

 labor has been already assigned, there are a 

 number of local railroads and turnpikes greatly 

 desired in many parts of the State, and valu- 

 able swamp lauds to be drained, at which con- 

 victs might be employed with great profit to 

 the State, the counties, or communities sup- 

 porting the convicts. Whenever any county 

 or community will obtain a charter for build- 

 ing a railroad or a turnpike, or draining a 

 swamp, or diking a river, and will undertake 

 to support the hands, they should be given the 

 convict labor. There are many fertile valleys 

 of greater or less extent, remote from railroad 

 facilities, such as the great valley of the Yad- 

 kin from Salisbury to Patterson, where well- 

 to-do farmers would be induced to attempt the 

 building of narrow-gauge railroads if they were 

 given the necessary labor ; and many excel- 

 lent turnpikes would be constructed as feeders 

 to the railroads, and many rich swamps might 

 be drained in the same manner. In this way 

 the increasing cost of the penitentiary would 

 be kept down, and a vast benefit to the people 

 be accomplished. 



An increased interest in popular education 

 is manifested in all parts of the State. The ef- 

 forts to revive the university have been ex- 



tremely successful, and the number of students 

 is constantly increasing. Two normal schools 

 have been established, one for whites at the 

 university, and one for blacks at Fayetteville. 

 At the first session of the white school 225 

 teachers attended, and at the second, in 1878, 400 

 teachers were present, representing 60 counties. 

 The colored normal school has been managed 

 with unexpected success. The first session 

 opened with 58 pupils, about 40 of whom re- 

 ceived certificates as teachers, some of high 

 grade; the second year began with 74 pupils. 



The law relating to the public schools, having 

 been recently adopted, was found to contain 

 many defects, and much dissatisfaction existed 

 in relation to the schools. These defects it 

 was proposed to remove at the next session of 

 the Legislature. The receipts of the education- 

 al fund for the year ending September 30, 1878, 

 were $546,914. To this is added the amount 

 before on hand, $111,980.94, making the total 

 amount available $657,800.37. The disburse- 

 ments for school purposes for the year were 

 $539,102, leaving in the Treasurvfor that fund 

 $118,793. 



The Constitution requires the State to take 

 care of all its insane. There not being capacity 

 in the asylum to care for them, the Legislature 

 has provided that whenever they are refused 

 admittance there, and are adjudged insane by 

 a jury in the Superior Court, the county in 

 which they reside shall be entitled to draw 

 from the State Treasury not exceeding $100 

 per year for their maintenance. It is estimated 

 that there are now in the State about 1,000 in- 

 sane. The asylum at Raleigh has capacity for 

 about 250, one fourth the whole number in the 

 State. It costs about $250 per head to keep 

 them. The State is now building the largest 

 and perhaps most costly house within her limits, 

 with capacity for 400, at Morganton, and has 

 already expended $135,000. The work is about 

 one third done. She is also building another 

 house for the colored insane near Goldsboro 

 that will cost $50,000. About $320,000 more 

 will be required to complete and furnish these 

 institutions. It is estimated that the annual 

 expense to the State will be about $200,000. 



Efforts have been made by the State to car- 

 ry out a system of internal improvements for 

 a long period. Commenced before railroads 

 were known, the purpose now is to complete 

 them by railroads, and to make the latter so ex- 

 tensive as to reach every county of the State. 

 The breadth of the State from north to south 

 in its western part is a hundred miles. By 

 extending a railroad through the middle of 

 it from east to west, the greatest distance at 

 which any man can be from it is fifty miles, 

 or two days' travel with a loaded wagon. If 

 this distance of fifty miles on each side of the 

 railroad was divided into three equal parts, it 

 becomes evident that one third of the State 

 would be within seventeen miles of this great 

 highway running through the country, like a 

 public street through a commercial city. An- 



