310 



DELAWARE. 



fcioned above, the State has the following in- 

 vestments, which pay annually into its Treasu- 

 ry a considerable sum : 



Farmers' Bank stock, 1,275 shares, at $50 per share. $63,750 

 Stock of the Bank of Delaware, 20 shares, at $465 



per share 9.800 



Loan* to Junction and Breakwater Kailroad 400,000 



Loan to Breakwater and Franklord Bailroad 200,000 



Total $673,050 



The receipts and expenses of schools in New 

 Castle County for the year 1877-'78 were: 

 from the district tax, $90,743 ; amount re- 

 ceived from the school fund, $8,013.50 ; total, 

 $98,743.39. There was paid for tuition $61,- 

 334.36, and for contingencies $32,288.73 ; to- 

 tal, $93,623.09. The School Commissioners had 

 in their hands an unexpended balance of $11,- 

 344.40. There was a falling off of receipts as 

 compared with the years 1876-'77 of $62,000, 

 and a decrease of expenses of $57,000. In New 

 Castle County there were reported 11,485 schol- 

 ars, 112 schools, and the average time of opera- 

 tion of each school was nine months and four 

 days. None of these figures take in account 

 the schools of Wilmington. In Kent County, 

 for the same period, the amount received from 

 taxes was $25,589.25 ; from the school fund, 

 $8,124.64 ; total, $33,713.89. Amount paid for 

 tuition, $28,052.75 ; for contingencies, $4,744.- 

 11; total, $32,796.36. Balance in hands of 

 Commissioners, $3,989.36. In Kent there were 

 reported 5,325 scholars, 113 schools, and the 

 average time of operation of each school seven 

 months and two days. In Sussex County, dur- 

 ing the same period, there was received from 

 taxes $15,937; from school fund, $9,048.03; 

 total, $24,985.03. Amount expended for tui- 

 tion, $22,286.24 ; for contingencies $3,748.33 ; 

 total, $26,034.57; amount in hands of Com- 

 missioners, $4,095.88. In the year previous 

 there was $25,965.26 received and $26,816 

 expended; balance in hands of Commission- 

 ers, $5,036.65. In Sussex there were reported 

 6,422 scholars, 162 schools, and the average 

 time of operation of each school four months 

 and fourteen days. These results show an in- 

 crease in scholars in New Castle of 1,229 as 

 compared with the previous year, and an in- 

 crease of 11 schools and a decrease of 12 days 

 in the average operation. In Kent there was 

 an increase of 507 scholars and 5 schools, and 

 a decrease of two months in the average opera- 

 tion. In Sussex there was an increase of 20 

 scholars, a decrease of 4 schools, and an in- 

 crease of five days in the average operation of 

 schools. The colored schools are supervised 

 by the Actuary of the "Delaware Association 

 for the Education of Colored People." The 

 number of schools during the year 1878 was 

 52, being an increase of 6 over the previous 

 year. The number of pupils enrolled was 

 2,249. The manner of establishing the schools 

 is thus described by the Actuary : 



The opening and closing of the schools is governed 

 by no systematic rules. Usually the people interested 

 in the schools assemble in their different localities, 



and, after an interchange of views as to their financial 

 means, etc., select trustees for the management of the 

 schools, and then address the Actuary, statin^ how 

 much salary they can pay a teacher, when the school 

 will be ready to open, and asking him to send a suit- 

 able and competent teacher. "Within a short time the 

 necessary arrangements are completed, the teacher is 

 sent, the school is opened, and continues until the fall- 

 ing off in the attendance or the lack of financial sup- 

 port necessitates its close. I have endeavored to use 

 my best judgment in the selection of teachers. Many 

 of them are graduates of the school for colored youths 

 in Philadelphia, who have been educated especially 

 with the view of teaching; others come from New 

 England, and still others from our own State. The 

 salaries in our schools are so low that we arc deprived 

 of the best and most experienced teachers ; but, taken 

 altogether, I am convinced that the colored schools in 

 Delaware have never had a better educated, more en- 

 ergetic, and ambitious corps of teachers than during 

 the past year. 



The State appropriates for the education of 

 the blind, deaf and dumb, and feeble-minded, 

 the sum of $2,971. There are 13 of these pu- 

 pils. 



The subject of the construction of the Dela- 

 ware and Maryland Ship-Canal was brought be- 

 fore the Lower House of Congress and referred 

 to the Committee on Canals and Eailways. A 

 sub-committee of the same was appointed to 

 investigate and determine on the routes. A 

 report was made at the winter session of 1879, 

 based chiefly on surveys and estimates made 

 at the instance of Congress by engineers under 

 the direction of Colonel Churchill and Major 

 Button. 



It appears that the peninsula is fifty-six 

 miles wide from the mouth of the Choptank 

 Eiver to Cape Henlopen. At the mouth of the 

 Sassafras it is twenty-eight miles wide. There 

 is deep water on the eastern side of the Chesa- 

 peake at nearly all points, but the western 

 shore of the Delaware Eiver is marked by 

 wide shoals and by marshes. The watershed 

 of the peninsula is nowhere more than ten to 

 fifteen miles distant from Delaware Bay. Its 

 general surface is flat, the ridge having an 

 elevation increasing from twenty -five feet on 

 the lower routes to eighty feet on the line of 

 the Sassafras. The tides on the Delaware have 

 a range of about four feet, but on the Chesa- 

 peake of less than two feet. The facilities for 

 the construction will be considerable. Excava- 

 tions will be easy to make, and the excavated 

 earth easily handled. The underlying clays 

 afford the basis for good foundations, and the 

 streams are easy to follow or cross without re- 

 quiring costly safeguards to protect the struc- 

 ture from flood of tide or freshet. Surveys 

 were made of five routes, omitting the Sassa- 

 fras route, which had already been fully sur- 

 veyed. The lengths of the various routes are 

 as follows : Ferry Creek, from Baltimore to 

 the Atlantic Ocean, 149-81 miles; Wye Eiver, 

 128-42 ; Queenstown, 109-29 ; Centreville, 106- 

 13; Southeast Creek, 115-78; Sassafras Eiver, 

 129-25. The miles of excavation would be: 

 Ferry Creek, 37'67 ; Wye Eiver, 42-99 ; Queens- 

 town, 53-78; Centreville, 50-95; Southeast 



