314 



FLORIDA. 



The last Legislature (says the Governor in his mes- 

 sage) passed an act to provide for the assessment and 

 collection of taxes upon improvements on the public 

 lands, and for the protection of occupying claimants 

 of said lands. The object and intention of the law 

 was to protect actual settlers, and furnish them some 

 guarantee of securing the land upon which they had 

 made improvements. The operation of the law, how- 

 ever, has not been satisfactory, and in some in- 

 stances has led to results foreign to those for which it 

 was intended. Parties have been compelled to pay 

 taxes upon their improvements on United States lands, 

 and on lands previously granted by the Legislature to 

 railroads, without any prospect of being protected by 

 the State. Other cases of hardship have occurred, 

 and, unless the law can be materially amended, I rec- 

 ommend its repeal. 



There has been a large increase in school 

 facilities and in the attendance of pupils. The 

 number of schools in 1877 was 656, with 29,- 

 678 pupils; in 1880, 1,131, with 39,315 pupils; 

 for the scholastic year beginning October 1, 

 1882, 1,326, with 51,945 pupils. The principal 

 of the common-school fund has also increased, 

 rising from $246,900 in January, 1881, to 

 $323,535.42 at the close of 1882. It was re- 

 cently ascertained that nearly 80,000 acres of 

 school lands were due from the United States. 

 Selections amounting to 43,745^^ acres have 

 been approved, and the residue, it is expected, 

 will be speedily located. There are 561,728 

 acres of land belonging to the school fund and 

 33,820 acres belonging to the seminary fund 

 yet unsold. 



The Governor in his message calls the atten- 

 tion of the Legislature to tho subject of deaf- 

 mute education in the following language : 



I can not forbear in this connection calling your at- 

 tention to the entire absence of any legislation for the 

 education of that unfortunate class of our population 

 known as deaf-mutes. There are in the State, as 

 shown by the last census, 119 ; of these 58 are white 

 and 61 colored. There are under the age of twenty- 

 five, and now urgently requiring educational facilities, 

 78. Of this number 32 are white and 46 colored. 

 I can imagine no class of our citizens who arc so 

 entirely dependent upon education, and I sincerely 

 trust that the subject may receive y our careful and 

 favorable consideration. Some portion of the common- 

 school fund should be set apart, under the direction 

 of the State Board of Education, for this praiseworthy 

 object. 



Under the Agricultural College grant Flor- 

 ida received ninety thousand acres, which were 

 sold for $81,000. The proceeds of the sale were 

 invested in $100,000 of Florida bonds. The 

 interest has since been invested, and the fund 

 now lias an income of about $9,000 per annum. 

 As no portion of the fund nor the interest can 

 be applied to building purposes, no institution 

 has been established. The trustees of this fund 

 were to meet in Tallahassee on the 9th of 

 January, 1883, to take into consideration the 

 best means of utilizing the income for educa- 

 tional purposes. 



On January 1, 1881, there were 95 inmates 

 in the insane asylum. During the two follow- 

 ing years there were admitted 112 ; discharged, 

 50 ; died, 26 ; escaped, 8 ; readmitted, 5 ; in 

 the institution January 1, 1883, 128, of whom 



36 were white males, 44 white females, 27 col- 

 ored males, and 21 colored females. 



The East Florida Railway Company had the 

 State convicts in charge during 1881 and 1882. 

 It received the convicts at the several jails, 

 paid all expenses after conviction, and, in addi- 

 tion, paid into the State Treasury over $6,000 

 for their services during the two years. The 

 convicts have been let for the years 1883 and 

 1884 to an individual for the sum of $9,200, the 

 other conditions being the same as those in the 

 railway lease. The number of convicts De- 

 cember 31, 1880, was 129, which were handed 

 over to the railway company ; delivered to it 

 during 1881, 101; discharged, 49; pardoned, 

 4; escaped, 13 ; died, 14; sentence commuted, 

 1 ; remaining, January 1, 1882, 149; delivered 

 to the railway company during the year, 69; 

 discharged, 55; pardoned, 3 ; escaped, 5 ; died, 

 10 ; remaining at the close of the year, 135. 



Of the population in 1880 (269,493), 136,444 

 were males. 133,049 females, 259,584 of native 

 and 9,909 of foreign birth; 142,605 white, 

 126,690 colored, 18 Chinese, and 180 Indians. 

 There were 61,699 males twenty-one years old 

 and over, of whom 34,210 were white (30,351 

 native and 3,859 foreign) and 27,489 colored. 

 Of persons ten years of age and upward, 70,- 

 219, or 38 per cent, were unable to read, and 

 80,183, or 43 '4 per cent, were unable to write, 

 including 19.024 native whites, or 20'7 per 

 cent of that class, and 60,420 colored persons, 

 or 70*7 per cent of that class. Of the native 

 population, 173,481 were born in the State, 

 32,601 in Georgia, 18,522 in South Carolina, 

 12,023 in Alabama, 6,297 in North Carolina, 

 3,329 in Virginia, 2,375 in New York, 862 in 

 Massachusetts, 855 in Pennsylvania, and 833 

 in Tennessee. There were living in the United 

 States 194,518 natives of Florida. There were 

 produced 54,997 bales of cotton, 3,174,234 

 bushels of corn, and 468,112 of oats ; live-stock 

 on farms, 22,636 horses, 9,606 mules and asses, 

 16,141 working-oxen, 42,174 milch-cows, 409,- 

 055 other cattle, 56,681 sheep, and 287,051 

 swine. There were 426 manufacturing estab- 

 lishments; capital, $3,210,680; hands em- 

 ployed, 5,504; value of materials used, $3,040,- 

 119; of products, $5,546,448. The principal 

 stock-raising counties, with the number of cat- 

 tle in each, according to the tax-books of 

 1881, are as follow: Manatee, 53,273; Bre- 

 vard, 39,632; Monroe, 24,710; Polk, 22,082; 

 Hillsborough, 21,223; Sumter (1880), 16,276; 

 Hernando, 14,882; Volusia, 13,635; total for 

 eight counties, 205,714. 



In the case of Emily R. "Wilson, executrix, 

 etc., vs. Phoebe Fridenburg, the Supreme Court 

 decided the following points relating to the 

 homestead exemption in this State : 



1. Under the Constitution of this State the right of 

 a wife as to the homestead is confined to a power to 

 prevent alienation by her husband, the head of the 

 family, without her consent made jointly with him. 

 But. the Constitution does not, however, repeal the 

 statute allowing dower in the estate of the husband, 

 and this right exists as to the homestead. 



