788 



VIRGINIA. 



learning, and an act to effect this was passed Feb. 

 23, and under this act registered certificates were 

 issued to the amount of $2.459,855.85, the an- 

 nual interest on which is $146,067.32. The total 

 amount of old securities left unfunded is less 

 than $1,000,000. 



The Literary Fund exhibit is as follows : In- 

 vestments in 3 per cent, per annum registered 

 bonds, issued Sept. 27, 1886, in funding bonds 

 standing in the name of the fund, $1,084,227.28 ; 

 purchased out of Literary Fund fines and the pro- 

 ceeds of the payment of bonds of the Richmond 

 and Danville Co., held by the fund, $305,100 ; 

 total investment in Virginia 3 per cent, regis- 

 tered bonds, $1,389,327.28. There is also held 

 by the fund a 6 per cent, registered bond of the 

 City of Richmond, and a 6 per cent, loan to 

 Washington College. $2,000, and West Virginia 

 certificates, $719,022.09. 



Assessments and Taxes. From the railroads 

 the State will receive $204,434.28 taxes, an 

 increase over last year's taxes from this source of 

 $14,317.04. The amount to be paid by the street 

 railways will be $3,083.89, an increase over 1891 

 of $1,201.47. 



The Commonwealth has never collected a tax 

 from property owners at Old Point. Investiga- 

 tion of the matter has led to the conclusion that 

 all private property on the reservation is subject 

 to taxation, and therefore the Hygeia Hotel was 

 this year assessed to the amount of $25,570, for 

 taxes from 1876 to the present year, inclusive. 

 If the State collects this sum other assessments 

 will be made. 



Commissioners and distributing agents of the 

 direct tax fund were appointed, who made dis- 

 tribution, to the various counties and cities, of 

 $442,026.72. 



Education. The work of the Peabody Insti- 

 tutes, held during the summer, was highly suc- 

 cessful. These are provided for the special 

 benefit of teachers of the public schools. The 

 attendance of teachers at each of the institutes 

 was as follows : White Bedford City, 410 ; 

 Staunton, 510; West Point, 134; total, 1,054. 

 Colored Lynchburg, 265 ; summer session of 

 Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, Peters- 

 burg, 259 ; total, 524. In addition to the amount 

 contributed by the Peabody Board of Trust to 

 aid the State normal schools and hold teachers' 

 institutes, eighteen scholarships endowed by this 

 board in the Peabody Normal College, Nashville, 

 Tenn., are allotted to Virginia. The scholar- 

 ships are good for two years and are valued at 

 $100 a year, and the students' traveling ex- 

 penses to and from Nashville are paid. Applicants 

 must pledge themselves to make teaching their 

 life work, and agree to teach in the public schools 

 of the State for at least two years. 



Early in September the Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction apportioned among the counties 

 and cities of the State $202,562.06. This fund 

 consisted of accumulated interest on securities 

 held by the Literary Fund and appropriations 

 made by the General Assembly. It was appor- 

 tioned on the basis of the school population of 

 the respective counties and cities, the rate being 

 81 cents per capita. On the 19th the superin- 

 tendent apportioned, in the same manner, $731,- 

 967.80, the amount due the schools from the 

 State revenue assessed for the year. This fund 



was apportioned at the rate of $1.0202 per cap- 

 ita. These apportionments aggregate $34,466.89 

 more than the two similar ones made for the 

 school year 1891-92. 



Farmers' Institutes were held at various points 

 in the State, and the attendance was larger than 

 in any previous year. 



Charities and Prisons. In 1883 Lee Camp, 

 No. 1, Confederate Veterans, was organized to 

 take care of needy ex-Confederate soldiers. In 

 November, 1884, the Home property, consisting 

 of thirty-six acres and an old house, was bought 

 for $14,000, and on Jan. 1, 1885, the first inmate 

 was admitted. Soon thereafter the building was 

 enlarged and remodeled and handsome cottages 

 were erected. More recently other buildings 

 have been erected by the board, including a mess- 

 hall, stable, and hospital, which last named cost 

 $35,000. For the first two years the home was 

 supported by voluntary contributions, then the 

 State came to the relief of the institution, and 

 up to Feb. 12, 1892, the board had received from 

 that source $60,000. In March, 1892, the legis- 

 lature passed a bill the conditions of which were 

 that the State would appropriate to the Home 

 $150 a year for each inmate, for a period not 

 exceeding twenty-two years, no annual appro- 

 priation to exceed $30.000. and that at the end 

 of twenty-two years the State was to take posses- 

 sion of the property under a deed from Lee Camp. 



Since the establishment of the Home it has 

 cared for 484 veterans. The present roll em- 

 braces 166 men. 



The number of State convicts on Oct. 1 was 

 1,202. Of these, 167 were employed on public 

 works, 103 being with the Warm Springs Val- 

 ley Railroad and 64 with the Roanoke and South- 

 ern Railroad. Of the 1,035 convicts within the 

 penitentiary, 209 are white males and 2 are 

 white females ; 729 are colored males and 95 are 

 colored females ; 46 are fifteen years old or un- 

 der, and 137 are between the ages of fifteen and 

 twenty. The majority of these prisoners are 

 hired to contractors who have leased shops from 

 the State. More than a million pairs of shoes 

 are turned out of the shoe shop annually, and 

 millions of pounds of tobacco are manufactured. 

 The receipts for the fiscal year from the hire of 

 convicts have been more than enough to meet all 

 expenses for the maintenance of convicts, and 

 also for the erection of a fourth stoiy to the pen- 

 itentiary and for improvements to the office 

 building, a total of $35,681.21. 



Under pressure from the Woman's Christian 

 Temperance Union, the General Assembly passed 

 a bill authorizing the appointment of a matron 

 for the female wards, who has been employed 

 this year for the first time. 



The expense of keeping 1,252 prisoners (that 

 being the daily average for twelve months) was 

 $78,865.45 ; per capita per year, $63 ; per capita 

 per day, $0.17,^, 



Agriculture. The acreage of corn, hay, oats, 

 tobacco, and wheat has been greater than that 

 of 1891 ; the wheat crop was the best for several 

 years. The production of corn, tobacco, hay, 

 Irish and sweet potatoes, and peanuts is hardly 

 as large as in 1891. Throughout the year in- 

 creased numbers of inquiries in reference to Vir- 

 ginia lands and industries have J)een received. 



The Commissioner strongly approved of the 



