254 



DELAWARE. 



Houston retired Jan. 23, and was succeeded by 

 David T. Marvel, ex-Secretary of State. The 

 bench is entirely Democratic. The resignations 

 of Justices Comegys and Houston were in com- 

 pliance with a joint resolution of the General 

 Assembly, offering to retire them on pensions of 

 $2,000 a year for life. Judge Comegys was 

 seventy-nine years of age, and had been Chief 

 Justice since 1876. Judge Houston was seventy- 

 eight, and had served since 1855. 



Finances. The following is from the report 

 submitted by the Treasurer to the Legislature in 

 January: Balance in treasury, Dec. 31, 1891, 

 $29,003.32; receipts from all sources, $157,- 

 090.99; total, $186,094.31. Total disbursements, 

 $180.655.26. School fund receipts, $182,421.55. 

 School fund disbursements, $138.146.72. Sink- 

 ing fund receipts, $6,078.80; disbursements, 

 $4,674.80. The report notes, among other 

 things, that, since the appointment of State de- 

 tectives, who are required to serve requisitions 

 without charge beyond expenses incurred, the 

 cost to the State for this service has been less 

 than one fourth what it was before. 



There has been an increase in the revenue de- 

 rived from the taxation of banks and banking 

 institutions. Changes made by the last General 

 Assembly in the insurance laws have brought 

 about a diminution of about $3,000 in revenue 

 from that source. 



The total assets of the State, both general and 

 school funds, aggregated on Dec. 31, 1892, $875,- 

 092, besides cash on hand amounting to $56,348,- 

 22 ; the total liabilities on the same date were 

 $684,750. 



The following statistics are from a report of 

 the Treasurer : State debt, less sinking fund, 

 $887,573 ; same (county debt), $618,400 ; same 

 (municipal), $1,413,111; total debt, less sinking 

 fund, $2,919,084. Commercial failures for 1892 

 number 29 ; business concerns, 3,862 ; per cent, 

 of failures. 0'54 ; liabilities, $68,100. Deposits in 

 savings banks (1891-'92), $3.626,319 ; depositors, 

 17,318. Wilmington bank clearings, 1892, $44,- 

 573,069. 



Charities. The name of" The Delaware State 

 Hospital for the Insane" has been changed to 

 "The Delaware State Hospital at Farnhurst." 

 At the beginning of the second biennial period 

 there were 162 patients in the hospital, 92 males 

 and 70 females. To the present time 199 have 

 been admitted, 127 males and 72 females, mak- 

 ing the whole number under treatment 361, males 

 219 and females 142 ; 94 were discharged cured, 

 20 improved, 6 unimproved ; 6 were not insane. 

 There were 44 deaths. The whole number dis- 

 charged was 170, leaving 191 in the hospital 

 Dec. 1. 1892. The daily average population was 

 187. The expenditure for the two years covered 

 by the last biennial report was about $52,000. 



Education. School statistics as below were 

 given in a report published in March : Estimate 

 of children five to eighteen years, 40,400 ; en- 

 rolled in schools, 19,340 ; average daily attend- 

 ance, 12,200; school days. 140: male teachers, 

 137 ; female, 291 ; salaries, $120,000 ; total expen- 

 diture, $197,398. 



The Board of Education of Wilmington 

 claims that the colored pupils in the public 

 schools should be included in the census of 

 school children required by the new school law, 



to provide a basis for the apportionment of the 

 State school fund. The State Treasurer and the 

 Attorney-General deny the claim, on the ground 

 that a law of the State directing the distribution 

 of the fund, recognizes a distinct and separate 

 fund for the support of colored schools in the 

 county, and expressly excepts that fund from its 

 operation. The courts will probably be called 

 upon to decide the question. 



The State College, at Newark, had 86 students 

 in the last year, with an attendance of 79. The 

 class graduated numbered 13. There are 10 or 

 12 instructors. It is conducted at an expense of 

 about $40,000 a year. Aside from an occasional 

 appropriation for a new building or some extraor- 

 dinary repairs from the State of Delaware, the 

 college is supported entirely by the National 

 Government, the revenue being derived from 

 three separate funds, the original land grant 

 of 1862, realizing $4,980 per year; the Hatch 

 Agricultural Experiment Station appropri- 

 ation of $15,000 annually ; and the Morrill 

 bill, from which $14,400 is derived this year, 

 making the total from the national Treasury this 

 year $34,380. In addition to this, $25,000 was 

 received this year from the State with which to 

 erect the new recitation hall, making a total of 

 State and Government aid for this year $59,380. 

 Sundry receipts in fees, etc., from the students 

 increase the year's receipts to considerably over 

 $60.000. The report made at the meeting of the 

 trustees in March showed, notwithstanding, a 

 deficit in the funds of over $5.000. 



The total cost of the new recitation hall was 

 $25,075.30. In addition to this, $1,525 was spent 

 in the erection of a wood-working shop, $612 for 

 alterations to old building, and $186.93 for sun- 

 dries, making a total expenditure of $25,399, or 

 $399 more than the State appropriation two 

 years ago. Besides this, $3,773.36 was spent for 

 a new central steam-heating plant, and $2,500 

 for an addition to the mechanical department. 



The deficit was covered by an appropriation of 

 $6,000 made by the Legislature. 



Of the money received by the college from the 

 General Government, amounting to $34.380 for 

 the year ending June 30, $15,000 is for the sup- 

 port and maintenance of the Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station. The agricultural course is not 

 very popular, only 2 students having taken it 

 during the year, but the officers of the station 

 teach in the college, and the professors perform 

 duties at the station. The station staff consists 

 of a director and 5 officers. The Morrill fund 

 can not legally be spent for anything aside from 

 apparatus and instruction. Buildings, repairs, 

 and land must be paid for by the State. Stu- 

 dents are charged only $15 a year if they are 

 day scholars, and $35 if they room in the dor- 

 mitory, so that instruction is practically free to 

 residents of the State. 



In order to make the instruction in agricul- 

 ture more available to the young farmers of the 

 State, a course has been arranged for the first 

 three months of the year, when they are most at 

 leisure. Five hours a week will be given to the 

 study of soils, farm management, implements, 

 cultivation of crops, fertilizers, and plant struc- 

 ture ; four hours to either horticulture or animal 

 husbandry ; and six hours to botany, plant dis- 

 eases, entomology, and veterinary science. Eight 



