NORTH CAROLINA. 



-43 



outstanding warrants. The actual cash balance 

 in the treasury was $124,559.19. 



The receipts of the public fund for the fiscal 

 year ending Nov. 30 were $1,618,103.91, which is 

 an increase of $72,386.22 over the year 1899. The 

 disbursements for the same year were $1,647,- 

 S24.99, an increase of expenditures over 1899 of 

 |61,618.92. 



The Auditor's report shows a decrease in the 

 assessed value of railroad property, compared with 

 KS ( .)!>, as well as a decrease in the steamboat and 

 canal property. There is an increase in the value 

 of telegraph and telephone property. 



In regard to pensions, the report says the num- 

 ber of pensioners dropped from the pension roll 

 for various causes during the year was 385. The 

 total number of pensioners was 6,129, and the 

 total amount expended for pensions was $119,070. 

 The total amount expended for pensions since 

 1876 is $1,336,546.76. 



The present interest-bearing debt of the State 

 amounts to $6,287,350. The noninterest-bearing 

 debt amounts to $240,420. 



Insurance. An insurance department was es- 

 tablished in 1899. The organizations licensed to 

 do business in the State under the new law in- 

 cluded 29 life companies, 87 fire and marine com- 

 panies, 13 fidelity and casualty companies, and 

 J'2 fraternal orders. In the fiscal year ending 

 April 1, 1900, the commissioner collected for taxes 

 on gross receipts $57,147.87 ; for licenses, $26,- 

 533.34; for fees, $6,364; for licenses of subagents, 

 $2,820; total, $92,865.21. 



Railroads. A long railroad tax suit was ended 

 in January, 1901. In its annual report, the Cor- 

 poration Commission gives the following account 

 <if the condition of the railroads of the State: 

 " The gross earnings of all the railroads from opera- 

 tion in North Carolina were $14,919,832, against 

 $12,995,725 for 1899, while the operating expenses 

 were $9,336,681, against $8,186,500 for 1899; so 

 that the income from operation was $5,582,950, 

 against $4,809,235 for 1899. Sixty-three miles were 

 added to the railroad mileage of North Carolina 

 during the year. Not a railroad in the State is 

 in the hands of a receiver. The Wilmington and 

 \Veldon Railroad Company, the Norfolk and Caro- 

 lina Railroad Company, the Atlantic Coast Line 

 Railroad Company of South Carolina, the Atlantic 

 Coast Line Railroad Company of Virginia, and the 

 Southeastern Railroad Company were consolidated 

 April 23, 1900, and have since been operated as 

 the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. This 

 new corporation owns 1,711.24 miles of railroad." 



Banks. Twenty-six new banks were organized 

 in 1900, so that there are 92 State banks in opera- 

 tion in the State, as follow: Fifty-six under 

 charters with general banking houses, 10 savings 

 banks, and 26 private banks. These banks have 

 a capital of $2,686,383.47, against a capital for 

 1899 of $2,307,397.80, making an increase of $379,- 

 085.67. They have deposits amounting to $8,674,- 

 655.50, against $6,511,640.71 for 1899, an increase 

 of $2.163,014.79. The total resources of the State 

 banks, as shown by their last report, were $14,- 

 617,959.64. 



Education. According to the census of 1870, 

 the number of illiterate white men in North Caro- 

 lina was 33,111; in 1880, 44,420; in 1890, 49,570; 

 and at the last date it was shown that there were 

 13,000 white men who could read but could not 

 write. The North Carolina College of Agriculture 

 and Mechanic Arts had in 1900 an enrollment of 

 ' 302 students. They earned by working odd 

 hours during the session $2,300. There are full 

 courses and short courses. It offers practical and 

 technical education in agriculture, stock raising, 



horticulture, mechanical engineering, civil engi- 

 neering, electrical engineering, textile industry, 

 chemistry, and architecture. It also offers prac- 

 tical training in carpentry, wood turning, black- 

 smithing, machinery work, mill work, boiler tend- 

 ing, engine tending, and dynamo tending. In- 

 struction is given in English, mathematics, history, 

 civics, political economy, physics, chemistry, bot- 

 any, zoology, physiology, physical geography, ge- 

 ology, and mineralogy. In his annual report 

 President Winston described the pressing need felt 

 for rooms and equipment of all kinds. 



The Educational Committee of the North Caro- 

 lina Teachers' Assembly report that the public- 

 schools are in a chaotic state, and that there is 

 complete lack of co-operation. They outline a 

 plan for improvement. By a decision of the Su- 

 preme Court, the fines collected by towns and 

 cities upon prosecutions for violation of the crim- 

 inal laws of the State must all go into the com- 

 mon-school fund, and not into the treasuries of 

 the towns and cities. The Legislature was asked 

 to appropriate $300,000 to secure four months' 

 schooling during the year in each county, which 

 never has been done. 



The Agricultural and Mechanical College for the 

 colored race, which was established by the State 

 in 1891 in Greensboro, has been greatly crippled 

 during the past two years because $10,000 has 

 been cut off from the regular appropriation by 

 the Legislature. The course of study and manual 

 work includes wood turning, carpentering, forging, 

 barn and dairy work, and greenhouse work, in- 

 cluding grafting, potting, and making cuttings. 

 Ihe department of domestic science includes the 

 chemistry of cooking, cutting and fitting as well 

 as general sewing, milk testing, and butter mak- 

 ing. It is the high school for colored boys and 

 girls over fourteen years of age, and is princi- 

 pally fed from the public schools. There is a tui- 

 tion fee of $1 a month, while a certain number 

 of students from each county are admitted free. 



State Institutions. The Confederate Soldiers' 

 Home has had a fine hospital building added, with 

 modern equipment. It has 56 inmates. 



The Central Hospital for the Insane, at Raleigh, 

 receives $50,000 a year from the State. It has 

 500 patients. The building of two new wards 

 allows of the separation of the women from the 

 men. The Executive Committee complains that the 

 dangerous insane are not properly cared for, and 

 can not be under present conditions. 



The Penitentiary is self-supporting, and at the 

 last report had $101,668 in available cash assets. 

 In his report the manager says: "We have con- 

 tracts for labor on railroads, in shirt factory and 

 on other works, that bring into our treasury $4,000 

 to $4,500 of earnings per month. We certainly 

 will have an income from the brickyard of 

 $25,000; these items together with other available 

 moneys for labor, etc., the supplies on hand, as 

 shown by the inventories, should be amply suffi- 

 cient to run the institution during this year with- 

 out any embarrassment to the management." 



The report of Dr. J. F. Miller, superintendent 

 of the State Hospital, at Goldsboro, shows that in 

 the biennial period of 1899-1900 651 patients were 

 treated, Avith a general average of 454. The per- 

 centage of cures was a little over 49, and the per- 

 centage of deaths a little over 6; and there were 

 remaining in the hospital, Nov. 30, 439 patients. 



A special committee appointed to investigate 

 the State prisons reported extravagance and in- 

 competency. 



Industries. There has been a great revival or 

 establishment in certain industries. Many new 

 cotton mills were built in 1900, some of them of 



