

CONNECTICUT. 



211 



ing arrived at without imposing the State tax on 

 the towns. The Treasurer called attention to the 

 fact that no provision had been made to pay the 

 State bonds coining due Jan. 1, 1903, at which time 

 $1,500,000 will be needed for the redemption of the 

 3 per cents. A large part, if not the entire issue, 

 of these bonds must be paid from the surplus reve- 

 nue to be received previous to their maturity. 



The report shows the following transactions: 

 Civil list account, balance on hand Oct. 1, 1897, 

 $123,027.50 ; revenue receipts from all sources dur- 

 ing the year, $2,612,385.15; total, $2,735,412.55. 

 Specific receipts : Interest of school fund, trans- 

 ferred, $122,427.91 ; principal of Agricultural Col- 

 lege fund (special), transferred, $224.60 ; avails of 

 courts, $35,220.44 ; commissioners of pharmacy, 

 $1,794.25 ; commissioners of shell fisheries, $8,732.25 ; 

 comptroller, statutes sold, $121 ; corporate fran- 

 chise tax, $2,000 : tax on express companies, 

 $9,711.02 ; fees from executive secretary, $539.50 ; 

 fees from secretary's office, $1,971.52 ; Greenwich 

 Loan, Trust, and Deposit Company, $500 ; inheri- 

 tance tax, $133,037.37 ; receipts of insurance com- 

 missioners, $76,659.81 ; interest account, $26,954.92 ; 

 lux on investments, $87,177.19; itinerant vender's 

 license fees, $300 ; Meriden Trust and Safe Deposit 

 Company, $250 ; military commutation tax, $154,- 

 044.60 ; miscellaneous receipts, $17,376.52 ; tax on 

 mutual fire insurance companies, $10,671.42 ; tax on 

 mutual life insurance companies, $272,242.40; na- 

 tional aid to State homes for soldiers, $39,200 ; 

 non-residents' stock tax, $159,148.32 ; tax on steam 

 railroads, $910,137.50 ; tax on street railroads, 

 $133.052.77 ; tax on rolling stock companies, 

 $152.05 ; salaries of the Bank Commissioners, 

 $6,175.43 ; salaries of the Railroad Commissioners, 

 $14,514.31 ; salary of the Building and Loan Com- 

 missioner, $2,068.33 ; tax on savings banks, $373,- 

 370.32; State Librarian, atlases and maps sold, 

 $82 ; tax on telegraph and telephone companies, 

 $12,527.40; total, $2,612,385.15. The payments 

 were as follow: Civil-list orders, $1,810,354.87; 

 registered orders, $353,112.84 ; interest on State 

 bonds, $104,700; interest on Agricultural College 

 fund in treasury, $211.33 ; interest on town de- 

 posit fund in treasury, $311.42 ; interest on prin- 

 cipal of school fund in treasury, $416.01 ; interest 

 on interest of school fund in treasury, $1,940.04 ; 

 interest on loan to State, $375 ; State bond (paid), 

 $100 ; total, $2,271,521.51 ; balance in treasury to 

 the credit of the civil list, Oct. 1, 1898, $463,891.14. 

 General and special accounts : Balance to credit of 

 all accounts, Oct. 1, 1897, $320,745.45; receipts 

 from all sources for fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 

 1898, $3,097,013.21: total, $3,417,758.66; deduct 

 payments for all purposes, $2,737,088.72 ; balance to 

 the credit of all accounts, Oct. 1, 1898, $680,749.94. 

 State debt : The funded debt of the State, Sept. 30, 

 1898, was $3,240,100 ; less cash in the treasury to 

 credit of civil list funds, $463,891.14; total State 

 debt, less civil list funds, $2,776,208.86. 



The Board of Equalization during 1898 added 

 $56,275,000 to the lists of the various towns in the 

 effort to have all property listed at its actual value. 

 The rate of tax on non-resident stockholders in cer- 

 tain corporations was increased by the last General 

 Assembly from 1 per cent, to 1 per cent. One 

 company protested not only against paying the in- 

 creased tax, but against the greater part of the tax 

 formerly levied and collected, and suit was insti- 

 tuted to enforce collection. 



, In 1897 the General Assembly increased the tax 

 on choses in action from 2 to 4 mills per annum on 

 each dollar. The new rate showed a larger receipt 

 from this source than in 1897 by more than $10,- 

 000. The number of such choses presented for 

 taxation was less than any year since 1893, and the 



amount taxed was less than in any year, with twa 

 exceptions, since the law was enacted. This state- 

 ment is considered important to those interested 

 in new forms of taxation. 



The tax on street railway companies shows an 

 increase each year, and at each session of the Gen- 

 eral Assembly bills have been introduced intending 

 to divert this tax to the towns where such railways 

 are located, but such action has been thought unde- 

 sirable, the difficulty of towns assessing and collect- 

 ing this tax being an argument against such change. 

 The taxes paid by steam and street railroads in 

 1897 gave an increase of $46,066.over 1896. 



Insurance. The number of fire insurance com- 

 panies doing business in the State increased from 

 118 in 1891 to 142 in 1898. A comparison with the 

 124 companies operating during 1896 shows an in- 

 crease in assets of $23,256,803.76, a decrease in lia- 

 bilities of $842,010.86, and an increase in surplus of 

 $24,098,814.62. The 117 stock companies had a 

 surplus of $87,835,182.36, an increase of $23,933,- 

 921.56. The 23 mutual companies had a surplus of 

 $2,969,581.50, a gain of $137,893.06 during the 

 year. The assets of the 142 companies amounted 

 to $266,922,873.16; the liabilities, including rein- 

 surance reserve, capital, scrip, and special funds, to 

 $176,118,109.30, and the .surplus over all to $90,- 

 804,763.86. The liability for reinsurance amounted 

 to $104,504,030.49, for unpaid losses to $12,242,- 

 584.97, and for all other liability to $5.140,618.84. 

 The net amount of outstanding insurance was $18,- 

 435,905,044, an increase of $1,224,275,945 over 1897. 

 Of the total risks by all companies in the State in 

 1897, $327,788,439, the Connecticut companies wrote 

 $111,517,054, or about one third. 



Building and Loan Associations. The busi- 

 ness of these associations was reported to have in- 

 creased notably during 1897. The assets of the do- 

 mestic associations were $3,243,935.19, an increase 

 over the preceding year of $462,992.55. The assets 

 of the foreign associations amounted to $7,515,073, 

 an increase of $1,483,534.64. Mortgage loans of 

 domestic associations increased $221,371.50 ; real 

 estate, $102,073.67 ; cash, $48,133.55 ; stock, bonds, 

 and other securities, $72,006.78. Mortgage loans 

 of the foreign associations increased $961,592.22 ; 

 real estate, $158,081.43 ; cash, $101,132.72 ; stocks 

 and bonds, etc., $15,422.60. In the foreign associa- 

 tions installments paid and earnings credited 

 showed an increase of $806,101.20, and in single- 

 payment shares of $793,606.60. The total number 

 of shares issued by domestic associations during 

 the year was 22,448; withdrawn, 15,184. Total 

 number of shares at end of the year by borrowing 

 members. 12,708|, and by non-borrowing members 

 39,479. Number of shares issued by foreign asso- 

 ciations during the year was 104.386^ ; withdrawn, 

 87,910 ; total number of shares held at end of the 

 year by borrowing members, 64,785 ; by non-bor- 

 rowing members, 266,471. The rate per cent, of 

 operating expenses to receipts of " nationals," as re- 

 ported, was more than three times greater than in 

 local associations. 



Savings Banks. The reports show a somewhat 

 better financial condition of the small-deposit class. 

 In Hartford the increase in the number of deposi- 

 tors having under $1,000 was from 56,843 in 1896 

 to 58,920 in 1897, a gain of 2,077. In 1896 their 

 deposits lying in four Hartford banks aggregated 

 $9,878,987.93, and in 1897 they rose to $10,311,- 

 854.26. In 1896 the deposits under $1.000 formed 

 a trifle over 38 per cent, of all the deposits in the 

 banks, and in 1897 they had risen to 39 per cent. 



Education. The s'chool enumeration of the 

 State affords a basis upon which to estimate the 

 present population. Taking the ratio of school 

 children in 1890 to the known population in that 



