VIRGINIA. 





Finances. The receipts for the year 1897-'98 

 were $3,280,277.40, an increase of $99,022.05 over 

 those of 1896-'97. The expenditures were $3,200,- 

 908.72, an increase of $45,445.61. The cost of 

 criminal expenses was reduced from $302,825.69 in 

 1896-'97 to $230,881.73 in 1897-'98 ; government offi- 

 cers, who received $120.525.70 the former year, 

 were paid $117,404.22. The Oyster fund receipts 

 rose from $29,984.90 to $36.766.73, and the disburse- 

 ments of that fund fell from $32,511.90 to $22,- 

 355.37. The charter fees were more than doubled, 

 increasing from $7,823 to $21,442, the Legislature 

 having raised the requirements for the granting of 

 charters. New items of revenue are from fish-net 

 and crabbers' licenses, this year $695.30 and $260.73 

 respectively. 



Education. The school population is 665,865. 

 During the year 8,562 schools were conducted, and 

 369,520 pupils enrolled. The total amount ex- 

 pended for the support of the public schools was 

 $1,832,525, and the approximate value of school 

 property owned by the school districts was $3,100,- 

 000. The State Peabody Sumner Normals held in 

 July and August were well attended, and, in the 

 judgment of the State Superintendent, accomplished 

 good results. They were attended by 841 white and 

 409 colored teachers. 



The State school fund, used exclusively for the 



Say of teachers, was $962,482. The Literary fund 

 erived from fines and escheats, gave $193,100.85 to 

 be apportioned. From the gross amount received 

 from those sources are deducted the salaries of 

 county and city superintendents of schools, the ex- 

 penses of the central office, and the appropriation 

 for summer normal schools. 



The Legislature passed an act providing that 

 school text-books with the exception of United 

 States histories should not be changed oftener than 

 once in four years. The State Board of Education 

 adopted a list in July and passed strict regulations 

 in regard to the contracts with publishers, and the 

 introduction of the books. One provides that if 

 any publisher having a book or books on the list 

 attempts to introduce any of his publications not 

 there either directly or indirectly, or by combina- 

 tion with any other publisher, his contract may be 

 declared null and void by the board. It is esti- 

 mated that the changes effect a saving of 20 per 

 cent, in the cost of books. 



The selection of United States histories was in- 

 trusted to a committee of the Camp of Confederate 

 Veterans of the State, who were to examine the 

 current histories and reject such as were judged to 

 be unfair to the South and offensive to Southern 

 sentiment. The chairman of the committee re- 

 signed because the grand camp did not approve i he 

 view expressed in his report that the right of seces- 

 sion had ceased to exist, having been renounced by 

 the South as a result of the war. Following is t he 

 passage in question : 



" They [the children] should be taught that, over- 

 come by physical power, the Confederate soldier 

 laid down his arms at the end of the war, with a 

 pledge of his honor that he abandoned the cause 

 of secession for all time; that the Confederate 

 soldier has lived up to that pledge ever since the 

 war, with perfect faith and sincerity ; and that all 

 descendants of Confederate soldiers must live up^to 

 it with the same faith and sincerity for all time. 



The report also said: "Your committee had 

 rather see our children taught inaccuracies about 

 the war, but in books written by authors who under- 

 stood and appreciated the motives of the Confed- 

 erate soldier, than to be taught perfectly accurate 

 accounts of the battles and sieges, in books whose 

 authors look upon the Confederate soldiers as crim- 

 inals." 



Charities and Corrections. The appropria- 

 tions to the State charitable institutions 

 what reduced tlii.s year, and seem to have been 

 inadequate for their proper support, placing the 

 authorities in charge under the necessity of either 

 running into debt or refusing applications for ad- 

 mission. Reports of all are not at hand: hut t IIP 

 superintendent of the Central Hospital 

 burg gives account of the effect of the reduction on 

 his institution. He says that while he was able to 

 report in 1897 that there was not a single legally 

 committed insane negro in the State .ut side of that 

 hospital, there were, in 1H98. W> >in-h 

 through the counties, 40 of whom were in jails. An 

 appropriation of $86,000 was asked, but "only $75,- 

 000 was allowed; which amount, in spite of the i 

 rigid economy, was inadequate to provide for more 

 than a daily average number of 852 patients. Ap- 

 plications were received seeking admission for '274 

 patients, as against 281 for the previous year. Of 

 these 168 were admitted, 15 died in jaif. and 35 

 were released as 'cured.' In many instances pa- 

 tients were brought here from the jails, half naked, 

 ill fed, and otherwise apparently so neglected as to 

 make the inference a fair one that the average jail 

 in Virginia is a discredit to any enlightened com- 

 munity. In this institution we support a patient 

 that is. clothe, feed, nurse, and give him medical 

 attention for 25 cents, or a fraction less, a day : 

 while to keep him in jail costs ."id cents a day for 

 board alone, and the jailer is ix-rmittfd to expend 

 $30 a year for clothing for each insane person, and 

 the physician is paid 75 cents or more for each pro- 

 fessional visit. For the past six months an average 

 of about 50 insane negroes have been supported in 

 the jails at a cost to the State of not less than 

 $6,350. The same number of patients can be, in- 

 deed are, cared forin this hospital for that length of 

 time for $2,260, a difference of more than $4.000." 



The average cost /;</ rn/u'la at the Western Hos- 

 pital is $117 a year. 



From the report of the Penitentiary Hoard for 

 the year ending Sept. 30, it is learned that 552 pris- 

 oners were received and 570 discharged, the whole 

 cost of transportation to and from the prison 

 amounting to $5,838.54. There were 1,275 in charge 

 Sept. 30, of whom 1,011 men and 65 women were 

 employed by the shoe company. Less than a dozen 

 able-bodied men are unemployed. The excess of 

 discharges over entrances is due to the operation 

 of the conditional-pardon law of this year's Legisla- 

 ture. The receipts were $130,581.42. of which more 

 than $125,000 came from the labor of con 

 The expenditures were $75,507.41, of which* 

 ;;:.so \\-as for officers and guards and *',M.:J:{4.40 

 for provisions. The prisoners have earned $20.- 

 231.86 by overwork: this goes into the prisoners' 

 fund, from which $14.290.33 has been i>aid on pris- 

 oners' orders, and s4.771.75 paid to prisoners on 

 discharge. The institution is overcrowded. 



Boys convicted by the courts are sent to the 

 Laurel Reformatory, which was established by pri- 

 vate subscription. 'The State pays 25 cents . ; 

 for each boy committed, and $10a year for clothing. 



Military. The number in the organised militia 

 at the opening of the war was given as 3,189. 

 quota for Virginia was 2.!i:5. t'nder the second 

 call 2 battalions of infantry were required. 



The (iovernor applied to the I nited - 

 urv Department for reimbursement of th. 

 expended for clothing and shoe- for the volmr 

 The Comptroller has withheld payment on account 

 of a claim by the Tinted States against Virginia in 

 connection with the Indian trust funds. 



Lawlessness. According to a list of tjnehinga 

 in the various Stales, four occurred in Virginia in 

 IS'JS. A dispatch in December says that for the 



