DELAWARE 



1745 



DELAWARE 



importance. Their products are valued at 

 about $545,000 a year, the most important fish 

 taken being menhaden, oysters and shad. 



Transportation and Commerce. No part of 

 Delaware is far from navigable water or from 

 railways which afford connection with the 

 largest railways of the East. The total railway 

 mileage is about 400, the two most important 

 railroads being 275 miles of the Pennsylvania 

 system, and the Baltimore & Ohio. There are 

 only about 125 miles of electric railway, al- 

 though extensions are being made at a com- 

 paratively-rapid rate. 



An active coastwise trade exists between 

 Wilmington and New York, those cities being 

 connected by a line of steamers. There is also 

 some foreign commerce through Wilmington. 

 Chesapeake and Delaware bays are connected 

 by a canal. The harbors at New Castle and 

 Lewes encourage coastwise and internal trade. 

 Recent government appropriations provide for 

 improving the harbor at Wilmington and for 

 dredging channels in several of the larger 

 streams in the state. 



The People and Principal Cities. Fifteen 

 per cent of the population of Delaware are 

 colored. Of the white population about eight 

 per cent are foreign-born, chiefly of Irish, Ger- 

 man, English and Italian parentage. 



RELIGIONS IN DELAWARE 



The city of Wilmington, in the extreme 

 north of Delaware, is the largest city. Dover, 

 in about the center of the state, is the capital, 

 and other cities of importance, besides the 

 harbor towns of New Castle and Lewes, are 

 Milford, Middletown, Smyrna, Georgetown, 

 110 



Seaford and Laurel. The most important or 

 these are described in these volumes. 



Education. Although education in Delaware 

 has long been the subject of thoughtful care 

 and constant improvement, yet more efficient 

 instruction of the young is promised. Cooper- 

 ating with the United States Bureau of Educa- 

 tion, the Delaware state school system is being 

 built up as a model educational unit, and it is 

 probably destined to serve as a guide to other 

 commonwealths which may desire a more thor- 

 ough and united educational system than they 

 now possess. All schools, from little district 

 schools to the State College for Colored Stu- 

 dents at Dover, and the Delaware College for 

 men at Newark, will be included in the new 

 plans. 



A law passed by the legislature in 1907 makes 

 school attendance compulsory for children be- 

 tween the ages of seven and fourteen. School 

 sessions in rural communities vary from seven 

 to ten months a year, and children living over 

 two miles from a school are excused. Separate 

 schools are provided for white and colored 

 children. Over 22,500 children attend the pub- 

 lic elementary schools, and about 1,800 pupils 

 are taught in the high schools. The state has 

 no normal schools, but has a normal depart- 

 ment in the Women's College at Newark. 

 Under the new educational system proposed 

 this plan will doubtless be altered. 



The state supports a hospital for the insane 

 and an industrial school for boys and one for 

 girls. It contributes to institutions outside of 

 the state for the support and training of its 

 deaf, dumb and 1 blind. 



Government. After being governed under 

 three constitutions, adopted in 1776, 1792 and 

 1831, Delaware adopted a fourth in 1897, and 

 this, with a few minor amendments, constitutes 

 the basic law of the state to-day. Delaware 

 is divided into three counties, and each of those 

 into hundreds, or districts, for local govern- 

 ment. Wilmington has a specially modified 

 government of its own. 



Executive power is vested in a governor, 

 lieutenant-governor, attorney-general and insur- 

 ance commissioner, each elected for four years, 

 and in a state treasurer and an auditor of 

 accounts, who serve two years. 



The legislative power is vested in the gen- 

 eral assembly. It consists of a senate of 

 seventeen members, elected for four years, and 

 a house of representatives of thirty-five mem- 

 bers, elected for two years. Senators must 

 be twenty-seven years old and representatives 



