CALIFORNIA. 



79 



The following tables show the assessed val- 

 ues of the several classes of property in the 

 State for the years 1881 and 1882 respectively: 



ASSESSED VALUES OF PROPERTY FOR 1881. 



Value of real estate ...$348,869,810 



Value of improvements on real estate 1 lo,218,041 



Value of personal property, exclusive of money.. 146,180,978 



The amount of money 13,597,566 



Value of railroads operated in more than one 

 county 84,829,664 



Total $658,691,059 



TAX-RATE FOR 1881. 



For general fund '. . . 87 7 cents $2,190,084 



For school fund 22 4 cents 1 ,300,000 



For interest and sinking fund 5'4 cents- 815,000 



Total 65-5 cents $3,805,084 



ASSESSED VALUES OF PROPERTY FOR 1882. 



Value of real estate -v^ .,~~~, 



Value of improvements on real estate 114,516,747 



Value of personal property, exclusive of money.. 120,848,453 



The amount of money 12,702,056 



Value of railroads operated in more than one 

 county 27,602,313 



Total $607,472,262 



TAX-RATE FOR 1882. 



For general fund 27 8 cents $1,488,735 



For school fund 24-3 cents 1,800,000 



For interest and sinking fund 7 5 cents 398,000 



Total 59-6cents $3,186,735 



The counties paid to the State for taxes in 1881, 

 $4,230,075.68, and in 1882, $4,144,659.93. 



From other sources the State received, for 

 1831, $52,497.98, and for 1882, $553,994.48, 

 making a total of all receipts from all sources 

 for the thirty-second year, of $4.751,573.66, 

 and for the thirty-third year of $4,698,654.41. 



The amount of outstanding warrants, June 

 30, 1882, was $286,749.69 ; balance in Treas- 

 ury, $1,016,021.77. On the financial condition 

 of the State, Gov. Perkins, in his valedictory 

 message, says: 



The State has taxable property of the assessed value 

 of about $610,000,000. Her interest - bearing debt 

 amounts to $3,293,500. Of that debt the State owns, 

 holding in trust for educational purposes, $2,690,000. 

 This leaves only $603,500 of her bonds in private 

 hands; and there is now in the Treasury, and pro- 

 vided for by taxes already levied, something more 

 than $500,000 applicable to their purchase or redemp- 

 tion. That showing is a good one for a Common- 

 wealth that has expended within the past ten years 

 more than $4,000,000 upon public buildings, more 

 than $4,500,000 for charities, and more than $2,000,- 

 000 for public education. 



Within fifteen years our expenditures for educational 

 purposes have increased from the annual average of 

 $275,000 to that of the current fiscal year $2,029,- 

 974 ; expenses, ordinary and extraordinary, have been 

 met ; permanent improvements of great value have 

 been made; taxation has not been excessive, com- 

 paratively speaking, and the public debt has been 

 steadily reduced. 



During the present administration the ordinary ex- 

 penses of government have been light, the extraor- 

 dinary ones great. The public institutions have been 

 ably and economically managed. The various offices 

 have been efficiently filled and prudently conducted. 

 The expenditures for all purposes have averaged $4,- 

 244,038 annually. For the five years preceding, the 

 annual average expenditure was $3.633,902. The in- 

 creased average expenditure yearly has been $610,136. 

 Such increase is owing in part to extraordinary ap- 

 propriations made and, in my opinion, wisely made 



for various purposes ; but is owing mainly to our 

 growth as a community, which has naturally necessi- 

 tated greater outlay. 



For charities, the annual expenditures were, for five 

 years preceding this administration, $433,870. The 

 average for the past three years has been $623,262. 

 For public education, the average yearly outlay tor 

 the five fiscal years immediately preceding my inau- 

 guration was $1,880,628. During my term of office, 

 the average annual outlay for the same purposes has 

 been $1,783,948. The increased annual average, there- 

 fore, for these two items alone, amounts to $592,865 

 which is within $17,000 of the total increased 

 average. 



The State Board of Equalization was provided for 

 under the Constitution for the purpose, in part, of ef- 

 fecting an equalization of the assessment of the prop- 

 erty of the State. From the report of the board it 

 would appear that it has not been able, through de- 

 fects in the law, and decisions of the Supreme Court, 

 in raising the assessment of the State to the true 

 standard of value in money. Thus, while, exclusive 

 of railroads, the assessment of 1880 exceeded that of 

 1879 in the sum of $103,068,642. the assessment of 

 1881 and 1 882 did not increase in the proportion which 

 was expected from the known progress of the State 

 in material wealth and industrial pursuits. The as- 

 sessment of 1881 was below that ol 1880 $36,278,541. 

 The assessment of 1882 shows a decrease below that 

 of 1880 of $55,158,105, and below that of 1881 of 

 $18,879,564. 



I entered upon the duties of my office with defi- 

 ciency bills amounting to more than $218,000. A 

 part of this sum was for increase in salaries of the 

 judiciary, and expense of Railroad Commission and 

 Board of Equalization, that were created by the new 

 Constitution, and began life the middle of the fiscal 

 year. The Legislature of 1880 appropriated $414,000 

 more than it levied a tax to raise. Hence resulted the 

 tax levy for 1881 of 65-5 cents as against that for 1880 

 of only 59 cents. The last Legislature paid all these 

 accumulated debts ; there was a falling off in the 

 assessed value of property of $51,000,000, and yet, as 

 the result of prudent economy in outlay, the tax levy 

 for 1882 was reduced to 56-6 cents ; and to-day our 

 public buildings are all in a most excellent state of 

 preservation ; and one of our prisons almost placed 

 upon a self-sustaining basis." 



California contributes $190,000 annually to 

 twenty orphan asylum societies toward the 

 expense of caring for the children. The insane 

 asylums cost $458,000, and the State prisons 

 $450,000. 



Viticulture. The Board of Viticultural Com- 

 missioners has performed its labors with credit 

 to itself and profit to the State. Established 

 but three years, it has seen the increased plan- 

 tation of from 50,000 to 60,000 acres of land 

 in.vines, which plantations were made mainly 

 through the encouraging influence of this 

 board, it being also instrumental in choice of 

 the vines planted and the locations selected. 

 The actual present value of these new planta- 

 tions is over $15,000,000, and the increased 

 value by this reason given to the surrounding 

 properties must be fully as much more. The 

 impetus thus given to the plantation of vine- 

 yards still continues. The present plantations 

 will yield the producers after the next vintage 

 not less than six and a half million dollars per 

 annum. There are now planted not less than 

 100,000 acres of vineyards, of which, probably, 

 7,000 are planted with the choicest of import- 

 ed vines. 



