SOUTH CAROLINA. 



be contracted by the several counties to 8 per cent, of 

 the assessed taxable value. 



Finances. At 'the date of the last report the 

 debt of the State was $6.571,825. During the 

 past fiscal year a few bonds were issued under 

 special acts, and the sinking-fund commission 

 purchased and canceled $41,207.67 of defi- 

 ciency bonds, thus reducing the amount of 

 the debt to $6,531,290.63. The Comptroller- 

 General reports that very little progress has 

 been made in funding the old bonds under 

 the act of 1873 and its amendments. He esti- 

 mates that it will require $348,235 to meet the 

 ordinary expenses of the government during 

 the fiscal year 1883-'84. To this amount must 

 be added $391,878 for interest on the public 

 debt, making $740,113. The proceeds of the 

 phosphate royalty and the probable surplus in 

 the treasury, estimated at $197,251, will re- 

 duce the amount to $542,862, which can be 

 raised by a levy of four mills. 



The amount of property returned for taxa- 

 tion in 1882 was $145,442,292. The amount 

 returned for 1883 is: 



Real estate $87,131,401 



Personal property 43,249,939 



Eailroad property 15,227,964 



Total $150,609,304 



This is an increase in one year of $5,167,012. 



The reports of the Secretary of State show 

 each year a large increase in the amount of 

 land held nominally by the commissioners of 

 tiie sinking fund for non-payment of taxes. 



Education. There were enrolled in the public 

 schools during the year, 74,157 white and 98,- 

 938 colored pupils, making a total of 173,095. 

 This is an increase of 27,121 over the large en- 

 rollment for the preceding year. From a com- 

 parison of this enrollment with the data fur- 

 nished by the census of 1880, it appears that 

 over 73 per cent, of the white children, and 

 nearly 55 per cent, of the colored children of 

 the State, between the ages of six and sixteen 

 years, were in attendance on the public schools, 

 The average length of the school session was 

 four months. The number of teachers em- 

 ployed was 3,494, of whom 2,165 were white 

 and 1,329 were colored ; number of schools in 

 operation was 3,269, an increase of 86. 



Claflin College, at Orangeburg, was founded 

 in 1869, and is designed for the higher edu- 

 cation of colored youths of both sexes. Since 

 1879 thirty have been graduated. Attached to 

 the institution is a farm of 150 acres, which is 

 . cultivated chiefly by the labor of the students. 

 A mechanical department has been added. The 

 enrollment of students for the last year was 

 424, of whom 30 were in the collegiate depart- 

 ment and 11 in the normal school. 



The Military Academy had an enrollment on 

 the 1st of October last of 155 ; of this number, 

 68, being two from each county, are main- 

 tained by the State. The beneficiary cadets 

 are chosen by competitive examinations. 



The South Carolina College is now thor- 

 oughly reorganized. Its buildings have been 



SPAIN. 7;;;, 



repaired, its grounds improved, and its several 

 departments fairly equipped. Its teaching force 

 consists of a president, seven professors, and 

 three tutors. Arrangements havi- U-cn made 

 for post-graduate instruction. The catalogue 

 of last year shows a total enrollment of 185. 



State Institutions. The Institution lor t : 

 cation of the Deaf and Dumb and the- Blind l,us 

 72 pupils, an increase of 10 in a year. A de- 

 partment for the colored has been estul 



The number of patients in the Lunatic Asy- 

 lum at the beginning of the last !i 

 was 550; the number admitted during the 

 year was 239. At the close of the year the 

 number was 603, of which 852 were white 

 and 251 colored. The annual increase in t lie- 

 number of patients is from 50 to 60. The Gen- 

 eral Assembly has provided for the erection of 

 an additional building at a cost not to exceed 

 $50,000. It will be finished Oct. 1, 1884. 



The number of convicts in the Penitentiary, 

 Oct. 31, 1883, was 886, an increase of 72 in a 

 year; 55 were white, and 841 colored. The 

 convicts are employed under lease, or on pub- 

 lic works, and are a source of revenue to the 

 State. If all were returned to the prison, the 

 cell-room would be greatly insufficient. 



Miscellaneous. The uncertainties and disasters 

 attending the cultivation of rice, since 1860, 

 have reduced the average crop of twenty-five 

 years since, which was 120,000 to 160,000 

 tierces, to about 40,000 or 45,000 tierces. The 

 planting now is restricted to such . places as 

 have escaped the action of time and war. 



There are in the State 26 cotton- factories, 

 which are either in full operation or expect to 

 be within a very short time. 



Toward the close of the year several persons 

 were brought to trial in the United States 

 Court, charged with violation of the congres- 

 sional election acts. The juries, however, failed 

 to convict. 



SPAIN, a kingdom of southern Europe. 



Government. The reigning sovereign, Alfonso 

 XII (son of the ex-Queen Isabel II), was born 

 Nov. 28, 1857; proclaimed King of Spain at 

 Madrid, Dec. 31, 1874; assumed the govern- 

 ment Jan. 9, 1875; married, Jan. 23, 1878, 

 Princess Maria de las Mercedes (youngest daugh- 

 ter of the Duke de Montpensier), who was 

 born June 24, 1860, and died June 26, 1878; 

 married, Nov. 29, 1879, the Archduchess Maria 

 Christina of Austria (daughter of the late- An-h- 

 duke Charles Ferdinand of Austria), born July 

 21, 1858. Two daughters have been born of 

 the second union. 



By the terms of the Constitution of June 

 30, 1876, the executive power is vested in the 

 King, and the legislative power in the l\rte* 

 " with the King." The King is inviolable, but 

 his ministers are responsible, and by one of these 

 all royal decrees must be countersigned. Tin- 

 King can not contract matrimony without the 

 approval of the Cortes, nor can he marry any 

 one excluded by law from the succession to the 

 throne. In the event of the extinction of the 



