Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/271

VIRGINIA public debt amounted to $22,912,215. The total valuation of property was $1,270,149,000.

Charities and Corrections.—The institutions controlled by the State include the Penitentiary, at Richmond; State Farm, at Lassiter; hospitals at Williamsburg, Marion, and Staunton; Epileptic colony and Colony for Feeble-minded, at Madison Heights; Sanatorium for Incipient Tuberculosis, at Catawba; Sanatorium for Negroes, at Burkeville; School for the Deaf and Blind, at Staunton; School for Colored Deaf and Blind, at Newport News; Laurel Industrial School, at School P. O.; Industrial Home School for Wayward Colored Girls, at Peaks Turnout; Home and Industrial School for Girls, at Bon Air; and Soldiers' Home, at Richmond.

Railways.—There are about 4,800 miles of steam railway in the State.

Banking .—On Oct. 31, 1919, there were reported 154 National banks in operation, having $23,199,000 in capital; $16,826,000 in outstanding circulation; and $59,530,000 in United States bonds. There were also 295 State banks, with $17,564,000 capital, and $9,844,000 surplus. The exchanges at the United States clearing house at Richmond, during the year ending Sept. 30, 1919, aggregated $2,784,234,000, an increase over those of the preceding year of $633,437,000.

Churches.—The strongest denominations in the State are the Regular Baptist, Colored; Methodist Episcopal, South; Regular Baptist, South; African Methodist; Presbyterian, South; Protestant Episcopal; Methodist Episcopal; Disciples of Christ; Roman Catholic; Lutheran, General Synod; Primitive Baptists; Dunkard, and Christian.

State Government.—The Governor is elected for a term of four years. Legislative sessions are held biennially in odd years, beginning on the first Wednesday in January, and are limited in length to 90 days each, but may be extended for a period not exceeding 30 days, upon a three-fifths vote of both houses. The Legislature has 40 members in the Senate and 100 in the House. There are 10 Representatives in Congress.

History.—The first settlement in Virginia was made at Jamestown, by the English in 1607. The London company was reorganized in 1609 and received an extensive territorial grant. After passing through the starving time, and being saved from destruction through the efforts of John Smith the colony became very prosperous. In 1621 a legislature was formed, and in 1676 there occurred Bacon's rebellion brought on by the tyranny of Sir William Berkeley, the royal governor. George Washington first became known during the French and Indian War, in 1754, as an officer in the Virginia militia. This colony, under the head of Patrick Henry, was the first to resent British oppression in 1764. During the Revolution several important engagements took place on Virginian soil, most notable being the defeat and surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1781. Virginia joined the Confederacy and passed an ordinance of secession on April 17, 1861, and became the scene of some of the most important battles of the Civil War, among them being the two battles of Bull Run, Winchester, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Peninsular campaign, and the battles of the Wilderness campaign; ending in the final surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House, April 9, 1865. Virginia was readmitted to the Union Jan. 27, 1870, and in 1881 celebrated the 100th anniversary of the surrender at Yorktown by laying the corner stone of a national monument, Oct. 18, 1881. During the American-Spanish War in 1898, an extensive military camp was established at Camp Alger, near Falls Church, in this State.  VIRGINIA, a city of Minnesota, in St. Louis co., about 75 miles N. W. of Duluth, on the Great Northern, the Duluth and Iron Range, and other railroads. There are flour mills, and a Carnegie library. Its prosperity and growth are based chiefly on the fact that it is the center of an important and prosperous iron mining and lumbering region. Pop. (1910) 10,473; (1920) 14,022.  VIRGINIA, the daughter of Lucius Virginius, whom Appius Claudius, the decemvir, endeavored to carry off from her parents. Her father, finding he could not save her by any other means, slew her in the open forum and raised an insurrection, which overthrew the decemvirate and restored the old magistracy. This happened, it is said, in 449 B. C.  VIRGINIA, UNIVERSITY OF, an educational non-sectarian institution in Charlottesville, Va.; founded in 1819; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 88; students, 1,243. President, Edwin A. Alderman, LL. D.  VIRGINIA CITY, a city and county-seat of Storey co., Nev.; on the Virginia and Truckee railroad; 15 miles N. N. E. of Carson City. It is built on the E. slope of Mt. Davidson at an elevation of 7,825 feet above sea-level. Here are public and private schools, a mining school, court house, St. Mary's Hospital, a county hospital, banks, and several newspapers. The city owes its growth to the famous Comstock mines, from which have been taken over $900,000,000