Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/399

 VIRGINIA 379 auditor, and treasurer. A board of immigra- tion is now in operation. The general assem- bly is required to provide for the annual regis- tration of births, marriages, and deaths. The constitution requires taxation to be uniform and equal, and forbids any species of property from which a tax may be collected to be taxed higher than any other species of property of equal value. The legislature may exempt all property used exclusively for state, county, municipal, benevolent, charitable, educational, and religious purposes. The credit of the state may not be granted to or in aid of any person, association, or corporation. The legal rate of interest is 6 per cent. The constitution pro- vides that in 1888 and every 20th year there- after the question whether it shall be amended shall be submitted to the people. Virginia is represented in congress by two senators and nine representatives, and has therefore eleven votes in the electoral college. The total debt of Virginia on Oct. 1, 1875, including unpaid in- terest amounting to $2,781,030, was $32,295,- 456, consisting of bonds with tax-receivable coupons attached amounting to $18,881,500; registered bonds, convertible into tax-receiva- ble bonds, $1,355,516; and bonds not so con- vertible, $9,277,410. The annual interest on the debt proper amounts to $1,752,682 ; due the literary fund, $83,907 ; payable by law to the sinking fund, $198,447; total, $2,035,036. The amount of interest paid in 1875 was $1,- 417,345, showing a deficiency of $617,691. The above does not include one third (about $15,000,000) of the former debt of Virginia for which it is claimed West Virginia is liable. The receipts and expenditures of the govern- ment for a series of years have been : FISCAL YEAR. Total receipts. EXPENSES OF THE GOVERNMENT. Paid to free school fund. Paid on interest'on the debt. Ordinary. Extra- ordinary. 1S69-'70 ISTO-'Tl 1871-'72 1872-'73 1873-'74 1874-'75 $1,487,353 2,732,456 2,160,598 2,421,945 2,578,938 2,647,790 $1,041,682 1,243,682 1,098,808 1,082,536 1,057,975 980,450 $17,933 129,548 40.026 13,885 55,407 28,177 $346,084 99,980 639,114 1,290,758 1,691,191 1,417,345 $382,000 885,994 875,000 845,000 428,000 According to the federal census of 1870, the true value of real and personal estate was $409,588,133; the assessed value was $365,- 439,917, including $279,116,017 of real and $86,323,900 of personal estate. The value of property as assessed with taxes by the state authorities for three years has been as follows : PROPERTY. 1873. 1374. 1875. Keal $251,573,611 85,112,800 $253,486,058 78,942,198 $256,221,212 80,268,254 Personal Total $336,686,411 $332,428,256 $336,484,406 The apparent decrease in the assessed value of personal property in 1874 and 1875 is due to a change in the mode of assessing license taxes. The total tax in 1875 was $2,465,930, including the capitation tax of $264,206 ($163,020 from white and $101,186 from colored persons), ari- sing from $1 levied on each adult male ; per- sonal property, $401,316, being 50 cts. on each $100 value of personal property ($357,301), and 1 per cent, on annual incomes exceeding ($44,015); real estate, $1,281,106; and licenses, $519,307. The state penitentiary is in Richmond. The total number of prisoners on Sept. 30, 1875, was 942, of whom all but 182 were colored. Of this number, 575 were in the prison and 367 were employed under contract outside. The chief industries carried on in the prison are shoemaking, blacksmith- ing, weaving, coopering, and carpentering. In 1875 the earnings of the 219 convicts engaged in manufactures in the penitentiary were about $20,000, in addition to which nearly $30,000 was received from the hire of convicts. The expenses of the penitentiary during the year were $77,779. Virginia has three state asylums for the insane. The eastern asylum, at Wil- liamsburg, established in 1773, is the oldest in- stitution of the kind in the United States. The total number of inmates during the year end- ing Sept. 30, 1875, was 366; average number, 302 ; present at close of the year, 305, of whom only 8 paid in full and 5 in part for their sup- port. The ordinary expenditures of the insti- tution during the year amounted to $64,094; the receipts on account of general support were $65,932, including $60,000 from the state and $5,260 from patients. The western luna- tic asylum, at Staunton, was opened in 1828, and during the two years ending Sept. 30, 1875, had 469 patients; 356 were inmates at that date, of whom 332 were regarded as in- curable. The receipts during the two years amounted to $142,957, including $120,000 from the state and $20,414 from patients; expen- ditures, $145,218. The central lunatic asylum, in Richmond, was established in 1870 for the colored insane. The total number of inmates during the year ending Sept. 30, 1875, was 287; average number, 238; remaining at the close of the year, 243. The cost of supporting the institution during the year was $46,682, exclusive of $5,245 spent for permanent im- provements and supplies on hand. The state appropriation was $50,000. The accommoda- tions of these three institutions are inadequate for the treatment of the insane of the state, many of whom are confined in county jails. The state institution for the deaf and dumb and the blind is at Stauuton, and was opened in 1839. Children of the state unable to pay are educated and clothed free of charge; others are required to pay $200 a year for board and tuition. Besides the ordinary studies, pupils are taught industrial branches. During the year ending June 30, 1875, 100 deaf mutes and 42 blind pupils were receiv- ing instruction. The ordinary expenditures amounted to $34,765, and the total to $47,787. The income included $40,000 from the state,