V VERMONT. The term of office of the Gov. ernor, Redfield R. Proctor, expires in 1880. The other State officers are as follows: Lieutenant-Governor, Eben P. Colton; State Treasurer, John A. Page; Secretary of State, George Nichols; Deputy Secretary of State, Charles W. Porter; Auditor of Accounts, E. H. Powell; Sergeant-at-Arms, T. C. Phinney; Inspector of Finance, William H. Dubois. All these officers were elected on the Republican ticket. The representatives of the State in the United States Senate are George F. Edmunds, whose term expires in 1881, and Justin S. Morrill, whose term expires in 1885. The Legislature is divided between the political parties in the following proportions: Senate Republicans 29, Democrat 1; House-Republicans 175, Democrats 43, Nationals 9, Independents 5. There was on hand in the State Treasury on the 1st of August the sum of $68,750.39, with liabilities of $206,136.95. Of the latter $135,500 consisted of the Agricultural College fund, due in 1891. The ordinary expenses paid during the year were $451,841.33; and in addition a temporary loan of $125,000 was paid and bonds of the State to the amount of $36,000. There remained outstanding, besides the Agricultural College fund, State bonds to the amount of $4,000, on which interest ceased December 1, 1876. Court expenses form $102,446.73 of the sum expended, being less by about $10,000 than those of each of the two preceding years. The decennial increase in the population of the State for eighty years has been as follows: In answer to questions asked him by farmers in the Dairymen's Association with regard to the effect on the freight-rates on their competition with Western produce, ex-Governor Smith stated that although Western butter comes at very low rates from Chicago eastward, it pays as heavy a freight before reaching that city as Vermont butter pays in going to Boston. He declared that local freights had not been advanced on the Eastern lines to make up for losses on through freights. Local freights on the roads passing through Vermont are nevertheless reported to have been raised in the course of several years, whatever the motive may have been. The number of different lines to which freight must be transferred in going to market is supposed to work unfavorably for Vermont producers; and the consolidation of the different main lines passing through the State under a single management is spoken of as a measure which would enable them to compete in fruits and other produce in the Boston market. Governor Smith has attempted to consolidate different roads by leasing, but without success. Some statistics as to the relative cost and profits of farming in Vermont and in the West have been collected by Professor Dale. In the Government report for 1877 the yield of Indian corn per acre, value per bushel, and value of the crop per acre were given for the below enumerated States as follows: The cost of cultivation in Vermont per acre is as follows: Plowing and harrowing, $2; manure, $10; planting, $1.50; cultivating and hoeing, $5; cutting and harvesting, $5; husking, $2.25; in all, $25.75, to which must be added $3 for interest on land, making $28.75. To the value of the corn-crop $15 per acre is to be added for the value of the stalks for fodder, making the total value of the harvest $45.13 per acre. The profit per acre in Vermont is thus $16.38. In Kansas the cost of cultivation on stubble-land is as follows: Plowing, $1; planting, 20 cents; cultivating, $1.50; husking, $1.25; interest on the land, $1; total, $4.95. Deducting this from the value of the crop, $7.37, there remains a profit of $2.62. The value of the stalks in Kansas does not more than market the corn, if it does that. Land fenced and under cultivation is reckoned worth $12 an acre, a low estimate. What is true of Kansas is true of Iowa. In Michigan the cost of producing is nearly the same, except that the land is held at a much higher value, and manure is frequently used. The cost of cultivation is probably $9.25; value of crop, $12.09; profit, $2 84. If these estimates are correct, an acre of corn in Vermont will pay 20 per cent. profit, in Kansas 15, and in Michigan not quite 3 per cent. In the older of the Western States the average yield of corn has decreased 20 per cent. in the last fifteen years. In estimating the cost of manure in Vermont, the amount is taken at what it would cost to restore to the soil the phosphoric acid, potash, and nitrogen taken from it by the graincrop alone, supposing the stalks to be fed or used upon the ground. Nitrogen is valued at 25, phosphoric acid 12, and potash 6 cents per pound. In the West the stalks are not taken from the ground, but are plowed under in the spring, much to the discomfort of the man holding the plow. Experiments show that only a small percentage of the nitrogen found in the crop is absorbed from the soil; and, as that is the highest-priced ingredient in all commercial manures, it would very much lessen the cost of raising corn if a considerable part of it could be omitted. The following is the reported yield and value of the wheat-crop in the respective States for the same year: tracting the juice and making the sugar is not at all difficult. There should be a good strong mill to get out the juice, which as soon as got out should be heated nearly to the boiling-point, and slacked lime mixed to the consistence of thick whitewash should be added; after which it should be brought to boiling, and the scum taken off as is usual in maple-sugar making. After this it should be taken off and allowed to cool and settle, where the clear liquid could be drawn off and then boiled down in an ordinary pan or evaporator; and by this process nineteen twentieths of the sugar could be secured. He would not advise the farmers to make sugar, but sell the sirup to the refiners, who could do the work more cheaply and effectively. The refiners would now buy 100,000 barrels of high-grade sirup at good prices. After the juice is pressed from the corn or sorghum stalks, he believes, analysis shows them to be worth ton for ton as much as before they were pressed, though of course the amount would be much less. The pressed stalks or "bagasse" were just in the condition for feeding or for putting up in "silos" used for preserving corn-fodder green. Professor Collier expressed the opinion that in ten years the United States, instead of importing 811,767 tons of sugar as in 1877, might export a million tons; the State of Illinois might yield an amount equal to the entire present import. The State Grange, at a meeting in Montpelier, gave expression to the old grievance against the railways in the following memorial to be presented to Congress : To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: do The cost of raising wheat in Michigan, where good land is held at $80 to $100 per acre, and where no manure is used and the crop is alternated with clover, is as follows: Plowing and harrowing, $2; seed, $2.44; harvesting, $2; threshing, $1.75; interest on land, $5. This makes a total cost of $13.15, leaving a profit of $8.20, which, however, is only to be counted once in two years, as the crops are only taken off the land every alternate year. In Iowa the cost of plowing, harrowing, harvesting, and threshing is $5.25, of seed $1.74, and the interest on the land $1, making the total cost of cultivation $8.99 and the profit $2.76. In Kansas nearly the same figures hold true. In Vermont the cost of growing and harvesting is estimated at $19.95, making the profit $7.45. In an agricultural meeting at Montpelier, We, the citizens of county, State of Professor Collier of Washington described most earnestly and persistently insist that the Consome experiments he had made in raising sor-gress of the United States enact such laws as will alghum. He tried five kinds-early amber, Chi- leviate the oppressions imposed upon us by the transnese, white Liberian, Honduras, and pearlmillet. He made analyses of the cane at several stages of its growth. The pearl-millet yielded the best results, which were better than any published analysis of the sugar-beet, and equal to that of Louisiana sugar-cane. The juice analyzed between the 15th of August and the 1st of November showed 14.67 to 17 per cent. of crystallizable, and from 65 to 154 per cent. of non-crystallizable sugar. The Honduras variety yields the heaviest crop of cane, but will only grow in the Southern States. The early amber, which will grow wherever Indian corn can be raised, will produce with good cultivation two tons of sugar to the acre. Professor Collier has made many experiments also with corn-stalks. Stalks when ripe, after the corn has been harvested, yielded 10-90 per cent. of good sugar. From the results of fortyfive experiments in making sugar from sorghum-cane, he believed that wherever Indian corn will grow the cane will yield an average of sugar per acre equal to or above that of the sugar-lands of Louisiana. The process of ex portation monopolies that now control the interstate commerce of our country. Railroads, or railways, as they are severally styled, exact fluctuating and excessive rates of transportation both for freights and passengers, and in all such arbitrary exactions are a law unto themselves, being beyond the reach of State legislation, and heretofore unrestrained by Congressional enactments. While general prosperity pervades the land, agridepressed. The surplus of our farms is wrenched from culture, the corner-stone of our national progress, is us to enrich these giant monopolies. A buoyant market instantly enhances the freight-rates of transportation, robbing the producer of well-earned profits, and levying upon the consumer unjust taxation. A depressed market maintains the previously enhanced carriers attempt to promote the public weal. freight-rates, and in neither case do these common The patience of an industrious, law-abiding people is sorely tried, and with anxiety they look for relief to your honorable bodies, from whom alone relief can every reason to hope. To hasten its coming, we recome. That it will come in the near future, we have spectfully urge upon your bodies the enactment of such laws as will prevent fluctuations in freights, and unjust discriminations in transportation charges. And your petitioners would ever pray. Merino-sheep breeding is again becoming profitable, and very high prices are paid for the finest animals. A new breeders' association, with E. S. Stowell for president, called the Vermont Atwood Merino-Sheep Breeders' Club, has been formed in opposition to the Vermont Merino-Sheep Breeders' Association, with which fault is found owing to the admission on its register of sheep outside of the State. A contention arose in November between the students and the faculty of Middlebury College. A student in the second year received demerits for some trifling breach of the rules, and afterward an additional number of demerit marks given to the whole class alike in consequence of a disturbance. The total was sufficient to suspend the student. His classmates considered this an injustice, and refused to attend college unless he were received back. The faculty tried to assert their authority by suspending the whole class, whereat the other classes joined the rebellion and refused also to go on with their studies unless the faculty yielded. The affair finally ended in a compromise. The Burdett-Estey organ suit, which has been for a long time before the courts, was ended by the award of about $150,000 to the plaintiff by ex-Governor Stewart, Master in Chancery. The suit was brought in the name of Riley Burdett, whose rights had been transferred to Silas M. Waite, against Jacob Estey, Julius J. Estey, and Levi K. Fuller, for infringement of a patent on an arrangement of extra reeds in organs, which by being tuned a little above or below the diapason produce the wavy effect called by the plaintiff the "harmonie céleste and by the defendants the "vox jubilante." On this contrivance, used in the manufacture of the Estey organ at Brattleboro, it was claimed that the plaintiff possessed letters patent. The case was first brought in the United States Circuit Court of Vermont, December 30, 1871. It was heard successively by Judges Smalley (in 1874), Woodruff, and Johnson, all of whom died before rendering a decision. Early in 1878 it was argued before Judges Blatchford and Wheeler at New York by distinguished lawyers, including Senator Edmunds, William M. Evarts, and E. W. Stoughton. Judge Blatchford affirmed the validity of the patent in part, and an accounting to determine the profit made by the Esteys on the improved mechanism was ordered, the result of which inquiry was the report of the Master in Chancery awarding the sum named, subject to the approval of the Court. The case of James R. Langdon et al. vs. the Vermont and Canada Railroad Company et al. came up before the Supreme Court. This was a bill in chancery brought to establish the priority of the liens upon the trust property, or, in other words, to have the Supreme Court determine which should be paid first out of the avails of the Central and Canada roads and their property, the accrued rent due the Vermont and Canada, or the receiver's indebted ness, so called, which, in the shape of floating debt, equipment bonds, Stanstead, Shefford, and Chambly bonds, guaranteed bonds, and income and extension bonds, amounts to about $6,000,000. The Bennington village election was made the subject of a legal dispute. An action of quo warranto was carried before the Supreme Court. The State set forth in the complaint that, by reason of the mob capturing the village meeting in April, 1879, no legal election was held. The defense answers that the said noise and confusion was no greater than usual on such occasions, and that a legal election was held. The moderator whose election was contested was S. F. Harris. A new State workhouse has been built at Rutland. It is a brick building with walls 20 inches thick, the walls between lines of cells being of the same thickness. A corridor runs between the outer tiers of cells and the wall of the building. The cells are 72 in number and disposed in three double tiers. The cells are 7 feet by 5, and are ventilated by tubes communicating with the outside air at the roof. VIRGINIA. The question of the settlement of the State debt still engrosses the public mind. The citizens are divided into two par ties on this issue, called the Debt-Payers and the Readjusters. In the early part of the year a funding bill passed the Legislature by a considerable majority and received the approval of the Governor. The proposed method of funding the debt was accepted by a syndicate, composed of a Council of Foreign Bondholders and the Funding Association of the United States, representing nearly all the holders of Virginia State securities. The bill, which is known as the McCulloch bill, aroused the liveliest dissatisfaction after it had become a law. A strong agitation was set on foot for its repeal by the Readjusters. This was made the main issue on which members were elected to the General Assembly in November. The plan for funding the debt embodied in the McCulloch bill is to issue registered and coupon bonds dated January 1, 1879, the principal payable in 1919, with interest at 3 per cent. for ten years, 4 per cent. for the next twenty years, and 5 per cent. for the last ten years, payable at Richmond, New York, or London on January and July 1st in each year until the principal is redeemed. The State has the option to redeem any or all of the bonds by paying the principal and accrued interest at any time after the expiration of ten years from January 1, 1879. The coupons will be receivable at maturity for all taxes, debts, dues, and demands of the State. The holders of registered bonds are entitled to receive a certificate for interest, and this certificate will be good for taxes or other demands due the State. The bonds, coupons, and certificates are non-taxable. The law was to be binding if, on or before May 1, 1879, the Council of Foreign Bondholders and 1880. the Funding Association filed their assent with the Governor; and they might present for funding at least $8,000,000 of the outstanding obligations of the State on or before January 1, Every six months thereafter they may fund $5,000,000 until the whole debt of $34,000,000 is funded. In the year 1885, and annually thereafter until all the new bonds are issued, there will be collected a tax of 2 cents on the $100 of the assessed valuation of all property for a sinking fund. The position of the Readjusters in their opposition to the funding scheme was defined in the following resolutions adopted at their convention held in Richmond, February 25th: 1. That Virginia fully recognizes her just liability for her fair proportion of the public debt contracted before her territory was divided. with the McCulloch bill was $8,491,961 at the time of the meeting of the Assembly on December 3d, the sum of $8,000,000 required to make the contract binding having been reached before the 1st of October. The total revenue of the State, based on the returns for 1878, is $2,762,519, derived from the following principal sources: Tax of 50 cents per $100 on total value of real estate (assessed as $244,563,717), $1,222,818; tax of 50 cents per $100 on personal property (assessed as $71,013,105), $355,065; tax of 1 per cent. on incomes exceeding $600 (aggregating $2,971,263), $29,712; capitation tax of $1 per head on male citizens over twentyone years old (whites 175,970, colored 109,401), $285,371; licenses (regular merchants $332,717, licenses and registered sales under Moffet liquor law, less expenses and rebates, $340,766), $678,484; taxes derived from railroads, banks, insurance companies, etc., $120,000; revenue derived from other sources, $75,000. Deducting from the gross revenue the expenses of collection, errors in assessment, and defaults of insolvents and delinquents amounting to 4. That the capacity of these revenues to meet such interest must be determined by deducting therefrom $237,951, a net revenue remains of $2,524,568, the necessary expenses of the government, the appor- or, with the tax on coupons added, $2,586,078. tionment to schools, and reasonable appropriations for The estimated expenses of government are the support of the charitable institutions of the State. $701,118, and the amount estimated to be due 5. That these limitations should be carefully ascertained and guarded so as in no event to allow the pri- to the public free schools annually is $487,442, mary obligations of the government and people to be leaving an annual surplus applicable to the paysubordinated to any other demands whatever. ment of interest on the debt, and to the extraordinary expenses of government (averaging for nine years $74,369 per annum), amounting to $1,397,517. 2. That Virginia can never recognize liability for that portion of the debt which should attach to West Virginia. 3. That in any settlement with the State's creditors, the annual interest of the recognized indebtedness must be brought within her revenues under the present rate of taxation. 6. That a settlement within the limitation designated is the utmost stretch of the people's ability to pay, and should be satisfactory to the creditor as the furthest exaction he can fairly insist on. 7. That any settlement, to be final, must rest upon the sovereignty of the State, and find its best security in the good will, good faith, and honor of the people of Virginia. 8. That the sovereignty of the State can not be pledged nor delegated except for public service, and when so pledged or delegated is at any time revocable by the Legislature. 9. That any self-executing lien upon public revenues, such as is given by tax-receivable coupons, is against public policy and degrading to the State and people. 10. That no discrimination between creditors can be made or sanctioned by the State, in any readjustment that may be consummated. 11. That Virginia should deal directly and frankly with her creditors, and should never place either their claims or her revenues and obligations in the hands of intermediaries who are not completely under her control and direction. 12. That all exemptions from taxation not authorized by the Constitution are intolerable, and can not be afforded in the present condition of the State's finances. 13. That the rate of taxation is as high as can be borne, and, instead of entering into an undertaking that may necessitate an increase of taxation, a diminution in public burdens should be provided for. 14. That public free schools should be protected and sustained to the fullest extent. 15. That reform and economy should be energetically pressed in the administration of affairs of State and country. 16. That full recognition of these principles and declarations by the people of Virginia and her creditors is absolutely essential to any amicable readjustment, and no readjustment in which they or any of them shall have been neglected can be final, certain, and satisfactory. The amount of the debt funded in accordance The state of the debt and interest charge stood on the 1st of October, 1879, as follows: Amount of bonds funded at 3 per cent. under the act of March 28, 1879 (dollar bonds $7,674,449, sterling bonds $375,000-$8,049,449, less $105,134 bought in by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund), $7,944,314, the annual interest sterling bonds outstanding, $1,472,805, the inon which amounts to $238,329; principal of terest on which at 5 per cent. amounts to $73,640; amount of dollar bonds issued under act of March 30, 1871, still outstanding, $20,250,184, the interest on which at 6 per cent. amounts to $1,215,011. The total principal under both acts amounted to $29,667,304, and the interest due annually thereupon to $1,526,980, which, deducted from the net revenue, stated above, applicable to the payment of interest, leaves a deficit of $129,463. Adding the interest at 5 and 6 per cent. on the debt held by the literary fund (principal $1,428,245), amounting to $84,349 per annum, the deficit increased to $213,813; if the interest on the literary fund is reduced to 3 per cent., the deficit is reduced to $172,310. Were the entire debt funded under the act of March 28, 1879, including one half of the interest in arrears on the bonded debt and full interest on the college and literary funds, the total principal would amount to $31,227,083; the interest on the refunded debt at 8 per cent. would amount to $936,812 per annum, the full interest payable under existing laws to colleges to $54,572, and the full interest due to the literary fund, as stated above, to $84,349, making a total interest charge of $1,075,735; this sum, deducted from the estimated net revenue stated above, minus the tax on consolidated bonds which would be lost on refunding (which amounts to $61,509 per annum, leaving a future net revenue of $1,336,007 applicable to interest payments), would leave an annual surplus revenue of $260,272. If the entire debt, including the consolidated bonds and the debt held by the literary fund and the colleges, were refunded, with half of the arrears of interest added, the bonded debt of the State would amount altogether to $32,881,695, on which the interest at 3 per cent. would amount annually to $986,450; this, deducted from the revenue available for interest, would leave an annual surplus in the Treasury at the present rates of taxation of $350,924. Governor Frederick W. M. Holliday in his message expressed his views on the subject of funding the debt as follows: I am not of those who believe that a heavier rate can not be borne to accomplish so grand an object as the fulfillment of the State's obligation and the preservation of her credit-objects which, in a republic like ours, far transcend every private consideration; indeed, which elevate private considerations, and make them partake of the strength and virtue of the Commonwealth itself. The investment of more taxes in such a cause would yield a far greater revenue than that invested in any war in which our ancestors ever engaged for the vindication of the right, both in the material development of our resources, and the hardy, robust, and honest growth of our people's character. That increase, however, need not be resorted to now. With the present laws properly enforced, the revcnues will meet the requirements of the act, and leave a handsome surplus in the Treasury.. Whatever may be the views of some, I feel that should the present funding bill by any means be stopped in its execution, it would be a great misfortune. It has been regarded by the world as a fair and honorable settlement between the Commonwealth and her creditors; and though the funding under it has progressed with remarkable rapidity, considering the impediments that have been thrown in its way, we have every reason to believe that had no opposition been manifested, and its repeal not been mooted, the bonds by this time would have been well-nigh all brought in to be funded under its provisions. The popular vote in the November election, which depended on the State issue of the settlement of the debt, was divided between the Debt-Payers and Readjusters into 69,763 of the former (62,074 Conservatives and 7,689 Republicans), and 77,070 of the latter (58,644 Conservatives and 18,426 Republicans). The total vote cast for members of the House of Delegates was 147,115. The composition of the new House of Delegates was as follows: Conservative Debt Payers, 42; Conservative Readjusters, 40; Republicans (white), 6; Republicans (colored), 11; tie vote in Portsmouth, 1; total number of delegates, 100. A convention of colored citizens, consisting in great part of inhabitants of Richmond and the vicinity, met in that city May 19th, and adopted the following resolution: Resolved, That we recommend to our race throughout the State to organize themselves into emigration societies for the purpose of leaving the State; provided, our condition is not bettered by the authorities of the State. A Citizens' Association was organized in Richmond, July 25th, for the object of obtaining modifications in the State and municipal Sunday laws which require the closing of all places where drinks are sold between midnight on Saturday and sunrise on Monday morning. The James River and Kanawha Canal has been repaired by the labor of the convicts in the penitentiary, who have been employed also on the Clifton Forge and other railroads. There were 52 convicts less in the penitentiary at the close of the year, and a daily average of 32 less, than in the preceding year. The cost of their keeping per man was $62.47 for the year, or an average of 17 cents per diem. Of those who have been hired out under contract to railroad companies and other corporations, 42 have escaped. The mortality in the camps of convicts thus employed is twice as great as in the prison. The following are the statistics of the penitentiary: Maximum number of prisoners during the year, 1,070; minimum, 1,013; average, 1,041; average age of convicts now in prison, 26 years, 3 months, and 1 day; average sentence of convicts now in prison, 8 years, 2 months, and 10 days; per cent. of decrease from September 30, 1878, to September 30, 1879, 51 per cent. Number of prisoners for first conviction, 921; for second conviction, 91; for third conviction, 3; total, September 30, 1879, 1,015. The following statement shows that the number of schools and attendance of pupils declined in 1878 to nearly one half of what they were in the preceding years: Number of schools (counting each grade in graded schools as a separate school) in 1879, 2,491; in 1878, 4,545; in 1877, 4,672. Pupils enrolled in 1879, 108,074; in 1878, 202,244; in 1877, 204,974. AFerage daily attendance in 1879, 65,771; in 1878, 116,464; in 1877, 117,843. The average number of months taught in the 2,491 schools (1,816 white and 675 colored) which were opened in 1879 was 5:36. The total school population was 483,701-280,849 white, 202,842 colored. Of the white schools 95 were graded, of the colored 33; together, 128. Of the 108,074 enrolled pupils, 72,306 were white, 35,768 colored; of the 65,771 in average daily attendance, 44,540 white, 21,231 colored. The falling off in schools and attendance was owing to the fact that in some districts the debts had been allowed to accumulate until the local boards determined to open no schools, but devote the income to paying off the debts; in others the supervisors had diminished the school levies. Under the bill passed by the General Assembly called the Henkel bill, the sum of $459,515 applicable to the support of public schools is obtained. A writ of habeas corpus being applied for in |