FINANCES. The total expenditures of the State during 1791, the first year of its State hood, were .0210, which were obtained mainly from a general tax on property and partly from sale of public lands. The budget grew slowly, and direct taxation upon property remained the main source of income. in 1841 it brought in $68,000, out of a total budget of $85,000. The Civil War and the expenses resulting from it forced an issue of bonds, amounting in all to $1,650,000. These were very rapidly redeemed, and by 1870 there were only $841,000 of bonds outstanding. By 1880 the total funded debt did not exceed $140,000, almost all of which the treasury owed to its own college fund. In 1881 and 1884 some laws were passed laying special taxes on banks, railroads, other transportation companies, express, telegraph, telephone, and insurance companies. As the income from these sources grew, the State tax became less impor tant. In 1871-75 it amounted to 90 per cent.,
and at the end of the eighties about 27 per cent. There is a small direct tax laid annually for school purposes and another for highways. For the period 1900-02 direct taxation brought in only 32 per cent. Other sources of income are an inheritance tax, licenses, fees, etc. The satisfactory condition of the State finances was in no small degree due to the fact that there were never undertaken any considerable public improvements. The expenditures were therefore very limited, and in 1901-02 amounted (exclud ing loans repaid) to $886,679; of this sum $170,334 was the State school and highway taxes redistributed to the towns, leaving for State ex penses proper $710,345. The balance in the treasury on June 30, 1902, was $324,969.