obligations are mainly due to that ancient and beloved Commonwealth, in whose service we are assembled. I have obtained from the Treasury Department, and herewith present to the Legislature, the following Financial Statement of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, up to December 24th, 1860: Liabilities on account of Railroad Corporations. For the liabilities and debts before stated, provision has been made by law, as follows: Liabilities on account of Railroad Corporations. Mortgage W. R. R. Co.'s entire property, 66 $3,999,555 56 Sinking Fund, W. R., amounting to . For Funded Debt. 66,000 00 427,572 00 20,000 00 200,000 00 Debt Ext'm't Fund, 7,056 W. R. R. St'k, par, $705,600 00 Present value, premium 10 per cent., W. R. R. Stock Fund, bal. of securities, Less am't advanced on these securities, $7,213,127 56 70,560 00 115,500 00 $891,660 00 46,000 00 $845,660 00 This deficit arises in part from the following extraor dinary payments, to wit: The expenses of the ensuing year, estimated, will be considerably less than the present, and unless some extraordinary emergency arises, the revenue will more nearly equal the expenditures. The fiscal year closes on the 31st of December, and therefore the statements given are only an approximation to the actual results, which may vary somewhat the above. The Valuation of the Commonwealth. The Legislative Committee appointed to compute the valuation of the Commonwealth as a basis for State taxation during the next ten years, has recently concluded its labors after a session which was protracted to a length of more than a hundred days, beginning September 5th, 1860, and ending January 1st, 1861, at a cost of $13,191.50, for the pay of its members, and $6,322, for its contingent expenses. The aggregate valuation of taxable property is computed at the sum of $897,795,326, which is $299,858,330 more than the State valuation of 1850, exhibiting an increase of about fifty per cent. in the during the last ten years. wealth of the State When it is remem bered that considerable sums (in the hands especially of small property holders, of which deposits in Savings Banks not exceeding $500 each, may be taken as an illustration,) have been omitted from the assessment, the result discloses that the wealth of the people of Massachusetts averages not less than $750 to each inhabitant, irrespective of age or sex. The proportionate distribution of this wealth among the people is illustrated by the fact that the amount of deposits in the Savings Institutions of the Commonwealth on the fourth Saturday of October last, as shown by the annual report of the Bank Commissioners, was $45,054,235, although these institutions are prohibited by statute from holding at the same time more than $1,000 of one depositor, other than a religious or charitable corporation; and these deposits represent only a fraction of the savings from the daily industry of the working classes. The policy of encouraging families to become land-owners, by exempting their homesteads to the value of $800 from seizure on execution, has helped to preserve their accumulations; and the numerous modes in which small savings are invested by private loans and friendly accommodation, help largely to increase and to preserve their aggregate. The industrial statistics of the Commonwealth are compiled but once in ten years. The last compilation was in 1855, when it appeared that the annual production from the industry of Massachusetts amounted to $295,820,681, which was an increase of 138 per cent. over the amount exhibited by the last previous compilation; nor can it be doubted that the productive capacity of our people since 1855 has kept pace with the gratifying increase of their capital. A Commonwealth of 1,231,535 persons, on an area of only 7,800 square miles, with a property of nearly $900,000,000, whose people are all free, and whose poorest child may be educated in the free schools of the State, is a noble monument of the triumphs of intelligence and liberty. In this connection I respectfully recommend to the General Court to provide some less expensive and cumbrous method for ascertaining the valuation of the State, than that which has hitherto been pursued. The details of a more economical and efficient plan will be suggested if it shall be deemed desirable. Militia. The whole number of our enrolled militia for the year 1860, (from which, of course, is excluded firemen and other exempts,) was 155,389 men. The active militia, uniformed, armed and equipped, drilled and organized, ready for active service on call,—including its various arms of infantry, cavalry and artillery, numbered 5,592. In respect to good conduct, discipline, spirit and capacity proportioned to its numerical force, I am advised that our active citizen soldiery was never in a condition of greater efficiency. |