NEW YORK (STATE) 365 sworn reports must be made, and by which reports are annually made to the legislature and published. A married woman may hold to her separate use real and personal property, if acquired from any other person than her husband, and may convey and devise it ; she may also carry on business on her own account, and sue and be sued. Neither license, magis- trate, nor minister is necessary to a valid mar- riage contract ; it has even been held that the agreement of the parties constitutes legal mar- riage. The sole ground of divorce occurring after marriage is adultery ; at the time of mar- riage, impotence, idiocy, or lunacy, and consent obtained by force or fraud. The legal rate of interest is 7 per cent. ; usurious contracts are void ; taking of usury is a misdemeanor ; and corporations cannot interpose the defence of usury. New York is represented in congress by two senators and 33 representatives, and has therefore 35 votes in the electoral college. The state debt, with the unapplied balances of the sinking funds, Sept. 30, 1874, was as follows : CHARACTER OF DEBT. Debt. Balance of sinking I'uuds. Balance of debt after applying sinking funds. General fund $3 988 526 $4 142 694 Contingent... 68 000 82 828 OR -)7fi Canal 10 28o'480 1 561 019 o ccq 4.1-1 Bounty . . 15 912 500 7 125 288 Total .... $80 199 456 $12 861 814 $1 7 491 809 The only contingent debt of the state is $68,000 incurred for the Long Island railroad, the in- terest of which is paid and the payment of the principal provided for by that company. The condition of the several trust funds on Sept. 30, 1874, is shown in the following statement: FUNDS. Capital Sept. 30, 1874. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. Receipts during the year, includ- ing balances Oct. 1, 1873. Payments during the year. Balance Sept. 30, 1874. School fund $8,054,772 10 271,980 76 4,014,520 71 473,402 87 128,596 61 50,000 00 82,823 49 20,880 00 $892,372 45 50,157 13 276,310 96 24,284 54 12,508 91 8,500 00 17,786 30 $891,903 96 45,834 20 238,862 24 22,342 47 11,135 00 8,500 00 14,250 68 $463 49 4,322 93 37,448 72 1,942 07 1,373 91 Literature fund. . . United States deposit fund College land scrip fund Cornell endowment fund .... Elmira female college educational fund Long Island railroad company sinking fund 8,585 67 Trust fund for payment of bounties The total receipts into the treasury on account of all the funds except the canal and the free school funds (the latter arising from the state tax), for the year ending Sept. 30, 1874, were $26,465,370, and the payments $19,636,308. Among the ordinary public expenditures were : executive department, $31,255; legislative, $289,991; judiciary, $400,578; public offices, salaries, clerk hire, and expenses, $301,734; printing for the state, $181,131; military, $356,159 ; educational, including common, nor- mal, and Indian schools, academies, &c., $3,278,- 858 ; state prisons, including transportation of convicts, $967,930 ; support of deaf and dumb, blind, insane, and idiotic, $338,852; quaran- tine, $215,483. The statute requires real and personal estate to be assessed for taxation " at the full and true value thereof," but it is maintained by high authority that not more than one third in value of the property liable to taxation is placed upon the assessment rolls. The aggregate taxation of 1874 included state tax $13,015,847, school $2,711,634, county $32,119,578, and town $9,964,321. The rate of the state tax was 7|- mills, viz. : schools, 1; general purposes, 1; general purposes (deficiency), -^; bounty debt, 2; new cap- itol, $ ; asylums and reformatories, T ; canal floating debt, T V; new work on canals and extra repairs, ; for payment of awards by canal appraisers and commissioners, and cer- tain certificates of indebtedness, %. The total amount produced by this rate (state and school taxes) was $15,727,481. The valuation of property and taxation for a series of years are shown in the following exhibit : YEARS. Real estate. Personal. Aggregate valuation. State taxes, ex- clusive of school taxes. Rate of total state tax, in mills, on each dollar of valuation. Town, county, and school taxes. Total taxes. Rate of tax on $1; valuation in cents. 1845... $605 646 095 $361 309 6-10 $3 809 218 $4,170,527 0-688 1855 1 402 849 304 1 751 71 7 1 1-4 9 924 454 11,676,172 0-882 1865 1866 $1,158,827,871 1 196403416 $392,552,314 334 826 220 li55o'879,'685 1 531 229 636 6,067,816 7 369 042 4 53-80 5 9-16 89,893,623 83 199 202 45,961,440 40 568 244 2-963 2-649 1867... 1868 l!237',703',092 1 327403886 426,404,683 438 685 254 1,664,107,725 1 766 089 140 10,567,084 8 035 705 7 3-5 5 4-5 85.951,837 36 262 730 46,518,921 44,298,435 2-795 2-508 1869 1870... 1,418,132,855 1,532,720 907 441,987.915 434 280 278 1'860|120'770 1 967 001 185 8,138,028 11 827 225 5 5-8 7 41-156 38,028,503 88,501,459 46.161,531 50,828,684 2-482 2-558 1871... 1872... 1873 1,599,930,166 1,644,379,410 1 692 528 071 452,607,732 447,248,035 437102315 2,052,537,898 2,088,627,445 2 12Q 626 386 9,048,271 16,970,097 12 138 870 5 79-120 9 8-8 6 95-100 86,626,215 46,541,888 39 305 665 45,674,486 63,511,936 51444536 2-225 8-041 2-416 1874. . 1 750 698 918 418 608 955 2 ? 169'307'873 18'015'847 7 1-4 44,795 534 57 811 381 2'664
