372 



ILLINOIS. 



interest was paid on the entire debt. From that 

 period the process of redemption has been going 

 on. New loans, amounting to $2,050,000, were 

 raised to equip soldiers for the civil war. A 

 large portion of this war debt has been reim- 

 bursed into the State Treasury by the United 

 States Government. At the close of 1880 the 

 State was able to redeem the last balance of 

 its huge debt, and in the beginning of January 

 the entire amount of the money was in the 

 Treasury to meet it. 



The only debt now standing on the books of 

 the Treasury is one due from the general reve- 

 nue fund to the school and the college and semi- 

 nary funds, amounting to $1,165,407. This 

 transfer originated as follows: At different 

 times the State used, for general revenue pur- 

 poses, funds which had been dedicated to the 

 school fund, being portions of the three per 

 cent, fund, the college and seminary land fund, 

 and the surplus revenue of the United States, 

 which was divided among the States in 1836. 

 By repeated declarations the faith of the State 

 is pledged to for ever pay for school purposes 

 an amount equal to six per cent, per annum on 

 the sum above stated. So long as it remains 

 the policy of the State to make appropriations 

 in aid of education, the existence of this nomi- 

 nal debt does not increase the amount to be 

 raised by taxation, nor does its existence nega- 

 tive the statement that Illinois is now out of 

 debt. 



The following table, giving the amount of 

 the public debt at different periods accord- 

 ing to the computations of the State Auditor, 

 shows the magnitude of the financial efforts 

 with which the State has been able to dis- 

 charge so huge a mass of liabilities in so short 

 a time : 



STATE DEBT. 



January 1, 1840 $12,000,000 00 



January 1, 1650 15,000,000 00 



January 1, 1853 16,724,17741 



January 1, 1855 13.994,614 93 



January 1, 1857 12,834,14485 



January 1, 1859 ' 11,138,453 93 



November 30, 1860. ... 10,346,017 06 



December 1, 1869 5,124,995 64 



December 1, 1870 4,890,937 30 



Decemberl, 1872 2,060,150 63 



December 1 , 1 874 ... 1,780,972 1 5 



October 1, 1S76 . . . 1,480,600 27 



October 1,1878... 802,31259 



October 1, 1S80 281,059 11 



January 1, 1881 None. 



The total disbursements from the Treasury 

 for all purposes have been compiled by the 

 Auditor from the year 1839 to January 1, 

 1881, and amount for the forty years to $91,- 

 707,975, distributed among the following ob- 

 jects : Legislative expenses, $4,217,086 ; exec- 

 utive, $4,777,663; judicial, $3,613,220; debt 

 for public works, $30,276,307 ; educational 

 purposes, $26,027,132 miscellaneous, $22,- 

 803,565. 



The expenditures for each of the biennial 

 periods or single years since 1839, as stated by 

 the Auditor, exhibiting the increase of the 

 "fiscal resources of the State, are given in the 

 following table : 



332.886 

 880,164 

 670,449 

 640,287 

 1.199,903 



YEARS. Total expenditure*. 



1840 $'208,743 



1841-M2.... 



1843-'44 



1845-'4ti.... 

 1847-'48. . . . 

 1849-'50. . . . 

 1851-'52.... 



1853-'54 2,117,999 



1655-'56 8,687,306 



1857-'58 5,094.688 



1859-'60. . . 5,023,061 



1861-'62 8,4Sb 5?9 



1868-'64 4,568,774 



18G5-'66 6,514.868 



1867-'68 7,411.056 



1869 3,816,881 



1870 2.994,884 



1871-'72 11.023,868 



1878- 74 8,749.81 2 



1875-'76 5,618,011 



1877-'78 6581804 



1879--80 6,311,655 



Total $91,707,975 



The expenditures of the executive depcirt- 

 ment have been comparatively uniform, but 

 those of the legislative and judicial depart- 

 ments have been variable, both being nearly or 

 quite trebled since the adoption of the Consti- 

 tution of 1870. The largest aggregate was in 

 1870-'72, covering a period when the State 

 Constitutional Convention and Legislature were 

 in session a considerable portion of the time, and 

 there was an increase of the public improve- 

 ment debt in consequence of the enlargement 

 of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The total 

 expenditures for the next two years 1872-'74 

 were $8,749,312.79, being some $300,000 in 

 excess of the highest year during the war, 

 when the State was equipping troops for the 

 field. The total amount expended from the 

 war fund is computed to amount to $3,899,- 

 311.78; which expenditures were distributed 

 from 1861 to 1868. 



The biennial report of the State Treasurer, 

 J. C. Smith, gives the following statements of 

 the balance of the various funds in the State 

 Treasury at the close of the fiscal year 1878, 

 the revenue receipts for the two years, the dis- 

 bursements for the same period, and the balance 

 remaining October 1, 1880. 



The amount of all funds in the State Treas- 

 ury, October 1, 1878, was as follows : 



General revenue fund $1,750,503 67 



State school fund. 275,482 77 



Illinois Central Railroad fund 124,8'21 88 



Illinois River improvement fund 



Military fund 



Delinquent land-tax fund 



Unknown and minor heirs' fund 



Local bond fund 



367 9tf 

 7,214 58 



381 06 

 6,!).sl 2-2 

 423,740 37 



Total $2,589,398 49 



The receipts from all sources from October 

 1, 1878, to September 30, 1880, inclusive, were 

 as follows : 



General revenue fund $8.822,146 66 



State school fund 2,062,710 



Illinois Central Eailroad fund 660.467 23 



Military fund 138,216 



Unknown and minor heirs' fund 



Local bond fund 2,291,057 23 



Total $8,475,149 09 



Balance October 1, 1878 2,589,393 



Total receipts $11,064,542 





