INDIANA. 



355 



been felt from the beginning of the year. In the 

 plateau districts of the Central Provinces, in the 

 Patna division and other parts of Bengal, in the 

 central part and the rice-growing coast distri-' 

 Bombay, through Berar. in the Ci rears and Dec-can 

 districts of Madras, in I'pper Burmah. in a large 

 part of the Punjab and several districts of Rajpu- 

 tana. and in Hyderabad. Bliurtpur, Dholpur, Jais- 

 almere. Bikanir. Toiik. Gwalior. Bagkelkhand, and 

 Bundelkhand among the native states, the people 

 were immediately affected by the failure of their 

 crops; but owing to the improvements in railroad 

 communication actual starvation was averted in the 

 stricken districts by spreading the distress over the 

 whole of India. When grain merchants advanced 

 prices to four times the customary rates, serious 

 riots occurred at Sholapur. Kurai. and other places, 

 and the police were obliged to fire upon the mobs 

 that broke open and looted shops and granaries. 

 The population suffering from total drought was 

 ".Olio, while 18,000,000 were threatened with 

 famine unless rain came in time to sow the spring 

 crop, not counting 18.000.000 more in the native 

 states stricken or threatened with famine. In De- 

 cember a good rainfall saved the crops in Madras 

 and Bombay, and improved the prospects in other 

 provinces, but it was generally very light. The 

 storm visited the Dec-can, passed through the Cen- 

 tral Provinces, was felt in the Northwestern Prov- 

 inces, and reached the Patna division of Bengal. 

 An offer of wheat to be paid for by public subscrip- 

 tions in Russia was not favorably received by 

 the Indian Government. In London a generous 

 fund was raised by the Lord Mayor. The Hindu 

 landowners and merchants combined intelligently 

 the native religious duty of almsgiving on a great 

 scale with furnishing work for the idle villagers- and 

 importations of grain to be sold at low prices. Re- 

 lief so directed benefited the worthy and industrious, 

 and reached the zenanas, whose inmates in former 

 famines starved to death rather than demean them- 

 - by coming forth to seek public charity. The 

 famine was complicated in its incipient stage by the 

 plague, in addition to the usual epidemics of fever 

 and typhus that follow in its train. In September 

 there was an outbreak of bubonic plague in Bom- 

 bay. The mortality increased till the end of the 

 year, when 50 deaths occurred daily. During De- 

 cember 250,000 people deserted the city. There 

 were 2. 437 cases of plague and 1.735 deaths in Bom- 

 bay up to Dec. 31. The Europeans and the well-fed 

 classes generally escaped infection. Out of 10 Euro- 

 peans attacked 1 died. The disease was not as 

 malignant as in Canton and Hong-Kong, and far- 

 less so than the epidemics that formerly depopulated 

 European cities at intervals of about three hundred 

 yeai-s. The symptoms of the type that appeared in 

 Bombay and spread to neighboring towns are a 

 slight pain in the groins on the first day. on the 

 second an enlargement of the glands, the fever rising 

 to 105 . and on the third day. or on the fourth at 

 the latest, death. It most commonly attacks persons 

 between the ages of five and thirty'. 



INDIANA, a Western State." admitted to the 

 Union Dec. 11. 1816: area. 36.350 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial census 

 since admi>sion. was 147.178 in 1S20: 343.031 in 

 ISM: 885,866 in 1840: 988.416 in 185<I; i.:!.-)ti.42- 

 in IM;O : l.iM).ii37 in 1*7(>: 1. '.'7^.301 in 1880: and 

 2.102.4U4 in is'iO. Capital. Indianapolis. 



Government. The following were the State offi- 

 cers during the year: Governor. Claude Matthews. 

 Democrat : Lieutenant Governor. Mortimer Nye. 

 Democrat : Secretary of State. William D. Owen, 

 Republican : Auditor. Americus C. Dailey. Re- 

 publican : Treasurer. F. J. Scholz, Republican : 

 Superintendent of Education, David M. Greeting, 



Republican: Attorney-General. William A. Ketclmm, 

 Republican: Statistician. Simeon . I. Thomp-on. R. - 

 publican; Geologist. W. S. Blatchley, Republican; 

 Adjutant General, Irvin Robbins. Democrat ; Chic-f 

 Judge of the Appellate Court, George K. I, 



iate Judges. Theodore P. Da\K Orlando J. 

 Lotz, George L. Reinhard. and Frank E. Gavin, all 

 Democrats; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 I .']. ard J. Hackney. Democrat ; Associate Ju-- 

 James II. Jorda.i and L. J. Monks. Republi 

 and Timothy E. Howard and James M< ' 

 Democrats. 

 Finances. The balance in the treasury Nov. 1, 



1895, was s573.726.42 ; the receipts from all sources 

 during the year were $6.315.Mis.58 : the disburse- 

 ments were $6.363.112.31, leaving a balance Oct. 31, 



1896, of more than half a million. The disburse- 

 ments from the general fund were $2.< is 7.1 60.09 ; 

 from the benevolent-institutions fund. s-. 

 Soldiers'and Sailors' monument fund. $26.000 ; edu- 

 cational institutions fund, $105.107.42: school- 

 revenue fund. $2.395. 149.30; State University en- 

 dowment. $89.235. and interest on same. $24.577.23 ; 

 college fund, $12.234,41 : interest on same, $9,854. 23. 

 The expenses of the Governors office were $12,- 

 655.07 : of the Secretary of State's office, $11,607.46; 

 Auditor's. $15,109.97:' Treasurer's. $8.460; Attor- 

 ney-General's, $11.693.25; Superintendent of In- 

 struction's. $9.224.73 ; State Library, $9,391.89 ; de- 

 partment of geology, $11.339,89: Supreme Court, 

 s28.916.25: Appellate Court. $21.476.74: State Ju- 

 diciary. $205.756.07: custodian, $18.933.51. The 

 public printing cost $52.931.38: the State militia, 

 $44.213.55. The expenses of the Chickamanga com- 

 mission were $850.12. and of the same for infantry 

 and cavaln," $20,747.69. and for artillery $3,058.14. 

 The expense of election commissioners was $13,- 



,'. The Bureau of Statistics cost the State 

 $8,259.90; agricultural and horticultural societies, 

 $11.000: and the Board of Charities, $6,000. 



The foreign indebtedness of the State in 1894 

 17,436,615.12, with annual interest of $233.525 : 

 it is now $6,4o6.515.12, the annual interest of which 

 is $200.005. The domestic debt is represented by 

 |840,000 of Purdue University 5-per-cent. bonds, 

 and $143,000 of Indiana University 5-per-cent. 

 bonds, the interest of which is $24,200 annually. 



The aggregate valuations amount to $1. 286.1 50.- 

 531. The present tax levy is 9 cent.s on the $100 

 for general fund of the State treasury and 5 cents 

 on the $100 for the benevolent-institution fund. 

 The railroad assessments for 1896 were about $60,- 

 000 more than those for 1895. amounting to $156,- 

 259.260. The mileage was 6,279'88, an increase of 

 about 12 miles. 



Insurance. The report of the insurance depart- 

 ment of the Auditor's office shows that there are 

 authorized to do business in the State 50 life, acci- 

 dent, and surety companies. 103 fire and plate-glass 

 companies, and 88 assessment life ancf accident 

 companies, organized under the laws of other States 

 or nations. There are also operating in the State 

 40 assessment life and accident companies. 2 mu- 

 tual fire companies, and 1 stock fire insurance com- 

 pany. These companies have paid into the State 

 treasury as taxes and fees si 50. 220.86. 



Education. The school enumeration for the 

 year amounted to 734.474. a decrease from that of 

 1*95. which was 799.077. The decrease is largely 

 in the cities. Indianapolis showing 8.373 fewer 

 school children than in 1895. Terre Haute 4.-1H!! 

 fewer. Fort Wayne 2.105. New Albany 1.M9. 

 Lafayette 1.628. La Porte 1.523. and Logansport 

 1.2*7'. This showing is due to the operation of a 

 law passed by the last Legislature designed to pre- 

 vent padding of the returns in order to increase 

 the proportion of moneys to be drawn from the 



