OHIO. 



leptics at Gallipolis, $41,172.78 ; for construction at 

 the State Reformatory at Mansfield, $89,4:js.Tl 

 for construction at the new State Hospital at Mas- 

 sillon, $19,799.90. There are 8 workhouses in Ohio 

 with a population at the close of the year of 1,164. 

 There are 46 children's homes, in which 1,521 chil- 

 dren were received during the year. These, with 

 the 2,036 on hand at the beginning of the year, give 

 a total for the year of 3,557 children, of whom 2,187 

 were on hand at the close of the year. 



Canals. The report of the Board of Public 

 Works on the financial condition of canals shows 

 that the income derived from the Miami and Erie 

 Canal and the Ohio Canal during the year was: 

 From rents, $71,315.06; from tolls, $20,860.57; 

 from lands sold, $25,262.73 : total X122.918.36. 

 The total expenditures for the canals and their 

 management was $190,965.88. The deficiency was 

 made good by appropriations from the general 

 fund. There are in the State 600 miles of canals. 

 32,800 acres of reservoirs, and 14 miles of artificial 

 feeders, besides natural streams utilized. 



Military. At the close of the fiscal year the 

 Ohio National Guard consisted of 8 regiments of 

 infantry, 3 unattached companies of infantry. 1 

 regiment of light artillery, .and 1 troop of cavalry, 

 aggregating 431 officers' and 5,688 enlisted men. 

 Tort ions of the military forces of the State were 

 called out for service three times within the year: 

 1 company and a battery of artillery, at Akron, 

 March 30 and 31, to guard against a threatened 

 lynching of a prisoner in the jail; 2 companies at 

 the Berea stone quarries, July 1 to 2!). on account 

 of labor disturbances ; 5 companies in whole or in 

 part at Cleveland, from July 2 to Aug. 11, in conse- 

 quence of labor troubles at the Brown hoisting and 

 conveying works. 



Legislative. The seventy-second General As- 

 sembly opened Monday, Jan. 6, with a Senate com- 

 posed of 30 Republicans, 6 Democrats, and 1 Popu- 

 list, the House having 87 Republicans and 25 

 Democrats. On the 14th Joseph B. Foraker was 

 elected to the United States Senate for the term 

 beginning March 4, 1897, as successor to Calvin S. 

 Brice. The session closed Monday, April 27, with 

 an adjournment without day, this being the third 

 time in the history of the State that the constitu- 

 tional provision for biennial sessions only has been 

 observed. During the session the General Assem- 

 bly passed 316 general laws, 387 local laws, and 75 

 joint resolutions. Among the more important gen- 

 eral laws were the following : 



Increasing the yearly tax upon traffic in intoxi- 

 cating liquors from $250 to $350. 



Making changes in the congressional apportion- 

 ment of the State. 



Regulating the practice of medicine, and creating 

 a State board of medical registration and qualifica- 

 tion. 



To prevent fraud in the manufacture and sale of 

 imitations of cheese or substitutes for cheese, and 

 to regulate the branding of cheese. 



Providing for an excise tax on electric-light, gas, 

 natural-gas, pipe-line, waterworks, street-railroad, 

 railroad, and messenger or signal companies. 



Providing for taxation of freight-line and equip- 

 ment companies. 



For the establishment and government of a State 

 naval militia. 



Amending the game laws. 



To prohibit obstructing the view of persons in 

 theaters, halls, or opera houses where theatrical 

 performances are given by wearing view-obstruct- 

 ing headgear. 



To prevent corrupt practices at elections, and 

 regulating the permissible expenditures of candi- 

 dates. 



For suppression of mob violence. 



Amending the supervisors of elections, board of 

 elections, and ballot acts. 



Amending the school laws so as to regulate the 

 tenure of office of teachers, and providing for a 

 teachers' pension fund in Cincinnati. 



To provide for electrocution in execution of 

 death sentences. 



Amending the primary election law. 



To prevent the spread of certain diseases among 

 fruit trees, and to provide for their eradication. 



Making Saturday afternoon a legal holiday in all 

 cities or municipalities containing 50,000 or more 

 inhabitants. 



To provide for registration of land titles in Ohio, 

 and to simplify and facilitate the transfer of real 

 (Mate (Ton-ens system of land titles). 



Requiring examination and licensing of plumb- 

 ers, and regulating plumbing and sewerage. 



To provide for supplying the schools of Ohio 

 with good and sufficient schoolbooks at the lowest 

 possible prices. 



Amending the act providing for a State board of 

 arbitration. 



Amending the fishing law. 



Km- regulation of the manufacture of flour and 

 meal-food products. 



To compel equipment of passenger trains with 

 fire extinguishers. 



To provide for regulation of ship-canal com- 

 panies. 



To prevent adulteration of and deception in the 

 sale of flaxseed or linseed oil. 



Court Decisions. The Supreme Court, in two 

 decisions delivered Feb. 25, upheld the pure-food 

 law. In one case it held that the State does not 

 have to prove that the seller knew he was selling 

 adulterated food : also that it does not have to 

 prove that the food was bought for human food 

 and not for the purpose of making tests by the 

 Dairy and Food Commissioner. In the other case it 

 was decided that it is not a good defense that the 

 Ohio vender was selling goods manufactured out- 

 side of the State. A decision made April 28, in a 

 road-improvement case, held that, though passed as 

 a general law, the act authorizing the improvement 

 was in reality special, and therefore unconstitu- 

 tional. The court held that the constitutionality of 

 an act is determined by the nature of its subject- 

 matter and its operation and effect, and not alone 

 by its form. The decision affects by implication a 

 large number of laws that are special in their nature 

 although general in form. Another decision in- 

 validating important legislation was delivered Dec. 

 7. The court held that the act of April 13. 1894, 

 known as the material men's lien law, in so far as it 

 gives a lien on the property of the owner to sub- 

 contractors, laborers, and those who furnish ma- 

 chinery, material, or tile to the contractor, is uncon- 

 stitutional. All to whom the contractor becomes 

 indebted in the performance of his contract are 

 bound by the terms of the contract between him 

 and the owner. 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 was held in Columbus, March 10 and 11. The plat- 

 form congratulated the people of the country on 

 the growth of Republican sentiment ; denounced 

 the Democratic administration as the most destruc- 

 tive and disastrous the history of the country has 

 ever known ; affirmed adherence to the principles 

 of the Republican party as defined by the national 

 convention in 1892; and followed with these, among 

 other, declarations : 



"We are faithfully wedded to the groat principle 

 of protection by every tie of party fealty and affec- 

 tion, and it is dearer to us now than ever before. 

 It has more devoted supporters among the great 



