ILLINOIS. 



347 



EECEIPTS. 



SHIPMENTS. 



The sales of stock for the year amount to 

 nearly $65,000,000. Notwithstanding these 

 figures, the trade suffered some check on ac- 

 count of the ravages of what is called the 

 Texas fever, although the importation of cattle 

 from Texas and the Cherokee Territory was 

 prohibited hy an act of the Legislature of 

 1867. Measures have been taken to prevent 

 the spread of this disease, and commissioners 

 from various States, appointed to take the mat- 

 ter into consideration, met in convention at 

 Springfield, on the first day of Dec'ember. The 

 subject of the Texas cattle fever was fully 

 discussed, and much information brought to 

 light, and, as a result of their deliberations, the 

 commissioners drew up a law, to be submitted 

 to the various State Legislatures, to regulate 

 the trade in Texas cattle. (See CATTLE DISEASE.) 



The property of the State as assessed in 1868 

 may be briefly tabulated as follows : 



Improved lands, 21,292,021 acres $131,125,994 



V alue of improvements on lands 46,889,698 



Unimproved lauds, 10,923,000 acres 44,025,740 



Town lots and improvements 103,517,244 



Eailroad property 14,189,931 



Taxable personal property 124,027,887 



Total $463,776,494 



The receipts of money into the public treas- 



ury for the two years ending November 30, 

 1868, amounted to $2,276,763.19. The war- 

 rants issued by the auditor for the same period 

 drew from the public funds $2,126,668.74, of 

 which $1,050,882.32 were for special purposes, 

 and $1,075,726.41 for the ordinary expenses of 

 public institutions and the support and ad- 

 ministration of the government. The rate of 

 taxation at present is 25 cents on each hun- 

 dred dollars of property assessed. 



The public debt of Illinois is rapidly dimin- 

 ishing, and this prosperous common wealth bids 

 fair in a few years to be free from all her liabili- 

 ties. In 1840, the State of Illinois, which had 

 at that time a population of only 500,000, had 

 incurred a debt of $14,000,000 by the failure 

 of the State Bank, and expenses attending the 

 construction of the Illinois and Michigan 

 Canal and other internal improvements. The 

 State credit for several years was very low, 

 but the constitution of 1847 provided for a 

 sinking fund known as the two-mill tax, which 

 has continued ever since. The mere accumu- 

 lations of unpaid interest increased the debt to 

 $18, 000,000 in 1857; and in 1861 $2,000,000 

 more were added by the expenses attending 

 the outbreak of the civil war. From that time, 

 by the application of the two-mill tax and the 

 receipts from the Illinois Central Railroad and 

 canal revenues, the debt has been steadily di- 

 minished. On the 1st of December, 1866, it 

 amounted to $8,638,252, and in the next two 

 years a reduction of more than $2,500,000 was 

 made. At the beginning of the year 1869 the 

 entire indebtedness of the State is little more 

 than $5,000,000, the greater part of which falls 

 due in 1870. Under a law of 1865, the State 

 has had an agent at Washington to attend to 

 the collection of claims against the Federal Gov- 

 ernment. In accordance with the instructions 

 from the Governor of the State, he closed his 

 office on the 31st of December, 1868. During 

 the three years while the agent remained at 

 the Federal capital he settled 4,761 claims of 

 soldiers, and sent them $507,831.74 in money. 

 Besides the duty of urging the personal claims 

 of soldiers, this agent has been intrusted with 

 the settlement of the claims of the State against 

 the Government for expenses incurred during 

 the war. In the past two years $46,000 have 

 been collected on the fourth instalment of these 

 claims, $50,000 on the fifth instalment, and 

 $136,345.08 on the sixth. There is still a 

 balance due on the instalments presented of 

 $583,818.74. 



Several new plans for internal improvement 

 are on foot in Illinois, prominent among which 

 is an enterprise for opening the navigation of 

 the Illinois River, from its mouth to the Illi- 

 nois and Michigan Canal. This would cost 

 about $2,500,000 dollars, and would probably 

 increase the business of the Canal ten times. 

 This canal, which is sometimes spoken of as a 

 financial incubus on the State, and which occa- 

 sioned a large portion of the embarrassing debt 

 which existed prior to 1860, has been shown 



