ILLINOIS. 



347 



Amount of sugar used in the above preserved 

 milk was 44,869 pounds. 



Other articles of food are condensed and pre- 

 served at this factory under the Borden pro- 

 cess. A considerable business is done in con- 

 densing meats, beef and mutton, while the 

 process is employed successfully in taking out 

 the water from fruits and preserving them fresh 

 in a condensed form. 



The following important decisions were made 

 in the Supreme Court, during the year, one of 

 them on the matter of the assessment of bank 

 capital for taxation. 



The Court has decided that bank capital 

 must be assessed at its par value, because, be- 

 ing itself the representative and standard of 

 its own value, the assessor can have no dis- 

 cretionary judgment in the premises. 



Another was in reference to the mutual rights 

 of railway companies and travellers. The Su- 

 preme Court decided (Illinois Central Railroad 

 vs. Whittemore) that a passenger on a railroad 

 train must not be expelled from the car at any 

 other place than a regular station, for the non- 

 payment of fare. The justice of this ruling 

 will at once become apparent and fully appre- 

 ciated by those who travel on railroad trains. 

 It not unfrequently happens by a multiplicity 

 of causes, that a passenger is unable to secure 

 a ticket at the office. The rules of the road 

 prohibit the sale of tickets on the train, and 

 compel the conductor to expel those who re- 

 fuse to pay fare the non-purchase of tickets 

 being a violation of the rules of the com- 

 pany, and hence construed to be a refusal to 

 pay fare. 



Under such circumstances, there would be 

 gross injustice in stopping the train at what- 

 ever point it might happen to be, whether in 

 the day or night, and ejecting the passenger (it 

 may be a woman) from the car. The court 

 holds that a railroad company has a right to 

 require of its passengers the observance of all 

 reasonable rules calculated to insure comfort, 

 convenience, good order and behavior, and 

 secure the safety of its trains, and the proper 

 conduct of its business as a common carrier, 

 and that when a passenger wantonly disregards 

 a reasonable rule (as to refuse to surrender a 

 ticket to the conductor, etc.), the obligation to 

 transport him ceases, and the company may 



expel him from the cars, not at a dangerous 

 and inconvenient place ; but a refusal to pay 

 fare justifies an expulsion only at a regular 

 station. 



By far the most important event of the year, 

 in the history of Illinois, is the assembling of 

 the convention to revise the constitution. The 

 convention was called under the first section 

 of article twelve of the present constitution, 

 as follows : 



SECTION 1. "Whenever two-thirds of all tlie mem- 

 bers elected to each branch of the General Assembly 

 shall think it necessary to alter or amend this con- 

 stitution, they shall recommend to the electors, at 

 the next election of members of the General Assem- 

 bly, to vote for or against a convention ; and, if it 

 shall appear that a majority of all electors of the 

 State voting for representatives have voted for a 

 convention, the General Assembly shall, at their next 

 session, call a convention, to consist of as many mem- 

 bers as the House of Representatives at the time of 

 making said call, to be chosen in the same manner, 

 at the same place, and by the same electors, in the 

 same districts that chose the members of the House 

 of Representatives, and which convention shall meet 

 within three months after said election, for the pur- 

 pose of revising, altering, or amending this constitu- 

 tion. 



Under this provision of the constitution, 

 the Legislature, at the session of 1867, adopted 

 the following concurrent resolution submitting 

 the question to a vote of the people : 



Resolved try the House of Representatives, the Senate 

 concurring herein, That the electors of the State of 

 Illinois be, and they are hereby, recommended, at the 

 next election of members of the General Assembly, 

 to vote for or against calling a convention to form a 

 new constitution for the State of Illinois. 



In accordance with this resolution, the 

 people at the election in November, 1868, 

 voted on the question of a State Convention, 

 with the following result : 



Whole number of votes cast for Representa- 

 tives 444,860 



One-half this vote (being the vote to be over- 

 come) 222,430 



Actual vote for Convention 253,134 



Majority for Convention. . 



704 



The Legislature, accordingly, passed an act 

 calling a convention, to consist of eighty-five 

 members, to meet at Springfield on the second 

 Monday in December, 1869, each representa- 

 tive district to be entitled to the same number 

 of members of the convention as it was entitled 

 to members of the House of Kepresentatives of 

 the then sitting General Assembly ; the mem- 

 bers of said convention to be chosen in the 

 same manner, at the places fixed for holding 

 general elections, and by the electors qualified 

 to vote for members of the General Assembly, 

 in the same districts that chose the members 

 of the House of Eepresentatives of the then sit- 

 ting General Assembly. 



The act also prescribed the manner of hold- 

 ing the election, of organizing the convention, 

 of preserving the records, and of submitting 

 the amendments to the people. It also pro- 

 vided for the pay of members, fixing the rate 

 at six dollars per day, with mileage. 



