OHIO. 



545 



Department of Foreign Affairs. In 1822 he 

 represented the new Government of Moldavia 

 at the court of Vienna. In 1827 he was called 

 upon to take part in preparing a Constitution 

 for Moldavia, and, in the capacity of member 

 of the committee appointed for that purpose, 

 he visited St. Petersburg, where he was re- 

 ceived with marked distinction by the Em- 

 peror, who decorated him with the order of 

 St. Vladimir, and appointed him Keeper of the 

 State Records. About the same time he was 

 honored with similar marks of distinction 

 from the Sultan. For the last forty years he 

 filled several important and public offices, 

 among them that of Director of the Depart- 

 ment of Worship and Public Instruction. In 

 this department the most important work of 

 his life was done. "When he first entered upon 

 that work there was not a public printing-press 

 in the whole land, and the only two private 

 presses were in monasteries. At his own cost, 

 he founded the first printing-office in Jassy, 

 after doing which he established and conducted 

 several literary periodicals, among which was 

 The Bee, the first journal ever published in 

 Moldavia. His activity in promoting education 

 was incessant, and his literary labors were all 

 directed toward the great end of stimulating 

 the sluggish minds of his countrymen, ripening 

 their tastes, and improving their morals. Asa- 

 ky was a great linguist. He was reported to 

 be master of ten languages, and in 1854 pub- 

 lished at Jassy a volume of poems in several 

 languages. He applied himself vigorously also 

 to purifying the written language of the prov- 

 ince, which, from the effect of time, and the 

 predominance of the Greek language in the 

 Principalities, had become materially changed 

 from its primitive vigor and purity. For his 

 labors in this direction he is regarded as one 

 of the fathers of the modern literature of 

 Moldavia. 



Dec. . LATJNITZ, , a distinguished 



sculptor, whose statue of Guttenberg, at Frank- 

 fort, is highly celebrated ; died in that city, 

 aged 74 years. 



OHIO. The receipts from all sources dur- 

 ing the year were $4,781,614.49. On hand at 

 the close of the fiscal year 1868, $570,120.75. 

 Disbursements for the year, $4,913,675.10. 

 Balance in the Treasury, November 15, 1869, 

 $438,060.14. The funded debt of the State 

 had been reduced $516,093.57, leaving the 

 amount outstanding, $10,016,581.86. Less 

 amount invested by Fund Commissioners in 

 loans not due, $160,643.59, leaving net balance 

 of debt outstanding, $9,855,938.27. The irre- 

 ducible State debt, constituted of school and 

 trust funds, is $3,819,912.11, the interest on 

 which, due January 1, 1870, was $265,999.46. 

 The total valuation 'on the duplicate of 1869 

 amounts to $1,157,180,455. The taxes levied 

 thereon in 1869, receivable in 1870, are $4,- 

 045,476.58 for State purposes, and $18,187,- 

 400.92 for county and local purposes. Adding 

 delinquencies and forfeitures, $577,798.34, the 

 VOL. ix. 35. A 



total tax will be $22,810,675.84. The auditor 

 calls attention to the fact that increased taxation 

 is necessary for the general fund, to the extent 

 of $510,000. The anticipated deficit is oc- 

 casioned by the increased expenses of the 

 General Assembly, the addition of eleven new 

 judges to the judicial force of the State, the 

 purchase of land and establishing thereon a 

 Eeform School for Girls, and the extraordinary 

 appropriations made by the General Assembly. 

 To meet the deficiency until the amount can 

 be raised by additional taxation, a tempo- 

 rary loan of $300,000 is recommended. The 

 amount of the public debt, matured and im- 

 mediately maturing, after deducting payments 

 and bonds in the hands of the Sinking Fund 

 Commissioners, is placed at $1,469,599.44. To 

 provide for this the auditor suggests an extension 

 of the loan for $1,000,000, leaving a balance of 

 $469,599.44. As the greater part of this sum 

 can neither be satisfactorily renewed nor extend- 

 ed, the auditor suggests a restoration of the 

 sinking-fund levy for 1870, to one and two- 

 tenths of a mill, which will give the means of 

 paying the entire balance. 



The total levy for State purposes is recom- 

 mended to be four mills, being an increase of 

 half a mill over the rates of the preceding three 

 years. During 1870 the decennial revaluation 

 of all the taxable property in the State will 

 take place. The auditor reports his refusal to 

 pay the claims arising from damages caused by 

 the Morgan raid, holding the legislation ap- 

 proving those claims to have been defective, 

 not having received a vote of two-thirds of all 

 the members elected. Attention is called to 

 the enormous increase of local taxation. The 

 highest aggregate of levies during the war 

 (A. D. 1865), which included nearly two and 

 a half million dollars of war-levies, was only 

 $20,546,237.68. In the present year the ag- 

 gregate had risen to $22,810,675.84. Statistics 

 given show that the total taxable value of 

 property in the cities of the State is $279,065,- 

 819, and that the total levies thereon, for A. D. 

 1869, amount to $8,705,336.79 ; that in but 

 one of these cities is the total rate of levy 

 below two per cent. ; that in two the rate is 

 above three and one-half per cent. ; in one, 

 precisely three and one-half per cent. ; in seven 

 it is over three per cent. ; in four it is exactly 

 three per cent. ; and the average in all the 

 cities of the State is 3.1195 per cent. It is a 

 noticeable fact connected with this table, that 

 of the total levy of $8,705,336.79 on all 

 the cities of the State, nearly one-half is levied 

 in Cincinnati alone, and yet the total rate of 

 levy in that city is but little above the average 

 of all the cities of the State. It is clear, there- 

 fore, that, in all the centres of trade and busi- 

 ness in the State, the simple protection of the 

 State costs every business man, settled within 

 its borders, three per cent, upon every dollar of 

 capital used in his business. 



By an act of the General Assembly in 1868, 

 the office of Commissioner of Statistics was 



