OLNEY, JESSE. 



The vote for President, November 5th, re- 

 sulted as follows : 



TJ. S. Grant (Republican) 281,852 



Horace Greeley (Democratic- Liberal) 244,321 



James Black (Prohibition) 2,000 



OREGON. 



657 



James Black (Prohibition). 



Charles O'Conor (Straight-Democrat) . 



Scattering 



2,000 

 1,163 

 162 



Total vote 



frant over Greeley.. 

 rrant overall 



37,531 



OLNEY, JESSE, A. M., an eminent teacher, 

 and author of text-books for schools, born in 

 Union, Tolland County*, Conn., October 12, 

 1798 ; died at Stratford, Conn., July 30, 1872. 

 He evinced in early childhood a remarkable 

 aptitude for study, and, before reaching the 

 age of sixteen years, was a fine classical schol- 

 ar, and an adept in the science of geography, 

 to which he devoted a large part of his life. 

 He was a teacher for twelve years in the Hart- 

 ford Grammar-School, and, while thus occu- 

 pied, he was deeply impressed with the in- 

 completeness of the old plan of teaching geog- 

 raphy, which made the solar system the ini- 

 tial point, and blended that science with as- 

 tronomy in a way most bewildering to the 

 student. Reversing, therefore, the old meth- 

 od, he taught the learner to begin with the 

 place in which he lived, and thence to ad- 



I vance until he had occupied the entire field to 

 be traversed. This plan met with marked 

 success. In 1828 he published his Geography 

 and Atlas, which at once became standard 

 school-books ; successive editions being rapid- 

 ly exhausted until the sale reached millions 



' of copies. Pie served ten terms in the Legisla- 

 ture of his State, and was indefatigable in his 

 labors in behalf of the common schools there- 

 in. To perfect himself in his favorite studies, 

 he visited Europe in 1835, and again in 1838. 

 In 1831 he brought out his "National Pre- 

 ceptor," which was one of the best reading- 

 books that ever appeared in the United States. 

 Its philosophical plan and orderly arrange- 

 ment gave it universal popularity, and it was 

 followed by a series of readers, outline maps, 

 and arithmetical and historical text-books, 

 all of great practical value. In 1834 he re- 

 moved to Southington, and in 1854 to Strat- 

 ford. In 1867 Mr. Olney was elected Comp- 

 troller of Public Accounts for the State of 

 Connecticut. To his dying day he was re- 

 markable for his industry, order, method, and 

 studious habits, ever counting that day lost, in 

 which he had not acquired some useful knowl- 

 edge. 



OREGON. The last fiscal period of two 

 years in Oregon ended on the 6th of Septem- 

 ber. At the beginning of that period there 

 was a balance of $267,939.48 in the Treasury, 

 and the subsequent receipts raised the total 

 resources to $942,570.51. The disbursements 

 for the same period amounted to $769,973.10 

 which left a balance of $172,597.41. The 

 State has no funded debt, but there are $200,- 

 000 of bonds issued for the construction of 

 the canal and locks at the falls of the Willa- 



VOL. XII. 42 A. 



mette River, payable from the proceeds of sales 

 of State lands, and $90,477 of soldiers' bounty 

 and relief bonds, besides outstanding warrants 

 of the Treasury, amounting to $76,883.69, and 

 unaudited deficiencies to a small amount. 

 The soldiers' bounty and relief fund in the 

 Treasury is nearly sufficient to pay off the 

 bounty and relief bonds. The assessed value 

 of property in the State is about $37,000,000, 

 though its actual value is estimated at more 

 than three times that amount. While the 

 population has doubled in ten years and the 

 value of property increased fourfold, the as- 

 sessment-rolls show an increase of less than 

 35 per cent. 



The State lands consist of 46,080 acres, 

 granted by Congress for the support of a State 

 University ; two sections in each township for 

 the support of common schools, 107,837 acres 

 of which have been selected in the last two 

 years; 90,000 acres granted for the establish- 

 ment of an Agricultural College, which have 

 been selected but not yet disposed of; 500,000 

 acres granted for internal improvements ; 

 swamp and overflowed lands for the benefit 

 of common schools, of which 174,219.97 acres 

 have been selected and reported to the School 

 Land Commissioners ; and about 500,000 acres 

 of tide-lands. 



A penitentiary is in process of construction 

 at Salem, and is sufficiently advanced to ac- 

 commodate all the convicts now under sen- 

 tence. It has cost thus far $159,000, about 

 $58,000 of which has been derived from the 

 labor of the convicts. The penitentiary con- 

 tains a school and a library, the latter being 

 made up from contributions by the citizens 

 of Salem. There have been 286 different per- 

 sons confined in the penitentiary during the 

 past two years. 



The total number of persons in the State 

 of school age, between four and twenty years, 

 on the 1st of April, was 36,512, of whom 18,- 

 724 were males and 17,788 females. The av- 

 erage attendance at the public schools through- 

 out the State was 12,120, and the number of 

 teachers employed was 198, to whom the sum 

 of $68,097.32 was paid. 



There has been a school for deaf mutes at 

 Salem for the last two years, which was sup- 

 ported at an expense of little more than $4,000. 

 At the beginning of September there were ten 

 male and eight female pupils in this institution. 

 The State University has not yet been es- 

 tablished, and the Agricultural College is not 

 thoroughly organized. 



The first convention of the year was that of 

 the " State Temperance Alliance," which was 

 held at Salem on the 22d and 23d of Febru- 

 ary. It was determined, after much discus- 

 sion, not to undertake the formation of a po- 

 litical temperance party, but the following 

 resolutions were adopted : 



Hesolved, That we recommend the friends of tem- 

 perance in the various precincts and cities of the 

 State to meet on the second Wednesday evening 



