886 OHIO 



competing lines. Public utilities companies are forbidden to give rebates or unjust or un- 

 reasonable preferences. 



The legislature created a commission to codify and revise laws pertaining to children; 

 it reported in 1912 a new code which will be submitted to the next legislature. Ten hours a 

 day and 54 hours a week was made the maximum for working women but canneries and 

 establishments preparing perishable goods are exempted; the constitutionality of this law 

 was upheld in January 1912 by the state supreme court. 



A state insurance fund (elective) was created for the benefit of injured workmen and the 

 dependents of killed employees, to be administered by a state liability board of awards. 

 The insurance fund is made up from premiums paid by employers and employees, 90% -by 

 employer and 10 % by employees, the latter amount being deducible from the payroll. Em- 

 ployers who pay the premium are not responsible in damages under common law or statute, 

 unless for injury received through wilful failure of employer or employer's agent to comply 

 with law or ordinance, and in this case, the claim for damages may be made against the 

 employer or may be for compensation under this act. The act provides that an employee 

 receive two-thirds (if between 5 and 12) of his full wages during temporary disability- 

 the total not to be more than $3,400 nor to continue more than six years from the in-jury. 

 For permanent injury the payment is two-thirds of the average weekly wage (between $5 and 

 12; if less than 5 his whole wages) until death; as a benefit to dependents the rule is not 

 less than Si, 500, nor more than 83,400, for that part of six years after the injury beginning 

 with the employees death, the payment being two-thirds the average weekly wage. This law 

 was upheld by the state supreme court in a test case in January' 1912. 



The legislature appropriated 85,000 for the purchase of land for the Perry Memorial in 

 Put-in-Bay, to be dedicated in 1913, the centennial of the Battle of Lake Erie. 



The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce has a committee on municipal art and architecture 

 (until 1908 the Group Plan Committee). The Federal Building (dedicated March 20, 1912), 

 the county court-house (completed Jan. 1912), the city hall (begun 1911) and the public 

 library were built in accordance with its recommendations. The city council made no 

 appropriation for the work of the (official) municipal planning commission, so that, although 

 not formally discharged by_ the mayor, it was in 1912 practically out of office. 



Finance. The annual interest on the irreducible debt (largely educational) is 325,000: 

 The 1911 legislature passed in important tax limit levy law. A budget commission was 

 created for each county to pass on local appropriations. This consists of the county auditor, 

 the prosecuting attorney and the mayor of the largest city in the county. The law of 191 1 

 provides for a depository for state funds, not more than $50,000 to be kept as a reserve in the 

 state treasury vault. The tax commission law of 1910 was revised, and more power was 

 given to the commission especially in enforcing the "excise" tax on corporations. 



On November 16, 1911, there was in the state treasury 3,768,116. Receipts for the 

 following fiscal year were $14,036,902 and expenditures, $13,122,181, leaving a balance 

 (Nov. 15, 1912) of 4,682,838. There is practically no state debt. 



Education. The legislature in 1911 appropriated 82,475,000 to be distributed to the 

 common schools. For normal school buildings at Kent 50,000 was appropriated, and the 

 same amount for buildings at Bowling Green. These normal schools were authorised in 

 1910. Agriculture is to be taught in common schools except in city school districts and after 

 September I, 1912 agriculture is a required subject for teachers in any village, township> or 

 special school district. The legislature authorised the erection of a high school building on 

 the grounds of the Ohio State University to be used as an observation and practice school for 

 the university's college of education; this had not been built in 1912. The Cleveland 

 School Board in 1911 voted that any public school in the city, not in use in the evenings, 

 might be thrown open for public meetings on the petition of 15 tax payers. 



For the year ending August 31 , 1912 the school population (between 6 ana 21) was 1,231 - 

 946; enrollment in public schools, 853,002, excluding 90,000 in parochial schools; average 

 daily attendance, 659,044; length of average school year, 34 weeks; total revenue for schools, 

 $48,939,820, and expenditures, 31,031,678. 



In 1910 the percentage of illiteracy (10 years of age and over) was 3.2 (4 in 1900). 



In 1911 Western Reserve University completed an endowment of $1,000,000 for its medi- 

 cal school. An attempt in 1912 to tax part of the endowment of Oberlin College was un- 

 successful. 



Charitable and Penat, Institutions. The legislature in 1911 created a board of administra- 

 tion to take the place of separate boards controlling the seven state hospitals, the hospital for 

 epileptics, the institute for feeble-minded, the state schools for the deaf and for the blind, the 

 Ohio soldiers and sailors home, the Madison Home (formerly called the Home of Ohio soldiers, 

 sailors, etc.), boys' industrial home, girls' industrial home and the state reformatory-, peniten- 

 tiary and sanatorium as well as the Ohio reformatory for women (established in 191 1 ; not yet 

 open). All employees of institutions under the board were put on the civil service classified 

 list. A woman resident physician was appointed for the Girls' Industrial School and a chief 

 matron of the school takes the place of the superintendent. A committee of the legislature 

 was authorised to investigate the Ohio penitentiary, to study convict labour, and especially 

 the advisability of farm labour for convicts. 



