IGLESIAS, JOSE M. 



ILLINOIS. 



391 



IGLESIAS, Josfc MAR!A, a Mexican statcs- 

 man, born in Mexico, on January 5, 1822. B- 

 p luting his twentieth year he was ap- 

 pointed professor in tho Colleges of San Grego- 

 rio and San Ildefonso, both in his native city. 

 In ili.' first In- occupied the chair of Arts, and 

 in tho second that of Modern Languages 

 Fivnr.h and English. At the age of twenty- 

 two he received his diploma as lawyer, and at 

 t \\vnty-four he became Professor of Law. His 

 first official position was that of chairman of 

 tin- Hoard of Aldermen (1846). On the occu- 

 pation of the capital of the republic by the 

 American troops, in 1847, young Iglesias hast- 

 ened to rejoin the Government, for the time be- 

 ing established at Queretaro, for which proof of 

 loyalty he was rewarded with the position of 

 Minister of the Supreme Military Court, and 

 shortly afterward with that of Auditor of the 

 Army of the East. After the celebrated peace 

 treaties he returned to the capital, and was chief 

 of a section of the Board of Public Credit, from 

 1850 till 1852, in which latter year he was elect- 

 ed deputy to Congress, where he won his first 

 laurels as an orator of distinction. The year 

 1855 saw him at the head of the second section 

 of the Ministry of Finance, where his superior 

 intelligence, brilliant qualities, and fidelity, 

 elicited the admiration and secured for Iglesias 

 the friendship of Don Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, 

 elder brother of the late President of Mexico, 

 Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, and then minis- 

 ter of the department (1856). Under the Co- 

 monfort Administration Iglesias was intrusted 

 witli the portfolio of Justice (1857), and im- 

 mediately after the termination of the War of 

 Reform he was appointed administrator of the 

 public fund. When on May 31, 1863, Juarez was 

 constrained to quit the capital, Sefior Iglesias 

 followed the fortunes of his chieftain, and dur- 

 ing the eventful peregrinations of the national 

 Government he was successively Minister of 

 Finance, of Justice, and of Public Works. In 

 spite of unusually arduous official duties, he 

 found time to devote to writing his monthly 

 reviews published under the unassuming title 

 of " The Foreign Intervention." On the return 

 of the legitimate Government to Mexico, Igle- 

 sias was still a member of the cabinet, having 

 been, for the third time, appointed to the port- 

 folio of Finance, which he now retained until 

 his election to the general Congress in 1868. 

 In September of that year President Juarez 

 made him Minister of the Interior, intrusting 

 him provisionally with the portfolio of Justice, 

 which last post he resigned in October, 1870. 

 In 1872 he once more became administrator of 

 public funds, and held that office until May 16th 

 of the following year, on which day he took 

 the accustomed oath preparatory to entering 

 upon the high functions of President of the 

 Supreme Court of Justice a post equivalent 

 to that of Vice-President of the Republic. 

 Among the candidate's proposed simultaneously 

 with Sefior Iglesias for the office was General 

 Porh'rio Diaz, over whom he obtained a ma- 



jority of 4,410 votes. Bettor Iglesias has ever 

 been a faithful and close student ; ho ha* at- 

 tained much eminence among the men of letters 

 and journalists of his country, and his unaffect- 

 ed and forcible eloquence places him in the 

 front rank of Mexican parliamentary speaker.-. 

 His whole political career has been an almost 

 uninterrupted series of successes. 



ILLINOIS. The State of Illinois is one of 

 tho most flourishing and progressive in the 

 Union. In the last two years there have been 

 incorporated under the general law 513 com- 

 panies for purposes of pecuniary profit, and 

 150 for educational, religious, litorary, and be- 

 nevolent purposes. There have also been 84 

 new railroad organizations formed under the 

 railroad act; eleven cities and sixty-one vil- 

 lages have organized under the general law for 

 that purpose. The name of the town of Mil- 

 ton in Coles County has been changed to Hum- 

 boldt, New Rutland in La Salle County to 

 Rutland, and Clintonville in Kane County to 

 South Elgin. The financial condition of the 

 State is especially gratifying. On October 1st 

 the bonded debt was $1,480,600.27, and there 

 had been a reduction of $250,371.88 during 

 the year. The last of the State bonds become 

 payable after 1879. On December 1, 1874, 

 there was a balance of $2,126,532.06 in the 

 Treasury, and the receipts from that time to 

 September 30, 1876, amounted to $9,262,169.- 

 99, making a total of $11,888,702.05. The dis- 

 bursements for the same period were $8,979,- 

 747.71, leaving a balance on hand of $2,408,- 

 954.34. The receipts from the canals for two 

 years were $267,828.32 ; disbursements, $171,- 

 189.74 : net receipts, $96,638.58. The lock and 

 dam across the Illinois River near Copperas 

 Creek are nearly completed. The total cost is 

 $410,532.29, of which $62,329.80 has been ex- 

 pended by the United States Government. 



The amount of money raised for school pur- 

 poses was $9,605,623.90 in 1875, and $9,948,- 

 769.64 in 1876, making a total of $19,554,393.- 

 54 for two years, of which $13,977,901.85 was 

 raised by direct taxation. The expenditures 

 for school purposes were $8,066,949.97 in 1875, 

 and $8,268,539.58 in 1876, or $16,885,489.55 

 for the two years. The number of children of 

 school age in the State is 973,589, of whom 

 687,446, or about 75 per cent., were enrolled in 

 the schools during the past year. There are 

 twelve charitable and reformatory institutions 

 which receive aid from the State, and all are 

 reported to be in a satisfactory condition. The 

 new .asylum for feeble-minded children at Lin- 

 coln is nearly finished, as is also the new wing 

 of the Southern Insane Asylum at Anna. The 

 penitentiary at Joliet contained over 1,600 con- 

 victs at the end of the year. The institution 

 is overcrowded, and a new prison is in contem- 

 plation. The cost of maintenance for each 

 convict at Joliet in 1876 was 40 J cents per 

 day. 



the new Capitol at Springfield, thongh not 

 fully completed, has been occupied by the va- 



