ILLINOIS. 



433 



the sheriffs respectively of those counties felt 

 obliged to call upon the Governor for military as- 

 sistance. On the 1 st day of May a force deemed 

 sufficient was called out and ordered to report, 

 first to the Sheriff of Will, and subsequently to 

 the Sheriff of Cook County. The men who 

 went out on the strike, instead of standing on 

 the justness of their demand for an increase of 

 wages, and, if the demand should be denied, 

 of retiring peaceably from the quarries and 

 giving way to such fellow-laborers as might 

 be willing to take their places and wages, in- 

 sisted on occupying the quarries and driving 

 away all comers in their stead. This cause led 

 to riot, the riot became a mob, and very soon 

 the mob grew threatening and defiant. The 

 officers of the law were, as they claimed, un- 

 able to preserve the peace. The military force, 

 under the direction of the Sheriff of Will 

 County, soon dispersed the rioters, who reas- 

 sembled again across the line in the County 

 of Cook and became more threatening than 

 before. The sheriff of that county directed 

 the commanding officer of the military force 

 to disperse them. They stubbornly resisted, 

 were fired upon, and three of them fatally 

 wounded before the peace could be restored. 

 In April, 1886, the strike of the switchmen on 

 all the railroads centering at East St. Louis, in 

 St. Clair County, again occasioned the use of 

 the militia." On March 29 the sheriff of that 

 county called on the Governor for military aid. 

 The latter urged the employment of more depu- 

 ties and further efforts to preserve the peace 

 by the civil power. The Governor continues : 

 "The sheriff did increase the number of his 

 deputies, and did summon the posse of his 

 county, and made some additional effort to re- 

 store the supremacy of the law. Finally, on 

 the 9th of April, after such effort as had been 

 made to restore peace and order, he again 

 made formal request for aid, and I thereupon 

 immediately ordered a necessary militia force 

 to report to him. This force was from time to 

 time relieved by additional force sent to sup- 

 ply the withdrawal of companies after a term 

 of duty from ten to fifteen days each, until 

 finally, on the 24th of May, all the companies 

 were relieved from duty there. During the 

 interval between the sheriff's first and second 

 request for aid, the railroad companies, or some 

 of them, advertised for and secured at high 

 rates of wages the services of men who seem 

 to have come from other States, and who were 

 appointed by the sheriff of the county depu- 

 ties to aid him in preserving the peace. This 

 force, such as it was, felt called upon, on the 

 9th day of April, to fire upon a crowd of peo- 

 ple gathered upon a bridge, some of whom 

 probably were annoying them, and killed and 

 wounded six or eight persons. After the ar- 

 rival of the militia quiet was restored and the 

 usual methods of trade under peace and order 

 resumed. On Nov. 7, 1886, the Sheriff of 

 Cook County personally called upon me and 

 urged the use again of the militia in that 

 VOL. xxvi. 28 A 



county. He presented a formal request foi 

 such aid, dated Chicago, November 6. In re- 

 sponse to this request of the Sheriff of Cook 

 County, I issued the necessary orders for a 

 sufficient militia force to assemble, and to re- 

 port to him and aid him in the execution of the 

 law in that county. On the 20th day of No- 

 vember the sheriff informed me there was no 

 further occasion for the use of such force, and 

 the militia, under proper order, was relieved 

 from further duty in that county. There were 

 several other occasions of violence in Cook 

 County and in the city of Chicago, somewhat 

 formidable and threatening; but as no requisi- 

 tion was made upon me either by the sheriff 

 of the county or the mayor of the city, the mi- 

 litia was not called out." (See ANAKCHISTS.) 



Assessed Valuations, The local assessors in the 

 different counties of the State returned an 

 aggregate valuation ot $726,178,132 for 1886, 

 against $733,533,951 for 1885, being a decrease 

 of $7,355,819. Of course, there is no such de- 

 crease in the value of property in the State ; 

 but the persistent tendency of the people to 

 underestimate their possessions when the as- 

 sessor is around, tells how, as it has told for 

 many years, on the apparent wealth of the 

 State. The assessments returned from the dif- 

 ferent counties exhibit strange discrepancies. 

 Take the values of improved lands, for exam- 

 ple. In St. Clair County they are set down at 

 $29.98, being actually $17.39 an acre above the 

 average for improved lands for the State. The 

 only other county that is valued above the 

 teens is Menard, $20.82 an acre. But, in the 

 adjoining county of Mason, improved lands 

 are assessed at $11.28 an acre. In Sangamon 

 they are set down at $17.06, and in McLean 

 at $15.23. The average returned value of lands, 

 improved and unimproved, is $10.76 an acre. 

 In this is found the reason for the increase in 

 the rate per cent, of taxation. 



The Governor refers at length to the inade- 

 quate and inconsistent valuations under the 

 existing law, and says : 



Consideration of the subject induced the last Gen- 

 eral Assembly to provide, by joint resolution, for a 

 commission of twelve men to propose and frame a 

 revenue code. Under such joint resolution a com- 

 mittee was appointed, composed of able, experienced, 

 and responsible citizens, familiar with our revenue 

 system and deeply interested in the subject. The 

 commission diligently applied themselves to a study 

 of the whole subject ot taxation and revenue, and 1 

 invite your serious and earnest attention to the reve- 

 nue code submitted. It substantially divorces the 

 State from county and all subordinate tax-laying pow- 

 ers for purposes of revenue. It leaves to all such 

 local and subordinate powers ample resources and 

 means of taxation for all the purposes of local self- 

 government. It enlarges and greatly improves the 

 means and instruments for assessing and collecting 

 such local taxes, and provides, as has never been done 

 before by our revenue laws, for more certainly secur- 

 ing a fair cash valuation and assessment of all prop- 

 erty in all localities, and for bringing to light, listing, 

 and taxing personal property, creditSj shares of stock, 

 and the various evidences of intangible and hidden 

 wealth, and to that extent relieving real estate and 

 visible personal property from the undue proportions 



