398 



ILLINOIS. 



attendance 132; and the Soldiers' Home at 

 Quincy, average attendance 846. The total av- 

 erage number of inmates in these institutions is 

 6,935, and the average net cost per capita for 

 their maintenance is $163 per annum. 



Education. The following statistics from 

 the report of the State Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction cover the school years ending 

 June 30, 1891, and June 30, 1892 ; 



Penitentiary. On Dec. 1, 1892, there were 

 confined in the Joliet Penitentiary 1,434 convicts, 

 and in the Chester Penitentiary 613. The con- 

 vict lease system was abolished by a constitu- 

 tional amendment adopted in 1886, but this 

 amendment could not change existing contracts, 

 and as the State authorities had already made a 

 number of long-term convict leases, it was neces- 

 sary that the agreements therein contained 

 should be carried out. These leases have ex- 

 pired from time to time until in January, 1893, 

 only 269 convicts at Joliet and 125 at Chester 

 were employed thereunder. As fast as they were 

 released, the convicts have been set to work un- 

 der the " piece-price " system, which was adopted 

 as a temporary expedient until the General As- 

 sembly should provide some law regulating their 

 labor. At the session of 1893 action was taken 

 authorizing the Penitentiary authorities to em- 

 ploy the released convicts in such occupations as 

 would best secure their health, discipline, and 

 reformation, and money was appropriated for 

 purchasing machinery, tools, power, and raw 

 material for their use. The new reformatory at 

 Pontiac has been thoroughly organized, and by 

 proclamation of the Governor was opened to re- 

 ceive prisoners early in January of this year. 

 On Dec. 1, 1892, there were 339 inmates at the 

 State Reform School. 



Railroads. The report of the Railroad Com- 

 missioners for 1892 shows the railroad mileage 

 of the State to be 14,677'88 miles, an increase of 

 360-57 miles over 1891. Illinois still leads all 

 the States in the total railway mileage in opera- 

 tion and the number of miles of railway per 

 square mile of territory. The gross earnings 

 from operation of railroads were $306,618,011.- 

 79: the operating expenses, $206,049,930.77 ; in- 

 come from operation, $10,568,081.02; total in- 

 come, $114,426,308.23; expenses assignable as 

 fixed charges, $80,086.358.33; net income, 54 

 roads, $36,616,701.29; net deficit, 27 roads. $2,- 

 276,751.39. Fifteen operating and 11 leased or 

 subsidiary lines paid dividends amounting to 

 $25,327,515.47, but the Centralia and Chester, 

 the Bast St. Louis Connecting, and the Pawnee 

 roads failed to earn enough to pay expenses. 

 The total earnings and income of the railroads 



in Illinois aggregated $81,793,012.43. There was 

 an increase of 6'96 per cent, in the receipts from 

 passengers and of 12'99 per cent, in the receipts 

 from freight. The total earnings from opera- 

 tion show an increase of 12'30 per cent, and the 

 total earnings and income of 11 '26 per cent. 



The total number of railway employees in Illi- 

 nois was 66,680, and their aggregate annual sal- 

 ary $40,072,676.88, an increase of 5,712 employees 

 and of $3,184,025.81 in salary. 



Illinois and Michigan Canal. The earn- 

 ings of this canal for the two years ending with 

 1892 amounted to $158,333.65, and the disburse- 

 ments to $152,212.17. During this period the 

 sum of $28,516.98 was expended for repairs and 

 ordinary improvements. New gates have been 

 put in at the Henry and Copperas creek locks, 

 for which the General Assembly of 1891' made 

 a special appropriation of $25,000. 



State Banks. A compilation of reports made 

 by the various State banks on April 10 shows 

 that their combined resources aggregated $118,- 

 446,833.63. The principal items in this aggre- 

 gate were : Loans and discounts, $82,600,673.73 ; 

 overdrafts, secured and unsecured. $216,450.78; 

 United States bonds, $35,414.87 ; other bonds and 

 stocks, $10,009,626.83; cash on hand, $8,647,- 

 543.61; due from other banks, $13,932.066.78; 

 checks and other cash items, $1,859,780.27; col- 

 lections, $88,813.07. The larger items among 

 the liabilities aggregate the following amounts : 

 Capital stock, $18,072,500; surplus fund, $5,- 

 225,712.79; undivided profits, $3,288,517,72; 

 savings deposits subject to*check, $27,305,030.- 

 96 ; individual deposits subject to check, $46,- 

 348,972.84; demand certificates of deposit, $4,- 

 185,764.63 ; time certificates of deposit, $7,575,- 

 137.82; certified checks, $565,724.70; cashier's 

 checks outstanding, $349,313.47; due to other 

 banks, $5,080,449.15 ; bills payable and notes re- 

 discounted, $441,055.38. 



Labor Riot. On June 9 a bloody encounter 

 occurred at Lemont between a mob of striking 

 laborers and an armed force of sheriff's deputies. 

 Three persons were killed outright, and more 

 than a dozen were wounded. The difficulty 

 grew out of an attempt on the part of the 

 strikers to prevent any one from superseding 

 them in the quarries and on the drainage canal. 

 This encounter aroused such bitter feeling that 

 the Governor, upon the request of the sheriff of 

 Will County, ordered the militia to the scene on 

 the day following the riot. Their presence re- 

 stored order, and after a few days, no further 

 disturbance occurring, the Governor, having 

 visited the scene and counseled obedience to 

 law, decided to order their withdrawal. 



The Anarchists pardoned. On June 27 the 

 country was astonished by the news that Gov. 

 Altgeld had granted pardons to the 3 anarchists.* 

 Oscar Neebe, Samuel Fielden, and Michael 

 Schwab, who were convicted for participation in 

 the memorable Haymarket massacre in Chicago 

 on the night of May 4, 1886, when several police- 

 men were killed and many seriously wounded by 

 the explosion of a dynamite bomb that was 

 thrown as they approached the crowd they were 

 ordered to disperse. Fielden and Schwab, to- 

 gether with 5 other leaders, were sentenced to be 

 hanged, but succeeded in securing a commuta- 

 tion of their sentence to life imprisonment, while 



