296 



ILLINOIS. 



international agreement, was granted in every dis- 

 trict except the thin veins of northern Illinois 

 and the Fulton and Peoria County districts, the 

 differential for machine mining to be 7 cents. This 

 scale began April 1. 



Early in November, 1899, there was a strike at 

 the piano and organ factory of Story & Clark, 

 in Chicago, and three days later all the other 

 piano and organ factories in Chicago were closed 

 by their proprietors. The number of employees 

 thus thrown out of employment was about 3,500, 

 whose aggregate earnings prior to the strike and 

 lockout had averaged about $45,000 a week. The 

 trouble had its origin with the action of the Piano 

 and Organ Workers' Union in making a large 

 number of demands to which the manufacturers 

 refused to accede. On Nov. 21 the board received 

 by mail from Charles Dold, business agent of 

 the Piano and Organ Workers' Union, a petition 

 for arbitration, purporting to be signed by a ma- 

 jority of the em- 

 ployees of the sev- 

 eral manufactur- 

 ers. The board, 

 after an unavail- 

 ing effort to induce 

 the manufacturers 

 to join in the peti- 

 tion, proceeded to 

 make an investiga'- 

 tion. The points 

 of difference set 

 forth in the peti- 

 tion were: (1) A 

 nine-hour work 

 day; (2) restora- 

 tion of former 

 wages (wages paid 

 up to 1892); (3) 

 payment of wages 

 in lawful money ; 

 (4) a weekly pay 

 day; (5) regula- 

 tion of the apprentice system; (6) abolition of 

 the contract and subcontract system ; ( 7 ) abolition 

 of the piecework system; (8) all future differ- 

 ences to be settled by arbitration. 



In the board's report the following recommenda- 

 tions were made: (1) That the strike at the fac- 

 tory of Story & Clark and the lockout at all 

 other factories be declared off immediately; (2) 

 that work be resumed at all factories at once; 

 (3) that all the employees at work at the time 

 of the strike and lockout be re-employed without 

 discrimination; (4) that a day's work in all the 

 factories in all departments shall consist of nine 

 hours; (5) that in case of a difference involv- 

 ing a proposed increase in wages, each employer 

 shall meet a committee of his employees and en- 

 deavor to settle such difference by mutual agree- 

 ment. 



The manufacturers expressed their willingness 

 to resume operations upon the terms recommended. 

 The employees, however, rejected the decision on 

 the ground that it did not provide for the recog- 

 nition of the union. The suspension of work was 

 thereupon continued. Kvcntually the Federation 

 of Labor instituted an inquiry, and agreed, in a 

 letter to the union, upon the following terms of 

 settlement: "Your union is to declare the strike 

 off in Story & Clark's. The manufacturers will 

 declare off the lockout. Nine hours to constitute 

 a day's work in all the piano and organ factories 

 in Chicago. The reinstatement of all the old 

 employees without discrimination, the manufac- 

 turers being glad to meet their old employees in 

 their respective shops, and wherever differences as 



l:ii IIAKII YATKS, 

 GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS. 



to wages exist to take them up and adjust them, 

 and upon the adjustment of the differences work 

 to be resumed." 



The men still refused to go to work, standing 

 out for the formal recognition of their union. 

 Several weeks later, however, operations were re- 

 sumed at all the factories on the basis recom- 

 mended by the board and approved by the presi- 

 dent and treasurer of the Federation of Labor. 



Charities. In the Illinois Institute for the 

 Education of the Blind, at Jacksonville, the num- 

 ber of pupils enrolled during the biennial period 

 ending June 30, 1900, was 291. Of these, 19 were 

 adult males admitted as apprentices in the shop 

 department: 5 were adult females admitted to the 

 manual training department. The remainder were 

 in the school proper during a portion of each school 

 day. Of the members of the school, 159 are males 

 and 108 are females. 



At the Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, 

 Quincy, the average attendance for the two years 

 ending June 30 was 1,532, and the average cost 

 of maintenance was $103.76. The actual amount 

 expended for the ordinary expenses of the home 

 during the past two years is $318,177.57. During 

 the same period there has been received, or is now 

 due, from the General Government, $306,475. 



The report of the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' 

 Home, Normal, shows as present, June 30, 1900, 

 186 males and 127 females. The ordinary expenses 

 for the year ending June 30, 1899, were $57,422.62. 



The Soldiers' Widows' Home of Illinois, Wil- 

 mington, on June 30, had 49 inmates, with 53 

 others approved and awaiting admission. 



The Illinois Asylum for Feeble-minded Children, 

 on July 1, had 756 inmates, the average daily 

 attendance, 1898-1900, being 765. In addition, 

 1,943 were awaiting admission. 



The four State asylums or hospitals for the in- 

 sane make the following reports: Eastern, Kan- 

 kakee, 1,893 males, 1,646 females (1898) ; Western, 

 Watertown, 328 males, 292 females (1900); Cen- 

 tral, Jacksonville, 643 males, 622 females (1900); 

 Northern, Elgin, 538 males, 564 females (1900). 



Education. The school statistics for the year 

 ending June 30, as issued by the Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction, include the following fig- 

 ures: Persons under twenty-one years of age 

 males, 1,130,254; females, 1,110,091; increase in 

 two years, 21,029. Children enumerated between 

 the ages of six and twenty-one males, 804,857 ; 

 females, 784,038; increase in two years, 31,225. 

 Pupils enrolled in schools males, 483,792 ; females, 

 475,119; increase in two years, 19,748. Average 

 daily attendance, 737,576; increase in two years, 

 8,349. Average number of days public schools 

 were kept, 160.4; increase in two years, 1.7 day. 

 Buildings used for schoolhouses, 12,809; increase 

 in two years, 69. Pupils enrolled in private and 

 parochial schools, 142,496; decrease in two y<>;ir-. 

 799. Public school teachers employed male-. 

 6,950; females, 19,363; increase in two years, 1,046. 

 Average monthly salaries of teachers mnlc--. 

 $60.34; females, $52.45. 



Balance on hand June 30, 1899 (district funds), 

 $4,585,741.81. Receipts for the year ending June 30, 

 1900 for income of township fund (rent of school 

 lands and interest on school notes), $900,183.94: 

 from State appropriations, $1,000,000; from district 

 taxes, $15,909,436.67; from sales of bonds. $.v.t().- 

 769.14; from all other sources, $769,229.84; total 

 receipts from all public monev, excluding balance 

 on hand, $19,169,619.59. Total expenditures. $18.- 

 327,121.12; cash on hand. June 30, 1900, $5%428,- 

 240.28. 



Fisheries. The fourth annual report of the 

 Illinois Fishermen's Association was issued in 



