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INDIANA. 



dents at its sixteenth commencement in June, and 

 13 were graduated at the Veterinary College in 

 April. At the Indianapolis College of Law 17 

 students were graduated this summer. 



At the commencement exercises of the State 

 University, June 20, there were 98 candidates for 

 the bachelor of arts degree, 33 for that of bachelor 

 of law, and 12 for the master's degree. 



De Pauw University graduated 72 students at 

 its sixty-first commencement, June 14. 



The twenty-sixth commencement of Purdue Uni- 

 versity was held June 6, when 71 students received 

 diplomas. In the winter the class in agriculture 

 was the largest ever attending, the enrollment 

 being 92, of whom 20 were women. 



Wabash College celebrated the sixty-eighth an- 

 niversary of its founding, Nov. 21. 



Charities and Corrections. Statistics given 

 in September concerning the charitable and penal 

 institutions of the State for the nine months end- 

 ing July 31, 1900, show that $423,434.18 has been 

 expended in maintaining the 4 insane hospitals. 

 The Central Hospital, in Indianapolis, consumed 

 about $200,000, while the others used about 

 $70,000 each. About $215,000 was expended in 

 addition for new buildings and repairs. 



The Home for Soldiers, at Lafayette, expended 

 $63,797.72 for its support ; the Soldiers' and Sailors' 

 Orphans' Home, at Knightstown, $71,869.11; Deaf 

 Institute, at Indianapolis, $24,177.50; Feeble- 

 minded Institute, Fort Wayne, $86,810.20. New 

 buildings and unusual repairs in these several in- 

 stitutions cost $20,885.66. 



The State Prison, at Michigan City, required 

 $84.369.61 for its regular expenses during the nine 

 months referred to; the Reformatory, at Jeff'erson- 

 ville, $101,601.22; Industrial School for Girls and 

 Women's Prison, Indianapolis, $31,678.57; Reform 

 School for Boys, Plainfield, $47,800.95. New build- 

 ings and extraordinary repairs consumed $106,- 

 575.53 additional. The aggregate cost of main- 

 taining the State's penal institutions for the nine 

 months was $265,450.35. 



The State treasury received from these institu- 

 tions, in the way of earnings and receipts, $97,- 

 922.01, reducing the cost to $1,232,908.78. 



The National Home for Disabled Volunteer 

 Soldiers, at Marion, had 1,600 inmates in Septem- 

 ber, and about 700 members out on furlough. 

 The appropriation for the coming year is $282,500, 

 of which $20,000 is for buildings. 



Banks. The total resources of the 96 State 

 banks, July 31, as shown by reports at the Audit- 

 or's office, were $22,576,934.42. The call in May 

 showed the total resources of the banks to have 

 been $23,178,919.84. The individual deposits were 

 less in July than they were in May, and it is 

 shown that there has been an increase in the 

 amount of United States bonds held. 



Railroads. In 1899 77 miles of road were built 

 in the State, and in the first half of 1900 there 

 were 34. The Tax Board increased the valuation 

 of railroads for taxation, making the total $154,- 

 473,491, an increase of $951,600. Other companies 

 were rated as follow: Telephone, $3,420,159; tele- 

 graph, $2,610,742; express, $1,822,840; palace car, 

 $4:52,598. 



The State sued the Vandalia Railroad for more 

 than $2,000,000, alleged to be due under the char- 

 ter under which the Indianapolis and Terre Haute 

 Kiiilroad first operated. It provided that after the 

 stockholders had been reimbursed for the full sum 

 invested, with 10 per cent, per annum, all over a 

 dividend of 15 per cent, per annum should be 

 turned over to the State for the school fund. The 

 company operated fourteen years under this char- 

 ter, and then reorganized under the general rail- 



road law, which did not contain the provisions of 

 ihe charter. The Legislature of 1897, after twenty- 

 five years of various attempts to include these pro- 

 visions in a law, passed such a bill, and the At- 

 torney-General immediately brought suit. In the 

 Superior Court a decision was rendered in October 

 in favor of the State for $745,154.65. 



Products and Business. The annual report 

 of the State Geologist shows that while Indiana 

 ranks thirty-fourth in area among the States, it 

 ranks sixth in the production of coal, fourth in 

 petroleum, second in natural gas, seventh in build- 

 ing stone, and sixth in value of clay products. 

 The values of these resources are: Petroleum, 

 $2,228,276; coal, $5,177,044; natural gas, $5,060,- 

 969; stone, $1,731,914; and clay, $3,211,512; mak- 

 ing a total of $17,409,715. The production of 

 petroleum for 1899 was 3,818,713 barrels, an in- 

 crease over 1898 of 67,406 barrels. On Jan. 1, 1900, 

 there were 4,336 producing wells in the State, 

 against 3,628 on the same date the previous year. 

 The wells sunk number 6,978, so that the number 

 of dry wells in the State is 2,642. 



Natural gas occurs in an area approximating 

 2,800 square miles. The average pressure in 1890 

 was 325 pounds, but it has decreased to 155 pounds, 

 and as the supply is shut off at 130 pounds the 

 outlook is not bright. 



In the past year 5,865,123 tons of coal were 

 mined. It is estimated that the coal in the State 

 will last three hundred years. 



The output of stone was valued at $1,686,572. 



It was reported in August that the wheat crop 

 in much of the State was a disastrous failure, 

 owing in part to weather conditions, but largely 

 to the depredations of the Hessian fly. 



Experiments appear to have shown that only 

 the northern part of the State is adapted to the 

 cultivation of sugar beets, and the officials at the 

 experiment station have announced that no special 

 attention will hereafter be given to the subject. 



The Legislature passed a law for protecting 

 Asiatic or Chinese pheasants, imposing a fine of 

 $50 for killing one, and 52 pairs have recently 

 been distributed through the State. 



The business failures for the first six months of 

 the year were reported as 57, against 155 in the 

 corresponding part of 1896. 



Reports of mortgages filed and those satisfied 

 show that in the 92 counties, the total of those 

 filed in 1899 was about $10,000,000 less than in 

 1898. 



Labor. About 8,500 coal miners of the State 

 stopped work April 1 because the wage-scale 

 year came to an end with no agreement reached 

 on the powder provision in the contract for the 

 ensuing year, the operators wishing to bind the 

 miners to buy powder from them at $1.75 a keg, 

 while the miners wanted the privilege of buying 

 in the open market. An agreement was reached 

 April 13, the right to buy in the open market 

 being conceded on the understanding that oper- 

 ators were not to be held responsible for fluctua- 

 tions in the price. In November more than 200 

 hoisting engineers and 7,000 miners went out on 

 account of the refusal of operators to sign with the 

 engineers for a higher scale of wages. There were 

 strikes in the year of glass cutters and workmen 

 of other trades, with the result of advanced wages 

 in many instances. The annual report of tB 

 Labor Commissioner in September showed that 

 there had been 28 strikes, of which 19 were sue 

 cessful. In 14 increased wages had been demanded 

 and secured. 



A decision was rendered in the Superior Court 

 in May. upholding the constitutionality of the law 

 requiring weekly payment of wages. 



