I ORANGE FREE STATE. 



41,667, the average attendance 25,671, the receipts 

 $389,185, the expenses $349,481. The high schools, 

 standing between the public schools and the uni- 

 versities, had 571 teachers, 23,301 pupils, with 

 receipts amounting to $779,451 and expenses to 

 $729,009, and showed 130 schools, with an average 

 attendance of 14,066. 



Agriculture. The assets of the farmers of On- 

 tario in 1899 were given in the Annual Report of 

 the Bureau of Statistics as follow: Land, $563,- 

 271,777; buildings, $213,440,281; live stock, $115,- 

 806,455; implements, $54,995,857. The total was 

 $847,513,360. The following is the value of crops 

 produced on the farms of Ontario in 1899: Hay 

 and clover, $27,010,003; oats, $24,901,670; fall 

 wheat, $9,631,365; peas, $8,675,673; potatoes, $6,- 

 538,144; barley, $5,858,202; turnips, $5,807,839; 

 spring wheat, $4,682,476; husking corn, $4,291,300; 

 silage or fodder corn, $3,395,510; mangolds, $1,671,- 

 871; rye, $1,142,423; buckwheat, $2,501; beans, 

 $703,090; carrots, $459,254; total, $104,771,321. 

 Besides this, there were fruits, wool, honey, and 

 orchard produce. The value of these articles is 

 estimated at $4,000,000. The following is the 

 value, as stated by the same authority, of the 

 live stock, sold or slaughtered, from Ontario farms 

 in 1899: Cattle, $17,303,426; hogs, $14,157,394; 

 horses, $3,204,006; sheep, $2,629,201; poultry, 

 $1,162,991; total, $38,457,018. 



Mines. The gold produced in Ontario in nine 

 months of 1899 was 20,210 ounces; silver, 98,000 

 ounces; nickel, 4,608.000 pounds; copper, 4,642,000 

 pounds; pig iron, 48,216 tons. The rush to in- 

 corporate mining companies in 1897, which re- 

 mlted in 140, with a capital of $101,531,000, was 

 tot maintained in 1898. The total number in the 

 latter year was 49, with a capital of $30,762,998. 

 There were, 19,529 acres of land sold for mining 

 in 1898, 48,911 acres leased, $9,429 paid in rentals. 

 The revenue derived by the Government for sales 

 id rentals in the year ending June 30, 1899, was 

 $109,140. The total mineral production of 1898 

 included $2,328,110 for oil, gas, and carbide, and 

 ~~I82,886 for salt and gypsum. The number of 

 employees was 7,495, and the wages paid were 

 !,464,239. The iron industry continued to pros- 

 sr in 1898 and 1899. Large blast furnaces were 

 established in Hamilton and Deseronto. 



ORANGE FREE STATE, a republic in South 

 Africa, founded by Boers who emigrated from 

 Cape Colony in 1836 and 1837, recognized as inde- 

 pendent in 1854, occupied in March, 1900, by a 

 British army commanded by Lord Roberts, and 

 formally annexed under the name of the Orange 

 River Colony, although the burghers remained 

 under arms to maintain their independence. The 

 President of the republic is M. T. Steyn, elected 

 Feb. 19, 1896. The legislative assembly, called 

 the Volksraad, has 60 members, elected for four 

 years by the burghers, who are white male citi- 

 zens born in the country or residents for three 

 years, owners of property or leaseholders, or hav- 

 ing an income of 200. 



Area and Population. The area is estimated 

 .t 48,326 square miles. The white population was 

 7,716 in 1890, composed of 40,571 males and 37,- 

 145 females, 51,910 of the total number having 

 'ieen born in the Free State, and 21.116 in Cape 

 .olony. The number of natives was 129,787. 

 lloemfontein, the capital, had 2,077 w r hite in- 

 labitants and 1,302 natives. There has been con- 

 siderable immigration from Germany and Eng- 

 and. The number of illiterates at the time of 

 .he census was 23,722, including 19,508 children 

 inder seven. There were 199 Government schools 

 in 1898, with 293 teachers and 8,157 pupils, and 

 L0 State-aided private schools with 753 pupils. 



OREGON. 



551 



Finances. Jan. 1, 1897, the State took over 

 the railroad built by the Government of Cape 

 Colony through the republic, connecting with the 

 Cape system at Norval's Point, on the Orange 

 river, passing through Bloernfontein, and con- 

 necting with the Transvaal railroads at Viljoens 

 drift over the Vaal river. The net receipts from 

 the railroad in 1898 were 408,578, increasing the 

 Government revenue to 799,758, other items be- 

 ing 32,782 from posts and telegraphs, 27,935 

 from transfer taxes, 15,428 from quit rents, 

 121,411 from import duties, 63,981 from stamps, 

 and 19,686 from the native poll tax. The ex- 

 penditure in 1898 was 956,752, of which 508,- 

 478 was railroad expenditure, while salaries 

 amounted to 56.527, police expenses to 14,182, 

 cost of education to 54,531, postal and telegraph 

 expenses to 30,142, expenditure on public works 

 to 37,270, and artillery to 10,729. The Gov- 

 ernment had a debt of 30,000 prior to the ac- 

 quisition of the railroads. This operation in- 

 volved the payment to the Cape Government of 

 1,800,000. The length of the railroads is 392 

 miles, built at the cost of 2,771,945. The tele- 

 graphs have a length of 1,480 miles, with 1,700 

 miles of wire, besides 420 miles of railroad tele- 

 graphs, with 1,119 miles of wire. 



Defense. Every able-bodied man is liable to 

 be called out for the defense of the republic from 

 the age of sixteen to that of sixty. In 1899 there 

 were about 22,000. Four batteries of artillery 

 were stationed at Bloemfontein, numbering 150 

 officers and men, with a reserve of 550 passed 

 artillerists. 



Commerce and Production. There are 10,500 

 farms in the Free State, containing 30,000,000 

 acres, of which only 250,600 acres are culti- 

 vated. The live stock consisted of 248,878 

 horses, 276,073 oxen, 619,026 other cattle, 6,619,- 

 992 sheep, 858,155 goats, and 1,461 ostriches. 

 Diamonds were dug in 1898 of the value of 

 1,508,661. Grain, wool" and horses are imported 

 from Basutoland, and the exports consist of pas- 

 toral and agricultural produce shipped to Cape 

 Colony, Natal, and the South African Republic, 

 and general merchandise for Basutoland, and dia- 

 monds exported by way of the Cape. The value 

 of the commerce with the conterminous countries 

 in 1898 was as follows: 



OREGON, a Pacific coast State, admitted to 

 the Union Feb. 14, 1859; area, 94,560 square miles. 

 The population was 13,294 in 1850; 52,465 in 1860; 

 90,923 in 1870; 174,768 in 1880; 313,767 in 1890; 

 and 413,536 in 1900. Capital, Salem. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1900: Governor, Theodore T. Geer: Sec- 

 retary of State and Auditor, Frank I. Dunbar; 

 Treasurer, Charles S. Moore; Attorney-General, 

 R. D. N. Blackburn; Superintendent of Instruc- 

 tion, J. H. Ackerman; Adjutant General, C. U. 

 Gantenbein; Food Commissioner. J. W. Bailey; 

 Game and Forest Warden. L. P. W. Quimby ; Land 

 Agent, L. B. Geer; Fish and Game Protector, F. C. 

 Reed; Printer, W. H. Leeds; Printing Expert, 

 Ross E. Moores; President of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, W. H. Wehrung, and of that of Horti- 

 culture, H. B. Miller, who resigned and was suc- 

 ceeded in April by E. L. Smith ; Biologist, F. L. 

 Washburn; Librarian, James B. Putnam; Chief 



