OHIO. 



605 



OHIO, a Central Western State, admitted to the 

 Union in 1803 ; population, according to the last 

 census (1890), 3,666,719, it being the fourth in rank 

 of the States ; area, according to the United States 



Geological Survey, 41,060 square miles, of which 



3,760 is land surface and 300 water surface. Cap- 

 ital, Columbus. 

 Government. The State officers during 1898 



vere : Governor, Asa S. Bushnell ; Lieutenant Gov- 

 ernor, Asahel W. Jones; Secretary of State, Charles 



[inney; Auditor of State, Walter D. Guilbert; 



^reasurer of State, Samuel B. Campbell ; Attorney- 



Sreneral, Prank S. Monnett ; Judges of the Supreme 



3ourt, William T. Spear, Marshall J. Williams, 

 Foseph P. Bradbury, John A. Shauck, Thad. A. 

 "linshall, Jacob F. Burket; Clerk of the Supreme 



}ourt, Josiah B. Allen ; Commissioner of Common 



3hools, Oscar T. Corson until July 11. after that 

 late Lewis D. Borebrake ; Dairy and Food Com- 



lissioner, Joseph E. Blackburn ; Board of Public 



"forks, Charles E. Grace until February 8, Edwin 



jybarger, Frank A. Huffman, Charles A. Goddard 

 )m Feb. 8. All these officials were Republicans. 

 Finances. The receipts for the fiscal year 1898, 



icluding balances from previous year, were : Gen- 

 eral revenue fund, $5,624,746.87; sinking fund, 

 1690,365.57; common school fund, $1,851,168.48; 

 miversity fund, $321,546.01; total. $8,487,826.93. 

 The total disbursements were $7,658,852.98, leaving 



ilance on hand, $828,973.95. 



The public funded debt of the State, Nov. 15, 1897, 



ras $1,291,665 ; at the close of the fiscal year 1898 

 the public funded debt was $1,241,665, at 3 per 



?.nt. interest. 

 Valuation. The property values returned for 



ixation by the assessors were : Lands, $592,274,- 

 745 ; real estate in cities and villages, $652,542,728 ; 



ersonal property, $515,439,970 ; total, $1,760,257,- 



13. 



Railroads. State-Railway-Commissioner Kay- 

 ler reports the railroads of the State at the close of 

 the official year 1898 as in a much better condition, 

 both physically and financially, than they were at 

 the close of the preceding year. Five new State 

 corporations were incorporated during the year. 

 The mileage of all tracks representing capital stock 

 was increased 167.96 miles, or 1.27 per cent, of an 

 increase. An increased amount of $258,437.53 was 

 paid in dividends for the entire lines and an in- 

 creased amount of $71,951.08 in Ohio. An increased 

 amount of $1,605,979.70 was expended on road and 

 equipment in Ohio over the preceding year ; the 

 average cost per mile of road shows a decrease of 

 $12,986.25 per mile. The total earnings of the en- 

 tire lines shows an increase of $19,402,929.98, or a 

 gain of 11.226 per cent, over the preceding year. 

 The increase in earnings in Ohio during the year 

 was $7,834,337.64, or a gain of 12.693 per cent. The 

 fatal accidents to passengers were 5 as against 13 

 last year, 49 travelers on the highways were killed, 

 which is 3 more than for the last year. Total num- 

 ber of employees killed in the State during the year 

 was 135, agcainst 96 last year, an increase of 39. 

 The total number of trespassers killed was 256, 



gainst 239 last year, an increase of 17. Total 

 lumber killed during the year, 445, against 394, an 

 ncrease of 51. The total number of people injured 

 luring the year ending June 30, 1898, was 5,728, 



gainst 3,429 last year, an increase of 2,299. Nearly 



" per cent, of all the street and highway crossings 

 ire now protected. Taking the rolling stock, oper- 

 ited as a whole, within the State, 98 per cent, of 

 the passenger locomotives are equipped with air 

 brakes and 85 per gent, with automatic couplers ; 

 )0 per cent, of the freight and switching engines 

 ire equipped with air brakes and 32 per cent, with 

 automatic couplers ; 99 per cent, of the passenger 



cars are equipped with airbrakes and 98 percent, with 

 automatic couplers ; 34 per cent, of the freight cars 

 are equipped with air brakes and 65 per cent, with 

 automatic couplers. The dividends paid from net 

 income was $337,608.44 greater than for the pre- 

 vious year, or a gain of 5.88 per cent. The net in- 

 come for the year shows a net increase of 6.69 per 

 cent. ; the deficits were 4.84 percent., showing a net 

 increase of 1.85 per cent, over deficits. 



Coal Mining. The annual report of Chief-Mine- 

 Inspector Haseltine, filed in September, shows that 

 there were 1,228 mines in the State, 413 of which 

 employed more than 10 men; 1,126 mines were in 

 operation during the year, 37 of which are regarded 

 as large mines. The number of active mines re- 

 turned is 30 in excess of the number reported dur- 

 ing any year of which the department has a record. 

 The average time worked is given at one hundred 

 and fifty and one half days, the same as during 

 the year 1896. The number of miners employed 

 amounted to 22,131, a loss of 14 when compared 

 with the past year. There were 6,654 day hands, a 

 gain of 353 as compared with 1896. The year's 

 production of coal is given at 12,448,822 tons, a de- 

 crease of 463,786 tons as compared with the pre- 

 vious year. Of this total amount 4,106,124 tons 

 were mined by machinery, which is an increase of 

 737,775 tons over the preceding year. Machine 

 mining had extended to 12 counties, against 7 two 

 years before. At the close of the year there were 

 166 electric machines and 67 which used compressed 

 air distributed throughout the mines of the State. 

 Deducting from the total output of the State the 

 amount of machine-mined coal, it is found that 

 8,342,698 tons were produced by pick mining, a de- 

 crease of 1,201,561 tons compared with the for- 

 mer year. This makes an average yearly produc- 

 tion to each miner of 45 tons, 1,537 pounds of run 

 of the mine coal. During the year 89 new mines 

 were opened, 102 remained suspended, and 97 were 

 either exhausted or abandoned. 



Military. Nine regiments and one battalion of 

 infantry, eight troops, of cavalry, and one battalion 

 of artillery comprised the Ohio volunteers in the 

 war with Spain. The total number of Ohio volun- 

 teers, including those enlisted in United States vol- 

 unteer regiments, was 15,300. 



Supreme Court Decisions. The Supreme Court 

 sustained the constitutionality of the law for the 

 purity of elections, known as the Garfield corrupt 

 practices act. 



It also sustained the constitutionality of the Pugh 

 election law, which requires that a party must have 

 cast at the polls at the next preceding election at 

 least 1 per cent, of the total vote before it can form- 

 ally nominate a ticket, and the signers of nomi- 

 nating petitions under the law must pledge them- 

 selves to vote the ticket for which they ask a place 

 on the ballot. 



Legislative Session. The seventy-third General 

 Assembly organized Jan. 3, and adjourned sine die 

 April 26. The proceedings of the first few days of 

 the session were attended with considerable excite- 

 ment, owing to the peculiar action in the organiza- 

 tion and the contest in the election of United States 

 Senator. 



At the formation of President McKinley's Cabi- 

 net, in 1897, the Hon. John Sherman resigned his 

 seat in the Senate to become United States Secre- 

 tary of State, and Gov. Bushnell appointed Marcus 

 A. Hanna to the vacant seat in the Senate until the 

 Legislature met in January, 1898. The senatorial 

 question entered largely into the election of the 

 Legislature in November, 1897, there being an elec- 

 tion of Senator for the unexpired term ending March 

 3, 1899, and also for the full term of six years, be- 

 ginning March 4, 1899. 



