ILLINOIS. 



369 



custodians were placed in charge of 5 associa- 

 tions; in 3 instances the shareholders went into 

 voluntary liquidation, and in four cases receivers 

 were appointed. The Peoria Savings Loan and 

 Trust Company changed its name to the Bank 

 of Illinois on March 20, 1899. 



Board of Agriculture. The report of the 

 State board showed the corn area, June 30, as 

 7,126,780 acres, and an average crop yield of 

 88 per cent, in the northern division, 79 in the 

 central, and 86 in the southern; the spring wheat 

 acreage as 5 per cent, smaller than last year in 

 the northern section, no spring wheat in the cen- 

 tral and southern; oats, 4 per cent, larger in 

 the northern division, 3 per cent, larger in the 

 central, and 14 per cent, less in the southern; 

 the acreage of broom corn as last year, but 

 bringing from $100 to $122.50 a ton for choice 

 crops; sorghum 9 per cent, less, and millet 9 per 

 cent, more in the northern part and 11 per cent, 

 less in the southern section; total yield of Irish 

 potatoes, about 2,500,000 bushels; the wool clip, 

 about the same as last year. 



Board of Arbitration. By amendments to 

 the arbitration law the board is now able to com- 

 pel attendance and testimony of witnesses and 

 to demand the production of all necessary papers 

 and books, thus ascertaining all the facts in each 

 case, and it can also enforce its decision by a rule 

 of the circuit or the county court. In the Pana 

 coal case the board fixed the mining rate, May 30, 

 at 30^ cents a ton; for 8-foot entry, $1.53| a yard; 

 for 10-foot entry, $1.38 a yard; for 12-foot entry, 

 $1.23 a yard; and for all entries over 12 feet and 

 up to 18 feet the price shall decrease at the rate 

 of 7.5 cents a foot; " for turning a room, in addi- 

 tion to the mining price, the miner shall be paid 

 $4 for the first 15 feet if the width be not less 

 than 9 feet." The scale of wages was fixed as 

 follows: Blacksmiths, $2.25 a day; dumpers, fire- 

 men, and head car trimmers, $1.75; blacksmiths' 

 helpers, $1.65; engine coalers, empty cagers, and 

 self-dumping cagers, $1.60; band pickers, boys, 

 85 cents; all work not specified, $1.55. 



Board of Health. The number of cattle vis- 

 ited by this board between May and July was 

 3.061; herds tested, 62, ranging from 5 to 136 

 animals in each herd; animals condemned, about 

 1 to each 100 examined. Of the 62 herds exam- 

 ined, 26 were found free from tuberculosis, and 

 42 of 45 individual cows examined were pro- 

 nounced healthy. 



Board of Pardons. In the year the State 

 board considered 123 applications for pardon, and 

 recommended to the Governor a full and free 

 pardon in 1 case and a commutation of sentence 

 in 19 other cases. There were 2,032 examina- 

 tions of prisoners for parole; 741 convicts were 

 paroled and 352 received final discharge. The 

 rules of the pardon board require that every ap- 

 plication for pardon shall be accompanied by a 

 statement from the trial judge and the State's 

 attorney, as well as the full particulars of the 

 crime. Notice of intention to make application 

 for pardon is sent to each newspaper in the county 

 where the crime was committed, so that a pro- 

 test against it or a petition approving it may be 

 sent to the board. 



Board of Pharmacy. The number of appli- 

 cants examined by the board during 1898 was 

 (X)2, of whom 114 were registered as pharmacists, 

 94 being already registered as assistant pharma- 

 cists. The number of assistant pharmacists regis- 

 tered in the year was 145. Of the 66 applications 

 made for registration as assistant pharmacists, 

 22 were granted certificates, while only 50 of the 

 entire number registered as assistant pharma- 

 VOL. xxxix. 24 A 



cists were registered apprentices. The total num- 

 ber of registered pharmacists was 4,548, or 22 

 fewer than in the previous year; assistant phar- 

 macists, 1,256; permits issued to retail domestic 

 remedies and proprietary medicines, 1,659, of 

 which 412 were original permits in localities re- 

 mote from drug stores. 



Canal. The drainage canal of Chicago, dug 

 to change the direction of the flow of Chicago 

 river, and thus furnish an outlet for the drain- 

 age of the city, was completed Dec. 31, after seven 

 years of hard work, at a cost of $33,000,000. The 

 collateral channel had been finished some time, 

 from a branch of the river in the western part 

 of the city to a point near the main channel. The 

 canal is intended to carry 300,000 cubic feet of 

 water a minute. 



Charities. The fifteenth biennial report of the 

 State Board of Charities, covering the two years 

 ending July 1, 1898, gave the cash disbursements 

 as $3,504,749.64; amount on hand, $189,390.69; 

 amount of appropriations undrawn, $1,877,430.34; 

 average number of inmates in all institutions, 

 8,775; days' board furnished, 6,405,519; average 

 cost per capita, $162.57 per annum. The West- 

 ern Insane Hospital, at Watertown, has been 

 completed, and has a capacity of 650 patients. 

 For the two years beginning July 1, 1898, there 

 was appropriated by the forty-first Assembly to 

 the several charitable institutions the sum of 

 $3,153,520 for ordinary expenses and $1,193,755 

 for special purposes. The surplus, March 31, for 

 all the institutions was $170,285.87; number of 

 inmates at beginning of quarter, 9,833; at close 

 of quarter, 9,942; per capita cost of maintenance 

 (gross), $39.46; net per capita cost, $36.12. The 

 net average cost per capita of the various insti- 

 tutions: Northern Insane Hospital, $39.83; East- 

 ern, $37.93; Central, $28.10; Southern, $33.56; 

 Western, $37.13; Asylum for Criminals, $55.53; 

 Deaf and Dumb Institution, $54.60; Institution 

 for Blind, $54.65; Institution for Feeble-minded, 

 $34.19; Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, $27.84; Sol- 

 diers' Orphans' Home, $35.12; Soldiers' Widows' 

 Home, $58.64 ; Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, 

 $54.08: Home of Juvenile Female Offenders, 

 $35.05. The amount of undrawn appropriations 

 in the State treasury Jan. 1 was $957,610.77; 

 March 31, $576,861.59; Sept. 30, $1,420,484.35. 



Coal. According to reports received by the 

 Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total coal produc- 

 tion for the year was 18,599,299 tons; aggregate 

 home value of the product, $14,567,598; number 

 of coal-producing counties, 52 ; of mines and open- 

 ings, 881; machines employed in mines, 392; mines 

 using machines, 55; tons undercut by machines. 

 3,415,635; underground workers, 31,602; total 

 number employees, 35,026; new mines or old 

 mines reopened, 120; mines closed or abandoned, 

 92; number of fatal accidents, 75, or 6 more than 

 last year. Sangamon County ranked first among 

 the coal-producing counties of the State, with its 

 output of 2,083,572 tons; men employed, 2,507; 

 average working days, 210; total wages paid, 

 $1,174,120; number of kegs of powder used, 73,- 

 294, at a retail price to miners of $1.75 per keg. 



Education. During the past ten years there 

 has been paid for school purposes, outside of 

 teachers' wages, the sum of $14,015,231.59; for 

 salary of teachers, $44,731,919.54. The State pays 

 annually for the support of common schools the 

 sum of $1,000,000, and in ten years there has been 

 raised by voluntary taxation the sum of $61,- 

 000,000. There are about 26,000 public-school 

 teachers in the State. 



Fish and Game. By the new law, which went 

 into effect July 1, no person will be allowed to 



