518 



NEBRASKA. 



fund warrants outstanding amounting to $l,o<l.- 

 c;s5(5l This with a bonded debt amounting to 

 $153,207.35 made a total of $1.724,953.9(5. The 

 bonded debt is now $55.000 and the outstanding 

 warrants amount to $1.774,588.92. 



Education. The school population in 

 was 36(5.069: the enrollment, 273.915): the average 

 dailv attendance. 173.930: number of school- 

 houses, 6,676: average number of days of school 

 in all districts. 131: number of teachers in public 

 schools. >.60S; total wages. $2.359.807. The total 

 exiKMiditures. including a balance on hand at the 

 close of the year of $(573.341. were .$4.385,358. 



The number of students in the State University 

 in December. 1S99. was 1.5(50. There were 622 

 new students admitted in the autumn. 



The enrollment at the State Normal School for 

 the vear ending June. 1898. was (599. 



There were 110 at the Institute for the Blind. 

 The School for the Deaf had 165 pupils. 



Charities and Corrections. The State In- 

 du<trial School for Boys, at Kearney, in 1898, had 

 150 inmates. In all 1,202 boys have been in the 

 school since it was established in 188T. The 

 (iirls' Industrial School was established at Geneva 

 in ls>3. 



The Institution for Feeble-minded Youth, at 

 Beatrice, had 220 inmates, and applications for 

 itfO more who could not be accommodated. 



A fire at the State Penitentiary, Dec. 15, con- 

 sumed the manufactures building and caused a 

 loss amounting to between $75,000 and $100,000. 

 The principal part of the loss falls upon the State, 

 which owned the building and machine shop, to- 

 gether valued at $50,000 and uninsured. 



Products. The annual crop review of the 

 Omaha Bee, compiled from reports of correspond- 

 ents in every part of the State, and published in 

 Octolier. indicates that the corn crop of 1899 ex- 

 ceeds the record of 1897, the best previous year, 

 by 14.217.240 bushels and reaches 244,125,093 

 bushels. The average yield per acre is 34.5 bush- 

 els, and the crop is not only the largest, but, 

 taken as a whole, is of as good quality as any 

 ever raised in the State. The total of the wheat 

 yield is below that of the last two previous years. 

 This is due to the damage to the plant during 

 the winter in the winter wheat district. In the 

 spring wheat region in the northern part of the 

 State the crop is fully up to the average in qual- 

 ity and quantity. The total yield is 29,333,914 

 bushels, an average of 11.4 bushels per acre. The 

 oat crop amounts to 53,575,097 bushels, an aver- 

 age yield of 33.1. This is about an average with 

 other years. 



Mortgages. Tiie report of the mortgages 

 given and canceled in the first half of 1898 shows 

 the number of farm mortgages filed to be 6,411, 

 the amount being $7,003,266.46. The number 

 satisfied was 8,758, amounting to $8,197,147.84. 

 The numtier of town and city mortgages filed is 

 2,593, amounting to $1,908,343.60. The number 

 satisfied is 3,215, amounting to $3,623,290.64. 



The numt>er of chattel mortgages filed is 

 38.839. amounting to $21,518.388.48. The num- 

 ber satisfied is 20,558, amounting to $9,019,358.87. 

 The numtier of foreclosures of farms is 502, and 

 of city property 432. Lancaster County is not 

 included in the report of chattel mortgages. 



Banks. The semi-annual report of the State 

 tianking department in July shows a total of 

 resources and liabilities of $30,453,723 ; with loans 

 and discounts, $17,898,386; capital stock paid in, 

 $7,232,485; and general deposits, $21,025,766. 

 This was believed to be the best showing so far 

 made by the banks of the State. The whole num- 

 ber of banks covered by the statement is 398, 



including State, savings, and private banks. The 

 average reserve is 45 per cent. In three months 

 the legal reserve had increased $2,230,506; the 

 cash reserve, $64,170; the capital and surplus, 

 $190,740; the deposits, $1,772,716; the total re- 

 sources, $1,658,125. 



Building Associations. There were 60 of 

 these doing business in the State June 30, 8 hav- 

 ing gone out of operation since the beginning of 

 the year, while 4 new ones had been formed. 

 Their assets amounted to $3,331,042, of which 

 $2,358,773 was in first mortgage loans, besides 

 $35,652 that were in process of foreclosure. The 

 loans made amounted to $539,149. 



Insurance. From the statement of the in- 

 surance department, published in April, covering 

 1898, it appears that the joint fire insurance com- 

 panies of other States and nations wrote risks 

 amounting to $96,326,346 and received $1,250,079 

 in premiums. The losses paid amounted to 

 $552,704, and the losses incurred to $569,760. 

 This shows a great increase in the amount of 

 business. The Nebraska farmers' mutual com- 

 panies wrote risks amounting to $18,592,249, and 

 received an income of $176,409. The expenses of 

 these companies amounted to $77,456. The losses 

 paid were $79,349, and the policies in force at the 

 end of the year amounted to $56,537,124. This 

 does not include the Nebraska farmers' mutual 

 corhpanies organized under the law of 1873. Com- 

 panies organized under that law wrote risks 

 amounting to $7,972,723, and received $134,693 in 

 premiums. Their expenses amounted to $54,454, 

 and the losses paid were $33,827. The losses 

 incurred amounted to $31,244. In addition 

 there were many city and village insurance com- 

 panies that paid $32,654 for losses and wrote 

 risks amounting to $6,852,566 and received an 

 income of $86,151. Agents' commissions and ex- 

 penses amounted to $80,498. 



Nebraska joint stock companies wrote risks 

 amounting to $11,106,593, received $157,947 in 

 premiums, and paid out $63,752 for losses. The 

 expenses of these companies amounted to $81,375. 



The business of these mutual companies also 

 shows a large increase. 



The Exposition. No full account of the 

 affairs of the Omaha Exposition has come to 

 hand, but reports at the close appear to indicate 

 that it was not financially successful. An Omaha 

 letter of Nov. 1 says: "It would be impossible 

 to state the exact total receipts. The paid stock 

 was $89,300; sale of buildings and material about 

 $50,000; water plant, $18,000; concessions, about 

 $70,000; admissions, something over $190.000; 

 making a total of something less than $420,000 

 as received by the management. At the opening 

 of the gates the corporation was in debt some- 

 thing like $60,000. At the time of the reorganiza- 

 tion, a month later, the new management, by 

 hard work, was able to secure loans to the 

 amount of about $40,000 within ten days after 

 taking control. The gates closed with a debt 

 in excess of $130,000, not counting the $89,300 

 capital stock paid up." 



Legislative Session. The session of the 

 Legislature lasted from Jan. 3 to March 31. 

 A. R. Talbot was president pro tempore of the 

 Senate, and Paul F. Clark Speaker of the House. 



There were 6 Democratic members of the Sen- 

 ate, 10 of the House; 18 Republicans in the 

 Senate and 55 in the House; 9 Populists in the 

 Senate and 35 in the House. 



The term of United States Senator William V. 

 Allen having expired, a successor was elected, 

 but only after a long contest. Mr. Allen was 

 the candidate of the fusionists, Monroe L. Hay- 



