720 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (INDIANA.) 



The wholesale dry-goods business surpassed all 

 previous records. An increase of 10 per cent, in 

 the volume of business brought the receipts Jf the 

 wholesale establishments up to $173,030.000, ex- 

 ceeding the figures of 1901 by more than $15,- 

 000,000. The volume of lumber shipments from 

 Chicago was 900,000,000 feet. The local_ consump- 

 tion for the year is estimated at $1,175,000. 



Arbitration. The year 1902 marked a dis- 

 tinct advance in arbitration and conciliation in 

 the adjustment of differences between employers 

 and employees. The State Board of Arbitration 

 \\as created in 1895; but it was hampered in its 

 earlier years by a defective law and did not ap- 

 proach " the highest degree of usefulness until 

 \\ ithin a recent period. With its enlarged powers 

 and efficient membership the board has become 

 an important factor in the industrial world. Its 

 work in 1902 affected nearly all of the more 

 important cities of the State. The most con- 

 spicuous results, however, were accomplished in 

 Chicago, where, through the mediation of the 

 board, the most serious labor disturbances of 

 the year were adjusted. These included the 

 strike of the department-store drivers, the strike 

 of the stock-yards teamsters, and the strike of 

 the freight-handlers. The latter was the more 

 far-reaching in its effects, completely tying up 

 the railroad freight business into and out of 

 Chicago, and affecting the commercial interests 

 of all the cities in the vast territory tributary 

 to that city. The cost of the strike was esti- 

 mated to be at least $1,000,000 a day, and there 

 was wide-spread commendation of the success of 

 the State Board of Arbitration in hastening its 

 end. The strike was declared off July 16, having 

 been in effect ten days. 



INDIANA, a Western State, admitted to the 

 Union Dec. 11, 1816; area, 36,350 square miles. 

 The population, according tp each decennial cen- 

 sus since admission, was 147,178 in 1820; 343,031 

 in 1830; 685,866 in 1840; 988,416 in 1850; 1,350,- 

 428 in 1860; 1,680,637 in 1870; 1,978,301 in 1880; 

 2,192,404 in 1890; and 2,516,462 in 1900. Capital, 

 Indianapolis. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1902: Governor, Winfield T. Durbin; 

 Lieutenant-Governor, Newton W. Gilbert; Secre- 

 tary of State, Union B. Hunt ; Auditor, William H. 

 Hart; Treasurer, Leopold Levy; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, William L. Taylor; Superintendent of Pub- 

 lic Instruction, Frank L. Jones; Adjutant-Gen- 

 eral, John R. Ward; Commissioner of Insurance, 

 Cyrus W. Neal; Commissioner of Public Lands, 

 L. G. Rothschild ; Statistician, Benjamin F. John- 

 son ; Geologist, Willis S. Blatchley ; Tax Commis- 

 sioners, J. C. Wingate, Parks M. Martin; Super- 

 visor of Natural Gas, J. C. Leach; Secretary of 

 the Board of Forestry, W. H. Freeman ; President 

 of the Board of Health, J. H. Forrest; Factory In- 

 spector, D. F. McAbee; Fish and Game Commis- 

 sioner, Z. T. McSweeney; Secretary of the Board 

 of Charities, Amos W. Butler; Chief Justice of the 

 Supreme Court, James H. Jordan; Associate Jus- 

 tices, John V. Hadley, Alexander Dowling, Lean- 

 der J. Monks, Francis E. Baker, succeeded in Jan- 

 uary by John H. Gillett ; Clerk, Robert A. Brown. 

 All the State officials are Republicans. 



A Governor is elected once in four years at the 

 time of the presidential election. Other State 

 officers are elected once in two years, in November 

 of the even-numbered years. The Legislature 

 meets biennially in January of the odd-numbered 

 years, and consists of 50 Senators and 100 Repre- 

 sentatives. 



Finances. The State received from the Gen- 

 eral Government in July $635,859.20, the civil 



war claim. The State debt was reduced this year 

 by $1,817,000, and is now $2,887,615.12, on which 

 the annual interest is $101,565. 



The tax duplicate of corporation property as- 

 sessments in the State this year amounted to 

 $191,078,389.53, an increase of $7,769,778.27. 



On account of the failure of the gas supply and 

 the consequent diminution of the value of gas 

 property, the board reduced the assessment of pipe- 

 line companies $688,028.26. Telegraph companies' 

 assessments were decreased $36,628.50. Transpor- 

 tation companies, including sleeping-car and re- 

 frigerating-car companies, were decreased $26,- 

 762.77. The board increased the assessment on 

 steam-railroad property $5,824,836. On the prop- 

 erty of electric and street railways it increased as- 

 sessments $1,892,860. On telephone companies the 

 increase was $638,660. On express companies it 

 was $174,841.50. 



The figures on the property of the various classes 

 of corporations were: Telephone companies, $5,- 

 065,323.30; telegraph companies, $2,478,183.50; 

 steam-railroads, $162,797,987; electric railways, 

 $9,639,312; transportation companies, $846,048.23; 

 express companies, $2,055,981.50; pipe-line com- 

 panies, $8,195,554. 



The assessed value of all property in 1902 was 

 $1,436,305,524. The Auditor estimates that this, 

 together with other sources of revenue, will bring 

 into the treasury $2,704,350. 



Decisions. By a decision of the Supreme Court 

 in a suit brought by the Auditor to collect taxes 

 on the good-will of the property of a newspaper, 

 the good-will of a business can not be taxed. 



By a decision in May the Supreme Court de- 

 clared the mortgage-deduction law valid. Two of 

 the judges concurred in a minority report. They 

 insist that the mortgage-deduction law is uncon- 

 stitutional in four particulars. About 80,000 tax- 

 payers in Indiana are affected by the court's de- 

 cision. Mortgage deductions are claimed on prop- 

 erty amounting to $40,000,000 in value, and the 

 benefit to the taxpayers in deductions under the 

 law will not fall far short of $800,000. 



A suit begun by the State in 1872 against the 

 Vandalia Railroad was won in the Supreme Court 

 in November. The Legislature, in an act in 1847, 

 provided that after the stockholders should re- 

 ceive as dividends an amount equal to the sum 

 invested and 10 per cent, per annum, the Legisla- 

 ture might then regulate the tolls, and all net 

 profits thereafter, above a sum sufficient to pay 

 an annual dividend to the stockholders of 15 per 

 cent., should go to the school fund. The Van- 

 dalia must pay a judgment of $913,905 with in- 

 terest at 6 per cent. Principal and interest, the 

 judgment amounts to $1,028,143. 



The bonded debts of the 5 largest cities of the 

 State are: Indianapolis, $2,446.600; Evansville, 

 $2,155,000; Fort W^ayne, $624,800; Terre Haute, 

 $345,000; South Bend, $289,500. 



Education. The number of illiterates in the 

 State in 1900 was 90,539. The percentage of per- 

 sons between the ages of ten and fourteen years 

 able to read and write was 99.45, Indiana stand- 

 ing sixth in the list of States and Territorie- in 

 this respect. In 1890 it stood thirteenth, with 9' 

 per cent. 



The report of the Superintendent of Education 

 for the year ending July 31 shows that the total 

 school fund was $10.443,885.32, of which the 

 schools received 6 per cent., distributed seniian- 

 nually. There was an addition of $53,558.99 to 

 this fund, principally from fines. Of the fund 

 $821,822.96 is in the hands of county audit OK. 



The total expenses of maintaining the schools 

 of Indiana, including all forms of expenditure, 



