788 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (OREGON.) 



The Food and Dairy Commissioner's biennial 

 report shows the value of the butter and cheese 

 output in 1902 to be $1,897,000. Of creamery 

 butter 4,000,000 pounds were produced; 3,500,000 

 pounds of dairy butter; and 2,225,000 pounds of 

 cheese. The output has increased 50 per cent, in 

 two years. Cheeses are sold in California at an 

 advance of 3 to 5 cents over the native product. 

 Butter is sold along the Alaskan coast. Econom- 

 ical administration of the department resulted 

 in a saving of $1,500 out of the $7,800 appro- 

 priated by the Legislature. 



At the end of October approximately 10,000 

 tons of beets had been cut, and the sugar prod- 

 uct amounted to 23,000 sacks, with a further 

 product of 2,000 sacks made from brown sugar. 

 This yields 2,500,000 pounds of high-grade sugar. 



In May $15,113.55 were disbursed to the vari- 

 ous counties of the State, this amount being the 

 5-per-cent. fund derived by the State from the 

 Government in the sale of public lands within 

 the State for the year ending June 30, 1901. The 

 division of the fund is made in proportion to the 

 respective acreage of the counties. Multnomah 

 County, with one-fourth the population of the 

 State, received the smallest amount, only $69.90, 

 since its area is but 281,920 acres. 



Progress in manufacturing is noted by C. H. 

 Mclsaac, secretary of the Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation, who estimates the value of goods made 

 in Oregon in 1901 to be about $60,000,000. Port- 

 land manufactures most of the furniture for the 

 Pacific-coast towns. The value of the output of 

 woolen-mills in 1901 was more than $1,000,000. 

 The ship-building industry has doubled in ten 

 years. Exports of sashes, doors, and blinds 

 reached the value of $1,000,000 in 1901. 



The people of western Oregon are giving in- 

 creased attention to grazing, believing that their 

 section is better adapted for the production and 

 maintenance of live stock than for either fruit- 

 growing or general farming. The shortness of 

 the season does not afford the farmer time to 

 develop his crops, and makes it difficult for him 

 to compete with sections of the country where 

 conditions are more favorable. The plentiful 

 rains which last late in spring and come early 

 in autumn, provide a forage crop ample for the 

 maintenance of large herds. The recent rapid 

 growth in the dairy industries and the produc- 

 tion of beef and pork for exportation attest the 

 wisdom of this change. 



The output of gold in Oregon in 1902 amount- 

 ed to $1,860,465; that of silver, $63,600. 



Insurance. The annual report of the Secre- 

 tary of State as ex officio Insurance Commis- 

 sioner, issued on April 1, showed that there were 

 doing business in Oregon 59 fire and marine, 35 

 life and accident, 6 plate-glass, and 2 steam-boiler 

 insurance companies, and 9 surety companies. 

 Under the law requiring the payment of a 2-per- 

 cent, tax on net premiums, $33,988.40 were col- 

 lected. Licenses amounted to $5,927.36. Prior to 

 1901 the receipts from insurance companies went 

 into the commonrschool fund, but an act of the 

 Legislature of that year directed that this money 

 be turned into the general fund. 



Education. In 1902 there were 138,466 chil- 

 dren of school age in the State, an increase of 

 2,648 over the previous year: The number en- 

 rolled in the public schools was 100,659, an in- 

 crease in one year of 2,914. The total enrolment 

 for 1902 at the State Agricultural College, at 

 Corvallis, was 488, an increase of 52 over the 

 previous year. Of this number, 29 students come 

 from other States and countries. Portland had 

 about 750 more school-children in 1902 than in 



1901 ; the number of pupils registered Nov. 8 was 

 11,799. 



A statement from the Secretary of State shows 

 that Oregon has raised in taxes for the State 

 University and the Agricultural College in the 

 past fourteen years $709,001.32; in addition to 

 this, $226,359.18 accruing from the interest fund 

 gives a total of $935,360.50, as the cost of these 

 institutions. The amount raised by taxes in 

 1901-'02 was $183,717.08. 



A scarcity of teachers was reported by the Su- 

 perintendent of Education, owing to the fact 

 that teachers' wages had not kept pace with the 

 increased wages in other occupations. Young 

 men particularly have abandoned teaching in 

 the past few years. The average wage of male 

 teachers is $47.58 a month; of femade, $37.61 a 

 month. These amounts are an increase of a little 

 less than $2 over 1901, but the cost of living has 

 increased in a higher proportion. 



The illiteracy statistics of the Census Bureau 

 shows that 99.58 per cent, of the children of Ore- 

 gon between ten and fourteen years of age were 

 able to read and w r rite in 1900. This places Ore- 

 gon third in the Union in this respect. 



Indian- War Veterans. The veterans of the 

 Indian wars of 1855-'56- have petitioned the Leg- 

 islature for back pay to the amount of $300,000, 

 asking that bonds be issued to that amount on 

 the credit of the State. The Constitution speci- 

 fies that the " Legislative Assembly shall n( t 

 loan the credit of the State, nor in any manner 

 create any debts or liabilities which shall, singly 

 or in the aggregate, with previous debts or lia- 

 bilities, exceed the sum of $50,000, except in case 

 of war, or to repel invasion, or to suppress insur- 

 rection." It is maintained that this provision of 

 The Constitution is inapplicable in the present 

 case, since the obligation to the volunteers was 

 assumed under Territorial law, and the Federal 

 Constitution prohibits any State making a law 

 that shall impair the validity of contracts. The 

 contrary argument maintains that, if the obli- 

 gation is not already outlawed by the statute of 

 limitations, it is binding upon the National Gov- 

 ernment, since Oregon was a Territory and not 

 a State when the debt was incurred, and the 

 Government has already met somewhat less than 

 a fourth part of the pay offered to volunteers, 

 which was at the rate of $2 a day. The petition, 

 which has received signers in all parts of the 

 State, assumes that the United States will re- 

 deem the $300,000 bonds. 



Rivers and Harbors. At the first session of 

 the Fifty-seventh Congress the bill passed pro- 

 viding for work on rivers and harbors contained 

 an appropriation of $2,589.000 for Oregon an! 

 Columbia river. The annual report of the Chief 

 of Engineers relative to Oregon river and harbor 

 works contains the following as most important 

 among its items: The amounts expended on the 

 projects of 1884 and 1893 toward the improve- 

 ment of Columbia river at its mouth was $1,968,- 

 753.14; that expended on the present project $233,- 

 474.47, making a total of $2,202,227.61 to June 

 30, 1902. Work carried on the past year has beea 

 done with the view to facilitating early opera-- 

 linns under additional appropriations, -udi ;<- 

 repairing the washed-away parts of the jetty 

 tramway and making surveys to determine the 

 changes in the course of the river channel. 



Two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars 

 was appropriated toward the " Portland-to-th(- 

 Sea " project, which proposes a 25-foot channel 

 to the sea bv construction of controlling works 

 and dredging*. The estimated cost is $2,796.300, 

 with $175,000 as the cost of a new dredge an! 



