816 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (WASHINGTON.) 



ans except Rogers and Fox, who are Democrats; 

 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, James R. 

 Reavis; Associate Justices, R. O. Dunbar, Mark 

 A. Fullerton, T. J. Anders, Wallace Mount, W. H. 

 White, H. E. Hadley; Clerk, C. S. Reinhart all 

 Republicans except Reavis and White, who are 

 Democrats. 



State officers are chosen for terms of four years, 

 at the time of the presidential elections. The Leg- 

 islature meets biennially in January of odd-num- 

 bered years. It was composed of 34 Senators and 

 80 Representatives, until at the regular session of 

 1901 the number of Senators was increased to 42 

 and the number of Representatives to 93. 



Valuation. The taxable wealth of the State 

 for 1902, as equalized by the State board, is as 

 follows: Land, including town and city lots, ex- 

 clusive of improvements, $151,460,883; improve- 

 ments on land, town and city lots, $46,740,031; 

 land, town and city lots, including improvements, 

 $198,200,934; personal property, $45,888,131; rail- 

 road-tracks, $16,851,073; total valuation of real 

 and personal property, including railroad-tracks, 

 $260,940,138. The board, at the close of its meet- 

 ing, Sept. 22, announced the general fund levy, 

 as fixed at 2 mills of the valuation fixed by the 

 State Board. The military-fund, interest-fund, 

 and school-fund levies are fixed by law at one- 

 fifth of a mill each for interest and military pur- 

 poses, and 5 mills for school fund. 



The total amount that will be raised for State 

 purposes this year is $1,982,718, in addition to the 

 amounts realized from interest on the permanent 

 school funds, from the tide-land sales and rentals, 

 and from 10 per cent, of liquor licenses. The 

 amount expected to be raised for each fund is: 

 General fund, $574,067; school fund, $1,304,701; 

 interest fund, $52,189 ; military fund, $52,189. 



Finances. The quarterly report of the State 

 Treasurer showed a cash balance in his hands at 

 the close of business, Dec. 31, 1902, of $986,742.17. 

 Some of the principal funds into which this 

 amount was divided were: General fund, $2,835.- 

 12; military fund, $98,106.48; school fund, $344,- 

 368.63; current school fund, $166,887.62; revolving 

 fund, Penitentiary, $152,044.81; State Library, 

 $20,446.55; Scientific School, $26,033.77; State 

 Capitol Commission, $97,247.86. 



The biennial report of the Treasurer, issued in 

 October, shows that the indebtedness of the State 

 of Washington has been reduced $131,496.34 in 

 the past two years. 



The following is the statement of indebtedness 

 at the close of the last biennial period, Sept. 30, 

 1902: General fund warrants outstanding, $45,- 

 741.19; interest on same, estimated, $192,65; State 

 bonds held by permanent school fund, $1,165,- 

 000; accrued interest on same, $78,092.68; State 

 funding bonds outstanding, $60,000; accrued in- 

 terest on same, $875.04; total, $1,349,631.56; less 

 cash on hand in general fund, $5,161.62; actual 

 indebtedness, $1,344,469.94; indebtedness reduced, 

 $131,496.34. 



The report shows that the greatest part of the 

 indebtedness, which in 1900 was in general-fund 

 warrants drawing 5 per cent, interest, which in- 

 terest was paid to individuals and warrant buy- 

 ers, has been transferred to State bonds, which 

 draw but 3$ per cent, interest, and the interest 

 goes to Ihe permanent school fund. More than 

 half of the State funding bonds, which were held 

 by Eastern investment companies and drawing 5 

 per cent, interest, have also been wiped out. 



The Commissioner of Public Lands, S. A. Cal- 

 vert, issued a comparative statement of the vol- 

 ume of business transacted by his department, 

 which discloses that during the past two years the 



receipts from the principal money-producing de- 

 partment of the State Government exceeded the 

 receipts during the preceding two years by more 

 than one-third, the increase amounting to $300,- 

 000 in round numbers. The receipts for the two 

 years ending Sept. 30, 1902, were $1,204,005.89. 



Products and Resources. The Crop Reporter, 

 published by authority of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture of the United States, gives the following 

 statistics of Washington in acreage, production, 

 and value of the principal farm crops in 1902: 

 Corn, acreage 10,014, production 230,322 bushels, 

 total value $149,709; winter wheat, acreage 308,- 

 315, production 7,923,696 bushels, total value 

 $5,150,402; spring wheat, acreage 757,139, produc- 

 tion 15,748,491 bushels, total value $10,236,519; 

 oats, acreage 154,006, production 7,115,077 bush- 

 els, total value $3,486,388; barley, acreage 140,- 

 075, production 6,121,278 bushels, total value 

 $2,815,788; rye, acreage 2,910, production 51,798 

 bushels, total value $33,151; potatoes, acreage 31,- 

 288, production 4,255,168 bushels, total value 

 $1,616,964; hay, acreage 322,864, production 739,- 

 359 tons, total value $6,602,476. 



On Nov. 29 State Grain Inspector J. W. Arra- 

 smith presented his biennial report. It showed 

 that in the period between Sept. 1, 1900, and Aug. 

 31, 1902, the number of cars of wheat inspected 

 at the 3 points of inspection in the State Taco 

 ma, Seattle, and Spokane was 37,541, or approx 

 imately 35,268,540 bushels; oats, 2,265 cars or 

 3,125,700 bushels; barley, 1,432 cars or 1,346,280 

 bushels; rye, 28 cars or 33,100 bushels; total 

 amount of grain, 41,266 cars or 38,763,620 bushels. 



A revised bulletin of the Census Office giving 

 statistics of manufactures shows that in 1900 

 there were in Washington 1,814 manufacturing 

 establishments, with an invested capital of $25,- 

 178,732 and a total value of manufactured prod- 

 uct for the census year of $40,645,726. 



The Director of* the United States Mint esti- 

 mated the State's production of gold in 1902 as 

 amounting to $434,100, and of silver $360,400. 



Mining in Washington is slowly recovering 

 from the depressing effect of the temporary diver- 

 sion of capital to Alaska. In the year* ending 

 Aug. 25 the Seattle Assay Office received the fol- 

 lowing quantities of gold and silver from neigh- 

 boring fields: Alaska, $3,476,759; Idaho, $5,670; 

 Oregon, $4,904 ; Washington, $68,684 ; British Co- 

 lumbia, $627,678; Yukon Territory, $11,097,118. 



The hop-crop for 1902 was estimated at 38,000 

 bales. 



The value of the output of the fisheries indus- 

 try for 1902 is estimated by Fish-Commissioner T. 

 11. Kershaw in his annual report at $6,730,870, 

 including salmon packed, fresh, salt, and smoked 

 fish, shell-fish, and all fish products. The numter 

 of cases of salmon packed in the year is given at 

 777,484. The commissioner reports that as a to- 

 tal this is under the output of last year. 



The report shows that there is invested in the 

 industry in the State of Washington the sum of 

 $6,819,818, an increase of $2.457,348 in the past 

 two years. There are 7,615 whites and 2,055 Chi- 

 nese and Japanese employed in the industry, and 

 their annual earnings are $2,502,550. 



Possibly one of the most important subjects 

 touched upon in the entire report is the declaration 

 of Mr. Doane, that the several years' experiments 

 have developed the fact that Eastern oysters will 

 not propagate in Washington waters under nat- 

 ural conditions. The Eastern oysters will spawn 

 profusely, but the spat will not set or thrive. The 

 greatest difficulty to overcome is the low tempera- 

 ture of the waters of the Sound. The avera 

 temperature of the water is about 10 lower 



