ILLINOIS 



2925 



ILLINOIS 



are important products, and in the southern 

 counties a small amount of tobacco is raised. 

 Orchard fruits, especially apples; grapes, to the 

 cultivation of which certain parts of the state 

 are particularly well adapted; and small fruits, 

 of which the most important is the straw- 

 berry, are also grown; and in the neighborhood 

 of Chicago there are great truck gardens which 

 send their produce to the city in the early 

 morning hours. 



Good grazing land, and plenty of hay and 

 corn these are the factors which have made 

 of Illinois an important stock-raising state. 

 Only Iowa competes with it in the number of 

 horses and of hogs, while in its number of 

 dairy cows Illinois ranks third. It is in the 

 northern part of the state, within easy reach 

 of Chicago, that the dairy industry has grown 

 to large proportions. 



Transportation. Illinois exceeds all other 

 states except Texas in its railway mileage, and 

 if yard track, industrial track and siding be 

 taken into account, it ranks first. Its main 

 lines aggregate fully 12,200 miles, or slightly 

 over twenty-one miles for every one hundred 

 square miles of area. The problem of laying 

 railroads has been comparatively simple; there 

 have been no deep, sheer valleys to bridge, 

 no mountains to tunnel through or elevated 

 passes to cross only comparatively level 

 ground, which has not seriously taxed the 

 energy and ingenuity of engineers. Chicago, 

 the greatest railway center in the world, is 

 the terminus of thirty-four railroads, whose 

 length totals more than 60,000 miles ; and there 

 are in addition to these other great trunk lines 

 which cress the state farther south and enter 

 Saint Louis. 



The excellent river transportation afforded 

 by the Mississippi and its tributaries and by 

 the Great Lakes has been referred to above. 

 Chicago, the only Illinois port of entry, is the 

 greatest of the world's lake ports (see CHI- 

 CAGO). But there remain the canals those 

 waterways less appreciated to-day than for- 

 merly, but of great importance, nevertheless. 

 The first canal problem was to connect Lake 

 Michigan with the Illinois River, and this 

 was accomplished in 1848 by the completion 

 of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which has 

 its western end at La Salle. In 1907 there was 

 finished the Hennepin Canal, which connects 

 the Illinois River with the Mississippi. 



Government. The present constitution of 

 Illinois, the third in its history as a state, 

 dates from 1870. Amendments may be pro- 



posed by two-thirds of each house of the gen- 

 eral assembly, but do not become operative 

 until ratified by the people at a general elec- 

 tion. Not more than one amendment may be 

 proposed at one session of the legislature, and 

 the same article of the constitution may not 

 be brought up for amendment oftener than 

 once in four years. Amendment is thus ren- 

 dered difficult, with the result that for a 

 number of years there has been a demand for 

 a convention to frame a new constitution. 



The executive department of the govern- 

 ment consists of a governor, lieutenant-gov- 

 ernor, secretary of state, auditor of public 

 accounts, treasurer, superintendent of public 

 instruction and attorney-general, all chosen 

 by popular vote and .holding office for four 

 years, except the treasurer, who is elected for 

 two years. He is not eligible for reelection 

 until two years after the expiration of his 

 term. 



The legislative department consists of a gen- 

 eral assembly composed of two houses, a sen* 

 ate and a house of representatives. The senate 

 has fifty-one members, one elected from each 

 of the senatorial districts into which the state 

 is divided, the term of office being four years. 

 Each district also returns to the lower house 

 three -representatives, chosen for two years. 

 The manner of voting for representatives, in 

 accordance with the principles of minority 

 representation, is especially interesting. Each 

 voter has three votes, and he may distribute 

 these among three candidates, give one and 

 one-half votes to each of two, or cast them 

 all for one candidate for whose election he is 

 particularly anxious. This method of "cumu- 

 lative voting," as it is called, has been adopted 

 in few states, and is in disfavor, even in 

 Illinois, as it frequently promotes the election 

 of undesirable officials. The sessions of the 

 legislature are biennial, .and are held in the 

 odd-numbered years. The governor holds the 

 usual veto power, but a two-thirds vote of both 

 houses makes a bill operative despite the gov- 

 ernor's veto. 



At the head of the judicial system is the 

 supreme court, which consists of one judge 

 from each of the seven judicial districts into 

 which the state is divided. Their term is nine 

 years. No decision may be given by the court 

 in which four of the judges do not concur. 

 The lower judicial bodies consist of circuit 

 courts, appellate courts, county courts, and at 

 the bottom of the list the justice courts, be- 

 fore which only petty cases are brought. Cook 



