OHIO 



4352 



OHIO 



first. Ohio surpasses all the other states of the 

 Union in the manufacture of safes and vaults, 

 nearly two-thirds of the output of the whole 

 country being manufactured there, and most of 

 them in Cincinnati. 



Transportation. The state has splendid trans- 

 portation facilities gy rivers, canals and rail- 

 roads. By means of Lake Erie and the Erie 

 Canal it has direct water communication with 

 the Atlantic coast, and by the lake route com- 

 munication with the Northwestern states. The 

 Ohio River provides a navigable waterway to 

 the states of the Mississippi Valley and an out- 

 let to the sea at New Orleans. Two canals, 

 crossing the state from north to south and 

 connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, 

 were built early in the nineteenth century. 

 One of these, the Ohio Canal, joins Cleveland 

 and Dresden, passing through Columbus, and 

 the other, the Miami and Erie, is between 



Toledo and Cincinnati. Besides these water 

 facilities, Ohio is traversed by all the principal 

 trunk lines that run from the east to Chicago 

 and Saint Louis, so every part of the state is 

 served by one or two railroads. The state has 

 over 9,300 miles of railroad and over 4,000 miles 

 of electric lines, ranking next to New York 

 and Pennsylvania in electric mileage. The 

 ch'ef railroads are the New York Central lines, 

 including the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago 

 & Saint Louis ; the New York, Chicago & Saint 

 Louis; the Pennsylvania lines; the Baltimore & 

 Ohio; the Wabash; the Hocking Valley; the 

 Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton; the Erie, and 

 the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton. There is a 

 public service commission, which has power to 

 supervise and regulate public utilities and rail- 

 roads, and to examine and fix rates. Public 

 utilities companies are forbidden to give re- 

 bates or unjust or unreasonable preferences. 



Government and History 



Government. Ohio is governed under a - con- 

 stitution adopted in 1852, which is the second 

 since its admission to the Union. This consti- 

 tution has been amended several times, the 

 last being in 1912. An amendment may be 

 proposed in either house of the legislature and 

 must be approved by three-fifths of the mem- 

 bers of each house and by a majority of the 

 people. Counting from 1912, the question 

 whether a convention to revise, alter or amend 

 the constitution shall be convened may be 

 submitted to the people at the general election 

 every twenty years. 



Five executive officers, the governor, lieuten- 

 ant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer and 

 attorney-general, are elected for two years, and 

 the auditor is chosen for four years. 



The legislative power is vested in a senate 

 composed of thirty-three members and a house 

 of representatives composed of 123 members, 

 elected for two years. Regular sessions are 

 held every second year, starting the first Mon- 

 day in January in odd-numbered years, and are 

 not limited as to their length. Ohio sends 

 twenty-two members to the United States 

 House of Representatives. 



At the head of the judicial department is 

 the supreme court, which consists of seven 

 judges, elected by the people for six years. 

 The state is divided into appellate districts, 

 and in each of these there is a court of appeals 

 consisting of three judges, elected for six years. 

 Each county has a court of common pleas, with 



judges elected by the people for six year terms. 



Since 1912 the cities have enjoyed what is 

 equivalent to municipal home rule. Any town 

 with a population of 5,000 inhabitants or more 

 may frame and adopt a charter for its incor- 

 poration as a city, and any city may adopt 

 the commission 

 form of govern- 

 ment. The initi- 

 ative, the refer- 

 endum and the 

 recall of all elec- 

 tive officers have 

 been adopted in 

 the government 

 of cities. Statutes 

 for the govern- 

 ment of munici- STATE SEAL 

 palities, other than general laws, must be ap- 

 proved by a popular vote before they become 

 operative in a municipality. 



Other Provisions. Ohio has adopted the 

 primary election law for the nomination of all 

 state, county and municipal officers ; it has 

 also adopted the referendum and initiative for 

 all state legislation and the recall of all elec- 

 tive officers, including members of the legis- 

 lature. Emergency measures passed by two- 

 thirds of the members of each house are not 

 subject to referendum. For dealing with the 

 liquor traffic the state has adopted local option. 

 In 1914 the unit of local option was changed 

 from the county to the township and munici- 



