616 



OHIO. 



taxes have considerably more than doubled 

 since 1861, the commencement of the war. 



The total indebtedness of the State, funded, 

 irreducible, and local, aggregates $50,039,- 

 478.93. Two-thirds of the whole amount is 

 made up of debts of cities, and of this sum 

 two-thirds is the debt of Cincinnati. The 

 total amount of all public debts in Ohio is a 

 little over one-third of the debt of the city of 

 New York. Adding the mortgage debts and 

 the commercial debts, it will be found that 

 Ohio is less in debt than any of the large 

 States ; and, as a consequence, its business is 

 stable, and its property comparatively little 

 liable to fluctuation. The total real value of 

 property in Ohio is at least $2,300,000,000. 

 The total public debt is less than 3 per cent, 

 on that. Excluding railroad mortgages, the 



mortgage and commercial debts do not exceed 

 $100,000,000. If all the debts of Ohio, exclud- 

 ing railroads, are put at $200,000,000, it will 

 be above the mark ; that is, about 9 per cent, 

 on the entire property of the State, and at least 

 half of this is due among its own citizens. 



Out of $27,000,000 levied by taxation, only 

 a little more than one-sixth is for State ex- 

 penses. In fact, the expenses of the State of 

 Ohio are very small, comparatively. The 

 State tax is 2^ mills, and is one-sixth part 

 only of the whole tax, the other five-sixths 

 being for local purposes. Of the whole State 

 tax, only one-seventh part is for State ex- 

 penses properly ; that is, four-tenths of a mill, 

 or one thirty-ninth part of the total taxes. 

 The highest expenditure by the State is for the 

 asylums. The Columbus Central Asylum has 



SUSPENSION BBIDGE OVEB THE OHIO AT CINCINNATI. 



been several years building, and has cost a 

 great sum of money. The furnishing of that 

 asylum alone has cost $100,000. There are 

 now six asylums for the insane, and the ex- 

 penses for them are very large. The school 

 tax has been constantly diminishing, the great 

 cost of schools being now thrown on the local 

 municipalities. The school expenses of Cin- 

 cinnati amount to half of all the school tax of 

 the State. The sinking-fund tax is paying the 

 interest and part of the principal of the State 

 debt. In a short time the whole State debt 

 will be paid. 



The number of animals returned for taxa- 

 tion was : 



Horses 741,841 



Cattle 1,485,078 



Sheep 8,724,040 



Hogs 2,139,910 



Mules 27,222 



Total 8,118,091 



This is claimed to be the largest number in 

 any State in the Union. Cincinnati is the lar- 

 gest horse market in the country, and the sec- 

 ond largest pork market. 



The annual report of the Commissioner of 

 Eailroads and Telegraphs shows that an im- 

 petus has been given to railroad building, the 

 increase during the year being 263 miles, mak- 

 ing a total in the State of 4,722.8 miles of 

 main track. The following aggregates com- 

 prise some of the most important features of 

 the report : 



During the year 16,992,589 passengers were 

 carried by the railroads running through or 

 into Ohio, which is 684,063 less than were car- 

 ried in 1876. 



The freight tonnage for the year aggregates 

 30,338,004 tons, which is an increase over 

 former years of 990,205. The gross earnings 

 of operated lines for the year were $58,095,- 

 489.87, a decrease of $5,165,650.70. 



In net earnings there is a falling off com- 

 pared with the last year of $2,997,214.05. 

 The total, which was $14,832,223.66, is 2.56 

 per cent, upon the total paid in stock, bonds, 

 and other debts of the companies owning 

 lines. 



The earnings from passengers aggregate 

 $1,559,214.32, a decrease of $884,718.45. 



The freight earnings amounted to $38,678,- 

 746.65, a falling off of $3,765,327.82. 



The total paid-in capital stock of the various 

 roads doing business in Ohio aggregates $273,- 

 310,568.02. 



The outstanding bonds amount to $282,283,- 

 130.09, and the other net debt to $24,978,- 

 540.21, making a grand total of $580,572,- 

 246.32. 



The interest paid during the year on bonds 

 amounted to $9,830,682.94, and on the float- 

 ing debt $645,123.96. The dividend paid upon 

 preferred stock aggregates $580,029.75, and 

 on general stock $3,940,388.05. 



The proportions of the above aggregates for 

 Ohio are : 



