OHIO. 



617 



Capital stock paid in $156,288,960 



Funded debt 152.408,441 



Otherdebt, net 17,696,107 



Total stock and debt 226,888,510 



Miles of main track 4,722 



Miles of double track, sidings, etc 1,219 



Total earnings 81,017,636 



Net earnings 8,078,820 



Number of employes (a reduction of 483) 26,000 



Ohio railroads, like those of the "West gener- 

 ally, suffered during the year from the general 

 depression in business. Of 57 roads doing 

 business in the State, but 13 less than one- 

 fourth paid any dividends, and nine of these 

 owe their apparently prosperous condition to 

 the fact that they were leased at favorable 

 figures, leaving only four to pay dividends out 

 of the business actually done on the roads. 

 Of the 13, two paid dividends only on pre- 

 ferred stock, while four were able to pay 

 small dividends on both common and preferred 

 stock, and all these were leased roads. This 

 shows that leasing roads is, under some cir- 

 cumstances, more profitable than operating 

 them, though the fact that the lessees actually 

 lost money would indicate that it would scarce- 

 ly be possible to make euch favorable terms 

 now. The following are the losses of the 

 operating companies on some of the leased 

 lines : 



Central Division of the Baltimore & Ohio, 

 $123,197.36 ; Cleveland & Pittsburgh, $292,- 

 845.47; Little Miami, $338,412.58; Pittsburgh, 

 Fort Wayne & Chicago, $276,138.56 ; Toledo, 

 Canada Southern & Detroit, $127,296.61 ; and 

 the Toledo & Woodville Road, $32,165.96. 

 The two oldest narrow-gauge roads in the 

 State show a deficit in their earnings. The 

 average cost of operating railroads in Ohio is 

 about 71.47 per cent of the gross earnings; 

 that is, in order to earn $100 it is necessary to 

 spend $71.74. 



The report of the State Commissioner of 

 Common Schools presents the following sta- 

 tistics : 



Grand total of receipts, including balance on 

 hand, September 1, 1876 111,682,483 85 



Amount of salaries to teachers 4,957,264 00 



Grand total of expenditures, including salaries 

 of teachers 8,08,MO 82 



Number of teachers employed 28,003 



Number of pupils enrolled 



Average monthly enrollment 



Average daily attendance 



Total value of school property $21,145,527 



Number of school-houses erected during the 



490 



year. 



The report of the State Mine Inspector places 

 the number of fatal accidents in Ohio coal- 

 mines during the year at 30 ; the coal out-put 

 (estimated) is equal to 5,125,000 tons, which 

 is one fatal accident for every 170,666 tons of 

 coal mined. The number of underground 

 miners employed during the year is estimated 

 at 13,000, making one death for every 433 

 men employed. As a means of comparison, 

 statistics of British mining for the same period 

 are given. The deaths in British collieries 

 were 933, being one for every 159,688 tons of 

 coal, or one life lost for each 551 persons em- 

 ployed. 



The public works of the State, originally 

 costing $16,000,000, but a portion of which 

 had been abandoned, or suffered to fall into 

 decay, were some years since leased to a com- 

 pany, which operated them subject to the gen- 

 eral inspection of the Board of Public Works. 

 On the 23d of June the lessees notified the 

 board of their intention to abandon the lease 

 on the 1st of December, on the ground that 

 certain acts of the Legislature, authorizing the 

 filling-up of part of the canal basin in the city 

 of Hamilton, operated as an eviction of them 

 from what they claimed to be a valuable part 

 of the leased property. The board took no 

 action, and when the canals were abandoned 

 on the 1st of December, . refused to receive 

 them, and directed the attorney-general to 

 bring suit upon the lessees' bond for the six 

 months' rent due in advance. By consent of 

 both parties, two receivers were appointed, 

 one on behalf of the State, and the other for 

 the lessees, to take charge of and operate the 

 canals until action should be taken by the 

 courts or the Legislature. 



The adjourned session of the sixty-second 

 General Assembly began January 2d, and 

 closed May 7th, with the sine die adjournment. 

 A large number of acts were passed, among 

 those of most general importance being the 

 compulsory education act, which compels 

 every parent, guardian, or other person hav- 

 ing control or charge of a child between the 

 ages of 8 and 14 years, to provide it with a 

 good common school education, at least twelve 

 weeks in each school year ; an act providing 

 for the appointment of two commissioners to 

 investigate into the cause, pathology, and best 

 means for prevention and cure of any epidemic 

 disease affecting the live stock of the State ; 

 an act to authorize free banking, provided the 

 act should be ratified by the people at the next 

 State election ; an act submitting to the people 

 an amendment to the Judicial Article of the 

 Constitution; an act for the protection of 

 wool-growers, and the confiscation of dogs ; 

 an act providing for the incorporation of farm 

 laborers' associations ; an act creating a bureau 

 of statistics of labor ; an act providing for the 

 registration of voters; an act establishing a 

 school of mines and mine engineering in the 

 Ohio Agricultural College ; an act making im- 

 portant changes in the militia law ; and a 

 series of acts adopting the penal part of the 

 codified statutes. 



On the 12th of January the General Assem- 

 bly appointed a joint commission of five Repre- 

 sentatives and three Senators to investigate the 

 cause of the bridge disaster on the Lake Shore 

 Railroad, at Ashtabula, on the 29th of De- 

 cember previous. The commission reported, 

 March 22d, that the disaster was caused by 

 defects in the original construction of the 

 bridge, which might have boon discovered at 

 any time by careful inspection. A joint rt- 

 lution was adopted, March 30th, indorsing the 

 pacification policy of President Hayes, and 



