1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Illinois

ILLINOIS (see ). The pop. by the 1920 census was 6,485,280, as compared with 5,638,591 in 1910 and 4,821,550 in 1900. The rate of increase 1910-20 was 15%, as against 14.9% for the whole United States and as against 16.9% for the state in the preceding decade. The increase of 1910-20 was urban, rural pop. continuing to decline. In 1900 the percentage of urban pop. in towns and cities of 2,500 or over was 54.3%; in 1910 61.7%; in 1920 67.9%; 35.2% of the total pop. in 1900, 38.8% in 1910, and 41.7% in 1920 was in Chicago. In 1920 52.5% of the state's pop. was in cities greater than 25,000. Population in villages of less than 2,500 declined from 12.6% in 1900 to 12% in 1910 and 10.5% in 1920. Purely rural pop. fell from 33.2% in 1900 to 26.4% in 1910 and 21.6% in 1920. The rapid growth of towns of 25,000 to 100,000 is significant, their gain in the decade being 29.2%.

Population of Cities of over 25,000.

{{EB1911 Fine Print|uncertain, but in 1915 there were at least 586. Failures in this class have been frequent, and Acts passed in 1917 and 1919, and ratified by popular vote in the elections of 1918 and 1920, require all such banks to cease business or submit to state supervision.

Government.&mdash;Despite the difficulty of changing the organic law, in the period 1910-20 there were far-reaching changes in the organization of the machinery for government. Under the constitution of 1870 an amendment must be initiated by two-thirds of both Houses in the General Assembly and approved by a majority of all persons voting at the next election, a provision that in 1916 caused the loss of an amendment increasing the General Assembly's taxing powers because it received a majority only of those voting on the question. Further, in a session an amendment to but one article can be proposed and no two amendments to any article can be offered within four years. Revision of the constitution by amendment therefore proved too difficult, and in 1917 the General Assembly voted to submit to the people the question of a constitutional convention, which was approved at the election of Nov. 1918. Accordingly in 1919 an Act was passed for a convention to meet Jan. 6 1920. Difficulties arose between the delegates from Chicago and those from the southern part of the state over proposals to limit Chicago's representation in the General Assembly, and in Dec. 1920 the convention adjourned with its work unfinished to meet in Sept. 1921. Important changes in the state's system of appointments were effected. First in time was the extension by the Act of 1911 of the civil service system, established six years before in the state charitable institutions, to the greater part of the state's employees. Civil service now covers all state appointees except those appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, the scientific and academic staff of the university of Illinois and the normal schools, and a few others, such as special attorneys appointed by the attorney-general. All examinations are competitive, though for some scientific posts &ldquo;unassembled examinations&rdquo; are given which consist of questions as to training and experience. By an amendment of 1917 all appointees may be removed by the appointing authority, but are allowed an appeal to the State Civil Service Commission on allegation that the removal is due to race, politics or religion. Reorganization of governmental machinery had begun in 1909 with the abolition of separate boards for the various state charitable institutions and the establishment of one central board of control possessing also certain powers over private charitable institutions. In addition to this board a supervisory state charities commission was created. There remained, however, more than a hundred state boards, bureaus and offices, paid and unpaid, created to execute various acts and to supervise various state institutions; the result was disorder and waste. A reorganization recommended by an efficiency and economy committee in 1914 was in great part adopted in the State Consolidation Act of 1917. This Act necessarily left untouched the constitutional offices, secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, treasurer, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction, but set up in addition to them nine departments{{&mdash;Finance, Agriculture, Labor, Mines and Minerals, Public Works and Buildings, Public Welfare, Public Health, Trade and Commerce, Registration and Education. The heads of these various departments, who are appointed by the governor and Senate, have acted as a Cabinet for the governor.

{{EB1911 Fine Print|Suffrage and Elections.&mdash;The most important development since 1910 has been the complete enfranchisement of women. Initiated by the Act of 1891, which allowed women to vote in elections of school trustees, it was continued by the Act of 1909, making women eligible to all offices under the school law of the state. In 1913 the General Assembly extended to women the franchise for presidential electors, members of the board of equalization, for all state offices not already open to them by the constitution and for offices in cities, villages and towns. Enfranchisement was completed by the Federal constitutional amendment of 1920. In legislation as to primaries the state has had difficulty in procuring constitutional laws. Acts of 1905, 1906 and 1908 were invalidated by the Supreme Court. An Act passed in 1912 stood the test, but a further Act passed in 1919 was declared unconstitutional.

Public Finance.&mdash;For the biennium 1916-8, the last for which statistics are available, the total revenue of the state in respect of the General Revenue Fund was $41,856,721. Of this the general property tax supplied $27,532,790, the 7% of Illinois Central Railroad earnings $3,775,240, the inheritance tax $3,848,174, subventions by the Federal Government $330,215; the balance was the proceeds of fees, fines, receipts from state institutions, etc. In addition to the General Revenue Fund the receipts of the state in respect of certain other special funds amounted to $19,912,132. Of these the receipts for the state school fund were $7,911,653, the proceeds of the special mill tax for the university of Illinois $4,847,202, the receipts from automobile licence fees used for hard roads $4,353,090, and receipts to be applied toward registered bonds guaranteed by the state $1,897,400. Expenditures for the biennium 1916-8 based on both groups of funds were $47,919,125; when classified by state departments the largest were those for registration and education, $15,409,692, which included disbursements for the university of Illinois and the state school fund. The expenditure of $14,831,833 for public welfare included expenditures on the charitable and penal institutions of the state. The other large totals were: state officers, $4,217,448; public works, $3,083,850; administration, $2,462,031;}}

{{EB1911 Fine Print|registered bond fund, $2,062,823; military, $1,704,207; trade and commerce, $1,198,713; agriculture, $1,023,285.

Education.&mdash;In 1918 there were enrolled in the elementary schools of Illinois 490,762 boys and 478,185 girls; in the state high schools 50,107 boys and 62,450 girls. The total number of teachers was 34,597. The estimated value of school property was $154,619,859, of which $10,553,848 represented equipment, furniture, etc. Total funds available were some $68,000,000, and expenditures in school districts some $52,000,000, of which $1,294,537 was spent on administration, $29,001,198 for instruction, $5,961,635 for operating plant, $8,745,373 for new buildings and equipment, $3,236,889 for repairs, etc. Teachers' salaries were low. In 1918 over one-half the elementary-school teachers were paid between $300 and $700. Such conditions result in unsatisfactory professional standards: 1,015 teachers in 1918 had attended no school above elementary; 1,787 had attended, but not graduated from, a high school; 9,631 were high-school graduates. Even with such meagre qualifications, there was a serious shortage of teachers in the state. The most significant development in recent years has been in high-school education. Acts of 1913 and 1915 directed the payment by local school authorities of tuition for children who wish to attend high school elsewhere when there was none in their district. In 1917 an Act was passed making easier the establishment of country high schools and laying a tax on the community for the payment of tuition to other high-school districts in which the community's children attended high school. An adverse decision of the state Supreme Court caused the reënactment of the measure in different form in 1919. As a result of this legislation the numbers of high schools, students and teachers have doubled since 1906:&mdash;}}

{{EB1911 Fine Print|There has been a corresponding increase in the enrolment in the universities and colleges of the state, notably in the university of Illinois, the capstone of the state's educational system. The university enrolment between 1910 and 1920 rose from 5,217 to 9,208. Appropriations have failed to follow this increase, with the result that, with an annual revenue of $3,967,848.20 as against $2,002,038.23 in 1910, the university found itself badly crippled. In spite of this it performs an ever-increasing variety of services to the state. Not only in its colleges and graduate schools does it train teachers, chemists, and engineers for the benefit of the state, but its special schools of agronomy, animal husbandry and dairy husbandry coöperate with the farmers of the state in solving their problems. Its schools of ceramics, civil, electrical, mechanical, mining, municipal, sanitary and railway engineering and architecture devote themselves to the study of the state's problems. By various research bureaus and surveys, such as the State Geological Survey, it conducts research for the benefit of the state. Of the other two large universities of the state, the university of Chicago in 1919-20 had a total enrolment of 10,880, with a faculty, exclusive of assistants, of 328. Its total assets exceeded $50,000,000; its library included 900,000 books and pamphlets (see {{EB1922 article link|Chicago, University of}}). Northwestern University, located in Evanston and Chicago, had a total registration in 1920-1 of 7,389, and a faculty of 389, exclusive of assistants. Its libraries included over 300,000 books and pamphlets. Its annual expenditure was $1,398,084.}}

History.&mdash;In 1912, as a result of the Progressive secession, the Republican party for the first time in 16 years lost control of the state, the Democratic presidential electors winning by a vote of 405,038, as against 386,478 for the Progressives and 253,593 for the Republicans. The Democratic state ticket headed by Edward F. Dunne was elected by a somewhat larger plurality over Gov. C. S. Deneen, Republican, and Frank H. Funk, Progressive. The Democrats, however, did not control the General Assembly on joint ballot and had to compromise with the Republicans on the election of one Democratic senator, James Hamilton Lewis, and one Republican, Lawrence Y. Sherman, the latter to fill an unexpired term to 1915. By 1914 the normal Republican majority in the state reasserted itself, the popular vote for senator in that year being L. Y. Sherman, Republican, 390,661; Roger Sullivan, Democrat, 373,403; Raymond Robins, Progressive, 203,027. Wilson lost the state in the presidential election of 1916 by 160,000 votes, Frank O. Lowden, Republican, being elected governor over Edward F. Dunne. In spite of the appeal for the support of the Wilson administration on patriotic grounds, but five Democratic congressmen were elected in 1918, and Medill McCormick, Republican, beat J. H. Lewis, Democrat, for senator by 53,024 votes. In 1920, after an extremely bitter primary fight in the Republican party, Len Small was nominated for the governorship over John J. Oglesby, Small running on a platform opposing the action of the Public

Utilities Commission in allowing increase of rates by public utilities, and advocating increased taxation of wealth. In the election Republican state and national tickets swept the state by overwhelming majorities, though Lewis, the Democratic candidate for governor, ran ahead of his presidential ticket.

The governors of Illinois after 1905 were: Chas. S. Deneen, 1905-13; Edward F. Dunne, 1913-7; Frank O. Lowden, 1917-21; Len Small, 1921-{{gap}}.

World-War Activities.&mdash;Under the vigorous leadership of Gov. Lowden, Illinois supplied 188,010 drafted men and 163,143 volunteers, a total of 351,153, to the armed forces. The 33rd Division, made up of Illinois National Guard units, saw service in France both on the British front and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The 149th Field Artillery, originally the 1st Illinois Artillery, was in the 42nd Division and took part in many engagements; the 13th, or Railway, Engineers and several other Illinois units also saw service in France. One divisional cantonment, Camp Grant at Rockford; the great naval recruit training depot at Great Lakes, Lake Bluff; Fort Sheridan, near Chicago, utilized first as an officers' training camp, then as a hospital; Chanute and Scott aviation fields at Rantoul and Belleville, together with various other camps and training centres, were located in the state.

{{EB1911 Fine Print|The organization of the state for participation in the war was the work in great measure of the state Council of Defense, created by Act of the General Assembly, and representing capital, labour and other interests. Over 110,000 volunteer workers affiliated themselves with this body. Under its direction the agriculture of the state was turned with unexampled success to the production of wheat, barley and rye. The manufactures of the state also were reorganized for war purposes. Citizens of the state subscribed $1,586,227,500 to Liberty Loans, exceeding the state's quota by 28%, and gave more than $50,000,000 to war relief agencies. The universities and colleges of the state organized students' army training corps, gave their students to the officers' training camps and their specialists to all phases of Government activity, from experts' work at the Peace Conference to chemical experiment and railway operation.

See, in addition to the books listed in {{EB1911 article link|14.311|Illinois}}, Centennial History of Illinois (5 vols., published by the state 1918-20) and later volumes of the Illinois Historical Collections.}} (T. C. P.)