Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/724

 ILLINOIS

654

ILLINOIS

fic'liLs underlie three-fourths of the state. The fruitful soil, the great waterways, the lake ports, the central location, the rich coal-beds, the great railway systems have made possible the wonderful growth of Illinois as an agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial state. The population of Illinois in 1900 was 4,821,- 550, 4,7.34,873 being whites, 85,078 negroes, 1.5S3 Asiatics, and 16 Indians. In population it ranks after New York and Pennsylvania.

Resources. — Agriculture and Coal. — One of the great industries of the state is agriculture. The total acreage of Illinois is 32,794,728 acres. In 1900, 27,- 699,219 acres were under cultivation. The total value of farm property in Illinois in 1907 was .$2,004,316,- 897, and the value of the year's produce .$345,649,611. In 1907, the acreage given to the leading crops in Illinois was as follows: —

Wheat 1,.321,224 acres

Oats 2,81,-,,233 "

Corn 7,294,873 "

Hav 2,303,616 "

Rye 68,439 "

Barley 4,022,598 "

In the natural products of the state coal is next in importance to agriculture. In the production of coal Illinois ranks next to Pennsylvania. Illinois coal is bituminous. The total output of the state in 1907 was 47,798,621 tons. The number of mines that year was 933. The total value of the coal at the mines in 1907 was .$49,486,396. Fifty-five of the one hundred and two counties of the state arc coal producing and the coal-field area is over 8700 square miles.

Banks and Railroads. — The banking business of Illinois since about 1895 has been remarkable. Chi- cago has become the seconil greatest money centre of the nation. The total number of national banks in Illinois in 1907 was 407, with a capitalization of over S50,000,000 and a surjjlus of .$27,000,000; while there were 421 state banks with a capitalization of $52,000,000 and a surplus of $24,000,000. Of the state banks 227 were operating savings departments and 36 were exercising trust powers. The number of private banks in 1907 was 827. Besides thirty- six banks operating trust tlepartments three were organized under the Trust Company Act of 1887, and thirteen foreign corporations qualified as trust com- panies. In Chicago, there are two banks — the First National, and Illinois Trust ami Savings, that usually have more than $100,000,000 each on deposit. In 1907, Illinois had a main track mileage of 11,967.42 miles; including branches, industrial, yard, and second tracks, it had a total track mileage of 20,066.21 miles. The number of steam railroad cmjiloyees was 130,984, and the amount of wages paid was $89,158,407. The total earnings and income of the steam railroads in Illinois amounted to $190,.505,736. In the year ending 30 June, 1907, the total number of passengers carried on the interurban and elevated railroads was 197,781,911.

Mannjaclures. — The natural resources of the state, its central location, its ports on Lake Michigan, the ideal position Chicago holds as a distriljuting centre, and the ample supply of labour, have made Illinois the third greatest manufacturing state in the Union. It is only surpassed by New York and Penn- sylvania. In 1900 the amount of money invested in manufactures was $776,828,598; the number of wage-earners dependent on manufactures was 395,111 and to these the .sum of $191,510,962 was paid as wages. The manufactured products had a value of $1,2,59,730,168, while in 1905 this value had risen to .$1,410,342,129. There arc more than 300 distinct lines of manufacture in the state, carried on in over 38,000 separate establishments, and Illinois ranks first in slaughtering, meat and packing products, agricultural implements, bicycles, steam railroads,

cars, glucose, and distilled liquors. Nearly half the agricultural implements in the United States are maiuifactured in Illinois. The ten leading industries with the value of their products in 1905 were in the order of their output as follows: —

Slaughtering $317,206,082

Foundry and machine shop

products 79,961,000

Iron and steel 87,353,000

Clothing 67,439,000

Liquors 77,889,000

Flour and gristmill

products 39,892,000

Agricultural implements 38,412,000

Cars and general shop con- struction .steam railroads 25,491,000

Furniture 22,132,000

Of the manufacturing business in Illinois more than seventy-one per cent is to be found in the cities. There are thirty-one cities in the state the seats of manufacturing establishments. The value of manu- factured products in Chicago in 1908 was $1,865,- 959,000 as against $1,598,147,500 in 1907. In 1908 the lake traffic in Chicago was 15,307,635 tons in and out, as against a tonnage of 17,000,000 for Lon- don, 13,000,000 for Liverpool and 15,000,000 for Hamburg. The largest shipments to the port of Chicago are of iron ore of which 4,419,883 tons were received during the year 1908. Illinois had 9175 oil wells, 1 January, 1908, with a total product in 1907 of 24,500,000 barrels.

Educational Sy,stem. — Slate University. — The State University had its origin in the Act of Congress pa.ssed 1862 making grants of land to Illinois and other loyal states, for the purpose of founding col- leges, "the leading object of which" should be "to teach such branches of education as arc related to agriculture and the mechanic arts ". The endowment fund, which was enlarged by Act of Congress in 1890, amounts to $600,000. In 1867 the state accepted this grant and chartered the Illinois Industrial University, which in 1885 became the University of Illinois. The state has appropriated millions for its buildings ami sustenance. It is the only agricultural and technical state institution in Illinois. It aims now to give a liberal as well as a technical education. Its courses in the liberal arts do not give it rank with the first universities of the country; but as an indus- tri:d and technical institution combined it ranks very high. The university has 25 buiklings, 400 pro- fes.sors, and a student body of 4700. In 1857 was pa.sse<l the .\et establishing a State Normal Uni- versity to enable teachers to qualify for the common schools of the state. This is a university only in name, being nothing but a school in fact. In 1874 a normal school was established at Carbonilale and others later at Charleston, De Kalb, and Macomb.

Public Sclioiil.i. — The pulilic school system of Illi- nois had its origin in the ordinance of the Congress of the old Confederation passed in 1787, establishing for the North-West Territory the system of land surveys by townships six miles square, which pro- viiled that section sixteen, or one thirty-sixth part, should always be set apart for maintaining public .schools within the township. By the enabling Act of 1818 Congress gave these lands to the new states, and in addition promised three per cent of the net proceeds of all public lands sold in Illinois after 1 January, 1819, to be appropriated by the state for the encouragement of learning. Practically nothing was done in jnirsuance of this .\ct until 18:i, and the system did not take its present form until 18,54. when the first state superintendent was appointed. There were no special provisions in the .State Constitution of 1848 relative to education: liut in the Constitution of 1870, which is the Constitution still in force, there was