Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/648

 526 UNITED states: — OHIO

Chanty. — State institutions comprise a Penitentiary and a Reformatory, an industrial home for boys and one for girls, 7 hospitals, an institution for deaf mutes, one for the blind, and one for feeble-minded youth, a soldiers' and sailors' home, and a soldiers' and sailors' orphans' home.

Within the State (apart from almshouses and asylums for the insane, &c.) there are 267 benevolent institutions, 62 of Avhich are public {i.e., belong to the Federal or State or municipal authorities) while the rest have been pro- vided by private associations or religious bodies. The institutions com[)rise 74 hospitals (eight public), seven dispensaries, 105 orphanages (49 public), eight day nurseries. 68 homes (three public) and five institutions for the deaf and blind (two public). The tiustees of townships or the proper officials of corporations relieve the poor, but applicants with legal residence elsewhere (acquired by 12 months' continuous residence without j)oor relief) are to be sent to their county of settlement. Paupers may be required to earn their own support by labour on public property. County infirmaries (almshouses) are under boards of directors who appoint superintendents. Directors and superintendents may not sell or furnish supplies for the poor. Directors report to the State board of charities. Special provision is made respecting pauper children. There is a penalty of 50 dollars for bringing paupers into a county to make them a public charge. On January 1, 1911, the almshouses had 7,949 pauper inmates (296 coloured).

Finance, Defence- — The taxation levies for all purposes, and the ex- penditure, for the fiscal year ending November 15, 1912, were : —

Dollars Cash in hand, Nov. 16, 1911 .... 3,768,116

Income, 1911-1912 14,036,902

Total 17,805,018

Disbursements, 1911-12 13,122,180

Balance, Nov. 16, 1912. . . 4,682,838

In 1911 the newly constituted State Board of Taxation fixed the values of all forms of property and property values at par on the dollar, the aggregate exceeding seven billions.

The sura annually expended out of the tax levy for schools and school purposes is slightl}'^ above 2,500,000 dollars.

The levelling up of all forms of property and property values lo par has the ettect of placing the tax burden on an automatically just basis — on the dollar, not the person.

There is no bonded debt in the State. Certain trust funds which consti- tute an irreducible debt of the State amount to 4,991,421 dollars, on which interest is paid amounting to 294,153 dollars to various educational funds. The local debt (County, City, Township, &c.) amounts to 146,271,411 dollars.

The National Guard consists of 546 ofl3.cers and 6,906 enlisted men. I^e Naval Militia has 18 officers and 247 men.

Production and Industry. — Ohio is sxtensively devoted to agi-icul- ture. In 1911 it contained 289,945 farms of an aggregate area of 25,665,850 acres, of which 19,244,472 acres were improved land. The chief crops are cereals, hay, potatoes, fruits and vegetables, besides tobacco. The maize crop in 1912 amounted to 174,410,000 bushels, and the wheat crop to