The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-02-03
STATE AFFAIRS.


mostly rule and figure work. as the print
ers say. We CLEAN from it here and theie II
few items Of more or less interest
First glancing at state expenditures, we
find that in 1874 and 1910, the amount col
lec;ed for school purposes was two millions
one hundred sud fiftyfour thousand dollars,
in round numbers, but by the judicious mode
of paying office expenses, $l0,2S4 went to the
state commissioner, and by sundry little Incl
dentals $l54 ,429 were gobbled up, and two
millions Of 1t left for legitimate use.
The expense Of opening the sessions of the
2Sth general assembly with prayer was $3.50.
Notwithstanding the immense volume of
gas generated by that body, il was found ne.
cessary to procure better quality for illum-
mating purposes at a cost of s., 535.Gl.
In 1875 La Sale county sent 10 prisoners
to the pententiary at cost of SlOl2O. Cook
county sent down 80 and twenty other coun-
ties exceeded ours in convicted criminals.
Adams and Alexander had 81 each, and Nc.
Lean, our closest rival IN other particulars,
contributed thirtynlne convicts-three to
our one.
Cook had SO convicts in the reform school,
La Sale none.
The Incidental expenses Of the Office of
Secretary Of State include S99.50 for ice and
so for newspapers. The secretary must
have taken red hot republican papers 10 have
needed 50 much Ice to cool off. He must
have very unclean office, as another item is
$50 for washing towels. On the other hand
the Auditor seems never TO have washed, as
he has no bill for towels lie cooled himself
on $S7 worth of ice and took no newspapers.
The Adjutant General squandered $5,10l.37,
which, for all purposes of practical use,
might as well have been thrown into the fire
The amount of printing and stationery was
something over $4,000, and $4,000 were
paid to an expert to hunt up the frauds in the
printing steal"
The Supreme Court is An expensive luxury.
The southern division cost $2,09G5O; the
central $G440.S2, and the northern, doing
more business than both OF the others,
$5,7SS9).
La Sale county has outstanding railroad
bonds, as follows: Bruce, $2S0O0; Dayton,
$4,000; Ottawa, $4,000; South Ottawa,
$4,000; Usage, $4,000. Total amount of
railroad bonds subscribed by the several
towns, S251, 900. But there are several other
counties in a much worse condition. De
Wits bonds figure up to S4jO,OOO; Gallatin
$325000; Mclean, $557, 900, and Vermillion
about 100000. So if misery loves company
La Sale has plenty.
The La Sale county school tax was in
1926 1877, 1851, second to Cook, and La Sale
county paid S7,2G4 06 to the state more than
she received from the state. That year forty.
three counties in Illinois received more school
money than they paid In school taxes. In
1875 La Sale paid TO the State Treasurer
SS4,56G.57, Mclean and Cook only exceeding
this sum.
In 1915 the total taxes levied in La Sale
county we're 1861, S0443; Mclean, $3.50, 175.
81; and Sangamon $G7S,0Si56.
In 1875 La Sale reported 2397j horses at
an average of $4970; Mclean 24,954, aver.
age $4l.S4; and Cook 20,211, average value
$3.50.
Cattle, La Sale 54,262, average value SIG
So; Cook $4,000, average value 1881; Nc
Lean::j1 1888, average value $3.50.
The highest average value of horses was
SG017, Morgan county, and the lowest in
Hancock, S2l.27. Bureau county, next west
of La Sale, assessed cattle at SELL 40, while
we put them at $477O.
OF mules and asses, a legged La Sale
had only S57, which she figured at 1894
Macon holds hers at $72 10 each, and Bureau
accounts for 1872 of them at the low average
OF $23lO.
Cook reported II, 124 carriages and wagons
and La Sale $500
La Sale IS Sd in watches and clocks, as
sessing G SS7, and Cook only 1926.
OF sewing machines we had 4,32S and
Cook 1898. Cook county valued hers at an
average of $165S. We buy them from her
and raise their price to s239s. At Bloom
ington, further from Chicago by so miles,
SN"IuS arc III S~O''''
We own up to $40 pianos, worth $11421
each, while Cook, the only county that
US in these instruments of tor
ture, calls them worth SS6S1 each. The
average value Of these instruments varies as
much as their tone. Gallatin must possess
very heightened instruments at $40, while
in Macoupln they dwindle to the contempt.
BILE figure of $41.Sl. The value of organs,
too, runs from $S6,3S to $3.50, the latter IN
Macoupin, where low order of musical in
struments seems to suit them best.
In the way of diamonds and jewels La
Sale county makes slim showing, only
Boosting 1915 worth of these ornaments, but
respectable enough if Cook county can boast
Of but $l35Gl. We had supposed that the
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