The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-03
FACTS AND FIGURES.
CONCLUDED FROM FIRST PAGE)


while the wage of skilled labor in Indiana
increased during the decade nearly rs per
cent, and of unskilled labor 10 per cent.
Prices are not compared with those of 1896
because the price of commodities cut little
figure with the man who had nothing to
buy with, and the statement of Samuel
GomperS, president of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor, shows that 100000 men
were out of work during the period follow
ing the enactment of the Wilson-Gorman
law The remarkable expansion of In
diana's agricultural interests is also shown
by reference to the census figures of 1900.
A quotation from an Indiana Democratic
paper. the Lebanon Pioneer, gives special
emphasis to these figures The Pioneer re-
Gently said: 1T is estimated that during
the past five years the average increase
in the value Of farm lands in Boone county
has been SIS an acre. This means an in
crease of over $65OO,0OO in the wealth of
the county. The farmer who five years
ago owned farm of eighty acres is to-day
$1,000 better off by the increase in the price
of his holdings" Editor w. II. Craig, Of
the Noblesville Ledger, contributes an in
teresting statistical article on THE Pros
perity of the Indiana Farmer" in which
it is shown that the farmers of Hamilton
county alone receiving average
annual output of wheat, corn, oats, horses,
cattle and hogs nearly 81, 100000 more than
in 1896 The Increase in value of land since
1896 in this one county aggregates more
than $2,5OO,000. Cutting his figures on farm
products in two to strike an average, Mr..
Craig estimates that for an average annual
crop the farmers of Indiana receive nearly
800 100000 more than in 1896, or an average
of 1868 to the farmer.
The history of the rural free-deivery
service in Indiana is given, showing that it
was permitted to languish under the last
Cleveland administration, and was made a
permanent part of the postal service under
the Mckinley administration. Indiana will
soon have 1000 rural routes.
INDIANA FINANCES.
Ahnrrt <rix- 20 n
cussion of Indiana finances and the man.
agement of State institutions under the
present administration. State Auditor Hart
contributes an interesting statistical article
showing existing methods of State ad-
ministration and their results. An article
on the history of the State debt follows. in
which it is shown that the States obliga-
tons never increased rapidly as during
a period of Democratic management end
ing with 1892, and that they were never
decreased so rapidly as during the Republi-
which time the State debt has been
scaled from S,5a,61512 to S2,SS7,6 u.
Methods prevailing in the various State in
situations are described in separate article,
while the charge in the Democratic State
platform that the State penal and benevo-
lent institutions have been prostituted to
partisan ends" is answered by an article
descriptive of a typical State institution.
the Hospital for the Insane near Logans-
port, written for Democratic newspaper,
the South Bend Times, by a Democratic
correspondent The workings of the parole
law and other prison reform measures and
methods which are the result of the present
era of Republican control are also dis
cussed.
A list of the labor reform legislation en-
acted under the present era or Republican
control of legislative affairs is given. A
special article is given TO the Indiana child
labor law, said to be the best in the Union,
and to which special interest is attached be-
cause the absence of such reform measures
in an entire tier of Democratic States
which contribute a majority to every
Democratic caucus of the national House
and Senate, is now attracting widespread
attention. The Indiana mortgage exemption
law is also discussed as "a measure which
has lifted heavy burden of taxation from
the shoulders of the small homeholder.'
Under the heading. Facts About
Republican State Candidates,
| series of brief biographical sketches
| is given. Quotations from recen,
addresses OF Senators Fairbanks and
| Beverage give added interest to the book
| The pamphlet consists, in ALL of nearly
! $50 pages of closely printed matter. With
| this publication, supplemental 10 the ma.
| tional campaign textbook. Indiana spell
! binders will have no lack of figures with
which TO sustain themselves on the stump