The railroads of Illinois are more numerous and of a greater extent of track than those of any other state in the union. This is owing in part to the favorable situation of the state for commerce and travel, and partly to its almost level surface, which reduces the cost of construction to the lowest point. The total number of miles of rail road track in the state in 1874 was 6,116, occupying a space of nearly 60,000 acres, and valued, with right of way and improvements, at more than $40,000,000. The cost of equipping these roads is estimated at nearly $241,000,000; amount of preferred stock, $17,812,000; amount of common stock, $131,472,000; of bonded debt, $125,000,000; of floating debt, $4,180,C00; gross earnings for the year, $43,188,000; operating and general expenses, $29,521,000; excess of earnings over expenses, $13,474,000; freight carried, 10,148,427 tons; number of passengers, 11,464,217. The most important of these roads, with their length in miles, are the following: the Illinois Central and its branches, 705; Chicago and Alton and branches, 548; Chicago, Danville and Vincennes, and branches. 783; Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, 181; Cairo and Vincennes, 156; Indianapolis, Bloomington, and Western, 131; Indianapolis and St. Louis, 186; Ohio and Mississippi, 147; Rockford, Rock and St. Louis, 318; St. Louis and Southeastern, 180; Springfield and Illinois Southeastern, 221; St. Louis, Vandalia, and Terre Haute, 153; Toledo, Peoria, and Warsaw, 230; Toledo, Wabash, and Western, 386; Western Union, 127. The Illinois Central pays to the state 7 per cent of its gross earnings, amounting to over $50,000 per annum, and is not otherwise taxed. The other roads pay taxes upon their assessed valuation. The companies are required to make written reports under oath, at stated intervals, and to obey the rules as to reasonable maximum rates of fare and of freight prescribed by commissioners appointed by the state.
In 1874 the debt of the state amounted to $1,706,750; indebtedness of some of the counties, cities, and towns, represented by outstanding railroad bonds, in 1870, $13,500,000; other indebtedness of counties, cities, and towns, $37,300,000. The commercial facilities of Illinois are scarcely rivaled by those of any other state. The Mississippi washes its whole w. boundary, while the Wabash and Ohio are navigable on one-half the e. and the whole of the s. boundary; the Michigan and Illinois canal, 100 m. long, connects lake Michigan, through the Chicago and Illinois rivers, with the Mississippi; while numerous railroads open the way for freight and passengers from every part of the state to the northern lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The traffic through these channels is immense, and there are no recent statistics that give an approximate idea of its amount. Large quantities of Illinois produc tion go to swell the commerce of St. Louis, Indianapolis, Louisville, and Cincinnati, while vast amounts are shipped directly and without breaking bulk to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco. The foreign coin- • coerce of the state, which is rapidly increasing, is chiefly carried on through the port of Chicago. There were in the state in 1874, 152 national banks with a capital of $20,338,670. There were also 12 state and savings banks doing a discount and deposit business, with a capital of $3,300,000, and 217 private banks. The insurance companies were mostly ruined by the Chicago fire of 1871, but new ones are rapidly taking their places. In 1873 eight new companies were in operation, with an aggregate capital of nearly $2,000,000, and assets amounting to $2,568,000. There were besides at the same tinge 6 life-insurance companies—all in Chicago—having an aggregate capital of '• $1,800,000, and assets amounting to $3,355,000. In 1879 the number of fire, marine, and inland insurance companies was 171. The state is as well supplied with telegraphs as with railroads, the lines extending in the aggregate more than 10,000 miles.
The census during four decades before 1840 showed the presence of a few slaves, introduced by emigrants from the southern states in defiance of the ordinance of 1787. Efforts were indeed made here, as in Indiana and Ohio, to treat that ordinance as a dead letter, and give slavery a foothold n. of the Ohio river, but they proved abortive. The pop. of Illinois in 1870 was 2,539,891, of which 2,024,693 were natives of the country, 515,198 of foreign birth, and 28,762 were colored; males. 1,316,537; females, 1,233,354. The charitable and correctional institutions of the state are: the penitentiary at Joliet, which has usually from 1200 to 1400 inmates; the reform school at Pontiac, with accommodations for but 150 inmates, too small for the public needs; the institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind, at Jacksonville; the charitable eye and ear infirmary at Chicago; insane asylums at Jacksonville, Elgin, and Anna; the institution for the feeble-minded at Jacksonville; and the home for children of deceased soldiers at Normal. These institutions are under the supervision of a state board of commission ers, appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate. The public-school 'sys tem is well organized and efficient.. Appropriations of public money for sectarian
schools are forbidden in the constitution. Every school district is required to maintain a free school during five months of every year, the tax for which is limited to 2 per cent for educational and 3 per Cent fOr,bnilding,:purpeses upon the of its taxa ble property. The elements of' natural science Are to be apart' of the common school course. Teachers are required to produce a certificate of competency from the county superintendent. The amount of the state school fund in 1872 was $12,761,495. crlie total income from this fund and from the current school funds was $7,500,122. The income from current funds was derived chiefly from the two-mill tax and the ad valorem tax in the districts—$900,000 from the former, and $5,292,942 from the latter. The number of school districts in 1872 was 11,231; of public schools, 11,876, of whict. 88 were high and 611 graded; number of teachers—male, 9,094; females, 11,830; average monthly salaries of teachers—males, $50; females, $39; total approximate value of school property, $19,876,708; number of volumes in district libraries, 54,286; number of private schools, 436, with 34,784 pupils. The number of persons in the state unable to read and write was 6,753. The state normal university at Normal for train ing teachers comprises, besides the usual departments, a model school. It employs from 12 to 15 instructors, and usually contains from 700 to 800 pupils, a large proportion of them in the model school. There is another normal university at Carbondale, in the s. part of the state, and, besides the two state institutions, there are county normal schools In Cook, Peoria, and Joe Daviess counties. In 1879 a law was enacted to enforce the attendance at school for at least 12 weeks in each year of every child between the es of 8 and 14. According to the census of 1870 Illinois had 26 universities colleges, with 223 instructors and 4,657 students; 32 academies, with 201 instructors and 4,690 pupils; 2 law schools, with 3 instructors and 61 students; 2 medical schools, with 19 instructors and 358 pupils; 9 theological schools, with 28 instructors and 555 students; 2 schools of agriculture, 2 of commerce, and 2 of art and music. There were in 1873 9 institutions for the superior instruction of girls, all but one under time patronage of some religious denomination; 2 of these 811: Roman Catholic, 2 Methodist, 2 Presby terian, 1 Baptist, and 1 Congregational. The number of medical schools in 1873 was 6, with 89 instructors and 603 students; one of these schools was homeopathic. l'lle theological schools in 1873 were of the following denominations: 2 Presbyterian, 2 Baptist, 1 Methodist, 1 Congregational, 1 Protestant Episcopal, 1 United Presbyterian, 1 Christian, and 1 Lutheran; instructors, 48; students, 260. The number of libraries, private and public, as reported by the census of 1870, was 13.570, containing 3,123,914 volumes. The Chicago the of 1871 destroyed the largest of these libraries. The num ber of newspapers and other periodicals in 1870 was 505, circulating 113,140,492 copies annually. Of these publications, 39 were daily, 10 t•i-weekly, 4 semi-weekly, 364 weekly, 11 semi-monthly. 72 monthly, 2 hi-monthly, and 3 quarterly. The religious organizations in 1870 numbered 4,298, having 3,459 church edifices, and property valued at $22,604,283. The leading denominations are: Baptist, Christian, Congregational, Episcopal, Friends, Jewish, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United Brethren in Christ, Unitarian, and Universalist.
The present constitution of Illinois was adopted in 1870. The senate consists of 5i members, elected for 4 years; the house' of representatives of 153 members, elected for 2 years. The legislative sessions are biennial. The governor and other executive officers (except the treasurer) are elected for 4 years, and cannot serve for two conse•u tive terms. The judicial department is composed of a supreme court, circuit courts, county courts, justices of time peace, and police magistrates. The suivente court., I I eluding the chief justice, is composed of 7 justices, each of whom is elected by the I .eople of a judicial district for a term of 9 years. The chief justice is chosen by his associates. The circuit judges are elected for 6 years, the county and probate judges for 4 years. Voters must have resided in the state one year in the county 00 days, and in the election district 30 days next preceding an election. The electoral votes of Illinois for president and vice-president have been cast as follows: 1820, 3 for Mon roe and Tompkins; 1824, 2 for Jackson and 1 for Adams for president, and 3 for Calhoun for vice-president; 1828, 3 for Jackson and Calhoun; 18:52. 5 for Jackson and Van Buren; 1836. 5 for Van Buren and R.:M. Johnson; 1840, 5 for Van Buren and Johnson; 1844, 9 for and Dallas; 1848, 9 for Cass and Butler; 1852, 11 for Pierce and King; 1856, 11 for Buchanan and Breckinridge; 1860, 11 for Lincoln and Hamlin: 1864. 16 for Lincoln and Johnson; 1868, 16 for Grant and Colfax: 1872, 21 for Grant and Wilson; 1876, 21 for Hayes and Wheeler; 1880, 21 for Garfield and Arthur.