“ The executive officials hold office for four years, with the exception of the treasurer, whose term of service is two years. The governor must be at least thirty years of age, and he must also have been a citizen of the United States and of Illinois for the five years preceding his election. His veto may be over-ridden by a two-thirds vote of all the members elected to the legislature. Members of the legislature, which meets biennially, are chosen by districts, three representatives and one senator from each of the 51 districts, 18 of which are in Cook county. ”

“ The constitution prohibits the state from lending its credit or making appropriations in aid of any corporation, association or individual, and from constructing internal improvements, and the counties, townships, and other political units cannot incur indebtedness in excess of 5% of their assessed property valuation. The legislature may not contract a debt of more than $250,000 except to suppress treason, war or invasion, and no legislative appropriation may extend longer than the succeeding legislature. General banking laws must be submitted to the people for ratification. ”

“ The great manufacturing centre is Chicago, where more than seven-tenths of the manufactured products of the state were produced in 1900, and more than two-thirds in 1905.
In this development of manufactures, the mineral resources have been an important influence, nearly one-fourth (23.6%) of the manufactured product in 1900 depending upon minerals for raw material. Although the iron ore, for the iron and steel industry, is furnished by the mines of the Lake Superior region, bituminous coal and limestone are supplied by the Illinois deposits. ”

“ No railway company may now issue stock except for money, labour, or property actually received and applied to purposes for which the corporation was organized. In 1907 a law went into effect making two cents a mile a maximum railway fare. An anti-trust law of 1893 exempted from the definition of trust combinations those formed by producers of agricultural products and live stock, but the United States Supreme Court in 1902 declared the statute unconstitutional as class legislation. ”

“ The Federal government completed in October 1907 the construction of a new canal, the Illinois & Mississippi, popularly known as the Hennepin, from Hennepin to Rock river (just above the mouth of Green river) , 7 ft. deep, 52 ft. wide (at bottom) , and 80 ft. wide at the water-line. This canal provides, with the Illinois & Michigan canal and the Illinois river, an improved waterway from Chicago to the Mississippi river, and greatly increases the commercial and industrial importance of the “twin cities” of Sterling and Rock Falls, where the Rock river is dammed by a dam nearly 1500 ft. ”

“ The policy of the British government was not favourable to the economic development of the newly-acquired country, since it was feared that its prosperity might react against the trade and industry of Great Britain. But in 1769 and the succeeding years of English control, this policy was relaxed, and immigration from the seaboard colonies, especially from Virginia, began. In 1771 the people of the Illinois country, through a meeting at Kaskaskia, demanded a form of self-government similar to that of Connecticut. ”

“ The relation of the state to corporations and industrial problems has been a subject of important legislation. The constitution declares that the state’s rights of eminent domain shall never be so abridged as to prevent the legislature from taking the property and franchises of incorporated companies and subjecting them to the public necessity in a way similar to the treatment of individuals. ”

“ Important influences in the agricultural development of the state have been the formation of Farmers’ Institutes, organized in 1895, a Corn Breeders’ Association in 1898, and the introduction of fertilizers, the use of which in 1899 was nearly seven times the amount in 1889, and the study of soils, carried on by the State Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture. ”

“ The law recognized that a child should not be treated like a mature malefactor, and provided that there should be no criminal procedure, that the child should not be imprisoned or prosecuted, that his interests should be protected by a probation officer, that he should be discharged unless found dependent, delinquent or truant, and in such case that he should be turned over to the care of an approved individual or charitable society. ”

“ Railways organized or doing business in the state are required by the constitution to have a public office where books for public inspection are kept, showing the amount of stock, its owners, and the amount of the road’s liabilities and assets. ”

“ The surface of Illinois is an inclined plane, whose general slope is toward the S. and S.W. The average elevation above sea-level is about 600 ft.; the highest elevation is Charles Mound (1257 ft.) , on the Illinois-Wisconsin boundary line, one of a chain of hills that crosses Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Boone and McHenry counties. An elevation from 6 to 10 m. wide crosses the southern part of the state from Grand Tower, in Jackson county, on the Mississippi to Shawneetown, in Gallatin county, on the Ohio, the highest point being 1047 ft. above the sea ”

“ Greene’s The Government of Illinois, and H. P. Judson’s The Government of Illinois (New York, 1900) . Among the reports of the state officials, those of the Railroad and Ware House Commission, of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and of the Commissioners of Charity are especially valuable. There is an historical study of the problem of taxation, entitled, “History of the Struggle in Illinois to realize Equality in Taxation,” by H. B. Hurd, in the Publications of the Michigan Political Science Association (1901) . ”

“ The trustees of the institution, who have legislative power only, are the governor, the President of the Board of Agriculture, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and nine others elected by the people. There were in 1907 more than forty other universities and colleges in the state, the most important being the University of Chicago, North-western University at Evanston, Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, Knox College, Galesburg, and Illinois College at Jacksonville. ”

“ A Board of Arbitration (1895) has authority to make and publish investigations of all facts relating to strikes and lock-outs, to issue subpoenas for the attendance and testifying of witnesses, and “to adjust strikes or lock-outs by mediation or conciliation, without a formal submission to arbitration.” ”

“ A law of 1901 provided for a system of initiative whereby any question of public policy might be submitted to popular vote upon the signature of a written petition therefor by one-tenth of the registered voters of the state; such a petition must be filed at least 60 days before the election day when it is to be voted upon, and not more than three questions by initiative may be voted on at the same election; to become operative a measure must receive a majority of all votes cast in the election. ”

“ Grounds for divorce are impotence of either party at time of marriage, previous marriage, adultery, wilful desertion for two years, habitual drunkenness, attempt on life, extreme and repeated cruelty, and conviction of felony or other infamous crime. ”

“ The Kaskaskia, in the S., notable for its variations in volume, and the Rock, in the N., are the other important rivers emptying into the Mississippi; the Embarrass and Little Wabash, the Saline and Cache in the E., are the important tributaries of the Wabash and Ohio rivers. The Chicago river, a short stream 1 m. long, formed by the union of its N. and S. branches, naturally flowed into Lake Michigan, but by the construction of the Chicago Drainage Canal its waters were turned in 1900 so that they ultimately flow into the Mississippi.
The soil of Illinois is remarkable for its fertility. ”

“ Special legislation is prohibited when general laws are applicable, and special and local legislation is forbidden in any of twenty-three enumerated cases, among which are divorce, changing of an individual’s name or the name of a place, and the grant to a corporation of the right to build railways or to exercise any exclusive franchise or privilege. ”

“ There has also been great inequality in valuations, the increase of valuation in Cook county made in compliance with the revenue law of 1898 being $200,000,000, while that for the rest of the state was only $4,000,000. Among other sources of revenue are an inheritance tax, which yields approximately $1,000,000 a year, and 7% of the annual gross earnings of the Illinois Central railway, given in return for the state aid in the construction of the road. ”

“ Industry and Commerce.—The fertility of the soil, the mineral wealth and the transportation facilities have given Illinois a vast economic development. In 1900 more than seven-tenths of the inhabitants in gainful occupations were engaged in agriculture (25.6%) , manufactures and mechanical pursuits (26.7%) , and trade and transportation (22%) . ”

“ The warm winds which sweep up the Mississippi Valley from the Gulf of Mexico are responsible for the extremes of heat, and the Arctic winds of the north, which find no mountain range to break their strength, cause the extremes of cold. ”

“ Other prosperous industries are the manufacture of lumber and timber products (the raw material being floated down the Mississippi river from the forests of other states) , whose output increased from 1890 to 1900 nearly 50%, but declined slightly between 1900 and 1905; of furniture ($22,131,846 in 1905; $15,285,475 in 1900; showing an increase of 44.8%) , and of musical instruments ($13,323,358 in 1905; $8,156,445 in 1900; an increase of 63.3% in the period) , in both of which Illinois was second in 1900 and in 1905 ”

“ The blood is converted into clarifying material, the entrails are used for sausage coverings, the hoofs and small bones furnish the raw material for the manufacture of glue, the large bones are carved into knife handles, and the horns into combs, the fats are made to yield butterine, lard and soap, and the hides and hair are used in the manufacture of mattresses and felts. ”

“ In 1818, however, many citizens were in debt for their lands, and “squatters” invaded the rights of settlers. Congress therefore reduced the price of land from $2 to $1.25 per acre, and adopted the policy of pre-emption, preference being given to the claims of existing settlers. The Indians, however, resisted measures looking toward the extinguishment of their claims to the country. ”

“ Many of the original wild animals, such as the bison, bear, beaver, deer and lynx, have disappeared; wolves, foxes and mink are rare; but rabbits, squirrels and raccoons are still common. The fish are mainly the coarser species, such as carp, buffalo-fish and white perch ”