of the time describe it is being thirty feet wide, of which twenty feet was covered with "pounded stone." Its construction gave employment to very large numbers of men-there was no scarcity of laborers even at the small wage of $6 per month paid (in addition to board and lodging in camps). The road entered Ohio from Wheeling and ran directly west in the central part of the state, passing through Zanesville, Columbus and Springfield, to Richmond. Indiana, and beyond.

The canal was still the matter of first importance before the legislators, and they appropriated $6,000 to defray the expense of a continuance of the surveys to determine the best route for it. The middle, or Sandusky and Scioto route, as it was called, seemed to be the one most favored, and it was particularly mentioned in the act that it should have the careful consideration of the engineers.

Interest in the Legislature centered in three main subjects the public schools, the canal, and the newly proposed system of producing a revenue by taxing property according to its value. There was much. "log-rolling," and it became evident to the editors of the state that neither of the three proposed acts, against all of which there was organized opposition, could pass without application of the policy "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." The delay in the determination of a route by the canal commission carried all three proposals over to the next session.

Through most of the year 1823 and all of the year 1824 until November, the chief-almost the exclusive-subject of discussion in Ohio was, "Who shall be the next president?" Nothing was plainer than that "the era of good feeling" was over. Presidential candidates were energetically assailed and vigorously defended. Five of these occupied the attention of the people-John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts; Henry Clay, of Kentucky; John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina; Gen. Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee; and William H. Crawford, of Georgia, then Secretary of the Treasury. The intensity of this contest, begun more than eighteen months before the election was to occur, was astonishing. All the candidates were "confessedly republicans" (the name democrat was not yet often applied to the party), and the controversy was taken as an evidence that the party was far from united.

The vote in Ohio was: Clay, 19,255; Jackson, 18,489; Adams, 12,280. After the election, and it became known that the choice of a president would have to be made by Congress, the acrimonious disputation continued with even greater fury than before. John Quincy Adams' election by Congress was followed by the formation of a determined opposition to all his policies and acts, which was fostered by the adherents of General Jackson. Their efforts to make their idol president at the next election were never for a moment abated.

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATIVE SESSION

December 6, 1824, to February 8, 1825

The head of the Senate was once more Allen Trimble; of the House, Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, whose public career was undistinguished except by this one elevation to office and service on the canal commission.

The election for governor had attracted little attention in the press, but there had been a total vote of 76,634, the greatest yet recorded in the state. There had been but two candidates; Morrow received 39,526, and Trimble, 37,108.

Secretary of State Jeremiah McLene was again elected to that office, and Gen. William Henry Harrison was sent to the United States Senate to succeed Ethan Allen Brown, whose term had expired.

This session of the general assembly was a notable one, for it witnessed the passage of the three laws which had been uppermost in the minds of the people and which materially promoted progress of the state. They were passed on three successive days.

The

Nineteen Hundred and Twenty-five is the centennial anniversary of canal construction in Ohio. This was the first great effort of the state to solve the question of transportation. movement started with great enthusiasm on the 4th of July, 1825, at the Licking summit near Newark, Ohio, where Senator Thomas Ewing delivered a notable address, which has recently been published in the Quarterly of the Ohio State Archæological and Historical Society. The building of these canals proved more expensive than anticipated. They were a boon to the people of the state until they were superseded by the railroads. Transportation over them was abandoned years ago.

Much has been said in favor. of their rehabilitation and enlargement as ship canals connecting Lake Erie and Ohio River. The state, however, has not undertaken this improvement. The recent experience of the State of New York, whose canals have been deepened and widened at great expense, has not been encouraging. The future of the Ohio canals is still a problem. The accompanying map indicates their extent and condition.

"An act to provide for the support and betterment of the common schools," which bore date of February 5, 1825, for the first time in the state's history really provided a system which gave promise of success. It no longer left it optional with voters in the townships to establish schools, but made them a state institution. The object of the act was simply stated-"the instruction of youth of every class and grade, without distinction, in reading, writing and arithmetic, and other necessary branches of common school education." It appropriated onehalf of one mill on all taxable property to be used for school purposes, required township trustees to lay off school districts, provided for election of school committees in these districts, for appointment of examiners to test the qualifications of teachers and issue certificates to those who were approved, and it charged the common pleas courts and county auditors with the details of administration and financing.

The canal commissioners had decided upon the best route for the new waterway connecting Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and on February 4, 1825, the act establishing it was passed by the assembly. It was the "Muskingum and Scioto route, so called," from Cleveland to Portsmouth. It also provided for a canal from Cincinnati to the Mad River at or near Dayton.

"An act establishing an equitable mode of levying the taxes of this state" was passed on February 3, 1825. It had been written by a finance committee of which Thomas Worthington was chairman, and was another evidence of that man's great usefulness to the State of Ohio. It provided for county assessors. who should determine the values of all lands, lots, buildings, dwelling houses worth $200 and over, horses, neat cattle of three years old and upward, capital of merchants and brokers, and pleasure carriages of a value of more than $100; and for the levying of taxes upon the values thus assessed. Rates of taxations should be determined by the counties. It provided for county boards of equalization to hear appeals and complaints as to valuations made by assessors, and established also a state board of equalization. The system inaugurated in this law, although amended many times, is, in its fundamentals, exactly the same as has been in effect continuously since that time.

This assembly made one concession in the application of the law of imprisonment for debt; it passed an act that Revolutionary soldiers. should be exempt from its provisions.-A law provided, for the first time, for the appointment of prosecuting attorneys by courts of common pleas. Another placed $100 fine upon bull-baiting and bear-baiting, and $20 fine upon cock-fighting.-A bill was again introduced abolishing punishment by death, but it failed of passage, as had the others previously proposed.

The newspapers highly praised this Legislature. "It has been one of the most interesting sessions ever held in this state," said the Cincinnati Gazette of February 8. "The canal bill, the new system of finance, and the provision made for the establishment of public schools, will long be remembered to the honor of its members. It belongs now to the people to give these plans their countenance and support.”

Many optimistic editorials were written about the canals, the national road, the schools and the new tax law. It was felt that a new era was opening, and the people were congratulated in enthusiastic language by the editors, some of whom had a few years before seemed greatly discouraged over conditions in the state.

General LaFayette's visit to the United States in 1824 to 1825 was an event of general and enthusiastic interest in this state, which he entered at Cincinnati May 19 of the latter year. The newspapers described the event very fully. Details of the tour are found elsewhere in the pages of this history.

On June 9, 1825, the Columbus Gazette made first announcement that ground would be broken for the construction of the canal near Newark on the Fourth of July following. The greatest crowd ever

known on any occasion in Ohio was expected. The event itself was very fully described by the papers. Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York, the great advocate of canals in his own state and in Ohio, was the guest of honor. From 8,000 to 10,000 people were present and "signified their approbation by repeated shouts of applause." The whole ceremony was described as grand and imposing. An oration was pronounced by Thomas Ewing, the famous lawyer of Lancaster. He addressed part of his remarks directly to Governor Clinton, who responded eloquently. Governors Clinton and Morrow each threw out a shovel full of dirt. A dinner, "with one thousand covers," was served in a neighboring grove, where thirteen set toasts and eleven volunteer toasts were given and drunk. Governor Clinton visited many towns in Ohio before returning to New York, among them Chillicothe, Dayton, Lebanon and Cincinnati, and received a cordial welcome to each place. On July 21 he and Governor Morrow repeated their performance of digging the first earth on the Miami Canal at Middletown, on which occasion also there were large crowds of people present. A militia company from Cincinnati drilled and its band played. There were many speeches, a big dinner, and eloquent toasts.

The canal was built by separate contracts in small sections, and the papers soon began to publish items about the rapid progress made all along the routes.

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATIVE SESSION

December 5, 1825, to February 6, 1826

Allen Trimble was once again made speaker of the Senate, and William W. Irwin, of Fairfield County, was speaker of the House.

In his annual message Governor Morrow felicitated the public upon the progress of canal construction, dwelt at length upon the hopes of the state in the new common school system, and expressed the pleasure he had felt in officially receiving General LaFayette the previous

summer.

Report was made by the canal fund commissioners that they had sold $400,000 of 5 per cent bonds to meet the expense of construction for the time being. Acts were passed by the assembly authorizing the fund commissioners to secure in the same way $600,000 for each of the years 1827 and 1828. This was in addition to large amounts secured by taxation and other methods. The loans were made with no difficulty, and the progress of work on the canal was never embarrassed for want of ready cash.

Henry Brown, of Franklin County, was elected state treasurer, and Peter Hitchcock was again made a judge of the Supreme Court, his first term having expired.

Two notable laws which were no longer necessary were repealed. One was the famous act to withdraw from the United States Bank the protection of the state's laws; the other was that old first tax law under which lands alone were assessed to meet the public need for money.

The new revenue act had gone into effect, the assessors in all the counties had been busy, and reports of the first assessments were now made. The total valuation was found to be $58,924,720. Of this, · $37,244,495 represented values of country lands, $1,549,889 values of country houses, $7,188,198 values of property in the towns, $5,517,810 values of horses, $274,689 values of cattle, $5,202,400 capital of merchants, $20,885 values of carriages worth more than $100 each. The number of acres of land taxed was 15,174,186. The division of the taxes for 1826, the first under the new law, was as follows:

The publication of these figures was the occasion of editorial approval of the new law, as being equitable and as accomplishing the result desired the contribution to an ample public revenue in accordance with the ability of each property owner to pay.

A financial report was also made concerning the first year's operation of the new "Lunatic Asylum." This disclosed that the total expense of maintaining it during the twelve-month had been $764.38, and the amount received on account of maintenance of individual insane patients was $636, leaving a deficit of $128.38, to be made up by the state. The figures were very modest indeed, judged by modern standards, but it was regarded as a highly important state establishment in 1826.

In the Cincinnati Gazette of April 7, 1826, an account appeared of the formation of a "New Association," in Belmont County, to bring about a reform in carrying on elections-or, rather, of naming candidates for election-to public office. There was no regular system of naming candidates in Ohio, nor, apparently, anywhere in the United States. A few citizens would gather, generally at a private house, appoint a chairman and secretary, decide on a ticket, and send a report of their proceedings to the local paper. Other meetings of the same kind would name other tickets. Very often requests were sent to the editors to announce the names of candidates which had not been considered at any meeting at all. A week or two before the election the papers would list all the names which they had received, and voters would consult these lists in casting their ballots. It was easy for any man to be put forward as a candidate, regardless of his qualifications or reputation. There were no conventions, no party endorsements, and, of course, no primaries. The plan of the "New Association" of Belmont County appears to have been the first suggestion of a convention system in Ohio. Its members pledged themselves to promote a plan of sending delegates to a county assembly to nominate one best man for each office. The Gazette, in commenting upon this plan, expressed grave doubts as to its constitutionality on the ground that it would tend to encourage bribery. In view of the later development of the convention system and the modern return to a system somewhat similar to the old first method, this incident of 1826 forms an interesting bit of political history.

News of the death, on July Fourth of this year 1826, of Thomas Jefferson was the occasion of demonstrations of respect all over Ohio. The United States Court at Columbus adjourned. The members of the bar everywhere adopted appropriate resolutions and wore crape on their left arms for a month. The editors made Mr. Jefferson the theme of much writing, and printed many anecdotes and sketches concerning him. Services were held in churches, and eulogies were pronounced. Several days later intelligence came of the death of John Adams on the same day that had marked the end of Mr. Jefferson's life; and while the courts again adjourned in respect to his memory, his passing was not so generally noted in the public press.

Only two months before Jefferson's demise much sympathy was expressed in the Ohio newspapers over the fact that he was in great financial embarrassment, and that the general assembly of Virginia had authorized a public lottery to sell his estate at Monticello in order to enable him to pay his debts. James Monroe was also known to be in the same reduced condition, according to reports in the papers. The