We have analyzed the optical spectra of 67 symbiotic stars and objects suspected of being symbiotic, and found 18 new symbiotic systems. This is the largest homogeneous set of optical spectrophotometric data for symbiotic binaries ever studied. We have derived the reddenings and distances for all systems, estimated the IR classes (S and D) for the new systems, and determined the location of the hot components in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.