360 



IOWA. 



State Institutions. The main building of the 

 State Institute for Feeble-Minded Children, at Glen- 

 wood, was destroyed by fire Aug. 29. All the chil- 

 dren were taken out safely, and a large part of the 

 furnishings saved. The buildingcost $85,000, and the 

 loss was total. It was finished in 1892. There were 

 510 children in the institution. About 70 teachers 

 and employees were on the grounds. 



A new insane asylum is to be built at Cherokee. 

 The foundations are already done and the contract 

 let for the structural work, the bid being $293,173. 

 Two years are allowed for the buildings, this part 

 of which will accommodate 420 patients. 



The members of the Visiting Committee of the 

 Legislature con firmed the report that Iowa's institu- 

 tions are crowded beyond their capacity to care for 

 inmates. 



Banks. The report of the Auditor in July showed 

 that there were then 169 savings and 201 State 

 banks. The deposits amounted to $43,966,79:!. 7!), 

 an increase over the previous year of $139.657.54. 

 The increase in capital stock amounted to $250,100, 

 and in surplus to $116,751.22. 



The Sioux City National Bank failed in August, 

 and two others in the same city (the First National 

 and the Sioux City Savings Bank) in November. 



Railroads. By the assessments in March the 

 valuation of railroad property was raised on the 

 total $4,951 over that of 1895. The mileage is 

 8,487,132. 



The Railroad Commission reduced in August the 

 minimum weight for car loads in 34-foot cars from 

 20,000 pounds to 18.000. The commission is trying 

 to abolish grade crossings. 



For several years there has been litigation over 

 the charges made by the Milwaukee road on goods 

 shipped from Sioux City to Akron, Hawarden, and 

 other Iowa points in the same neighborhood. On 

 the ground that the road passed a part of the way 

 through South Dakota, the company has insisted 

 that it had the right to make its charges under in- 

 terstate rules. The shippers maintained that, as 

 the shipments started in Iowa and ended in the 

 same State, the charges were subject to State regu- 

 lation, which would make them considerably lower. 

 This view having been sustained by the Supreme 

 Court in its decision in a similar case in Pennsyl- 

 vania, the road has settled the cases by paying back 

 all money claimed as overcharge. 



The Omaha and St. Louis Railroad was sold at 

 Council Bluffs in January for $1.876,170. The prop- 

 erty is in four counties of Iowa and four of Missouri, 

 a distance of 143 miles. 



Farm Statistics. Figures of the census of 1895 

 show that there are 204,385 farms in the State, com- 

 prising 31,297,813 acres. The average size is 153 

 acres. The number of acres is 25,870,189; unim- 

 proved, 5,427,624 ; cultivated, 16,099,951. The value 

 of farms is placed at $1,088,063,068. The number 

 managed by owners is 141,979. The total number 

 of horses was 1,383,302, and their value $41,564,546. 

 The number of cattle was 3,197,584, value $53,820,- 

 197; number of hogs. 5.044.577, value $23,596,962; 

 number of sheep, 492.875, value $1,160,535. The 

 value of products of the forest, not including wood 

 for fuel, was $141,496. The number of acres of 

 planted timber was 141,863, and of natural timber 

 1,506,611. The value of the principal products was 

 estimated: Corn, $55,235,667; oats, $26.420,646; 

 barley, $3,301,735 ; spring wheat, $3.264,225 : winter 

 wheat, $1.295,481; flaxseed, $1,549,688; timothy 

 seed, $1,119,710; Irish potatoes, $4,497,627; timothy 

 hay, $11.741,929; clover hay, $1,022.922; prairie 

 hay, $5,859,449; corn stalks, $9,262,534; apples, 

 $1,357,300; and grass in 3,104,230 acres of pasture, 

 $14,700,792. Of the farms, 83,552 are mortgaged, 

 the net indebtedness amounting to $138,585,720. 



Manufactures. The statistics of factories com- 

 piled for the State census show that, while several 

 great factories have left the State, the number of. 

 smaller institutions has been greatly increased. In 

 1890 the State census showed the aggregate of the 

 manufactured product to be $70,000,000. The sta- 

 tistics just compiled show the total of manufactured 

 product in 1895 to be $63,798,025. The beer and 

 malt product has decreased $1,000,000, lumber 

 $5,000,000, barb wire $2,000,000. This loss is made 

 up by the many smaller institutions which have 

 sprung into existence, and counting in the butter 

 and cheese product the $63,000,000 is raised to 

 $73,000,000. 



The product of the greatest value in the classified 

 list is that of pork and beef, which is placed at 

 $18,422,630. The value of butter made on farms 

 and in creameries was $15,727,206. 



Soldiers' Monuments. An equestrian statue 

 of Major-Gen. John M. Corse in bronze was un- 

 veiled July 4 at Crapo Park, Burlington. It was 

 designed originally for the State Soldiers' Monu- 

 ment at Des Moines, and Burlington was to have a 

 duplicate; but as the monument commission was 

 not ready to receive it, Burlington secured the origi- 

 nal cast. 



The Iowa Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, which 

 has been a subject of discussion by four Legislatures 

 and of much criticism by the public, is not yet 

 completed. The question of drapery on the alle- 

 gorical figure of Iowa was settled by the commis- 

 sion in April. It was decided to leave the upper 

 part of the body nude, as designed by the sculptor. 

 There were 82 medallions to be placed upon the 

 monument, portraits of certain soldiers and sailors 

 of the State ; but these were so strongly objected 

 to on account of the invidious distinction they 

 made that the Legislature ordered that no medal- 

 lion portraits should be used, and directed the 

 monument commission to have inscribed upon the 

 monument the name of each regiment and organi- 

 zation, the number of *men enlisted, and the date of 

 its muster and discharge. 



The medallions will be turned over to the care 

 of the Secretary of State and placed in the memo- 

 rial hall which" is to be built. The appropriations 

 so far made will not complete the monument. 



Semicentennial Celebration. The celebra- 

 tion of the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of 

 Iowa to the Union began at Burlington, Oct. 1, with 

 a parade and public speeches during the day and at 

 night a banquet and a " river carnival " in which a 

 barge representing a fortress was attacked by a 

 fleet of 100 small boats using Roman candles and 

 bombs. It was estimated that 20,000 people watched 

 the display at the river front, and that 10,000 were 

 at the park in the afternoon. 



The celebration continued through the week, one 

 day being set apart as " Old Settlers' Day " and one 

 as " Educational Day." 



Land Claims. A tract of land forfeited by the 

 Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad, '2,000 acres in 

 extent, in O'Brien and Dickinson Counties, in the 

 northwestern part of the State, was thrown open 

 for settlement Feb. 27. Over 1,100 men and women 

 were in the line when the Federal land office opened, 

 waiting to file papers. Hundreds of them camped 

 in the alleys and streets around the building the 

 night before, and they formed a line at daybreak. 

 There is an average of 9 filings on each tract. 



In the hearings on disputed cases, preference was 

 given to the settlers who bought the lands in good 

 faith from the railroad company when it was be- 

 lieved the company had the right to sell them. 



The Anticigarette Law. A decision was 

 given in July in the United States Court at St. 

 Paul that the Iowa anticigarette law was uncon- 



