IOWA. 



379 



cember 1, 1872, when a draft for $3,000 was 

 received and paid out of the State funds, this 

 deficiency being afterward made up by Major 

 Rankin. After that time there was no evidence 

 of mismanagement or misappropriation of 

 funds. Wheu the defalcation became known 

 to the college trustees, they appointed a com- 

 mittee to take steps to secure the institution, 

 if possible, against loss. This committee set- 

 tled with Rankin, and took his obligation for 

 the amount of the deficit, and an assignment 

 of all his real and personal property, except 

 household furniture. This was done under 

 the advice of the Governor and Attorney- 

 General. The following is a copy of the obliga- 

 tion taken by them at this settlement : 

 $38, 301.. OwemberU, 1872. 



Due on settlement to the Trustees of the Iowa 

 State Agricultural College and Farm the Bum of 

 $33,301.46, with interest thereon at the rate of seven 

 per cent, per annum from date until paid, the 

 above amount being the balance in my possession as 

 Treasurer of said institution at my settlement made 

 with said trustees this dav. Pavable at Des Moines, 

 Iowa. SAMUEL E. EANKIN. 



In commenting on this case, the legislative 

 committee said: "From all the facts devel- 

 oped in this investigation, the committee feel 

 compelled, however unpleasant the duty may 

 be, to say that in their opinion, while Major 

 Rankin has made himself, probably, criminally 

 liable for an infraction of the law, yet the 

 several Boards of Trustees who were intrusted 

 by the people to execute the laws in regard to 

 the college are in a great measure morally 

 responsible for the losses sustained, and 

 should be so regarded by the people. While 

 each and every member of the Board of Trus- 

 tees in office at the time, and every officer of 

 the college, should be held to some extent 

 liable at the bar of public opinion for the em- 

 barrassment caused and losses sustained by the 

 defalcation of the late treasurer, yet we are 

 constrained to say that some of them should be 

 held to more rigid accountability than others. 

 About midsummer, 1869, the then chief execu 

 tive officer of the State, who was also ex-officio 

 member of the Board of Trustees, had his sus- 

 picions aroused, and opened a correspondence 

 with the president of the college, and secre- 

 tary of the board, in regard to the official 

 bonds of the officers. In this correspondence 

 he received information which should have led 

 him, as Governor of the State, and a member 

 of the Board of Trustees, to act promptly and 

 energetically ; but ho let the matter drop, and 

 we hear no more of him in this connection 

 until some time in December, 1872, when, at 

 a meeting between a committee of the college 

 Board and Major Rankin, he very innocently 

 told them that the responsibility was theirs, 

 and they must 'shoulder it.' The president 

 of the college, although chief executive of the 

 institution and its laws, seems to have paid 

 but little or no attention to the warnings he 

 had received from Governor Merrill." 



The capital of the fourteen banks organized 



under laws of the State, which made reports 

 to the Auditor in July, amounted in the aggre- 

 gate to $774,150, the deposits to $1,898,954.58. 

 The report of the State Insurance Department, 

 made on the 15th of May, covers the opera- 

 tions of 1872. During that year the amount 

 of premiums received by home fire-insurance 

 companies was $362,026.15; the amount of 

 losses paid, $90,016.95. The aggregate amount 

 of expenditures was, $273,978.69 ; the aggre- 

 gate income from all sources, $425,943.74. 

 Fifty companies, organized in other States, did 

 more or less business in Iowa, receiving an 

 aggregate of $1,029,102.94 in premiums, and 

 paying $386,378.14 in losses. Only one life- 

 insurance company has been organized in the 

 State, and this issued 282 new polices in 1872, 

 and received $45,813.29 in premiums, covering 

 insurances to the amount of $425,021. Forty- 

 one life-insurance companies of other States 

 did business in Iowa, receiving $1,037,622.34 

 in premiums, and paying $231,531.09 in losses. 



The latest reported school statistics are also 

 for the year 1872. The principal items are as 

 follows: members of ungraded schools, 8,163; 

 graded schools, 400 ; youths between five and 

 twenty-one years of age, 474,350 ; males, 243,- 

 522; females, 230,828; youths enrolled in the 

 schools, 349,633 ; total average attendance, 

 218,131 ; average time schools are taught, six 

 months and fourteen days ; number of teachers, 

 15,193; males, 5,888; females, 9,305; average 

 compensation of male teachers, $36 per month ; 

 average compensation of female teachers, 29.32 

 per month ; average cost of tuition per week 

 for each pupil, $0.42 ; number of school-houses, 

 8,235; total value of school-houses, $7,460,- 

 881.19. 



The political agitation of the year was based 

 mainly on the question of cheaper transporta- 

 tion for the productions of the soil to the 

 Eastern markets. Dissatisfaction had long 

 prevailed among the farmers of the State on 

 account of the great expense of shipping the 

 results of their labors by railroads, and the 

 censequent diminution of the prices obtained 

 at home. This culminated in the organization 

 of what were called "granges " of the " Order 

 of the Patrons of Husbandry." These were 

 first formed in Iowa, and subsequently spread 

 throughout the Northwest, and to a smaller 

 extent in some of the Eastern and Southern 

 States. Their main purpose was to resist what 

 they regarded as the extortion of railroads, 

 and to oppose corrupt partial legislation and 

 dishonesty in office. They disclaimed any in- 

 tention of constituting a political party, but 

 endeavored to secure the election of men to 

 the Legislature who would promote their in- 

 terests and place restrictions upon railroads 

 which would secure cheap transportation. The 

 indirect effect of this organization was to force 

 the political parties to take up the question of 

 transportation and endeavor to conciliate the 

 farmers. 



There was a State Convention of the Patrons 



