518 



IOWA. 



the girls of the junior class were taught plain 

 cooking. Its success has demonstrated so clear- 

 ly the practicability of making this branch of 

 domestic economy a part of the college curric- 

 ulum, that the trustees have been encouraged 

 to take another step forward in developing the 

 department. During 1879 the course was to 

 be extended from one term to the entire year. 

 The girls of the sophomore class were to be 

 taught during the first term to wash, iron, and 

 sew, including the cutting and fitting of dresses, 

 etc., and the juniors were to go into the kitch- 

 en to cook the second term. This improve- 

 ment was received with much satisfaction. 

 The receipts of the College for the biennial 

 period, including the sales of lands, the pro- 

 ceeds of which have been paid into the State 

 Treasury, have been $133,533.81. The dis- 

 bursements have been $127,768.42, and the 

 balance on hand of all funds is $5,765.39. 

 The Seventeenth General Assembly appropri- 

 ated for laboratory and sewer $3,972.25, which 

 has been drawn and expended. The United 

 States donated to the State 204,206 Acres of 

 public domain for its foundation. Of these 

 lands, 30,962 acres have been sold, and the pro- 

 ceeds thereof, amounting to $71,742.87, have 

 been paid into the State Treasury. Of the re- 

 mainder, 147,735 acres are under lease, and 

 25,580 acres are unleased. The College has 

 in addition 15,013 acres of land, which were 

 purchased in 1868 with surplus interest funds 

 at a cost of $15,000, of which 12,213 acres are 

 leased, and 1,200 are unleased, the remainder 

 having been sold. The purchase of this land 

 has been a most advantageous one, the Col- 

 lege having already received over $22,000 in 

 interest, and the remaining lands are constant- 

 ly increasing in value. 



The following are the general statistics of 

 the schools : 



The grand total of the school fund reaches 

 the sum of $3,484,411.18, all of which, save 

 the sum of $8,561.65, is interest-bearing. The 

 amount held in the counties, subject to loan, is 

 $3,221,402.93, having been increased within 



the two years. The interest upon this sum at 

 8 per cent, is semi-annually apportioned to all 

 the school districts in the State, in proportion 

 to the number of persons therein between the 

 ages of five and twenty-one years, and during 

 the fiscal term of 1877-'79 amounted to $560,- 

 231.88, inclusive of interest on State and Eads's 

 loans, being an annual average of fifty cents to 

 each individual. 



The Institution of the Deaf and Dumb ex- 

 pended $50,516 during the biennial period. Its 

 receipts were $61,568. The College for the 

 Blind received $52,708 and expended $47,428. 

 The receipts of the Institution for Feeble- 

 minded Children were $29,249, and the ex- 

 penses $28,708. The receipts of the Mt. Pleas- 

 ant Hospital for the Insane were $224,152, 

 and the expenses $211,248; those of the in- 

 stitution at Independence were $139,096, and 

 the expenses $129,771. The receipts of the 

 State Prison from all sources were $73,448, 

 and the expenditures $62,456. The surplus 

 from the convicts' earnings paid into the State 

 Treasury amounts to $17,144. The amount 

 allowed by law for the support of the convicts 

 is seven dollars per month. During the time 

 of the present warden's incumbency, he has 

 by rigid economy supported the convicts, ex- 

 clusive of salaries of officers and guards, at a 

 cost of about $6.40 per month ; quite a con- 

 trast with the monthly expenditure of his pred- 

 ecessor, which was, as is shown by the report 

 of the Investigating Committee of the Seven- 

 teenth General Assembly, during his first term, 

 exclusive of salaries of officers and guards, 

 $11. 35^, during his second term $17.35|, and 

 during his third term $15.26, being an average, 

 during his six years' term of office, of over $14 

 per convict per month. The convicts are well 

 fed and clothed ; the discipline and sanitary 

 conditions of the prison are good. 



From the following table it will be seen that 

 there are nine boards of trustees in charge of 

 the State institutions, and a board of regents 

 in charge of the University, composed in all of 

 fifty-one persons, and that their per diem and 

 mileage for the biennial period has been as 

 follows : 



Agricultural College $1,858 60 



Asylum for Feeble-Minded 1,056 40 



Hospital for Insane at Independence 1,369 50 



Hospital for Insane at Mt. Pleasant 1,503 05 



Soldiers' Orphans' Home. 818 60 



Reform School 1,580 40 



Normal School 769 70 



State University 2.196 70 



Institution of the Deaf and Dumb 1,836 60 



College for the Blind 1,468 20 



Total $13,448 65 



How best to manage educational, charitable, 

 and penal institutions has attracted the atten- 

 tion and engaged the thoughts of many philan- 

 thropists. The result has been, in most cases, 

 to create additional supervisory boards, such 

 as "boards of charities," "commissioners," 

 etc., all of which are expensive, and impose 

 additional burdens on the tax-payers. On this 

 subject the Governor of Iowa says : " On ex- 



