IOWA. 



437 



against general revenue amount to $1,940,249,- 

 87. In addition there was paid for interest on 

 warrants $10,063.45, which makes the aggre- 

 gate cost of carrying on the government of the 

 State for the term, $1,950,323.32, leaving an 

 excess of receipts over expenditures of $176,- 

 587.58 in general revenue. 



The amount of warrants outstanding on Sep- 

 tember 30th was $22,093.74, as against $96,- 

 993.54 two years before. 



The war and defense debt has been paid, ex- 

 cept the warrants for $125,000 negotiated by 

 the Executive, Auditor, and Treasurer, under 

 the law of the Eighteenth General Assembly, 

 and $2,500 of the original bonds not yet pre- 

 sented for payment. The only other debt 

 owing by the State amounts to $245,435.19, 

 due to the permanent school fund, a portion 

 of which is made irredeemable by the Con- 

 stitution. These facts place Iowa practically 

 among the States which have no debt. The 

 expenses of the State for the past two years 

 are less than those of any other period since 

 1869, and this notwithstanding the fact that 

 the State is to-day sustaining several institu- 

 tions not then in existence, namely, the Hos- 

 pital at Independence, the Additional Peniten- 

 tiary, the Normal School, and the Asylum for 

 the Feeble-minded, besides the Girl's Depart- 

 ment of the Reform School. The State also, 

 at present, makes provision for fish-culture, for 

 a useful weather service, for sanitary supervis- 

 ion by a Board of Health, for encouraging im- 

 migration to the State, for the inspection of 

 coal-mines by a State Inspector, and liberally 

 for the military arm of its government. These 

 causes of increased expenditure are only par- 

 tially offset by the largely reduced cost of sup- 

 porting the Soldiers' Orphans' Home, although 

 here a small additional expenditure is necessi- 

 tated by the admission of indigent children to 

 the Home. This diminished expenditure, not- 

 withstanding the State's population has aug- 

 mented over fifty per cent since 1869, argues 

 an economical management of the affairs of the 

 State government. The Auditor estimates that 

 the expenditures for carrying on the State 

 government during the current period will be 

 $1,787,850; and that the receipts of general 

 revenue from all sources will be $2,202,700, 

 leaving a surplus of $415,150, as available for 

 extraordinary expenditures. The report of the 

 Treasurer of the State shows that at the begin- 

 ning of the biennial period there was in theState 

 Treasury, of all funds, $74,187.37; that the re- 

 ceipts for the period were $2,514,262.08, aggre- 

 gating $2,588,449.45; and that the disburse- 

 ments for all purposes were $2,409,897.71, 

 leaving a balance, at the end of the term, of 

 $178,551.74, belonging to the several funds 

 as follows : Agricultural College endowment, 

 $84,104.72, coupon, $329.85; permanent school, 

 $226.66 ; and general revenue as above, $91.- 

 850.51 ; which showing corresponds with that 

 made in the Auditor's report. All the Agri- 

 cultural College endowment' fund except $476 



is invested in county, city, and school district 

 securities, bearing interest at rates varying 

 from five to eight per cent per annum. There 

 are 20,468 volumes in the State Library. The 

 State has an effective military force, consisting 

 of two brigades, aggregating 2,282 men, well 

 armed and uniformed. 



The number of school-children reported is 

 594,750. Of this number 381,192 are, by ap- 

 proximation, between the ages of six and six- 

 teen years. The number of all ages enrolled 

 in the schools is 431,513. The average at- 

 tendance is 254,088. The schools of the State 

 have been in session, on an average, 148 days. 

 The receipts for all school purposes through- 

 out the State were $5,006,023.60, and the ex- 

 penditures $5,129,279.49 ; but of these receipts 

 and expenditures about $400,000 was of money 

 borrowed to refund outstanding bonds at lower 

 rates of interest. The amount on hand aggre- 

 gated, at the end of the fiscal year, $2,653,356.- 

 55. The Governor recommends the passage of 

 a compulsory education law. The receipts of 

 theState University were $118,739.35; expen- 

 ditures, $114,159.13 The assets of the insti- 

 tution amount to $233,100.26. Of the ninety- 

 nine counties of the State, seventy-two are 

 represented by students in the Agricultural Col- 

 lege. Its endowment fund amounts to $630,- 

 315.05. There are doing business in the State 

 sixty-six banks and over 140 insurance com- 

 panies. Of public lands there remain unsold 

 619,264.69 acres, besides a number of town- 

 lots. There was expended for the support of 

 the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, during 

 the biennial period, the sum of $70,568.17, and 

 for the College for the Blind the sum of $50,- 

 183.15. The amount expended for the support 

 of the Soldiers' Orphans 1 Home and Home for 

 Indigent Children was $33,429.85 ; Asylum for 

 Feeble-minded Children, $49,537.77 ; Hospital 

 for the Insane at Mount Pleasant, $177,203.- 

 89 ; Hospital at Independence, $150,792.86. In 

 view of the fact that there are fully 1,500 in- 

 sane persons in the State, the larger number 

 of whom are incurable, and that about 500 of 

 this number are not in the insane hospitals, 

 but are maintained for the most part in coun- 

 ty poor-houses, the erection of a hospital for 

 Incurables in the central part of the State was 

 contemplated. The amount expended for the 

 support of the two departments of the Reform 

 School was $50,880.98. With respect to the 

 State Prisons, the Governor .says : 



Has not the time arrived when the General As- 

 sembly should inaugurate a system of graded prisons, 

 so that those who are convicted of the graver offenses 

 and sentenced for longer terms, and those convicted 

 a second time, should be imprisoned at Fort Madison, 

 and those whose terms of service are shorter should 

 be sent to Anamosa ? It is certainly against the ref- 

 ormation of the young criminal who is imprisoned, 

 perhaps for his first offense, to be brought into daily 

 contact with those who are hardened in crime, and 

 for whom there is little hope of reform. In my judg- 

 ment, a much larger proportion of the younger class 

 of criminals would, warned by their past experience, 

 become good citizens wheii th"eir term of service ex- 



