IOWA. 



409 



Tin 1 Fee and Salary Law. The Legislature 

 of 1891 passed a law establishing salaries for 

 county officers, and doing away with tlic fee sys- 

 tem, in obedience to a general demand for a re- 

 form in that respect, but the o|M>ration of the, 

 law was put off for two years, thus not affecting 

 the candidates then standing for office. Some 

 ciToris were made in the Legislature of 1898 to 

 ivmrdy obvious defects in the law, but nothing 

 was done about amending it. After the ad- 

 journment of the Legislature suit was brought 

 by the sheriff of Vigo County to compel the Au- 

 ditor to pay him mileage for the transfer of pris- 

 oners to the Penitentiary, and claiming that the 

 law of 1891, according to the provisions of which 

 the Auditor had refused the demand, was in con- 

 flict with the provisions of the State Constitu- 

 tion, and therefore void. It does not appear 

 that the Attorney-General prepared briefs in de- 

 fense of the law. The decision in the circuit 

 court was against the law. 



Conrt Decisions. The long-standing case 

 in regard to the legality of the election of R. S. 

 Robertson as Lieutenant-Governor in 1886 was 

 closed in October. The defendant, A. G. Smith, 

 the present Attorney-General, who claimed the 

 office in virtue of his election as President of 

 the Senate in 1885, and exercised it, drawing 

 some part of the salary, confessed judgment for 

 $500, and the suit was dismissed at his costs. 

 Details of the contest are given in the " Annual 

 Cyclopaedia "for 1887. 



A suit against a saloon keeper in Indianapolis, 

 to enjoin him from building and maintaining a 

 saloon next to the plaintiff's residence, was first 

 tried in the circuit court, which sustained the 

 demurrer filed by the defendant's attorneys, 

 maintaining that the complaint was defective. 

 The complaint attacked the constitutionality of 

 the liquor license laws of the State, and alleged 

 further that the saloon was a nuisance, and 

 should be abated. Both parties elected to try 

 the case in the lower court on the constitutional 

 question alone, and it was decided against the 

 plaintiff. On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed 

 the decision. A petition for a rehearing was 

 granted, and the opinion handed down reversed 

 the former decision. This sends the case back 

 to the circuit court. It is regarded as an im- 

 portant victory for the opponents of saloons, 

 since it decides that the license does not protect 

 the saloon keeper from suits for damages to 

 adjacent property. 



IOWA, a Western State, admitted to the 

 Union Dec. 28, 1840; area. 50.025 square miles. 

 The population was 192,214 in 1850; 1,911,890 

 in 1890. Capital, Des Moines. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officerg during the year: Governor. Horace Boies, 

 Democrat; Lieutenant-governor. Samuel L. Bes- 

 tow, Democrat; Secretary of Si ale, \V. M. Wc- 

 Farland, Republican ; Auditor. ('.<!. McCarthy, 

 Republican; Attorney-General, John y. Stone, 

 Republican ; Treasurer, Byron A. Iieoon. Kepub- 

 lican; Adjutant-General, George Green, Demo- 

 crat ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. 

 l'>. Knoepfler; Commissioner of Labor Statistics, 

 J. R. Sovereign ; Railroad Coninii>si<>ners. John 

 W. Luke, Republican, Peter A. Dey, Democrat, 

 George W. Perkins, Republican: Chief Justice 

 of the Supreme Court, Gifford S. Robinson, Re- 



publican; Associate Justices, Charles T. Oran- 

 ger, Josiah dm n, and .lame.- II. Itothrock, Re- 

 publicans, and L. <i. Kinnc. Iii-inocrat. 



Finances. The biennial re-tort of the Audi- 

 tor, submitted in OctoU-r, gives the whole 

 amount paid into the treasury during the two 

 \<;ir> ending June :;n. 1808, OH account of gen- 

 eral revenue, as $8,706,161.77, which, being 

 added to the $488,058.95, the cash in hand July 

 1, 1891, gave a total of $4,194.210.72 available 

 for current expenses. The disbursements for 

 the same period amounted to $3,781,229.27, leav- 

 ing a balance June 80, 1893, of $412,981.45. 

 The monthly reports of the county treasurers, 

 for the month of July, 1898, show that there was 

 $33,004.19 cash in their hands on the first day 

 of July, 1893, belonging to the State. 



Valuations. The State Board of Equalization 

 reported an increase of 7'G per cent, on the value 

 of land per acre over the valuation of 1891. The 

 report rendered omitted one county, Woodbury, 

 from which no report had been received, reserv- 

 ing the right to raise its value to the average, if 

 it should fall below, or 7 - 6 per cent. Exclusive 

 of that county, the number of acres was 38,845,- 

 145; the assessed value, $285,082,014; the value 

 per acre, $8.42; the gain over 1891, 87 cents; 

 the gain per cent., 5 ; the equalized value, $297,- 

 010,208; equalized value per acre, $8.66. 



Tables given in the official register show the 

 average incumbrance on farms to be $1,319; 

 the average rate, 7'36 ; the number of families 

 owning incumbered farms, 77,111; the value, 

 $305,658,669; the incumbrance, $101,745,924; 

 and percentage of incumbrance to value, 33*29. 



Banks. Ihe Auditor's report places the in- 

 crease in the number of State and savings banks 

 during the year ending June 30, 1893, at 81, the 

 largest increase in any one year in the history 

 of the State. The whole number of banks re- 

 ported up to that date was 325, of which 148 

 were savings banks. The total assets of the 

 State and savings banks were $59,011,405.14, an 

 increase in assets during the year of $1,843,- 

 437.47. Of thisamount. $1,749,920 is increase in 

 capital by reason of the organization of new 

 banks. The total deposits June 80, 1892, were 

 $42,476,395.89. Those of June 30, 1898, were 

 $42,151,434.85, or a decrease of $324,961.58. 



The deposits in the savings banks amounted 

 to $25,426,031.70. and their total assets to $34.- 

 733,976.49. By the statistics of failures of State 

 and private banks from January to September, 

 it appeal's that 28 Iowa banks suspended, and 3 

 resumed. 



Insurance. The Auditor's latest available re- 

 port on insurance shows the business transacted 

 during the year 1892. During that year 34 life- 

 insurance companies, of which 4 were Iowa com- 

 panies, and 121 lire-insurance companies, 20 of 

 which were Iowa companies, were authorized to 

 do business in the State. 



Of the fire companies, the amount of risks 

 written was $25;{.-j:;:;.-jr,-2; the premiums re- 

 ceived. $4,268,999.55; the losses paid. $1.7:54.- 

 :;I-J.::M: the losses incurred, $1.698,474.94; the 

 percentage- of losses to premiums, 40'6. 



The amount of life policies written during the 

 year was $27,988,987; of those terminated dur- 

 ing the year, $21,066.987; of those in force at 

 the end o'f the year, $85,449,197. The premium* 



