IOWA. 



397 



election of 1876. We cannot now be wholly silent 

 upon what took place after that election. It is known 

 to you all that Tilden and Hendricks were elected, 

 and according to the Constitution and laws they 

 should have been inaugurated. A cabinet officer 

 announced to the country the flagrant falsehood 

 that Hayes and Wheeler were elected, and then it 

 was resolved that they should be forced into the 

 offices. The President gave his sanction to the high- 

 handed proceeding and commanded the military 

 forces of the country to be assembled at Washing- 

 ton, thereby seeking to control the action of Con- 

 gress and dictate his successor. The work was done. 

 The right of the people to select their rulers at the 

 ballot-box was sacrificed to the greedy demands of 

 party, and in the presence of military power. Bath- 

 er than involve the country in civil strife, or even 

 expose it to the "hazard of that dreadful calamity, the 

 Democrats in Congress chose to trust the Judges of 

 the Supreme Court. That trust was disappointed, 

 and resulted in a fraud even members of that high 

 court so far forgot the dignity of their position as to 

 allow themselves to be used to serve the purpose of 

 partisan power and gain. We do not propose to 

 disturb the incumbents j but the people owe it to 

 themselves, and the institutions of the country that 

 rest upon the ballot-box, to rebuke the crime, so 

 that it never can be repeated. The party has made 

 no gain by its crime. It is filled with distrust and 

 dissensions. Neither department trusts the other. 

 Indeed how could it be otherwise? Hayes knows 

 that the commission declared him elected when he 

 was not elected ; and tlie country knows that he has 

 identified himself with and made himself and his ad- 

 ministration a party to tbe crime by appointing to lu- 

 crative offices nearly all the men who had guilty con- 

 nection with the foul Returning Board transaction. 

 One of the wretches from Florida, nominated for 

 Chief Justice of one the Territories, was so vile that 

 the Senate was compelled, but a few days since, to 

 reject him. May we not ask sincere and honest Re- 

 publicans whether they are content to indorse this 

 crime by their votes? Will they not rather join us 

 in its condemnation and in an honest effort to return 

 to better government, with tbe hope that better times 

 will follow ? 



The State Convention of the party, to be 

 composed of 1,071 delegates from the various 

 counties, was called for February 20, 1878. 



IOWA. The financial record of the State of 

 Iowa for the last fiscal term of two years, end- 

 ing September 30th, is not altogether satisfac- 

 tory. At the beginning of that period there 

 was a balance in the Treasury, credited to vari- 

 ous funds, amounting in all to $58,525.77. The 

 receipts for two years were $2,137,682.40, and 

 the disbursements $2,122,470.78, leaving a bal- 

 ance of $73,737.39. But the balance in the 

 general fund was reduced from $3,144.66 to 

 $25.56, the receipts having been $1,983,470.65 

 and the disbursements $1,986,559.75. The ap- 

 propriations of the sixteenth General Assem- 

 bly so far exceeded the calculations of the 

 Auditor, that at the close of the fiscal year 

 there were outstanding warrants to the amount 

 of $267,776.31, constituting a floating debt 

 which, in January, 1878, had been increased 

 to $340,826.56, or about $90,000 in excess of 

 the constitutional limitation of the indebted- 

 ness of the State. Besides this, there was a 

 funded debt of $543,056.15, consisting of 

 $300,0^0 war and defense bonds, due July, 

 1881, and $243,056.15 owing to the school- 

 fund. The interest on this debt, for the fis- 



cal terra, was $83,541.16. The estimated re- 

 ceipts for the current term are $2,092,000; 

 expenditures for purposes already provided 

 for in the laws, $1,745,660; leaving $346,340, 

 or only a little more than the amount of out- 

 standing warrants, to cover special appropri- 

 ations. The total amount of taxes levied in 

 the State for all purposes, general and local, for 

 collection in 1877, was $10,699,762.39. Over 

 90 per cent, of this sum was for local pur- 

 poses, and nearly one-half for schools. The 

 permanent school-fund is $3,459,085.39. The 

 amount of interest collected and apportioned 

 among the schools of the State, for the two 

 years, was $559,981.59. The value of school- 

 houses in the State is estimated at $9,044,973 ; 

 value of apparatus, $159,216 ; number of vol- 

 umes in libraries, 17,329. Other school statis- 

 tics for the year 1877 are as follows : 



NUMBER OF TEACHERS EMPLOYED IN THE STATE. 



Males 7,848 



Females 12,518 



COMPENSATION PEE MONTH. 



Males t4 88 



Females 28 69 



NUMBER OF CHTLDEEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 5 AND 21. 



Males 291,742 



Females 276,117 



Enrolled In public schools 421,163 



Average attendance 251,372 



Average cost per pupil, per month $81 62 



NUMBER OF SCHOOL-HOUSES. 



Frame 9,279 



Brick 671 



Stone 267 



Log 89 



Whole number 10,296 



The State University, Agricultural College, 

 and Normal School, are in a flourishing con- 

 dition, but ask for more liberal allowances 

 from the State. 



The Home for Soldiers' Orphans, at Cedar 

 Falls, was closed in June, 1876, and the chil- 

 dren remaining in its charge were transferred 

 to the State Orphans' Home at Davenport. 

 In the latter institution, on the 80th of Sep- 

 tember, there were 139 inmates. The expen- 

 ditures, for two years, were $45,210.65. A 

 school for feeble - minded children has been 

 established at Glenwood, where there were 

 87 pupils at the close of the year. The Re- 

 form School contained 141 boys and 53 girls 

 on the 81st of October. A new building for 

 this institution is said to be urgently needed. 

 There were, on the 1st of October, 921 per- 

 sons at the State insane asylums : 594 at Mount 

 Pleasant, and 327 at Independence. The cost 

 of supporting these institutions, for the fiscal 

 term, was $370,083.94; of which $335.711.81 

 was charged to the counties, and $34,372.14 

 to the State. The penitentiary at Fort Madi- 

 son has been somewhat enlarged, and the 

 number of convicts has increased, in two 

 years, from 67 to 148. The expenses wore 

 $40,447.01 in excess of the earnings. The 

 work on the new State House has progressed 



