Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-01-14


advantages Of having their territory
shingled with lard grant and yet re-
ceive none if the compromising advan.
tages of railway.
Railroads Constructed. - The .Des
Moines g. Minnesota Railroad Company
has built and put in successful opera
ton thirty five miles of road, of three
feet gauge, from Des Moines to Ames;
aud short railway of the same gauge
has been constructed from Keosauqua
to Summit station, on the K. & D. M.
R. r. A road of the ordinary gauge
has also been built from Abba to Knox
ville,- and another from Grinnell to
Montezuma. There are now about 8,
$50 miles CT railway in operation in
Iowa. Another piece of narrow gauge
road is under construction from Eiscomb,
Marshall county, eastward, in which
wooden rails are to be used at the first.
THE SCHOOLS.
The Superintendent of Public In
structIon presents with his biennial re-
port an unusually interesting review of
the history and condition OF the educa-
tional work and the school system OF
Iowa from the time of the organization
of the territory. This report, intended
as 1t is as well for the educational de-
partment of the centennial exhibition as
for the General Assembly and teachers
and people of Iowa, will be one OF the
most valuable and interesting documents
ever issued from any of the departments
of the State government. It would be
useless for me to attempt to summarize
it. can only urge that the General
Assembly and the people study these
suggestions, coming as they do from one
who has given to the special subjects of
which he treats go much thought and
study, and to their presentation for
the benefit of the people SO much
care and labor. In the past two
years the. school houses built in Iowa
have cost $2,269 ,4989S; the contingent
fund expended for school purposes was
$1,725,272.25; and teachers salaries
S5,045, S69.95; making total expendi-
ture for educational purposes of 50, 040,-
571.1S; which shows, as nothing else
can, the healthy condition of the common
school work. The teachers normal
institutes, which received Legislative
recognition two years ago, have i'm
proved the qualifications of teachers
more generally than any other system
for their special instruction heretofore
devised. And here it may not be inap-
propriate to ask whether, IN view of the
capital the State is constantly investing
in educational enterprises, it Is not the
right and duty of the State to demand
that every child within her borders shall
have the benefit of common school
education.
THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
The last catalogue of the State
University shows an enrolment of $40
students, which indicates a steady
growth and widening popularity. Its
wants arc numerous and some Of them
pressing. Accommodations for the ao-
ademlcal department are straitened,
whilst the professional departments are
calling for room for constantly increas-
ing numbers. I cannot think the prob
lem suggested by this fact should be
solved by allowing either of the depart
ments to languish for want of encourage
ment. 1t would seem to be reflection
upon the intelligence and pride of our
people to deprive the many students
who In all the years to come will desire
to graduate in one of the professions of
the opportunity to do so in their own
State, and at the university so gen.
erously endowed by the Government.
l may, however, be met with the argu.
ment that the university should not be
on Ioroad haropJ 4ba IN on,,, g 49, ,.u,.t
intended for its support-that it should
not be made tax upon the State. In
my Judgment, however, We should make
this university to Iowa what Ann Arbor
is to Michigan, or Harvard to Massachu-
sets. It will then be standard to
which all other colleges and all other
schools may properly strive to attain.
And there Is one argument in favor of
liberal State support, which among
o.he! may have been overlooked. When
the grant of lands was made it was
supposed it would be sufficient for all
the wants of great university, as the
lands would increase in value with the
growth of the State until the 10000.
acre donation would sell for ten or
twelve dollars per acre. The selections
were good, and had the policy originally
contemplated, and which was recon.
mended by Chancellor Dean, its first
presiding officer, been carried out, the
income would have been ample for all
its accommodating needs. But the argu-
ment that the people who endured the
hardships of pioneer life should enjoy
their share of the benefits accruing
from the grant, as we'll as
those who should come after
them, was potential. These lands were
accordingly thrown upon the market, and
were sold at an average of little over
three dollars per acre, and as result
the university, instead of having an
endowment of from four to five hundred
thousand dollars, has working capital
from all sources of $21S,347.26. 1t
therefore seems to me that the State, in
addition to its own interest In encourag-
ing the growth of the university until it
shall become the peer of any in the
country, is bound in good faith, as the
trustee of the grant from the United
States, to make good the conditions upon
which the trust was accepted. l there
fore suggest whether it would not be wise
to make special levy of say one.tenth
or one-fiftcenth of mill per dollar, rs a
permanent fund for the university. This
would not at first produce 20 much as
the usual special appropriations, but it
would increase with the wealth of tho
State and with the growing demands of
the institution. And above all it would
enable the regents to conform their
expenditures to a fixed income and
relieve them from coming before each
legislature in the unwelcome character
of lobbyists.
The professor of physical science and
the director of the laboratory at the
university has commenced a series of