Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1900-08-10
NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL


Des Moines, August 10, 1900.
The work on the Auditorium has
been recommended. The completion
will be rushed so as to make ready
for the numerous fall conventions.
The inspection of factories by State
Labor Commissioner Wennerstrum
was begun last week. In company
with his deputy, Arthur e. Holder,
Mr.. Wennerstrum made the rounds of
a number of factories in Des Moines.
Thus far no instances have come to
light in which there is any serious in
fraction of the requirements for the
welfare OF employees. Mr.. Wenner-
strum some time ago prepared blanks
containing an exhaustive list of ques-
tions, and the filling out of these
cOmprehendS thorough summing up
of the conditions i'll each place visited.
1T is the intention of the labor COM
missioner to make Il very careful eN-
animation INTO conditions in factories
in all the leading cities of the state.
The legislature has placed at his dis
posal for the purpose only $500, but
ut will he the policy to stretch this
out as far us possible. Mr.. Wenner-
struln will examine the majority @?
the factories personally. Mr.. Holder
will assist him by doing a part of the
inspecting. 1t is the intention to be-
gin on cities outside of Des MoincS
as soon as possible.
Free text books in the schools of
the West Des Moines district have had
d trial OF a year. superintendent
Sheaklcy and members of the board
, are more THAI pleased with the eNper-
1ment and pronounce it success,
both from an economical and educa-
fiona! standpoint. Just at present
the district is receiving several thou
soDd volumes to be used in the parts
Of the district recently annexed, the
texts 10 be the same as were in use
last year in The big West Side district.
The work of sending them out to the
schools is progressing rapidly. Sup
erintcndent Sheal>ley has kept track
of tllc cost Of books. the enrolment
and the number issued to pupils. and
from his statistics has compiled solle
interesting figures relative to the
cost OF the system. To a reporter he
said: Our experiment. though it is
but year old and represents the
first cost of all the books in use, has
demonstrated to us the practicability
Of the plan and ought to recommend
the system to every other district in
the state as money saver. We ex-
pended a total of S7,OS227 for text
books last year and the cost per cap
ita for supplying the average enroll
1nent was just $1.7Os. For supplies,
which includes pens. pencils, paper,
scratch pads, erasers, copy books, etc,
etc. the cost to the district was
SLIPS. OF $O.417 per capita on the
average enrolment.
Prices of all kinds OF iron and steel
used in building operations have been
going down during the past two or
three weeks. indication are now
that if the present prices hold and
looked for breaks in the lumber mar.
ket occur. a great deal of building
projected for Des Moines this year
but which was dropped for the time
being on account of the unfavorable
prices will be carried to completion
during the fall and early winter
months. Architects and builders at.
tribute the break in prices to an UNI
expected falling off in the demand.
One architect embodied the express
sion of a number of his associates and
contractors when he said: last year
the building boom which spread over
the entire country created demand
for steel and lumber that manufac~
turcrs had not experienced since 1885,
and the boom came so suddenly and
unexpectedly that most of the mater
ial was out of first hands or under
contract before the manufacturers
could catch their breath and advance
prices. They concluded. however that
they would not be caught mapping
again and believing the boom would
continue this year. an unprecedented
advance in prices of all kinds of build
ing material followed. They antici-
pated a desire of many to invest large
sums in Improvements but they over
reached themselves in fixing prices
and the result was that millions of
dollars worth of building that was
projected during the winter and in
the early spring was held up. In Des
MONIES alone. | dare say, there is up
wards Of n million dollars worth OF
work in the hands of architects that
wouid be under construction il prices
were right when bids were asked for
End estimates taken. We'll, the result
of this was ti,at manufacturers found
themselves overstocked and as the
season advanced and the prospect of
having to carry stocks over the win
ter months increased. they have drop
ped their prices to unload with every
indication that prices, except o.
northern lumber. will be within reach
OF prospective investors in a short
time
Recruits Very Scarce.