Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-08-16
NOTES FROM THE CAPITAL
Des Moines, August II, 1000.

Des Moines, August II, 1900.
Attorney General Remley has sub.
mitted an opinion to Warden Hunter
OF Anamosa penitentiary in reply to
lquery from the warden He holds that
1t is not necessary for prisoner to
be confined in solitary punishment
before good time can be deducted
| from the sentence. Mr.. Remley says
that if a prisoner were sentenced to
the penitentiary for one year and
| should, by reason of the violation of
the rules of the prison. spend ten
days in solitary confinement, he could
not claim his discharge from the perS-
Tertiary until year. and ten days had
elapsed. But any violation which
| Justifies punishment of any kind
whether by solitary confinement or
other kinds of punishment, works a
forfeiture according to the schedule
of forfeiture laid down in the code.
The attorney general does not wish to
imply that every infraction of the
rules and regulations of the prison
works forfeiture of good time earn
ed, only that which demands punish
ment.
Secretary Wesley Green of the State
Horticultural society says the blight
which may be seen just now on the
sweet peas, morning glories and other
plants in Iowa, is not due to the great
heat and drouth, but TO the red spi-
der, which comes under this condi-
ton of the atmosphere. This spider
is minute insect which works on
the under side of the plant leaves.
Mr.. Green says if the under side of
the leaves are sprayed with water
once or twice day the insects will
disappear, as water is as destructive
to it as any fluid which might be
| used.
Free text books in the schools OF
the West Des Moines district have had
a trial of year. Superintendent
Sheakley and members of the board
are more than pleased with the eXper-
| lment and pronounce il a success.
both from an economical and educa-
tional standpoint. just at present
the district is receiving several thou
| sond volumes to be used in the parts
of the district recently annexed, the
texts to 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
erintendent Sheakley has kept track
of the cost of books. the enrolment
and the number issued to pupils, and
from his statistics has compiled some
interesting figures relative to the
cost of the system. To a reporter he
said: "Our experiment, though il 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 a money saver. We ex-
pended a total of $7,OS227 for text
books last wear and the cost per cap
ita for supplying the average enroll
ment was just S1,7OS. For supplies,
which includes pens, pencils, paper,
scratch pads, erasers, copy books, etc,
etc, the cost to the district was
SIZES, or $0417 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. Indications are now
that il 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
Nyil hn art.ia 10 lati
during the fall and early winter
months. Architects and builders at.
tribute the break in prices to an I'M
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-
turers had not experienced since 1893
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
tuNuHcc III prices O1 ali klnUS OF Duliu-
ing material followed. They antici-
pated 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
Moines alone, | dare say, there is up
wards of million dollars worth of
work in the hands of architects that
would be under construction il prices
were right when bids were asked for
and estimates taken. Well, the result
| Of tits was that 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 R
northern lumber. will be within reach
of prospective investors in a short