The Oskaloosa herald., 1902-01-09


in that respect. The public revenue
was $1.374,16S.S1 for the biennium
which included the year 1868, and the
assessed value Of property In the state
was $294,532,252.
The population of the state got to
be about 100000, and its representa-
ton in congress had increased to six.
There was over 100000 acres of land
in cultivation, yielding 18,000,000 bus
! hels of wheat and 77,000,000 bushels
of corn; while nearly three tons Of
! grain of all kinds were harvested for
(, each inhabitant of the state.
! The legislation Of the year 1868 is
memorable for its Importance and the
i number of railroad land grants that
were resumed and again disposed Of.
F: These included the Des Moines Valley,
] the Dubuque & Sioux City, and the
! McGregor grants. The transfer of the
M. & M. grant to the Y. r. l. & P. r.
R. Co., was approved of, and steps
| taken to secure the completion OF the
road to the Missouri river. The ex-
| cellent insurance law Of our state
was first upon the statute books that
| year. A reform school was establish
ed, and preliminary steps taken look
| ing to the location of second hospi-
| tai for the insane at Independence.
Plans were ordered advertised for a
new capitol In 1868 the debt of $780,
/ 900 contracted in 1858 fell due. and
was met by borrowing $112,202,26
from the school fund, and taking the
remainder out of the treasury. The
| debt to that fund was now $245, 5,435.19.
In 1S61-62, bonds to the amount Of
100000 had been negotiated for the
purpose of helping the national gov
ernment put down the rebellion. This
amount added to that due the school
fund made the entire state indebted
ness s545,4S5,19,
The eleven years which ended with
the year 1879 witnessed a large acces-
sion to the population of the state,
Notwithstanding the fact that it in
cluded the years wherein the effects
of the panic of 1873 were felt all ov-
er the country, and hardly less so in
Iowa than in other parts of the land,
The population had increased to L..
100000, the increase being larger, not
only relatively but absolutely, than
during any like period since. Our
congressional delegation had increas-
ed to nine.
The farm production had vastly aug.
mented. One of the years in the per-
iod witnessed a wheat crop of 44,000,-
900 bushels. The yield of 1879 an corn
was 275 1000, 900 bushels and that of
oats 50,000,000 while the aggregate of
all the cereals averaged nearly six
tons for every man, woman and child
in the state. Railroad construction
ho1 4
ly three counties left without the iron
track. Four trunk lines crossed the
state from east to west, and there were
4,S11 miles in all, making the state
the fifth in the Union in this respect
The assessed value Of property in 1879
was s405, ,541 ,397, and the gross reve-
nues amounted to $2,143,077.99 during
the fiscal term that ended with the
month Of September, in that year. The
public debt remained the same, but
the war debt was to become due the
following year, and the legislature
that met in January of that year,
made provision for meeting the same,
but not until Gov. Gear gave the mem
bers of that body to understand that
If such provision was not made he
would convene the general assembly
in extra session, and he would be care
full to let the people know why.
The growth from 1879 to the present
time has been steady and uniform
Even the financial distress which pre-
vailed in 1898 and few years later
hardly checked the onward movement
The population at the several enum-
erations taken during that time evil
dences this uniformity of growth. In
1885 it was 1,753,9S0; in 1890, 1,911,-
$50: in 1895, 2,05S,069; and in 1900,
2,331,S5
The state has now twenty times the
population it had when it entered the
Union, while its wealth has multi
piled fully two hundred times. Rail
roads so thoroughly penetrate the
state that there are only FIVE or six
counties which have not two or more
distinct lines running through them.
Six trunk lines cross the state from
east to west, and three or four from
north to south. The mileage is 1885,
65 miles, giving the state more miles
of road according to population than
any other east of the Missouri, and
more for area than any other west of
the Mississippi
In educational lines the advance has
been perhaps the most marked of all
OF the number of persons of school
age at the beginning of the state, some
20, 900 in ALL only about one in eight
appear to have attended any public
school during the year; and the num-
Der of private schools was not large,
although possibly greater in proper.
tion to the population than now. There
were less than four hundred school
houses, and they were valued at under
800 each on an average. There were
only little over one hundred teach
ers, most of them men. The latter
got an average compensation of about
SIS a month, the women being paid
about SS. The entire cost of manag-
ing the schools was less than is paid
to teachers alone in any one of two
thirds of our counties today. Now, of
the enumerated persons of school age,
To- ,159, more than three-fourths, or
$50, ,652, are enrolled in the schools.
while sectarian and other private
schools furnish the rudiments of an
education to many thousand more
Fourteen thousand school-houses.
SIS, 100000. or $1,000 each. with at
with 1880 rooms, are valued at over
least one in perhaps every county that
cost more than all the school-houses
In the state when 1t was new.
Only five states, and they each much
more populous. spend more on their
public schools than does Iowa. the ag-
gregate of which, last year, was So
321, ,652
Only the suggestion, as it might be
called. of college, was in existence
then, in the shape Of Mount Pleasant