Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-06
A. L. DEMO, Bdena Vista County
Will Inspect Offices of
State House
MADE ExAMlNATIoNLAsT SPRING
Work of Checking Over Accounts in
State Auditors Office Will Take
Some Tine-Anticipated informa-
ton Concerning the Cause OF the
Scarcity of Teachers in Iowa.

|
| the annual examination of the offices
lin the state house is near at hand Inc
executiye council has already arranged
that A. L. DEMO, of Buena Vista coun-
jty, who made the examinations last
spring will come here next week to
go thru the accounts of the state agri-
cultural department. This work will
tbe done so as to effect settlement
before the close of the year. He will
! also complete the examination of the
1 accounts of the state institutions. This
has already been checked over by the
! special accountants of the state board
! of control but the law seems to con-
! template a separate checking over by
one employed by the state executive
council 1t is probable that an ac-
countant will be employed to check
over the accounts in the office of the
auditor of state and the clerk of the
supreme court before the close of the
year so that when those offices are
| turned over to the newly elected off,
cials a clean bill can be presented.
| The work of checking over the ac-
counts in the state auditors Office will
| take some time. The council has not
/ yet entered into a contract with any
one for the regular inspection and
| checking for next year of all the state
offices which begins some time In jan
luary There has never been but one
Il. fof off
that of two years ago, made by Mr..
Skinner, of this city. This report was
laid before the legislature and taker
charge of by a reform committee which
kept the report in pigeonhole unit.
the last week of the session when a
brief report was made.
|, 1t is probable that in the report of
the state superintendent of schools for
| the current year there will be some
information bearing on the question of
| the scarcity of teachers in Iowa and
the cause thereof. This will probably
| take the form of comparative state
ment of wages and hours of work and
other statistics covering a series of
years. There has never been. any sci
entific investigation of the subject, but
! it has become painfully apparent to all
/ who are interested in the work Of the
schools in Iowa that something is
wrong and that teachers can not be
had. The head of one of the big schools
| in Des Moines where commercial
courses are mixed with normal work,
states that he has inquiries from fifty
young persons about shorthand ar.l
commercial courses to one in regard
/! to normal work, and that the tendency
of the young people is to keep as far
as possible from the teaching profess
sion. The report of the state super
|intendent will have some valuable light
on this subject.
Hon. John A. Kasson, who has lived
| in Washington for many years tho
claiming Des Moines as his home, was
unable to be present at the hanging of
his portrait among others in the new
court house in Dallas county, but he
wrote letter to the committee which
invited him expressing his apprecia-
ton of this assurance Of the kindly
memory of his old friends in Dallas
county, and adding:
THE ties of friendship formed in the
old days of frontier hardships still
bind me to the people of Iowa, and will.
end only with my life. 1 regret that ]
can not join you at the Inauguration of
your new temple of justice, and note
| the contrast between it and the little
building of half a century ago, when
our only roads were the wagon trails
across the prairies What contrast
now when numerous railroads carry
outward millions of value in property
/ OF the farm, when the Pullman cars
carry the people luxuriously and whe,
fine churches and court houses and
school houses adorn our towns and VIII
lagos and the farm house is the abode
of comfort. But | am still disabled
from travel by my wound tho my
strength and health in other respects
have greatly improved since left the
hospital. l am able to walk on the
street and am steadily, tho slowly,
gaining. Pray give my heart greetings
to all old friends
A county superintendent inN Iowa is
reported to have recently included in
the list of questions put to teachers
applying for examination something in
regard to l.. M. Shaw, A. B. Cummins.
James Wilson, E. III. Conger and a
number of other well known Iowans
and few not of Iowa. A school Jour
nal published here reports that the
answers showed a great diversity of
opinion regarding A. B. Cummins. Some
thought he was a pirate in the south
seas, others believed him to be great
Arctic explorer, others remembered
him as a noted minister in New York
city, while still others believed him
to be a famous revolutionary genera,
few called him congressman, states
man, ETC., and one yenturel
the assertion that he was governor of
Iowa. Carrie Chapman Gait was called
the saloon smasher;; Prince Henry was
remembered as the husband of the
queen of Holland" Mrs. Ballington
Booth was said to be a noted society
woman in Washington; others claimed
she was woman who served in the
civil war in disguise, L. M. Shaw wa s
Aguinaldo's first assistant, and III. H.
Seerley was a noted Cuban general.