Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-26
CURTlSS FOR PLACE
Agricultural Interests Endorse Him for
Preidsnt Of State College.
SIOUX CITY WANTS RAILROAD TAXES
Coal Miners and Operators Have
About Concluded Their Confer
ence and Agreed Upon
n Scale.
tFrom a stan correspondent.l

(From a Stan Correspondent
DIES MONIES, March 25.-(Special)-A
decided impetus was given today to the
movement for making Prof. c. F. Curtiss
president Of the iowa state college at
Ames. The committee on presidency Of
the board of trustees held a meeting at the
office of Governor Cummins and heard
those who represent the agricultural In
terests OF the state. A committee Of the
State Agricultural board. consisting Of
President Morrow and Directors Philllps,
Packard and Ledgerwood. presented the
matter to the trustees. The committee was
instructed to insist upon some person for
president Of the college who would repre-
sent the agricultural interests. They
would be satisfied with Secretary James
Wilson for the place, but 1t has been rep
resented to them that he could not be Sc
cured. Their present preference is for
Prof. Curtiss, who has held the chair OF
agriculture for several years, and whose
efforts have given the college great i'm
petus because OF the interest taken in It
by the farmers Of the state. The commit
tee was re-enforced also by President
Schllling Of the State Dairy association,
who declares that the dairy interests are
for Curtiss. and by George S. Forrest, who
spoke for the Corn Growers association,
which has Endorsed Curtiss. About twenty
farmers Institutes have also passed reso-
buttons ~favoring the selection Of Curtiss
for president and a large number of petit
tions have been presented asking for his
selection. In fact 1t was shown to the
committee Of the trustees that the move
ment for Curtiss has grown formidable in
the last few months, and hat his selection
is lmost the only thing that will satisfy
the farming interests. The committee is
to make some kind of a report to the
board of trustees tomorrow at Ames, but II
is expected that the report will not recon-
mend any person for the place. The gen.
eral impression among the trustees is that
no selection is possible at the meeting at
Ames.
College Building Plans.
The bids will be, opened in Ames tomor-
] row on the new work in building for the
Iowa state college. The central building,
which is to be built within two years, will
be the most expensive and complete col
lege building in the state. the estimated
cost being 1925, 900 exclusive Of the heating
and plumbing. II will be a structure 1lOx
200 feet in area, four stories high. OF cut
stone, all freproof, containing rooms for
NAN ~ NAANNe INV IA u IL "
ulty, the departments OF mathematics, Eng
lish. botany, elocution and others. There
will also be greenhouses In the attic. In
addition to the bids that are to be opened
on the central building the contract will
be let for a $4,000 freproof addition to the
agricultural hall q new brick stock Judging
pavilion to cost $40, 900 and two separate
greenhouses. IAN uot the work except the
central buildingids to be completed this
year. There is no question about there
being numerous offers on these various
| buildings, as contractors in Des Moines,
Minneapolis. Chicago, Columbus and other
cities have been engaged in figuring on the
work. The plans as prepared by Proudfoot
& Bird of this city we're approved by the
building committee some time ago. The
central building will occupy the site Of
the old building at Ames which was burned.
An Assessment Question.
The state executive council is up against
an interesting proposition in connection
with the assessment OF railroad property.
The Chicago. st. Paul, Minneapolis &
Omaha railroad reports that in the last
year it has expended upward Of $275, 900 in
permanent improvements in Sioux City, all
OF which is used as railroad property AMI
for railroad purposes. This is in the pur-
chase of land for yards and new buildings
for shops. As the Omaha roSd runs into
Sioux City over the Northwestern tracks
from one side and over the Dubuque q
Sioux City tracks from the other, the COM
pany has less than one mile OF actual main
line trackage in Sioux City. The course
pursued heretofore has been to distribute
the increased value along the entire line Of
the road in Iowa. This would give an sddi-
7 f{opal aaaazamopf 20 tho aufIza 6ftu-aavap
! miles of the line in Iowa and add very little
to the taxable value Of the property in
Sioux City. But the Sioux City people
would prefer to have the new property as
sessed locally, SO that Il will contribute to
the Woodbury. county funds alone. This
cannot be done under the rules followed by
the council heretofore.
Made Illegal Exemption.
The state ofhciaIs have learned Of a pc
culiar transaction by the board OF super
visors Of Linz county. The returns on tax
alton from that county showed that iAstead
Of collecting taxes on the full amount OF
the assessed vale OF the telephone property
as made out by the state executive council,
the same had been reduced by about one
third. Inquiry was made and the county
/ auditor reported thai the Linn county
board had exempted the farmers telephone
companies. The state executive council
had assessed them, but the county Authori-
ties refused to collect the state taxes
thereon. This was entirely without au-
thority, as there is no provision for the
exemption Of any class Of telephone lines,
though the farmers lines are assessed very
low.
Drake IL Ambitious.
The trustees Of Drake university today
selected Hill NJ. Bell as president Of the
university ana resolved upon an effort to
raise an endowment OF 81, oOO. 900 in add
tion 20 the present endowment OF nearly
S25O,O00. The trustees report that the uni
versity was never more prosperous and that
the opportunity for greatly increasing the
endowment is excellent. Some minor
changes in the faculty were also made, es-
pecially in the afhliated special schools.
Young Man PaFdOned.
Governor Cummins today decided upon
the pardon OF Joseph Mulick Of Howard
county. who was sentenced to a year in the
penitentiary for assault with intent 10 COM