Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-02-27
Central SCHOOL system.
Is in Force in Many Districts in
Iowa and Is Claimed to Be
Giving Satisfaction.
nome WOULD RETURN TO The OLD WAY
Weather and Crop Service to De linz
proved the Coming Summer-Work
of Preparing School Exhibit for st.
Louis Has BeEun-Miners Quit the
Business-Othcr Notes.
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
Des Moines, Feb. 23.-The state edu-
cational authorities are in receipt OF a
large number of inquiries from Min
nesota and Illinois respecting the CEN
trail school idea in force i'll many dis
tricts in this state. Legislation for the
consolidation of districts in those
states is pending. The reply of
the Iowa authorities is that the sys-
TEN is very satisfactory. A sample let
ter from Terril, Lloyd township. in
Dickinson county, shows the popular
ity of the scheme. This letter says:
1--WE believe we have one of the incest
systems that can he found in Iowa.
We are centrally located, have good
four-room building, run seven buses,
and have just disposed of our entire
rural school property, school houses,
sites. appurtenances, etc. None OF
the districts which have gone into the
work of furnishing graded school for
the rural child would return to the old
scheme of giving them school house
every two miles and none of the adj
vantages enjoyed by the city students
who go to graded school.
Service to De Improved.
The Iowa weather and crop service
under the direction of j. II. Sage. OF
Des Moines, will be greatly improved
the coming summer. He will have 200
correspondents, or two in each county,
to report on crop conditions each
week; but he will also have 500 CORE
spondents, or one for nearly every two
townships, to report monthly on the
crop conditions then as compared with
former years. This is great extern
sion of the work of the bureau. large
number of climatic recording instru-
mentswill be distributed over the state
this year, so that the observations will
be more accurate than heretofore.
The averages for the crops will be fig
ured this year on the basis Of town
ship reports instead of county reports.
The result will be statistics of much
greater value than any during the
time the bureau has been at work.
The Humane League.
Mrs. Elizabeth Jones, secretary OF
the Humane League of Iowa, is making
arrangements for the annual conven-
ton of this body in Des Moines in the
middle of March. Abram Palmer, of
Iowa Falls. is the president of the
league. The committee on legislation
is composed of j. II. Quick, of Sioux
City; j. A. Miller, of Des Moines, and
G. o. Swazey, of Sioux City. The com
mittce got nothing from the legisla-
ture at the last session, but it is hoped
that some modern humane laws will
be enacted by the next general assem-
bly,. 1t is a crime to kill any song bird
in this state now, and along this line
and the cruelty to animals clause in the
present statutes many acts of enforce
ment have BEEN done. A feature of the
state convention will be state ban
auet the night Of March 10.
Rehsarius Granted.
The supreme court has granted q
rehea1ing In the famous Brady case.
This case was appealed to the supreme
court from Polk county. In decid-
ing it at the last term the
supreme court held that the pos
session of the stolen property was not
admissible evidence of the guilt Of the
person holding the property of bur-
larry. This resulted in clearing many
men accused of burglary, as theposses-
sion of the stolen property was the
sole evidence against them. The
court was thought by attorneys and the
lower courts to have held that con-
viction of a burglar could only be eff
fected by catching him in the act.
When the petition for rehearing was
argued by the attorney general the
chief justice of the court stated that
the court had not intended to have
Its opinion construed to mean that the
possession OF goods was not an evil
dence of the guilt Of the person holding
them. The attorney general remarked
that three classes of persons had con-
strued the opinion that way-the law
yers, the district judges and the
burglars.
Preparing School Exhibit.
The work of preparing school ex-
hibit for Iowa at the ST. Louis EXPOSE
ton has begun. Senator james H. Tre-
win, of Cedar Rapids. is at the head Of
this department for the Iowa commits
sion, and he has engaged the assistance
efsuch men as j. T. Mcconnell, OF Cedar
Rapids; w. I. Crane, of MarshaIltoWn;
S. II. sheakley, of Des Moines, and 9th
er prominent school men. Every
school in the state is expected to have
n hand i'll the exhibit at the exposition.
What form it will take has not yet been
decided. 1t has been suggested that
the pictures of every schoolhouse in
Iowa be procured, and probably this
will be done, in addition to the school
exhibit proper. One exhibit of prom
inence will be that of the work of man
nal firm in in n n o ma nj m ante The eobool.