Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-02-06
THE IOWA LIBRARY COMMISSION
1t Finds There Is a Vast Amount of
Study Being Done Along the Lines Of
State History and Is Trying Hard
to Keep Abreast of the Affairs of
the Day.
1o rimes-Rennblicar.

| lore 1Hey are ueeueu. I,ul III ILLS Al
stance it is found that there is a
dearth of works on that subject. The
commission is investigating the mat
ter in the hope of finding number of
volumes. The demand for such works
| shows that the people are making
some use of the commission, and the
| woman's clubs, the members Of which
are sometimes unjustly accused of
spending their time studying history to
the detrirnent Of their cooking ability,
are not the only ones who are using
the volumes which the state has pur-
chased and spends $4,000 year to
keep in circulation over the state.
There are number Of cities in the
state where there is no free public Ii
brary. Very often there comes a re-
quest from one Of these for lot of
books for the use of the high schools
or other grade schools. In the case OF
the high schools the sections must be
made up especially along the lines of
the study of the school. A request
reached the commission Saturday
which is typical Of those coming from
other cities. It will take two days to
prepare the books for the school. Only
the subjects have bsen given and in 4
general way reference to some BOOKS
must have been published. The re-
quest for books in this instance in
cludes practically every subject that is
studied in high schools. The comn,s-
sion has found that there is vast
amount Of study being done along the
lines of state history. From every
quarter there comes requests Tor
books along this line. Very frequently
the inquirer wants to know whether or
not there are books along the lines OF
state history in the library. The COM
mission has found that the pamphlet
gotten out by Professor Shambaugh
and the state historical society is very
useful. 1t is IAN Iowa program for
.tudy clubs" and is mailed out to all
such inouirers. Miss Alice Tyler, sec
retary of the commission, believes that
the pamphlet has done very much to-
wards popularizing the study OF state
history in the state.
The experience of Miss Clare Lun-
beck. the state agent Of the board of
CONlIOl lOl A14oAA5 AA0tAASS 80 49, 80
dren in state institutions, Is that Iowa
should have a reformatory for boys,
and one for girls, and coupled with
this a law for the punishment OF par
ents who fall short of their duty to
their children. Such a law Is no" IN
force in Colorado and other states.
Miss Lunbeck has succeeded In plac-
ing a great many children from the
state institutions in homes and IS
doing q great work. On one OF her
recent trips to Eldora the matron ask
ed her if she had ever seen their In
stitution baby. 1t was pointed out to
her and was six years old. Unless the
parents are unfit to keep the child 1t
never should have been there" said
Miss Lunbeck in speaking Of the Incl
dent.
NMost Of the children at Eldora and
Mitchellville are in the formative
rather than the reformative period. A
child of six ought not to be difficult to
manage If 1t has the right kind Of par
ents. But there Is demand every now
and then for the admission Of those
older than sixteen. The law limits
admission to sixteen, but after being
admitted they can stay the wards OF
the state till they are twenty-one.
There should be- a place to put these
small children whose parents can not
properly train them. They need to be
in a school where they can be educa-
ted, but there should. also be a school
between that and the penitentiary
where older children could be reformed
when necessary.
"They should also be kept away
from the smaller children. There are
children to be formed and Children to
be reformed, and the distinction is
marked so plainly that there should
be two schools to which they could be
sent. The idea now Is to reform the
criminal and boys who are bad should
not go from the Industrial school to
the penitentiary. AS long as there are
of their children and educate them We
must have the Industrial school.
Miss Lunbeck tells of one boy
nine years old whose only fault seems
to be that he would not go to school,
and the parents we're Of that nature
that they seemed unable to force him
to 60. The law gives children admis-
sion to the industrial school at that
age and younger If the parents request.
The boy stayed but little While and
seemed to be enArsly willing and
anxious to go back home ana go to
school, and When the request came
for his parole it was readily recon-
mended and he was paroled and has
done we'll since. There are any num-
Der of this class at both the Eldora and
Mitchellville schools for whom little
training along tie lines of industrial
habits is sufficient, but there are 9TH
ers older admitted who soon show
that they should be reformed in a re-
form school. The parents of the older
BOYS are very anxious to have them
at Eldora instead of Anamosa or Fort
Madison and so sometimes are not al
together too truthful about their ages.
If there was an intermediate school or
reformatory these older boys could be
sent there.
The Eldora school now has bar
Der shop and the superintendent finds
that many of the boys are anxious to
learn that trade and the shop is prov
ing a great success. Several of the