Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-07
TheVital Statistics Department
a Great Institution Of
Itself
HINDERED BY LACK OF HELP
Secretary Kennedy Believes the State
Should Appropriate at Least $4,000
For This Part of the Work-Indians
Criticize the State House Decora-
tions-other State News.
Special to Times Republican.

SpGCldl 10
Des Moines, Dec. 7.--Dr. j. f. Ken
ynedy, secretary of the state board of
health, received yesterday 341 letters
and eighty-flve postal cards, which
were the reports from registrars over
the state on the vital statistics. Today
he received still more and they WI
continue TO come at that rate for few
days The vital statistics department
OF the state is considerable institu-
ton and DR.. Kennedy believes the chief
difficulty is that the state is trying to
take care of 1t with the ordinary num-
Der of employees and without any adj
ditional appropriation. He claims the
state should appropriate $4,000 at least
to look after the work, and says Il 1t
is worth anything it is worth that
amount. The v!tal statistics reports
seem destined to grow into depart
ment more rapidly than has been ap-
pretended. For every birth ana death
IN the state there is report mad 20
the. state BOARD OF health on blank
7A inches by 81 inches. A margin is
left on one edge of these reports ana
II is expected to sort them out Ly
counties and townships alphabetically
arranged and bind them In books. AS
there are from LEO 900 to 100000 of
these reports every year, and destined
to be many mo,c tran that whe1 al
deaths and l!rtfs are reported :lt,e e
/ y,t11 hn fw t<N ~, I fn.
books OF 1000 sheets, or 1000 pages
each, to be bound UP each year to be
filed away. The executive council
bought a fling case of the new mod
.ern type for the state board of health
to file reports In. Inside OF six months
the fling case was filled and now the
reports are being stacked up around
the room on the tables, desks, window
sills and even on the floor awaiting
some method OF fling them till they
are re;adY to be bound. Under tie
present law the secretary of state must
keep the accounts and credit the differ
5ent registrars with the amounts they
are to be paid for their work. They
are paid from the county treasures
twenty-five cents for each report and
for each postal card saying there have
been no deaths or births reported It
keeps one clerk in the office of the
secretary of state busy keeping these
accounts which are certified to the
county auditors and by these warrants
are drawn on the county treasurers.
DR.. Kennedy believes that considerable
confusion would be avoided If all the
work were to be done In one Office,
either in the Office of the secretary OF
state or the board Of health But the
chief difficulty he finds is due to the
physicians and others not reporting the
deaths and births. They receive no
compensation for such reports and,
hence he says 1t is difficult to get them
educated. The law has been in force
but about eighteen months and DR..
Kennedy believes with continued agi-
tation the physicians will get in the
way OF making the reports more reg
ularly but acknowledges that the sta
tistics are worthless unless some
method is devised of getting reports
Of all deaths and births.
The supreme court will meet next
Tuesday for the fourth and last period
Of the September term. For the first
+iroe lin many months there are no
reallv mig cases to be submitted and
no cases OF large consequence to the
state generally on which decisions
are awaited. The greater number OF
ases will be submitted from Linn
county Cases will be submitted from
the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nine
i4eanth districts and from the counties
IN order as follows: Tama, Marshall,
Benton. Dubuque, Linn, Jones ana
Cedar. There are thirty three cases
on the docket from Linn county and
only thirty cases on the docket from all
the other counties for the period
There are only two state cases down
to he submitted at this period. These
are the state against John Smith from
Linn county and the State against
August Leuth from Cedar county.
There are nusnber of untutored
Indians about the state house who
frankly admit they know nothing ABOUT
art beyond selecting good color LOT
q barn and yet they do not hesitate 10
criticise the 100000 decorations and
the $4,000 Blashfield painting at the
state house These anticipate that
when the legislature gets here II VIII
do things" to the capitol decorations.
v. A. Jones, nightwatch In bhe treas
urer.s office frankly declares that the
decorations in the court house at
Forest City are far superior to the
decorations in the state mouse, ana
thinks that the capitol commission
should have gone to Winnebago coun-
tv for painters ON interior decorative
art. Mr.. Jones is not alone. There
are a large number. who. while they
know nothing of art "know what they
Like" and are sure the state house is
not decorated In that way. There is,
however a deep seated. conviction in
the minds Of large number about the
state house, that the Blashfield paint
ing is going to prove a masterpiece.
The painting is hung and the work OF