Evening times-Republican., 1913-08-18
REQUIRE GOOD ENGLISH
STATE EXAMINERS lhsrRucTEo
TO MARK TEAcAERs' PAPERS
ecSs cLosELY.
MUST be MORE CAREFUL
AsTo USE OF ENGLISH

Some Improvement Netsd In Language
in Examinatien Papsrs-Mere Than
5000 Examinations suemittsd BY
Weuld-ss Teachers - ksnnsdy's
Plans for Extsnsien Work.
Special to Times
Des Moines. Aug. 1s.-Better use Of
the English language IL to be enforced
among the schoolma' ans OF Iowa. In
the marking Of the examination papers
Tor teachers certificates for the juno
and July exannipations, which will be
completed by the state board Of exam
liners today. the examiners were under
instructions to mark more closely than
usual and especially to be particular
about the language used by the teach
ers. There has been some dropping
down Of the standard in regard to Eng
hsh In recent years. The; head educa-
tors thought 1t time to get busy raising
the: standard. More attention has been
given to other languagea In the schools
and not enough to the one language
alone Impractical use. SO, II the would
be teachers find they have been
marked closely on English, they will
understand the reason But the mark
ers report that there has been some
Improvement in the use Of language.
and especially there has been decided
Improvement in spelling.
Over $4,000 examination papers have
been passed on by the readers for the
state board last month and this. These
papers all 80 back to the counties for
the issue Of the certificates in accord
with the results achieved. At times
over a hundred readers have been at
work.
The June examinations resulted In
about 50 per cent Of those examined
passing. It Is estimate that from 70
to Is per cent Of the persons examined
eor July will pass. This includes a
number Of those who tried it over
again.
Prof. w. J. Kennedy. Of the Iowa
State College. under whose direction
the college extension department has
been developed into one Of the great
est agencies for good in the state, says
that the department is today fairly
overwhelmed with work and il unable
to attend to all the calls. It is no
longer question as to getting the
people to listen and to learn, but a
question how to get the instructors to
the people who are eager for infor.
nation.
The agricultural, extension depart
ment will do this year as much work
as in the past three years." he said
I'VE reached last year $4,000 people
indications are we will this year reach
half million. This means in all the
various activities Of the extension
work. We have sixteen county demon
strators out at work in the counties.
There have been the beef ana dairy
trains and the alfalfa trains; the chau-
tauqua work, the work in regard to
hog cholera and the work at teachers
meetings. For instance, we have had
met at one Of the best of the denomi-
national colleges Of the state putting
in practical course in agriculture
Tor that college and getting them
started. We want all the colleges of
the state to do this work, and they are
taking it up readily in order that they
may prepare teachers for the schools
versed in agriculture. In every way
the activities Of the department have
been steadily increasing and our entire
force has worked without vacation all
the season.
One of the peculiar problems in the
recent review Of assessment matter
was In regard to the live stock valua-
t1ons. and the state executive council
had as difficult task to get this ad-
1usted fairly as on anything else.
1t was found. For instance, that the
value fixed by assessors on horses in
one northwestern Iowa county, where
there are many of the best horses of
the state. was very low. and in an
other county Of southern Iowa, where
the horses We're certainly not as good,
the valuation was $50 per cent higher.
The only thing to do was to fix an
actual average valuation. And the
biggest kick of all is from the county
where the valuation of the horses was
reduced to even it up with the average
values all over the state.
The situation in regard to these live
stock valuations is not new. A glance
at the reports OF the state auditor will
show that for sample the horses in
Louisa county were valued few years
ago at $116 a head. while those in the
adjoining county OF Washington were
regarded as. worth only s7s head.
There seemed no good reason for a
value Of $101 head for 2-year-old
colts in Tama county. and the same
class of animals be worth only S42 in
Lyon county. which has the largest
horse importing and breeding farm in
the country.
1t is not the intention Of the council
to permit the permanent lowering Of
valuation Of live stock in counties
where the assessors really believe it
should be valued higher than the
mark set by the council. In all prob
ability another year the live stock VAL
uations will be advanced al, over the
state The intent Is to get them at
what the law contemplates. And in no
one thing was the changes ordered by
the council so great as in regard to
horses and cattle.
FoUR-sTATE CONVENTION.