133,099 00 41 6,250.00 3,112.25 $ 16,350.00 $ 2,159.05 $ 223, 200 00 $ 30, 541.70 $ 272,250.75 157-3 24, 804.00 1,955.00 297,308.40 42,803.65 366, 871.05 Institution for Feeble Minded Children, Glenwood.. Industrial School for Boys, Eldora..... Hospital for Insane, Mt. Pleasant... Hospital for Insane, Clarinda.... Penitentiary, Fort Ma lison Total.. 3,699.16 8415,596.00 8 48,398.28 $6,064.696.75 995.674.46 547,818.84 54.215 81 1,721,576 76 641.637.94 7,170,328.97 The following table shows the number of inmates in each institution at the commencement of this biennial period, the number received, discharged, and paroled, and the number remaining at the close of the biennial period. MOVEMENT OF POPULATION. 36,837.84 1,651,295.95 The income of the institutions under the charge of this Board for their support is derived from quarterly or monthly allowances. 815 473 223 189 108 114 183 1,050 1,078 851 6,759 7,073 from the state treasury and from the proceeds of their farms and shops and from special appropriations. The maximum allowances for support from the state treasury, based upon the average number of inmates per month, are as follows: There has been expended for all of the institutions under our care during the biennial period ending June 30, 1901, $2,505,719.75. Of this amount $337,813.68 was for new buildings, extraordinary repairs, equipment, land, transportation, and miscellaneous, and $2,167,906.07 was for support, as appears in the following table. The table also shows the amounts expended out of the general support fund, during the prior biennial period and the per capita expenses during each period, so far as the support fund is concerned. The number of persons employed in the office of this Board on June 30, 1899, (exclusive of the members of the Board) was fourteen, and the aggregate of the monthly salaries was $725.42. The number of such persons employed on June 30, 1901, was ten and the aggregate of the monthly salaries was $641.70. The work in this office is now more promptly and efficiently performed than it was formerly, due largely to the fact that the system became more perfect and is better understood and to the further fact that the returns and reports received from the institutions are in most cases correct. During the same period, and in recognition of faithful and efficient service, we have made substantial increases in the wages of every employee in this office. CHAPTER II. STATE FARMS. While Iowa is recognized as the most productive agricultural state in the Union, it is somewhat surprising that the amount of land owned by the state in connection with its institutions is of very limited area. This condition is the more striking, when we take into consideration the low price prevailing for land when the greater number of the institutions were located, and the ease with which it could have been secured at that time. But evidently those upon whom devolved the duty of securing land for state institutions, did not realize the possibilities of the future, and in this respect they were not different from others, for who could have foretold forty or fifty years ago that land then subject to entry at $1.25 an acre, would, at the opening of the twentieth century, be in demand at prices ranging from $40 to $80, and even more, per acre? Another reason no doubt, for the limited acreage in connection with our state institutions was the belief that more land could not be profitably utilized, and that the expense incurred in cultivation, would be greater than the benefits derived. That many of the farms belonging to the state were poorly cultivated, in former years, would not be denied by those conversant with their condition at the time the state institutions were placed under the control of this Board. But a great change has taken place and our state farms, as a rule, instead of being the worst in the state, in the matter of cultivation and production, are to-day among the best, and probably no other farms of the same size in Iowa show the results of intensive cultivation, equal to the farms in connection with our state institutions. Instead of manure being allowed to accumulate for years as formely it is now hauled to the fields and spread upon the land, and the cockleburs and other noxious weeds that formerly claimed possession of the ground are being eradicated at a rate that forebodes their early extermination. The labor of the inmates of the institutions is now being utilized as never before, in the cultivation of the land, and at the state hospitals, it is not uncommon to find from 200 to 300 male patients at work in the fields at one time. As a result the corn, potatoes, beans, broom corn and such like crops were cultivated last season from six to ten times, and the greater part, hand hoed from two to five times. As the labor of the patients cost nothing, it is seen that thes state has advantages over other farmers, and we doubt if cleaner fields can be found in Iowa than those in connection with some of our state institutions. As a result of this thorough cultivation, there has been harvested the present season over 25,000 bushels of potatoes at our state institutions, and had it not been for the extreme drouth, the yield would not have been less than 40,000 bushels, sufficient to supply all the wants of the inmates. Corn, beans, broom corn, turnips, etc., have also yielded fair crops far above the average of the state, and while oats have been good, hay was an excellent crop, one of the best ever secured. Live stock of all kinds at time of writing is in a healthful condition, and a number of the institutions are now very successful in the raising of hogs, the number and quality having increased greatly during the last three years. The following table shows the number of acres of land owned by the state in connection with the institution located at, or near, the respective places, also the number of horses and mules, cattle, hogs, and sheep with their value, on June 30, 1901. At that date, with the exception of brood sows, there were practically no old hogs on the state farms, which accounts for the low valuation, about, $6.00 per head. By the first of the new year, these hogs will have more than trebled in value, and at current prices and no loss from disease, or other cause, the aggregate value will be at least $35,000. With the exception of from one to three bulls at the head of the herds, the cattle consist of cows almost exclusively, the acreage being too limited to allow the raising of even the most promising heifers for additions to the herds. Nearly all calves are sold to neighboring farmers, and removed within a day or two of birth, the receipts from this source having been materially increased by placing at the head of the herds pure bred bulls of the leading beef breeds, selected for individual merit. The horses are either carriage or draft, and the mules are used exclusively for draft, no young stock of either being raised, |