Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 3.djvu/198

 standing committees were also arranged between the parties by agreement and thus the House was finally organized on the 20th of February. The inauguration of Governor Boies had been delayed, by the failure of the House to organize, and did not take place until the 27th of February when the unusual event of the inauguration of a Democratic Governor and a Republican Lieutenant-Governor took place.

The last message of Governor Larrabee showed a better financial condition of the State than had existed for several years. The public debt, which in January, 1886, had amounted to $817,857.35, had been reduced to $39,388.33. The assessed value of property of the State was now $516,509,409. The Governor strongly recommended the abolition of corporal punishment in the public schools as a relic of barbarism. The permanent fund of the State University at this time was $226,899; and the annual income derived from it the past two years, $31,119. The receipts of the Agricultural College from the endowment fund for the same period were $94,130. The endowment fund at this time amounted to $649,306, most of which was invested in mortgages drawing interest from seven to eight per cent. The total agricultural products of the State for 1889 were stated to be worth $134,060,725.

Governor Larrabee gave an elaborate review of the working of the new railroad laws enacted by the last Legislature in which he said:

“Experience has now demonstrated the wisdom and justice of the measure. The Commissioners proceeded under the law to prepare a schedule of rates for the roads, having in view the general prosperity of the State. The roads have never been so crowded with business as at present, nor has the service ever been more satisfactory to the people. It is now admitted that our present local freight rates are more equitable than any previously in force in the State and it affords me pleasure to say that there is at present but little friction between the railroad companies and the people. The gross earnings of the railroads of the State for the year ending June 30, 1889, were $37,469,276, being an increase of $193,689 over the preceding year. It must be evident to the impartial