[1] _Yunan_ is still a popular synonym for _Oroum_, a Greek, among
the Arabs; in India _Yavana_ was long the generic name for all
foreigners from the north and west, a use dating probably from
Alexander's day and the Graeco-Bactrian monarchs.
IONIAN SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY. Under this name are included a number of
philosophers of the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. Mainly Ionians by birth,
they are united by a local tie and represent all that was best in the
early Ionian intellect. It is a most interesting fact in the history of
Greek thought that its birth took place not in Greece but in the
colonies on the Eastern shores of the Aegean Sea. But not only
geographically do these philosophers form a school; they are one in
method and aim. They all sought to explain the material universe as
given in sensible perception; their explanation was in terms of matter,
movement, force. In this they differed from the Eleatics and the
Pythagoreans who thought in the abstract, and explained knowledge and
existence in metaphysical terminology. In tracing the development of
their ideas, two periods may be distinguished. The earliest thinkers
down to Heraclitus endeavoured to find a material substance of which all
things consist; Heraclitus, by his principle of universal flux, took a
new line and explained everything in terms of force, movement, dynamic
energy. The former asked the question, "What is the substratum of the
things we see?"; the latter, "How did the sensible world become what it
is; of what nature was the motive force?"
The first name in the list of the Ionian philosophers--and, indeed, in
the history of European thought--is that of Thales (q.v.). He first,
so far as we know, sought to go behind the infinite multiplicity of
phenomena in the hope of finding an infinite unity from which all
difference has been evolved. This unity he decided is Water ([Greek:
panta hydor estin]). It is impossible to discover precisely what he
conceived to be the relation of this unity to the plurality of
phenomena. Later writers from whom we derive our knowledge of Thales
attributed to him ideas which seem to have been conceived by
subsequent thinkers. Thus the suggestion preserved by Stobaeus that he
conceived water to be endowed with mind is discredited by the specific
statement of Aristotle that the earlier physicists (_physiologi_) did
not distinguish the material from the moving cause, and that before
Anaxagoras no one postulated creative intelligence. Again in the _De
anima_ (i. 5) Aristotle quotes the statement that Thales attributed to
water a divine intelligence, and criticizes it as an inference from
later speculations. It is probably safest to credit Thales with the
bare mechanical conception of a universal material cause, leaving
pantheistic ideas to a later period of thought.
The successors of Thales were Anaximander and Anaximenes, who also
sought for a primal substance of things. Anaximander postulated a
corporeal substance intermediate between air and fire on the one hand,
and between earth and water on the other hand. This substance he
called "the Infinite" ([Greek: to apeiron]). Unlike Thales, he was
struck by the infinite variety in things; he felt that all differences
are finite, that they have emerged from primal unity (first called
[Greek: arche] by him) into which they must ultimately return, that
the Infinite One has been, is, and always will be, the same,
indeterminate but immutable. Change, growth and decay he explained on
the principle of mechanical compensation ([Greek: didonai gar auta
tisin kai diken tes adikias]).
Anaximenes, pupil of Anaximander, seems to have rebelled against the
extreme materialism of his master. Perceiving that air is necessary to
life, that the universe is surrounded by air, he was convinced that
out of air all things have resulted. The process by which things grow
is twofold, condensation ([Greek: pyknosis]) and rarefaction ([Greek:
araiosis]), or, in other words, _heat_ and _cold_. From the former
process result cloud, water and stone; from the latter, fire and
aether. This theory is closely allied to that of Thales, but it is
superior in that it specifies the processes of change. Further, it is
difficult not to accept Cicero's statement that Anaximenes made air a
conscious deity; we are, at all events, justified in regarding
Anaximenes as a link (perhaps an unconscious link) between crude
Hylozoism (q.v.) and definitely metaphysical theories of existence.
We have seen that Thales recognized change, but attempted no
explanation; that Anaximander spoke of change in two directions; that
Anaximenes called these two directions by specific names. From this
last, the transition to the doctrine of Heraclitus is easy. He felt
that change is the essential fact of experience and pointed out that
any merely physical explanation of plurality is inherently impossible.
The Many is of Sense; Unity is of Thought. Being is intelligible only
in terms of Becoming. That which is, is what it is in virtue of its
perpetually changing relations ([Greek: panta rei kai ouden menei]).
By this recognition of the necessary correlation of Being and
Not-being, Heraclitus is in a very real sense the father of
metaphysical and scientific speculation, and in him the Ionian school
of philosophy reached its highest point. Yet there is reason to doubt
the view of Hegel and Lassalle that Heraclitus recognized the
fundamental distinction of subject and object and the relations of
mind and matter. Like the early Ionians he postulated a primary
substance, fire, out of which all things have emerged and into which
all must return. This elemental fire is in itself a divine rational
process, the harmony of which constitutes the law of the universe.
Human knowledge consists in the comprehension of this all-pervading
harmony as embodied in the manifold of perception; the senses are "bad
witnesses" in that they report multiplicity as fixed and existent in
itself rather than in its relation to the One. This theory gives birth
to a sort of ethical by-product whose dominant note is Harmony, the
subordination of the individual to the universal reason; moral failure
is proportionate to the degree in which the individual declines to
recognize his personal transience in relation to the eternal Unity.
From the same principle there follows the doctrine of Immortality. The
individual, like the phenomena of sense, comes out of the infinite and
again is merged; hence on the one hand he is never a separate entity
at all, while on the other hand he exists in the infinite and must
continue to exist. Moreover, the soul approaches most nearly to
perfection when it is least differentiated from elemental fire; it
follows that "while we live our souls are dead within us, but when we
die our souls are restored to life." This doctrine is at once the
assertion and the denial of the self, and furnishes a striking
parallel between European thought in its earliest stages and the
fundamental principles of Buddhism. Knowledge of the self is one with
knowledge of the Universal Logos (Reason); such knowledge is the basis
not only of conduct but of existence itself in its only real sense.
Thus far the Ionian philosophers had held the field of thought. Each
succeeding thinker had more or less assumed the methods of Thales, and
had approached the problem of existence from the empirical side. About
the time of Heraclitus, however, there sprang up a totally new
philosophical spirit. Parmenides and Zeno (see Eleatic School)
enunciated the principle that "Nothing is born of nothing." Hence the
problem becomes a dialectical a priori speculation wherein the laws of
thought transcend the sense-given data of experience. It was therefore
left for the later Ionians to frame an eclectic system, a synthesis of
Being and Not-being, a correlation of universal mobility and absolute
permanence. This examination of diametrically opposed tendencies
resulted in several different theories. It will be sufficient here to
deal with Anaxagoras, Diogenes of Apollonia, Archelaus and Hippo,
leaving Empedocles, Leucippus and Democritus to special articles
(q.v.). The latter three do not belong strictly to the Ionian School.
Anaxagoras (q.v.) elaborated a quasi-dualistic theory according to
which all things have existed from the beginning. Originally they
existed in infinitesimal fragments, infinite in number and devoid of
arrangement. Amongst these fragments were the seeds of all things
which have since emerged by the process of aggregation and
segregation, wherein homogeneous fragments came together. These
processes are the work of Nous ([Greek: nous]) which governs and
arranges. But this Nous, or Mind, is not incorporeal; it is the
thinnest of all things; its action on the particle is conceived
materially. It originated a rotatory movement, which arising in one
point gradually extended till the whole was in motion, which motion
continues and will continue infinitely. By this motion things are
gradually constructed not entirely of homogeneous particles (the
homoeomere, [Greek: homoiomere]) but in each thing with a majority of
a certain kind of particle. It is this aggregation which we describe
variously as birth, death, maturity, decay, and of which the senses
give inaccurate reports. His vague dualism works a very distinct
advance upon the crude hylozoism of the early Ionians (see ATOM), and
the criticisms of Plato and Aristotle show how highly his work was
esteemed. The great danger is that we should credit him with more than
he actually thought. His _Nous_ was not a spiritual force; it was no
omnipotent deity; it is not a pantheistic world-soul. But by isolating
Reason from all other growths, by representing it as the motor-energy
of the Cosmos, in popularizing a term which suggested personality and
will, Anaxagoras gave an impetus to ideas which were the basis of
Aristotelian philosophy in Greece and in Europe at large.
In Diogenes of Apollonia we find a return to Anaximenes. Diogenes
(q.v.) began by insisting on the necessity of there being only one
principle of things, herein contradicting the pluralism of Heraclitus.
This principle is that of the universal homogeneity of nature; all
things are at bottom the same, or interaction would be impossible
([Greek: panta ta eonta apo tou autou heteroiousthai kai to auto
einai]). This universal substance is Air. But Diogenes went much
farther than Anaximenes by attributing to air not only infinity and
eternity but also intelligence. This Intelligence alone would have
produced the orderly arrangement which we observe in Nature, and is
the basis of human thought by the physical process of inhalation.
Another pupil of Anaxagoras was Archelaus of Miletus (q.v.). His work
was mainly the combination of previous views, except that he is said
to have introduced an ethical side into the Ionian philosophy.
"Justice and injustice," he said, "are not natural but legal." He
endeavoured to overcome the dualism of Anaxagoras, and in so doing
approached more nearly to the older Ionians.
The last of the Ionians whom we need mention is Hippo (q.v.), who,
like Archelaus, is intellectually amongst the earlier members of the
school. He thought that the source of all things was moisture ([Greek:
to hygron]), and is by Aristotle coupled with Thales (_Metaphysics_, A
3).
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Ritter and Preller, ch. i.; Zeller's _History of Greek
Philosophy_; J. Burnet, _Early Greek Philosophy_ (1892); Fairbanks,
_The First Philosophers of Greece_ (1898); Grote, _History of Greece_,
ch. viii.; Windelband, _History of Ancient Philosophy_ (1899); Benn,
_The Greek Philosophers_ (1883) and _The Philosophy of Greece_ (1898);
Th. Gomperz, _Greek Thinkers_ (Eng. trans. vol. i., L. Magnus, 1901).
IOPHON, Greek tragic poet, son of Sophocles. He gained the second prize
in 428 B.C., Euripides being first, and Ion third. He must have been
living in 405, the date of the production of the _Frogs_ of
Aristophanes, in which he is spoken of as the only good Athenian tragic
poet, although it is hinted that he owed much to his father's
assistance. He wrote 50 plays, of which only a few fragments remain. It
is said that Iophon accused his father before the court of the phratores
of being incapable of managing his affairs, to which Sophocles replied
by reading the famous chorus of the _Oedipus at Colonus_ (688 ff.), with
the result that he was triumphantly acquitted.
See Aristophanes, _Frogs_, 73, 78, with scholia; Cicero, _De
senectute_, vii. 22; Plutarch, _Moralia_, 785 B; A. Nauck, _Tragicorum
Graecorum fragmenta_ (1889); O. Wolff, _De Iophonte poeta_ (Leipzig,
1884).
I.O.U. ("I owe you"), a written acknowledgment of a debt. It usually
runs thus:
To----. I.O.U. ----pounds.
(Signed)----. Date----.
An I.O.U., if worded as above, or even if the words "for value received"
are added, does not acquire a stamp, as it contains no terms of
agreement. If any such words as "to be paid on such a day" are added, it
requires a stamp. An I.O.U. should be addressed to the creditor by name,
though its validity is not impaired by such omission. Being a distinct
admission of a sum due, it is prima facie evidence of an account stated,
but where it is the only item of evidence of account it may be rebutted
by showing there was no debt and no demand which could be enforced by
virtue of it. An I.O.U. is not negotiable.
IOVILAE, or JOVILAE, a latinized form of _iuvilas_, the name given by
the Oscan-speaking Campanians in the 5th, 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. to
an interesting class of monuments, not yet fully understood. They all
bear crests or heraldic emblems proper to some family or group of
families, and inscriptions directing the annual performance of certain
ceremonies on fixed days. While some of them are dedicated to Jupiter
(in a special capacity, which our present knowledge of Oscan is
insufficient to determine), others were certainly found attached to
graves.
See the articles OSCA LINGUA, CAPUA, CUMAE and MESSAPII. The text of
all those yet discovered (at Capua and Cumae), with particulars of
similar usages elsewhere in Italy and other historical and
archaeological detail, is given by R. S. Conway in _The Italic
Dialects_ (Cambridge, 1897, pp. 101 ff.). A briefer but valuable
discussion of the chief characteristics of the group will be found in
R. von Planta's _Oskisch-umbrische Grammatik_, ii. 631 ff., and a
summary description in C. D. Buck's _Osco-Umbrian Grammar_, 247.
(R. S. C.)
IOWA, a north central state of the United States, situated between
latitudes 40 deg. 36' and 43 deg. 30' N. and between longitudes 89 deg.
5' and 96 deg. 31' W. It is bounded N. by Minnesota, E. by the
Mississippi river, which separates it from Wisconsin and Illinois, S. by
Missouri, and W. by the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers, which separate
it from Nebraska and South Dakota. Its total area is 56,147 sq. m., of
which 561 sq. m. are water surface.
_Physical Features._--Topographically, Iowa lies wholly in the Prairie
Plains Region, part of it having been overrun by the Great Ice Sheet
of the Glacial epoch. For the most part the surface is that of a
prairie tableland, moderately rolling, and with a general but scarcely
perceptible slope, which in the eastern two-thirds is from N.W. to
S.E., and in the western third from N.E. to S.W. Elevations above the
sea range from between 1200 to 1675 ft. in the N.W. to 500 ft. and
less in the S.E., the highest point being in the vicinity of Spirit
lake in Dickinson county, the lowest at Keokuk. In the southern half
of the state the height of the crests of the divides is very uniform.
The northern half is more broken and irregular; elevations, usually
rounded, mingle with depressions some of which are occupied by small
shallow lakes or ponds, the characteristic physical features of this
region being due to glaciation. But the most marked departures from
the prairie surface are in the N.E. and S.W. In the N.E. the whole of
Allamakee and parts of Winneshick, Fayette, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque
and Jackson counties form the only driftless area of the state; in
that section cliffs frequently rise almost vertically from the banks
of a river to a height of from 300 to 400 ft., and from the summit of
the cliff to the crest of the divide, a few miles distant, there is
another ascent of 300 ft. or more terminating occasionally in
knob-topped hills crowned in many instances with small cedar.
Moreover, the largest streams have numerous tributaries, and nearly
all alike flow circuitously between steep if not vertical cliffs or in
deep craggy ravines overlooked by distant hills, among which the wagon
road has wound its way with difficulty. In the W., S. from the mouth
of the Big Sioux river, extends a line of mound-like bluffs usually
free from rocks, but rising abruptly from the flood plain of the
Missouri to a height varying from 100 to 300 ft. A broad water-parting
extending from Spirit lake, on the northern border, nearly S. to
within 60 m. of the southern border, and thence S.E. to Wayne county
in the south central part of Iowa, divides the state into two drainage
systems. That to the E., comprising about two-thirds of the whole
area, is drained by tributaries of the Mississippi, of which the Des
Moines, the Skunk, the Iowa with its tributary the Cedar, and the
Wapsipinicon are the largest, streams of long courses and easy fall
over beds frequently pebbly in the N. but muddy in the S., and through
valleys broad at their sources, well drained, and gently sloping in
the middle of their courses, but becoming narrower and deeper towards
their mouths; that to the W. is drained by tributaries of the
Missouri, mostly short streams taking their rise from numerous
rivulets, flowing quite rapidly over muddy beds through much of their
courses, and in the bluff belt along the Missouri having steep but
grassy banks 200 ft. in height or more. (For geological details, see
UNITED STATES, section _Geology, ad fin_.)
_Flora and Fauna._--The predominant feature of the flora is the
grasses of the prairie. The former forests of the state were of two
general classes: on the bottom lands along the rivers grew cottonwood,
willow, honey-locust, coffee trees, black ash, and elm; on the less
heavily wooded uplands were oaks (white, red, yellow and bur), hickory
(bitternut and pignut), white and green ash, butternut, ironwood and
hackberry. The growth was heavier, however, in the E. than in the W.,
but, it has been estimated, covered in all about one-fifth of the area
of the state at the time of its first settlement by the whites. In the
N.E., also, small cedar and pine are found. But everywhere now most of
the merchantable timber has been cut; in 1900 it was estimated that
there were altogether about 7000, sq. m. of woodland in the state. The
bison and elk long ago disappeared; black bear and deer were long
found in unsettled parts of the state. Ducks, geese and other water
birds are common, especially during their migrations.
_Climate._--The climate is one of great extremes of heat and cold,
with a dry winter and a usually wet summer, the prevailing wind of
winter being N.W. while in summer it not infrequently blows from the
S.W. Both the midwinter isotherm of Montreal and the mid-summer one of
Washington, D.C., pass through the state. The mean annual temperature
is 47.5 deg. F.; the average range of extremes per year during the
decade ending with 1900 was 136 deg. F., while the greatest extremes
recorded are from -43 deg. F. in 1888 to 113 deg. F. in 1901, a
difference of 156 deg. F. From 1893 to 1898 the average mean annual
temperature at Cresco in Howard county, near the N.E. corner of the
state, was 44.3 deg. F., while at Keokuk in the S.E. corner it was
52.2 deg. F., and as the isotherms cross the state, especially in the
N., their tendency is to move S.W. The rainfall is also very unequal
in distribution throughout the year, as also between the same periods
of different years, and as between the different parts of the state.
For while the mean annual precipitation is 31.42 in., 22.48 in., or
71% of this, fall during the six months from the 1st of April to the
1st of October, or 10% in winter, 23% in autumn, 28% in spring and 39%
in summer, June and July being the two wettest months. At the same
time extremes during the four most critical crop months, from the 1st
of May to the 1st of September, have ranged from 6.75 in. in 1894 to
27.8 in. in 1902. Within any one year the precipitation is in general
usually less in the western part of the state than in the eastern, the
mean difference for all the years of record up to the close of 1903
being 2.5 in.; the western part also is marked by having a still
larger per cent of its rain in spring and summer than has the eastern.
The unequal distribution throughout the state is in much larger
measure due to local showers. Injury to crops from drought and hot
winds has occurred about two or three times in a decade, but liability
to injury of the crops from excessive rainfall and hailstorms is
greater than that from a deficiency of moisture. Three notable
tornadoes have swept portions of the state: the Comanche in June 1860,
the Grinnell in June 1882 and the Pomeroy in July 1893; but the
greatest area traversed by any of these was less than one-twentieth of
1% of the total area of the state, and this kind of storm has been
less destructive to human life, animals and buildings than the
lightning which accompanies summer showers.
[Illustration: Map of Iowa.]
_Soil, Agriculture._--Its depth, together with its porous nature,
makes the fertile soil of Iowa capable of withstanding the extremes of
wet and dry remarkably well, and it is perhaps true that, taken as a
whole, no other state in the Union has a superior soil for
agriculture. Certainly no other has so many acres of improved land, or
so large a proportion--from 85 to 90%--of its land subject to
cultivation. The soil is of four kinds: till or drift, alluvial, loess
or bluff and geest. The dark drift, composed chiefly of clay, sand,
gravel, boulders and lime, is both the soil and subsoil of the greater
part (about 66%) of the state, being especially predominant in the N.
and N.W. The alluvial soil, composed of what has been washed from
other soils, together with decayed vegetable matter, covers about 6%
of the surface of the state and is found in the river bottoms, of
greatest extent in that of the Missouri; it varies much in fertility.
The loess soil, chiefly a mixture of porous clay and carbonate of
lime, forms the bluffs bordering the bottom lands of the Missouri and
is common in the N.E. Its fertility is not inferior to that of the
better drift. Geest is found particularly in the north-eastern part of
the state; it covers less than 1% of the area of the state.
The superior qualities of the soil, together with the usually warm and
moist months of spring and summer, make Iowa one of the foremost
states of the Union in agriculture and stock-raising, especially in
the production of Indian corn, oats, hay and eggs, and in the raising
of hogs, horses, dairy cows and poultry. In comparison with its other
industries it stands also pre-eminently as an agricultural state; for
of its 789,404 labourers in 1900, 371,604, or 47%, were engaged in
agriculture, 129,006 being engaged in trade and transportation, and
124,803 in manufactures and mechanical pursuits. In 1899 the total
value of the agricultural products, $365,411,528, was greater than
that of any other state. Of the farms 65.1% were cultivated by owners
in 1900, a decrease from 76.2% in 1880; and 19.5% were cultivated by
cash tenants, an increase from 4.5% in 1880. After 1880 the percentage
of farms operated by share tenants slowly but steadily decreased,
falling from 19.4% in 1880 to 15.4% in 1900. Between 1880 and 1900 the
average number of acres to a farm slightly increased--from 133.5 acres
in 1880 to 151.2 acres in 1900--instead of decreasing as in the older
states of the Union; though the increase was not nearly so marked as
in such states as Nevada, Montana, Wyoming and Texas. Iowa about
equals Illinois in the production of both Indian corn and oats, nearly
10,000,000 acres or about one-third of its improved area usually being
planted with Indian corn, with a yield varying from 227,908,850
bushels in 1901 (according to state reports) to 373,275,000 (the
largest in the United States, with a crop value second only to that of
Illinois) in 1906. According to the Department of Agriculture in 1907
the acreage was 9,160,000 and the yield 270,220,000 bushels
(considerably less than the Illinois crop); the yield of oats was
168,364,170 bushels (Twelfth U.S. Census) in 1899, 124,738,337 bushels
(U.S. Department of Agriculture) in 1902, and in 1907 the acreage and
crop (greater than those of any other state) were 4,500,000 acres and
108,900,000 bushels, valued at $41,382,000--a valuation second only to
that of Illinois. In total acreage of cereals (16,920,095 in 1899) it
ranked first (Twelfth Census of the United States), and in product of
cereals was exceeded by Illinois only; in acreage of hay and forage
(4,649,378 in 1899) as well as in the annual supply of milk
(535,872,240 gallons in 1899) it was exceeded by New York only. In
1905, according to railway reports, 91,051,551 lb. of butter were
carried to points outside the state. It ranked far ahead of any other
state in 1908 in the number of its hogs (8,413,000, being 15% of the
whole number in the United States), Illinois, the second in rank,
having only about half as many. It ranked first in 1900 in the number
of horses (1,392,573); in the number of poultry (about 20,000,000); in
the annual egg product (99,621,290 dozen in 1899); in the total
acreage of all crops (22,170,000); in the total value of agricultural
products; and in the total value of live stock ($271,844,034). In 1899
it ranked fourth in the production of barley (18,059,050 bushels) and
in 1907 sixth (14,178,000 bushels). The wheat crop has varied from
12,531,304 bushels in 1903, 13,683,003 bushels in 1905, 7,653,000
bushels in 1907 (according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture), to
22,769,440 bushels (Twelfth Census) in 1899. Potatoes, apples and
small fruits are grown successfully. For the most part the several
crops are quite evenly distributed throughout the state; but nearly
all the winter wheat is grown in the S. and N.W., spring wheat most
largely in the N.W., barley mostly in the N., flax-seed and prairie
hay in the N.E.
_Minerals._--The first mines to be worked in Iowa were those for lead
and zinc at Dubuque and to the northward. These are little mined at
present, only 110 tons of lead ore and 516 tons of zinc ore being
taken from the mines in 1908. Of more promise is the gypsum deposit
extending over an area of about 50 sq. m. in the vicinity of Fort
Dodge (Webster county), from which was taken in 1908 a product valued
at $565,645, having increased to that figure from $45,819 in 1898.
Limestones and sandstone are also profitably quarried, the value of
the product in 1908 being $530,945 for limestone and $2337 for
sandstone. The principal mineral of Iowa, however, is bituminous coal;
it ranked in 1908 eighth among the coal-producing states of the Union,
its product being valued at $11,706,402. The beds lie in the southern
half of the state, extending under about two-fifths of its surface.
_Trade and Commerce._--The manufactures of Iowa are chiefly such as
have to do with the products of the farm. Meat packing is the most
important, the product of this industry amounting in 1900 to
$25,695,044, and in 1905 to $30,074,070, an increase of 17% in this
period; in 1900 the state was seventh, in 1905 sixth, among the states
in the value of this industry, producing in each year 3.3% of the
total. Next in importance is the manufacture of dairy products, the
value of which in 1900 was $15,846,077 (an increase of 50.3% in ten
years) and in 1905 was $15,028,326; at both censuses the state ranked
third in the value of cheese, butter, and condensed milk and of food
preparations, which were valued at $6,934,724 in 1905. Flour and
grist-mill products ranked third both in 1900 and 1905, the value of
the product for the later year being $12,099,493, an increase of 9.9%
over the value for the earlier. Among the lesser manufactures are
lumber and timber products (value in 1905, $5,610,772), most of the
raw material being floated down on rafts from Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The largest centres of industry are Sioux City, Davenport, Dubuque,
Des Moines, Burlington and Council Bluffs. In 1905 the gross value of
the manufactured product (of establishments on the factory system) was
$160,572,313, as against $132,870,865 in 1900, an increase of 20.8%;
whereas, even including the products of smaller establishments not
technically factories, the value of the product in 1850 was only
$3,551,783, and in 1880 was only $71,045,926.
The means of transportation is afforded chiefly by the steam railways,
of which the state had 9,907.44 m. in January 1909. Scarcely a farm is
more than 6 or 8 m. from a railway station; and only three other
states have a greater railway mileage. The great period of railway
building in Iowa was during the twenty-five years immediately
following the close of the Civil War, the railway mileage being only
655 m. in 1860. The several roads are under the management of
twenty-seven companies, but about 75% of the business is done by the
Chicago Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago & North-Western, the Chicago
Milwaukee & St Paul and the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific. Electric
interurban railways are increasing in importance for freight and
passenger service. In 1908 about 225 m. of such railways were in
operation. Transportation facilities by water are afforded by the
Mississippi river. The former difficulties with the Des Moines Rapids
of the Mississippi (which are passable for rafts and light boats at
high water) have been overcome by a canal from Keokuk to Montrose
constructed by the National Government. Other federal improvements
undertaken are a harbour at Muscatine, a harbour of refuge below
Davenport and channel improvements at Clinton.
_Population._--The population of Iowa in 1850 was 192,214; in 1860,
674,913; in 1880, 1,624,615; in 1890, 1,911,896; in 1900, 2,231,853. The
state census of 1905 showed a total population of 2,210,050, and the
Federal census of 1910, of 2,224,771. Of the population in 1905,
1,264,443 (57.2%) were native whites of native parentage, 648,532
(29.3%) were native whites of foreign parentage, 289,296 (12.8%) were
foreign-born and 14,832 (0.7%) were coloured, including 346 Indians. The
Indians, a remnant of the Sauk and Foxes, are most unprogressive, and
are settled on a reservation in Tama county in the east-central section
of the state.
In 1906 it was estimated that there were 788,667 communicants of all
religious denominations; of these 207,607 were Roman Catholics; 164,329
Methodists; 117,668 Lutherans; 60,081 Presbyterians; 55,948 Disciples of
Christ; 44,096 Baptists; 37,061 Congregationalists; 11,681 members of
the German Evangelical Synod; and 8990 Protestant Episcopalians.
The rural element of the population is large, though it is not
increasing as rapidly as the urban; and no other state in the Union is
so uniformly settled. There were in 1905 seven cities with a population
of 25,000 or more; twenty with 8000 or more; and thirty-seven with 4000
or more. Between 1890 and 1900 the urban population increased 38.3%,
while the rural increased 14.6%. The chief cities are Des Moines (pop.
in 1905, 75,626), Dubuque (41,941), Davenport (39,797), Sioux City
(40,952), Cedar Rapids (28,759), Council Bluffs (25,231) and Burlington
(25,318).
_Government._--There is comparatively little in the political
institutions of Iowa dissimilar to those of other states of the Union;
they show in recent years a tendency toward greater centralization--in
boards, however, rather than in individual officers. The constitution
now in force was adopted in 1857, the constitution of 1846 having been
superseded chiefly on account of its prohibition of banking
corporations. The present one admits of amendment by a vote of a
majority of the members of both houses of the legislature, followed by a
majority vote of the electors in the state voting on the amendment; and
by this process it was amended in 1868, 1880, 1884 and 1904. The present
constitution also provides that the question, "Shall there be a
convention to revise the constitution and amend the same?" shall be
submitted to the people once every ten years (beginning with 1870), but
the affirmative vote taken in accordance with this provision has
hitherto been small. The suffrage now belongs to all male citizens of
the United States at least twenty-one years of age who shall have
resided in the state for six months, and in some one county sixty days
preceding an election, except idiots and persons insane or convicted of
some infamous crime. The franchise was conferred on negroes by an
amendment adopted in 1868. Prior to 1904 elections were annual, but by
an amendment of that year they became biennial.
The central executive and administrative authority is vested in a
governor, a lieutenant-governor, an executive council, several boards
and a few other officers. The governor and the lieutenant-governor was
elected for a term of two years, and the qualifications for both offices
require that the incumbents shall be at least thirty years of age and
shall have been for two years immediately before their election
residents of the state. Under the Territorial government when first
organized the governor was given an extensive appointing power, as well
as the right of an absolute veto on all legislation, but this speedily
resulted in such friction between him and the legislature that Congress
was petitioned for his removal, with the outcome that the office has
since been much restricted in its appointing power, and the veto has
been subjected to the ordinary United States limit, i.e. it may be
overridden by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature.
Members of boards of regents or trustees of state institutions are for
the most part elected by the General Assembly; railway commissioners are
elected by the state electors; while in the case of the few appointments
left for the governor, the recommendation or approval of the executive
council, a branch of the legislature, or of some board, is usually
required. He, however, is himself a member of the executive council as
well as of some important boards or commissions, and it is in such
capacity that he often has the greatest opportunity to exert power and
influence. His salary is $5000 per annum (with $600 for house rent and
$800 as a member of the executive council). The executive council,
composed of the governor, secretary of state, auditor of state and
treasurer of state, all elected by the people for a term of two years,
has extensive powers. It supervises and audits the accounts of state
departments, directs the taking of the census, transfers cities from one
class to another in accordance with census returns, constitutes the
board for canvassing election returns, classifies railways, assesses
railway and other companies, constitutes the state board of equalization
for adjusting property valuations between the several counties for
taxing purposes, supervises the incorporation of building and loan
associations, appoints the board of examiners of mine inspectors and has
many other powers. Among other state boards the more important are the
board of railroad commissioners, the board of control of state
institutions, the board of health, and the board of educational
examiners.
The state legislature, or General Assembly, composed of a senate and a
house of representatives, sits biennially at Des Moines. Senators are
elected for a term of four years, one from each of fifty senatorial
districts, the term of one-half expiring every two years. Senators must
be at least twenty-five years of age and residents of the state for one
year at the time of election. Representatives are elected for a term of
two years, one from each of the ninety-nine counties, with an additional
one from each of the counties (not exceeding nine) having the largest
population; the ratio of representation and the apportionment of the
additional representatives from the larger counties is fixed by the
General Assembly. The qualifications for representatives differ from
those for electors only in that they must have been residents of the
state for one year at the time of election, the disqualification of
negroes for sitting in both senate and house having been removed by an
amendment adopted in 1880. No bill can pass either house without the
assent of a majority of all the members elected to that house; the
governor is allowed three days (Sunday excepted) in which to veto a
bill.
The state judiciary consists of a supreme court of six judges and a
district court of fifty-three judges, from one to four in each of twenty
districts. The supreme court has three sessions a year, while each
district-court judge is directed to hold at least one session a year in
each county of his district, and no two district-court judges may sit
together on the same case. The supreme court has appellate jurisdiction
in chancery cases only, but may correct errors at law in other cases.
The district court has general, original and exclusive jurisdiction in
all matters civil, criminal and probate not expressly conferred on an
inferior court, and may hear appeals from inferior courts, boards or
officers.
For purposes of administration and local government the state is
divided into ninety-nine counties, each of which is itself divided
into townships that are usually 6 m. square. The township may be
divided into school districts and highway districts, but in these
matters option has resulted in irregularity. Each county has its own
administrative boards and officers; and there are two justices of the
peace and two constables for every township. The board of supervisors,
consisting of not more than seven members, elected for a term of three
years, has the care of county property and the management of county
business, including highways and bridges; it fixes the rate of county
taxes within prescribed limits, and levies the taxes for state and
county purposes. The officers of the township are three trustees, a
clerk and an assessor. The trustees are elected for a term of three
years, the clerk and assessor for two years. All taxable property of
the state, that of corporations for the most part excepted, is
assessed by the township assessor.
The municipal corporations are civil divisions quite independent of
the county and township system. They are divided into cities of the
first class, cities of the second class and towns, besides a few
cities with special charters. Cities of the first class are those
having a population of 15,000 or over; cities of the second class are
those having a population of 2000 but less than 15,000; all other
municipal corporations, except cities with special charters, are known
as incorporated towns. In all these cities and towns a mayor, council
and various officers are elected, and also a police judge in cities of
the first class where there is no superior court. By a law of 1907
cities with a population of 25,000 or more may adopt a commission form
of government, with a mayor and four councilmen elected at large on a
non-partisan ticket.
Under the laws of Iowa a wife enjoys property rights equal to those of
her husband. The expenses of the family, including the education of
the children, are chargeable alike upon the property of either or
both. Otherwise, the wife may control her property as if single, and
neither is liable for what are clearly the debts of the other. In case
of the death of either, one-third of the property of the deceased
becomes that of the survivor. A homestead cannot be conveyed or
encumbered without the consent of both husband and wife, if held by a
married man; and a homestead, to the value of $500, is exempt from
liability for debts postdating the purchase, unless for improvements
on the property. A petition for a divorce may be presented after a
residence within the state of one year immediately preceding, and a
decree may be granted against the defendant if judged guilty of
adultery, desertion for two years without reasonable cause, habitual
drunkenness, such inhuman treatment as to endanger the life of the
plaintiff, or if convicted of felony after marriage. In 1882 an
amendment to the constitution was passed prohibiting the manufacture
and the sale of intoxicating liquors within the state. In April 1883
the Supreme Court pronounced this amendment invalid on the ground of
irregularity in recording it, whereupon the legislature provided for a
like prohibition in an ordinary statute. But attempts to execute this
were so unsuccessful that it has been succeeded by a law imposing what
is known as the "mulct tax," which requires the payment of $600 in
quarterly instalments for a licence to sell such liquors and places a
lien for the whole amount on the real property in use for the
business. One-half the proceeds goes to the county and one-half to the
municipality or township in which the liquor is sold. The exceptional
dependence of Iowa on eastern markets has given more than ordinary
prominence to railway legislation, and the conflict of interests
between the railways and the shippers has agitated the state for forty
years, various attempts being made to regulate freight rates by legal
enactment. In 1888 an elective commission was established with power
to fix maximum rates, which has met with general commendation
throughout the country.
The charitable, penal and reformatory institutions of the state are
all under a "Board of Control of State Institutions," composed of
three electors appointed by the governor and approved by two-thirds of
the senators, careful provision being made also to prevent the board
from becoming subject to either political party. The institutions
under its charge include a Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Davenport; a
Soldiers' Home at Marshalltown; a College for the Blind at Vinton; a
School for the Deaf at Council Bluffs; an Institution for
Feeble-minded Children at Glenwood; an Industrial School for Boys at
Eldora; an Industrial School for Girls at Mitchellville; and, at
Oakdale, a Sanatorium for the Treatment of Tuberculosis. The Board of
Control of State Institutions has supervisory and inquisitorial powers
over all county and private institutions in the state in which insane
are kept, and over homes for friendless children maintained by
societies or institutions. In 1907 the General Assembly passed a law
under which the indeterminate sentence was established in the state,
and the governor appoints a Board of Parole of three members, of whom
one must be an attorney and not more than two are to belong to the
same political party.
_Education._--The percentage of illiterates (i.e. both those unable to
read and write and those unable to write) ten years of age and over,
according to the census returns of 1900, was only 2.3; of all the
other states of the Union, Nebraska alone made such a good return. But
teachers were poorly paid, and fourteen schools have been closed at a
time within a single county from want of teachers. However, there are
laws requiring that each school be taught at least six months in a
year, and that children between the ages of seven and fourteen attend
for at least twelve consecutive weeks, and for a total of sixteen
weeks in every year. In 1905-1906 male teachers received on an average
$63.97 per month, women teachers, $43.41. Although the electors of
each school district have ample powers reserved to them, in actual
practice matters are attended to chiefly by an elected board of
directors. The county administration is in the hands of a board of
education and a superintendent. The school tax was derived in
1905-1906 from interest on the state's permanent school
fund--amounting to 2.3% of the total tax, and distributed in
proportion to the population of school age; from a 1 to 3 mill county
tax, amounting to 5.2% of the whole; and from local or district
taxation, 92.5% of the entire tax. A law of the state provides for the
establishment of a county high school whenever a majority of the
electors of a county desire it, but in 1902 only one county (Guthrie
county) had such a school. The number of public high schools in towns
and cities, however, increased from 256 in 1893 to 345 in 1903. The
state established a university at Iowa City in 1847, a State
Agricultural College and Model Farm in 1858 (opened at Ames in 1869 as
the Iowa State College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts), an
Agricultural Experiment Station in 1887, an Engineering Experiment
Station in 1904, and a normal school at Cedar Falls in 1876.
At the head of the whole system is the state superintendent of public
instruction, assisted by a board of educational examiners. In 1901 the
total receipts for school purposes were $6,001,187; and the total
disbursements $5,813,541; in 1906 the receipts were $7,126,162.12 and
the disbursements $6,950,580.27. The pupils enumerated in 1906 were
707,843. Educational institutions not supported by the state include:
Iowa Wesleyan University (Methodist, opened in 1842) at Mt. Pleasant;
Iowa College (Congregational, 1848) at Grinnell; Central University of
Iowa (Baptist, 1853) at Pella; Cornell College (Methodist, 1857) at
Mt. Vernon; Western College (United Brethren, 1856) at Toledo; Upper
Iowa University (Methodist Episcopal, 1857) at Fayette; Leander Clark
College (United Brethren, 1857) at Toledo; Lenox College
(Presbyterian, 1859) at Hopkinton; Luther College (Norwegian
Evangelical Lutheran, 1861) at Decorah; Des Moines College (Baptist,
1865) at Des Moines; Tabor College (Congregational, 1866) at Tabor;
Simpson College (Methodist, 1867) at Indianola; Wartburg Kollege
(Lutheran, 1868) at Clinton; Amity College (Non-sectarian, 1872) at
College Springs; German College (Methodist Episcopal, 1873) at Mt.
Pleasant; Penn College (Friends, 1873) at Oskaloosa; St Joseph's
College (Roman Catholic, 1873) at Dubuque; Parsons College
(Presbyterian, 1875) at Fairfield; Coe College (Presbyterian, 1881) at
Cedar Rapids; Drake University (Disciples of Christ, 1881) at Des
Moines; Palmer College (Disciples of Christ, 1889) at Legrand; Buena
Vista College (Presbyterian, 1891) at Storm Lake; Charles City College
(Methodist Episcopal, 1891) at Charles City; Morningside College
(Methodist Episcopal, 1894) at Sioux City; Graceland College
(Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints, 1895) at Lamoni.
_Finance._--The taxing system of Iowa embraces a general property tax,
corporation taxes (imposed on the franchises or on either the capital
stock or the stock in the hands of shareholders), taxes on certain
businesses and a collateral inheritance tax. Several important
attempts have been made to effect a segregation as between state and
local taxes, but for the most part without success. For the year
ending June 30th, 1908, the receipts of the state from all sources
were $3,663,154.67, and the total expenditure was $3,891,842.81. The
full value of all property, according to assessment of 1904, is
$2,567,330,328. The state has no bonded debt, and the constitution
forbids it to incur debts exceeding in the aggregate a quarter of a
million dollars, except for warlike purposes or for some single work
to which the people give their consent by vote; the constitution also
forbids any county or municipal corporation from incurring an
indebtedness exceeding 5% of the value of its taxable property. When
first admitted into the Union, Iowa had a strongly pronounced
antipathy to banks. This was largely overcome by the year 1857, and
yet the constitution of that date prohibits any legislation of primary
importance relating to banks without referring the matter to a direct
vote of the people. The number of banks and the amount of banking
business has, nevertheless, rapidly increased.
_History._--Iowa, as a part of the whole Mississippi Valley, was taken
into the formal possession of France in 1682; in 1762 as a part of the
western half of that valley it was ceded to Spain; in 1800 it was
retroceded to France; in 1803 was ceded to the United States; from 1804
to 1805, as a part of the District of Louisiana, it was under the
government of Indiana Territory; from 1805 to 1812 it was a part of
Louisiana Territory; from 1812 to 1821 a part of Missouri Territory;
from 1821 to 1834 a part of the unorganized territory of the United
States; from 1834 to 1836 a part of Michigan Territory; from 1836 to
1838 a part of Wisconsin Territory. In 1838 Wisconsin Territory was
divided, the western portion being named Iowa, and out of this the state
with its present bounds was carved in 1846.
The name Iowa (meaning "sleepy ones") was taken from a tribe of Siouan
Indians (probably of Winnebago stock), which for some time had dwelt in
that part of the country and were still there when the first white men
came--the Frenchmen, Marquette and Joliet, in 1673 and Hennepin in 1680.
Early in the next century the Sauk and Foxes, vanquished by the French
in Michigan, retreated westward, and in their turn largely supplanted
the Iowas. Thither also came Julien Dubuque, a French Canadian, to trade
with the new occupants. He discovered lead mines on and near the site of
the city which now bears his name, in 1788 obtained an Indian grant or
lease of about 21 sq. m., established there a settlement of miners and
continued his mining operations, together with a trade in furs, until
his death in 1810. The Indians refused permission to others to work the
mines, and when intruders attempted to do so without it United States
troops protected the red man's rights, especially from 1830 to 1832. But
Black Hawk's war policy soon resulted in letting the white man in; for
the war which he instigated was concluded in 1832 by a cession to the
United States of nearly 9000 sq. m., embracing much of what is now the
district of the Iowa lead and zinc mines. Without further waiting,
though still in the face of the Act of Congress of 1807 prohibiting such
settlements, the frontiersmen rushed in to mine and to farm, and
government was established through voluntary associations. Such
proceedings of these associations as related to claims to land were
later recognized by the United States authorities, while such as related
to the establishment of schools were tolerated for a time by the state
government. Iowa, having separated from Wisconsin in 1838 on account of
lack of courts for judicial relief, the question of applying for
admission into the Union as a state was voted on as early as 1840, the
Territory in that year having a population of 43,112; but the measure
was defeated then, as it was again in 1842, by those who most wished to
avoid an increase of taxes. In 1844, however, the vote was otherwise, a
convention was called, a constitution framed and application for
admission made. The question of boundaries, to which the question of
slavery gave rise, then became the cause of delay, but the Territory
became a state in 1846.
During the period in which the question of admission was under
consideration, the Whigs opposed the measure, while the Democrats
carried it through and remained in power until 1854; but ever since 1857
the state has been preponderantly Republican in all national campaigns;
and with but two exceptions, in 1889 and 1891, when liquor and railroad
legislation were the leading issues, has elected a Republican state
administration. Nevertheless there has always been a strong sentiment in
the state urging that corporations be held more in check, and its
industries are not such as to receive a large benefit directly from
tariff legislation. As a consequence there has been a tendency towards
the formation of two opposing elements within the dominant party; the
more radical seeking the promotion of what since 1902 has been known as
the "Iowa Idea," which in substance is to further the expansion of the
trade of the United States with the rest of the world through the more
extended application of tariff reciprocity, and at the same time to
revise the tariff so as to prevent it from "affording a shelter to
monopoly."