REPORT.

To the Twenty-second General Assembly of the State of Iowa:

Pursuant to a concurrent resolution, and the appointments made by the Honorable President of the Senate and the Honorable Speaker of the House, your committee beg leave to make the following report in reference to the condition of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Council Bluffs, Iowa:

Your committee remained at the Institution for a number of days, and endeavored, to the best of their ability, to make a thorough investigation of said Institution in all of its different departments and management, and were much aided in their researches through the kindness and courtesy of the Superintendent, the Matron, Principal of the Schools Department and officers in charge. And while we believe that the present status and condition of said Institution is far in advance of its record in former years, we are nevertheless constrained to say that some changes should be made in its several departments.

In answer to the first and second interrogatories contained in the concurrent resolution above referred to, we take great pleasure in saying that the appropriations (so far as we were able to discover) made by the last General Assembly have been wisely and economically expended, and expended for the purposes for which they were intended. And in answer to the third question contained in said resolution, we are also glad to say that chapter 67 of the acts of the Seventeenth General Assembly have been complied with, in not contracting indebtedness in excess of the appropriation.

BOOK-KEEPING.

Your committee were glad to note that in this direction the changes suggested by former committees had been pretty well carried out. As a consequence of this change, the Institution now has a very complete system of double entry book-keeping, and it is with some

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degree of satisfaction that the books may now be referred to and accounts verified on demand.

RECORD OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

We also found that the record of The Board of Trustees is now being kept in a very satisfactory manner, showing in detail all the proceedings of its meetings. This method is also an improvement on the old order of things.

SCHOOL ROOM AND SCHOOL FURNITURE.

The school rooms are now well furnished and equipped with desks, chairs, blackboards and other apparatus necessary for the comfort and instruction of the pupils who are in attendance at an institution of this kind. The rooms are well lighted, well ventilated, pleasant and cheerful. Whether they are well heated is a subject that more properly belongs to another division of this report (heating apparatus), and will there be discussed.

LIBRARY.

It is unnecessary for your committee, in this report, to enter into a dissertation on the importance of this branch of the Institution to the children who are gathered there by reason of a common affliction, which shuts them off from these chief sources of information excepting through the eye. Their entire success and happiness, their moral and intellectual advancement, depend upon their taste and ability to read, and the means with which they are furnished opportunity in this direction. And yet your committee (and we were there some days) does not recall a single instance where a pupil was found reading a book of any kind after recitation hours were finished for the day; and in looking around to discover the cause of this, we were not at all surprised when the library was examined by us. In comparison with what it should be, in order to furnish to the pupils the intellectual food to all classes there, and in comparison with that of other institutions in sister States, it is simply a burlesque.

If children, and girls especially, would be interested in statistics, State reports and ancient histories, then these children would be fairly well supplied with reading matter; but if their taste does not run in this direction, or they are not sufficiently educated to enjoy this class of literature, they are then, so far as this library is concerned, left with absolutely nothing in this direction.

Your committee simply call the attention of the General Assembly to the utter dearth of suitable reading matter for the various classes of children in the Institution, with the suggestion that as soon as the great State of Iowa can afford it, that something be done in this direction; for without at least a fairly good library the instruction given them in the school department is incomplete.

And yet there is one redeeming feature in connection herewith, which your committee had well-nigh forgotten, and that is, the introduction and establishment of a reading room. This is a recent innovation, and when in complete running order is intended to contain all suitable periodicals and exchanges, and will undoubtedly reflect credit on its author. Still, we would recommend $400 for a library.

SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.

Your committee spent all their available time in company with the Principal in the class room, for the purpose of ascertaining as completely as they were able to do, the methods of instruction adopted and used by the various teachers, their individual fitness through acquirement of training and nature for the peculiarly delicate tasks which they have in hand; and also the results of their works as evidenced by the progress of the scholars, and your committee is glad to be able to say that the progress made by the scholars will average fairly with that made by those in other institutions in other States; and that with few exceptions the teachers are well qualified for their work; and as your committee is informed, if it were not for the fact that very often the Principal of the school finds his best teacher leaving him under the inducement of a higher salary offered them by some other institution in some other State, and thus finds it necassary to make temporary appointments, there would be no difficulty in this direction. This is a matter, however, which will materially right itself, if the head of the school department remains under the supervision and control of a competent principal. And while your committee is pleased to note all the good points in the department of the Institution, we nevertheless feel constrained to say that in this, the most important trust of all, much improvement can yet be made. It is true that on account of changes in principals, instructors and various other obstacles, which have in the past retarded the progress of the Institution, much allowance should be made for any apparent deficiencies in this department now. Nevertheless a uniform system or grade should be established and adhered to, so that a pupil entering the lowest class could by faithful work and proper instruction finish this part of the course in a given length of time. And the course of study should be uniform and preparatory to a higher or classical education.

In this connection the attention of your committee was called to the meagerness of salaries paid to instructors. We are, however, of the opinion that inasmuch as those who receive the smaller salaries are resident teachers and have a living furnished by the State, and in view of the fact that the hours of instruction are not as long as in other Institutions, that the amount of salaries now paid is sufficient. It is true, however, that the teacher of the deaf and dumb must have a peculiar training for the work, and in this regard becomes an expert and is undoubtedly entitled to more salary than the ordinary school teacher in our common schools for the same amount of work and the same number of hours. But while this is true, on the other hand teachers should only be selected who have become qualified for the work, either by special training as students or by long experience as teachers, and some method of examination should be adopted through which all applicants for the position should be required to pass before they should be employed.

ARTICULATION.

Your committee do not deem instruction in articulation as important as many other branches, and yet we feel that every well-appointed Institution should have its articulation teacher or teachers; and it was a pleasure while making this visit to see some wonderful instances of the progress which the scholars have made in this direction.

INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS.

No argument is necessary to demonstrate the importance of this branch of the Institution. The deaf and dumb, graduated without some knowledge which he can put into practical use, is after all but a helpless thing to be tossed about in the world; and the deaf and dumb girl, too, when she has graduated should have some education in an industrial course.

The industrial shops were built in 1875 and intended for the accommodation of about one hundred (100) pupils. They are at present