INTERESTING CANVASES PRESERVED.

When the first decorative effort was made in our present Capitol many details received favorable comment from the Iowa public. Not the least to be commended were the frescos of the House and Senate chambers. These gave way to the more elaborate scheme recently brought to such satisfactory completion by the Capitol Improvement Commission. The House ceiling bore allegorical paintings representing Industry, Law, Agriculture, Peace, History and Commerce. The Senate decorations were portraits of Washington and Lincoln; Governors Lucas and Grimes; Justices Caleb Baldwin and Charles Mason; Speakers Rush Clark and John P. Carlton and Generals M. M. Crocker and Samuel R. Curtis. These frescos do not seem to have been canvases and so are lost to all but memory. But at the time of the recent decoration there was discarded a bit of art once featured as the most exquisite of Iowa mural decorations. These were the frescos of the Iowa Supreme Court room. They were painted on canvas and had not been removed when the fire occurred in January, 1904, at which time they were somewhat injured. They were removed under the direction of the Custodian and preserved in the vaults of the Clerk of the Supreme Court. When the decoration of the Historical building was under consideration, the Curator asked that these canvases be made a detail of the reading room walls, which has been done. As a result of their use the beautiful well-lighted room, with massive carved details of natural oak, presents one of the finest interiors of any within the state buildings at Des Moines. There is much satisfaction in having these canvases again accessible to the public under conditions quite as favorable as those for which they were originally painted. Regardless of their art value they are endeared to the Iowa public by reason of their service for a generation in the splendid Supreme Court room. They are also a memento of the taste of the men who erected the Capitol.

They were painted by Fritz Melzer, of Berlin, Germany, procured by General Ed Wright, brought to this

country and placed on the ceiling of the Supreme Court room as the final decorative feature. General Wright described them as consisting of six small subjects and four large allegorical canvases some ten by fourteen feet in size, all of the type of Greek mythology. The four large ones being as follows:

Ceres, the Goddess of Agriculture.

Justice on her throne. To her left stands Columbia, ever ready to sustain her decisions by word or deed. The figure to the right of Justice rejoices that the decision is in her favor. The sitting figure on the right denotes sorrow as the decision is rendered against her, but is content when she finds by examining the law that the decision is according to law. To the left a mother is explaining to her son the laws.

Columbia reigning on her throne. Above the globe in unity with the Goddess of Justice, the patrons of the States come to pay them their homage, bringing with them little children, which represent the territories. Iowa, who is a special favorite in Columbia's household, is seen sitting on the steps of the throne with a club and coat of arms, ever ready to defend her friend (Columbia) in case of need. In front of the throne is chiseled in everlasting rock the memorable date 1776, the foundation of the Republic. The American Eagle is proudly soaring over all, holding in his beak the historical emblem "E. Pluribus Unum.”

Justice and Peace represented as ruling over the land bringing prosperity and plenty, culture and happiness, while rebellion is restrained and smitten down by Justice's strong right

arm.

The canvases were remounted by Mr. T. I. Stoner, who decorated the building, and were restored by Charles Atherton Cumming, the Des Moines artist.

MR. GUE'S HISTORY OF IOWA.

E. R. H.

I have been surprised and annoyed to learn that in some very intelligent quarters in this State, I have been accredited with some sort of responsibility for the History of Iowa written and published by the late Hon. Benjamin F. Gue. This is

wholly an error. True, I gave him the use of the resources of the Historical Department of the State, as I would have given them to any other citizen who was engaged in historical work, but no line and no statement in that publication can be attributed to me or to my influence or agency. If Mr. Gue were living he would cordially endorse this statement. Whatever of credit or criticism properly appertains to this work should inure wholly to Mr. Gue, and nothing whatever of that nature should be attributed to me. CHARLES ALDRICH.

NOTABLE DEATHS.

FRANK WAYLAND PALMER was born at Manchester, Ind., Oct. 11, 1827; he died in Chicago, Dec. 3, 1907. We are of the opinion that he was named for Francis Wayland, the illustrious educator, but that he changed his name in later years to "Frank," as he was familiarly called by his friends. After receiving a common school education he learned the trade of a printer in Jamestown, New York. From there he went to New York City, where he worked as a compositor for several months, eventually returning to Jamestown, where in 1846 he became joint proprietor and editor of The Journal, the old paper upon which he had served his time as an apprentice. He was elected to the New York Legislature in 1851, and re-elected in 1853, serving two terms in the House. In 1858 he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where he became the editor and one of the proprietors of The Daily Times. At the session of the Iowa Legislature in 1860, he was elected State Printer, his competitors being J. B. Howell of The Keokuk Gate City, and John Teesdale of The Des Moines Register. He served as State Printer of Iowa four terms, resigning in 1869. In 1868 he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, and re-elected two years afterwards. He removed to Chicago in 1873, acquiring an interest in The Inter Ocean, of which he was editor-in-chief until 1876. He was appointed Postmaster of that city in 1877, and served until 1885. He was appointed Government Printer in 1889, serving until 1894, when he was removed by President Cleveland, who appointed a Democrat in his place. Upon the election of President Harrison he was reappointed. In this latter capacity he served altogether eleven years, during which time he projected the new Government Printing-office which was built at a cost of several millions of dollars. That great undertaking, not only in the construction of the building, but in its inception and all its interior appointments, was his work pure and simple. It is unquestionably the greatest printing-office in existence, without an equal on either side of the ocean. It will remain his monument, so far as any such public work can be considered any man's monument, for all time. It has been considered a work of great extravagance, but this, if true, was made so by the demands of Congress upon Mr. Palmer to execute the public printing. His own administration was a most distinguished success. While he had able assistance in the work, from men whom he had appointed and called to his aid, the development of that great public work was due to him. His administra

tion was a success, and though a bitter war was made upon him at the close of his last term, when he was removed by President Roosevelt, it is a well-known fact that so far as his personal integrity was concerned he came out of the contest without blot or stain. He would probably have been removed or have resigned about the same time, in consequence of his advanced years, but he became, from the force of circumstances, embroiled in the contest between the rival typesetting machines, and this ended with his removal from office. At the time of his death Mr. Palmer had a few months previously passed his 80th birthday. He had a wide acquaintance in Iowa and is well remembered by hundreds of people who have survived since the days when he was editor of The Des Moines Register. Our public documents for eight years bear his imprint. He also had a wide acquaintance over the country. Personally he was a kind-hearted excellent gentleman, a model of everything commendable in the line of good habits from the days of his apprenticeship in the office of The Jamestown Journal to the time he breathed his last, clean, upright, honorable in his dealings with others. Limitations of space will not admit of as exhaustive an article relating to Mr. Palmer as we would be glad to present in The Annals. But the statement of a few facts ever so briefly will form the ground from which to estimate the character and life work of the man. When he was a resident of this city, where he married and where his children were born, during one of the cold winters, he was in the habit every morning of bringing down from his home a little pail of milk for some poor children who lived not far from The Register office. This fact has been beautifully written out in the editorial columns of his old paper. It is a unique incident, which shows the tender-hearted nature of the man. Some time before he left the office of The Inter Ocean, that paper had failed and Mr. Palmer thereby lost every dollar he had in the world. He was considerably in debt. From that day to the time of his death he was determined to pay these debts as far as possible. His efforts in that direction kept him a poor man. He could have taken the benefit of the bankruptcy law and escaped the responsibility for the debts, but that suggestion he would not entertain for a moment. He met the responsibilities as far as he was able. On the day of the funeral the great Government Printing-office at Washington bore American flags at halfmast from daylight until dark, and the hundreds of employes when the time arrived for the funeral, stood for five minutes with bowed and uncovered heads in respect for their former employer, with some of whom he had been associated for more than a decade. These tributes of sympathy and respect were very touching, and they showed the deep impression he had made upon men with whom he had been long and intimately associated.

JEFFERSON SCOTT POLK was born on the 18th day of February, 1831, near Georgetown, Scott county, Kentucky; he died at Des Moines, Iowa, November 3, 1907. He was graduated from Georgetown college and studied law under R. R. Cable, later president of the C., R. I. & P. R. R., at Georgetown, and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1855. Mr. Polk removed to Des Moines in 1856, entering the practice of the law at a strong bar at which he early took high rank. After a few years alone, he became associated with the late General M. M. Crocker and Judge P. M. Casady under the style of Casady, Crocker & Polk and afterward with F. M. Hubbell as Polk & Hubbell which firm dissolved in 1887. Although every detail of Mr. Polk's career at the bar

was highly creditable, that of converting its fruits and opportunities into resources and investment outgrew all others and long before his career had closed had over-shadowed all the rest. The firm of Polk & Hubbell was a great, perhaps the leading, factor in Des Moines financial life as early as 1880. It operated chiefly in the fields of real estate and transportation properties. At the dissolution of the firm Mr. Polk acquired the principal part of the firm's transportation properties. Of these that of the Des Moines City Railway Company became the most significant. This he developed from several horse car lines under different managements and of indifferent effectiveness, into a single electrical urban system with universal transfer service, thorough management and popular convenience. To this he designed to attach an interurban system and before he died had carried his plans well toward establishment. He was the first to successfully experiment in collecting mails on street cars. He has been imitated in many American cities. Anywhere in the city any car stops on signal to allow a letter to be placed in the box to be removed in a few minutes at the post office. Mr. Polk acquired immense wealth. He expired with a system provided for its administration. In the enterprises he created several hundred men may remain employed at remunerative wages, under just conditions. It is as if he had endowed the firesides of as many families, conditioned solely upon their industry, integrity and sobriety. Attending his funeral, as a guard of honor, were a hundred street car employes in uniform

E. R. H.

LE GRAND BYINGTON was born in New Haven county, Conn., March 24, 1816; he died at Iowa City Nov. 23, 1907. It is stated that he was orphaned of his father when a mere infant and buffeted about in various families during his youth, and almost excluded from the meager educational advantages of that time. He entered a printing-office in 1831, at the age of fifteen years, for the purpose of learning the trade. We find him publishing a newspaper in 1834, during the year he was eighteen years of age, but it is stated that the publication was not profitable and was abandoned at the end of the first year. In 1836 he settled in Elyria, Ohio, where he edited The Republican, a democratic paper. At the time he was thus engaged in newspaper work he was also studying law. He removed to Ravena, Ohio, in 1838, where he edited and published The Buckeye Democrat at a stated salary. Owing to a quarrel between the proprietors of the office, the paper was suspended and Mr. Byington lost his salary up to that time, and closed his journalistic work. In 1839 he started for the west, intending to settle in St. Louis, but he met U. S. Senator William Allen-"Bill" Allen, of Ohio-at Chillicothe, where he was induced to stop off and take temporary charge of a newspaper with the beginning of his law practice. His first case was a homicide in which Judge Allen G. Thurman and Thomas Ewing defended the alleged criminal. It is stated that Mr. Byington secured a conviction. During the fall of 1841, he was elected to the 40th General Assembly of Ohio, in which he became prominent as chairman of the judiciary committee and of the committee on incorporations. It is supposed that he was the last survivor of that legislature, one of the influential members of which was Robert G. Schenck. whom Grant appointed Minister to England. Byington was re-elected to the next legislature of Ohio and also became a candidate for Congress. In 1849 he settled in Iowa City, where he resided until his death. At the commencement he was engaged in a very heavy land business which