Personal acquaintance with many of the legislators of 1837 emboldens me to say that their superiors are not found in the legislative halls of to-day.

The hill overlooking the Des Moines can not compare in beauty with the mounds between which the old Capitol stood, and yet the plain itself was at a greater height above the sea than any part of Iowa except portions of the northwest corner.

The gem of the three Platte Mounds was a perfect cone, as if some giant hand had seized the plastic earth and had raised it some two hundred feet and held it there until hardened into permanence.

In those early days some attention was paid to horse racing (not for the professed purpose of "improving the breed of horses") but for the excitement attending the transfer of money from the pocket of the owner of the beaten horse to that of the winner. Around the little mound spoken of an ideal race track was constructed, just one mile in length, the exact circumference of the base of the mound. The grassy sides of the mound formed a natural "grand stand," whose occupants could pass around the mound upon the smaller circle nearer the apex, and so keep the race in view from start to finish. With the loss of the Capital the prestige of the track departed.

The building of the railroad has left Belmont a farm-but the beauty of the scene as viewed from the summit of either of the mounds can never be lost to the memory of one whose home for many years was but a short distance away. "A ride to the mounds was upon the program for the entertainment of Eastern visitors, one of whom, after looking into Illinois and Iowa across the billowy prairie, remarked, "What a sea of land!" Nothing more expressive could have been uttered.

APENZELL

PURE DEMOCRACY AND PASTORAL LIFE IN

INNER RHODEN.

A SWISS STUDY

BY

IRVING B. RICHMAN,

Consul General of the United States in Switzerland.

WITH MAPS.

LONDON,

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.,

AND NEW YORK,

1895.

HE author will be recognized as an Iowan by birth, who served two terms in the Assembly as representative for Muscatine.

Mr. Richman was appointed to his present position by President Cleveland soon after his inauguration in 1893. In 1893 appeared Mr. Richman's first work-"John Brown among the Quakers and other sketches," which proved his thoroughness in historic research, and his felicitous manner of presentation of the results of his study.

The high standard he had set in his first venture is fully maintained in the work before us.

The author's residence is at St. Gall, in a canton bordering upon that of which he writes.

Appenzell is divided into two half cantons-Inner Rhoden and Ausser Rhoden. It is of Inner Rhoden the author speaks. The territory embraces only sixty square miles. Its surface is very uneven, and lies at an average height above the sea of nearly 3,000 feet. Four lakes are found nestled among the hills. The occupation of the people is largely pastoral.

The people in the times of Roman supremacy were in the province of Rhetia, but were never Romanized. In the con

test between Alemans and Franks they remained untouched until about the middle of the sixth century, when they came under the rule of the Merovingian dynasty. In the early part of the eighth century the Monastery of St. Gall became a center of light and knowledge, and after the middle of the ninth century, a source of power and of law for the provinces of St. Gall and of Appenzell.

By degrees the Abbot acquired possesssion of much land. An Abbot founded a church within Appenzell called Abbot's Cell (Appenzell). The tyranny of the Abbot of St. Gall became insupportable, and upon September 26, 1377, Appenzell formed an alllance with several Imperial Cities, and framed a constitution. Up to this time the people had maintained the Alemanic custom of family or clan organization. With the formation of the league with cities, there came also the consolidation of the clans (Rhoden). The league went to pieces. Appenzell, joined by Canton Schwyz, made a bold stand for freedom, and was remarkably successful. In 1425 the people were declared under bann by the Pope, but as they did not know the meaning of the word bann, they "laughed the interdict to scorn." For nearly one hundred years the people were trained to conflict and became expert soldiers, so that their services have been sought by European nations when at war from the time of Charles the Bold to Napoleon.

In 1513 Appenzell was admitted to the Swiss Confederation. The strife between Protestants and Catholics raged with violence in this little territory. Fifteen hundred and ninety-seven witnessed a division of the lands into two halfcantons-Inner Rhoden and Ausser Rhoden, the former strongly Catholic, the latter as strongly Protestant. Early in 1798, Inner Rhoden gave its adhesion to the Helvetic Republic organized by France, and lost for the time its independence, but after the fall of Napoleon, reënacted its constitution which had been in force, though unwritten, for three hundred years. Between the Sonderbund, a union of the Catholic pro

vinces, and the Diet, the sympathies of Inner Rhoden were with the Sonderbund, but no active part was taken upon either side. In 1874, Inner Rhoden ratified the constitution of the Confederation.

Other chapters of great interest relate to the politics-the laws and administration of Justice-cantonal and domestic economy-Education, sanitation and charity, and domestic and social life. These will not admit of abbreviation.

"The history of this land forms a peculiar link in the great chain of popular uprisings in the Middle Ages. * * It shows what a small nation resolute for freedom can accomplish against the powers of time."

P.

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA.

ITS WORK AND ITS NEED.

HE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA was organized "under the auspices of the State University of

Iowa" in accordance with an act of the Sixth General Assembly, in 1857. Its Board of Curators consists of eighteen members-nine of whom are appointed biennially by the Governor, and nine by the Society at its biennial meeting in June of each odd numbered year. The nine appointed by the Society have special charge of the collections and supervise the publications of the Society: they hold monthly meetings for transaction of business.

As the University lacked room for the collections, the Society has been compelled to rent suitable quarters.

The Corresponding Secretary, who attends to exchanges with other similar organizations, receives a salary of One Hundred Dollars a year.

The Custodian of the Library opens the same two days of each week, for which service he receives Three Dollars a week.

The Society publishes a quarterly of forty-eight pages,

having as its leading article a biographical sketch of some prominent Iowan with a portrait. Its other matter is largely historic. The Editor is paid for his services Thirty-Five Dollars a quarter.

The cost of printing and of phototypes varies for each issue from Eighty to Eighty-Five Dollars. Other regular expenditures for expressage, postage, fuel and lights are about Fifty Dollars a year.

The only resource the Society has wherewith to meet these annual expenditures is in a permanent State appropriation of One Thousand Dollars.

Four years ago the Legislature appropriated a special fund of One Thousand Dollars for special publication of matters of great historic value, and for binding of newspaper files and pamphlets received in exchange with other Historical Societies. The publications last referred to are:

1. Prehistoric Iowa, SAMUEL CALVIN, PH.D.

2. Indian Tribes in Iowa, J. L. PICKARD.

3. Louisiana purchase as affecting Iowa, C. M. HOBBY, M.D. 4. Introduction of Common Law into Iowa, EMLIN MCCLAIN, LL. D.

5. Sketch of early Medical Practitioners in the Territory of Iowa, W. WATSON, M.D.

6. Sketch of Early Teachers, L. F. PARKER, A.M.

7. Sketch of Early Members of the Bar, T. S. PARVIN, LL.D. 8. Sketch of Members of the Clerical Profession in Iowa before 1846, compiled by J. L. PICKARD.

9. Some Fragments of Iowa History gathered from Records of Congress, ELIZABETH H. AVERY, A.M.

10. History of Iowa City as the Capital of Iowa, B. F. SHAMBAUGH, PH.D.

II. History of the Johnson County Claim Association, B. F.

SHAMBAUGH, PH.D.

12. The Amish Mennonites in Iowa, BARTHINIUS L. WICK,

LL.B.