Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1866-05-18
ACLARKsyILLEM MANoN BUTLER Cent?
The Counsy.Seat Question.
Correspondence OF the Butler Center Still

Correspondence of the Butler Center stiletto.
You express the hope and belief that
Clarksville will be q fiourishing town,
with the proper energy, NC. I thank
you for this ilattering observation, in
regard to our village, and it grieves me
to witness such merited compliments
unrecompensed. / have searched Mr..
Webstsr's Unabridged " to find somo
polite adjectiveof praise, which might
affix to Butler Center, without render
ing myself openly ridiculous and insiu-
cere. The Lexicon affords mo no relief
In the case. III were to say that the
Center is, or that believe 1t will ever
be, an active, entsrprising, progressive
or fiourishing town, 1t would convulse
the county with laughter, aud I.would
be recommended to an asylum, az per-
son troubled with mental strabisnlus.
indulging in delusions, vagorics and
shadowy contingencies. Tcaunot com.
pare your site with Waterloo, Wayeriv
or Charles City, for you are aware that
tne carpenters alone, of any one of these
thriving places. could build fifty Butler
Centsrs per day, and quit their labors
long before sunset. / must write of
Butler Center rs it is--a lone, dimiuu-
tive, shriveled dwarf, while other Coun-
" seats, not remote, are growing rapid
ly into giants. 1t Is u moral impossible
pI itS 70 sas somg!msnt tgl na your toxn theugh
lie Printer, and other officers, who
chiefly compose the actual residents,
considering the remoteness and scarcity
of timber, and the utter dearth of all
other facilities, have exhibited untirinv
industry and astonishing fortitude, and
have, no doubt, made quite sacrifice
OF money, In erecting tho buildings
which stand there to-day, as the inn
provements of six long years. But
presume you do not rely upon any Of
these facts, as an argument In favor of
the County Seat at Butler Center. You
do say though, that it is near the geo.
graphical center, and Is, therefore, tho
proper place. LII q Court House can
stand there, SO that each resident of the
county will have the same number of
miles to travel to the records, you arc
satisfied that il Is tho most suitable
place for the County Seat. Convent
ence to the records simply, ,issomethi ing
entirely different from the general in
terest, development and prosperity Of q
! county. 1t may be most convenient
for farmer to feed his swine at his
Kitchen door, but 1t creates an unwhole-
some stencil In the nostrils, and will
give his house such reputation that
few will like to visit him. Butler Con-
ter may be most convenient to many,
but 1t Is giving n bad notoriety to our
county. The reputation of a flourish
ing County Scat--a place where rail-
loads can run without loss-where wa
ter power can turn machinery, where
timber and other facilities create pros
pect OF growth, gives a good namo to
the county itself, and enhances the val
nc of its lands, far and near. IL brings
in the capitalists and the laborer, and
throws settlers into every portion Of
the county. A thriving County Seat
Is the chief corner stone Oh which tho
county rises in populace, power and
wealth. The reputation of Butler Cen
ter Is coeXtensive with the limits of our
State, but | think you will admit that
it is OF that particular kind that has
kept more men out of our county than
it has brought into it. .... -
Especial pleadingn to the mopes,
about geographical center" IL what
took the records into the quagmire-
where they now arc--and is what has
made our County Seat what it now is !:
the synonym Of littleness and insignif-
cance throughout the State.
This word, geographical" /" If repeat
ed often enough, may still mislead our
people it is a high-sounding word, and
they may possibly suffer themselves tn
bc led into the mire by 1t, for while
yet, but it cannot much longer hide
from them the disgraceful and dwarfish
attitude our County Seat presents, when
placed side by side with those Of other
counties, that as marts and emporiums,
are fast becoming of Importance in the
state. .. ..... ......- .... f.- ..t.
The past six years have shown that
our geographical CENTER" barren and
naked rs it is Of all natural advantages
forimprovement, isanegative center, and
repels everything. 1t never draws any,
thing towards it but Taxpayers making
frantic haste for their receipts, that they
may run away from IL; and nothing
permanently sticks to it but county OIL
GERS, mud, unpaid tax-lists and the un-
dying reputation of its impotency for
growth. which latter, clings to 1t like
the shirt Of Ncssus, and ilings its poison :
Gus shadow on the ename and prosperity
of our county. 1853. ...... =. a-...