The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1873-07-03
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man. When his days work Is done,
he can enjoy the comforts of his fam
lily and rest, and his crops, stock,
fruits, etc., are growing; but not so
with the business man. He must be
closely engaged from early morning
until late at night, if he would hope
or expect to succeed, and when he
closes the door of his business house,
all profits and increases in wealth
stop until he opens it again.
1t is folly, yea, worse than this, for
the people of town and country to
harbor ill-feelings toward each 9TH
er, or to attempt to injure one anoth-
er. The truth is, that every brick
that is laid in the wall of building,
every single put upon the roof, eve
ry nail driven, every coat OF paint
put upon buildings in town, add to
the prosperity of both town and
country, and should be matter for re-
joicing by all classes in both town
and country. Why is it, that farms
within three or four miles of Oska-
loosa are worth, in market, much
more than the same quality of land
and improvements ten or fifteen
miles away? All know that it IS so,
and the question arises, why is it?
No other reason can be assigned than
that the town does it; and it must
be plain to to every rejecting mind,
that the more the town improves the
greater will be the increase of value
in farms. This may be instanced by
landed property near to large cities.
As the cities increase in population
and wealth, in the same ratio does
the landed property about it increase
in market value. The larger the
town the greater the facilities for
trade, and the more benefit to the
farmer; 80 that instead of quarreling
with the town and endeavoring to
pull it down, our own pecuniary In.
terests as farmers demand that we
do all we consistently can to build it
up. If by our efforts We can succeed
in inducing men of capital and ener-
gy to come to Oskaloosa and estab-
lish much needed machine shops for
the manufacture of farm implements,
wagons and machinery of all kinds,
we will in my judgment, do more to
enhance our own pecuniary interests
than in any other way. In this way
we will produce a two-fold interest
by getting our implements cheaper
saving freight-and by increasing
the marketable value Of our FARMS
This is the way the thing looks to me.
There is, no " ever, another aspect
of the case to which l wish briefly
to allude. While, as / think, it is
very impolitic for farmers to quarrel
with the business men of the town, it
is equally impolitic for the people of
town to find fault unnecessarily with
farmers. 1t must be conceded that
the wealth of the country comes
from the soil, and any thing that is
calculated to operate, in any sense,
against IL full development of this
source of wealth, must operate disas-
trously to the general welfare. II
railroads undertake this, they will
prove injurious to the interests ofour
common country, and they should be
prevented from doing SO. / believe
that railroads are a great blessing to
the country, and so long as they are
properly and honestlys managed
should be encouraged; but whenev-
er they undertake to Cypress the
producer they should be controlled
by legisl alton SO as to restrain them
from doing the country public inju-
ry. While it is important to the farm
or that the town should increase in
wealth, it is equally important to the
town that the farming interest should
be encouraged. AS in the case of the
town, it is to the interest of the town
that the count, y should prosper and
increase in wealth. Every improve
ment in stock, cereals, fruits, etc., is
tor the interests of the town, and IN a
country where these improvements
are constantly going on and increas-
ing, the town will receive large
share OF the benefits.
Without further protraction ofthe
discussion, permit me to say, that
there is a mutual interest between
town and country that canno. be
safely dispensed with. To attempt
it would be like the eye saying to the
ear, or the hand saying to the foot,
what need have / of thee? The in
terests are mutual and should be so
considered; 80 that when we under
take to prejudice either We are only
undertaking our own injury. There
is room and work enough for all and
it is great folly to recriminate, es-
pecially when it operates against
our own personal and pecuniary in
terests. w. A. HUNTER.
Farm, June 25, 1878.
The Pella Blade says: "A stabbing