Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-09-26
DEACON ROGERS HOUSE.

@NS0lN nOSGn HoOSE
Deacon Rogers had made up his mind
to build a new house.
Inc deacon was successful business
man. Beginning life as an GRAND bow
he worked his way through his various
grades of clerkshipin the store to where
he was employed. AT thirty he was a
partner in the firm. At forty he was the
sole proprietor of a first-class business in
a growing town. The old house his father
had built was Anticipated; and, moved
by the oft-repeated urging of his wife
and family, the deacon had at last de-
cided to build a house which should be
worthy of his position as a leading
merchant, and at the same time an orna-
ment to the town he lived in.
The question now was, what kind of a
house should he build? And on this
the deacon was taking counsel with him
self.
After consultation with his architect,
the deacon had finally narrowed his
choice down to two designs, one was to
cost $4,000 and the other $4,000 His
inclination was toward the more expen-
sive. Could he afford it?
With pen and paper, Deacon Rogers
carefully set down the figures of his in.
come and disbursements. So much
could be relied upon as profit from his
business; so much would come in yearly
from the investment of past savings.
On the other side he set down the ex-
penses of his children's education, the
cost of maintaining an increased estab-
lishment, certain amount to be
prudently saved and re-invested every
year. The two sides of the account
came perilously near to balancing; but
still there was margin.
CPL do it," said the deacon as he
looked lovingly at the design of the
more expensive house and thought
what vastly improved appearance it
would give the village street. And
without more ado the deacon wrote a
letter to the architect instructing him
to go ahead and prepare the specifca'
tions and contracts.
The letter was just sealed, the ink or
the envelope still wet, when the
deacon's old friend, Mr.. Smith, the tax
collector, entered. In the pride of his
heart, the deacon showed him the plans
of the new house.
Beautiful indeed said Smith, "a
building like that will give our village
regular boom; bring us in a pretty
penny more in taxes, too, won't it??'
Deacon Rogers started. He hadn't
thought of that! He made hasty cal
culation of what the additional taxes
would be, and found that they would
more than swallow up the narrow mar
gin of income over expenses. 81 was
only joking, Smith," said he. ''That's
the house I'm going to build" And the
deacon displayed the plan Of the SIS, 600
building.
So the smaller house was built, the
lumber dealer sold less lumber; the 9th
er dealers sold fewer nails, less glass,
fewer stones, lighting fixtures, plumb
ing, furniture, and 500 on. The contract
or made smaller profits, and the carpen-
tors, and masons, and briclllayers, and
daily laborers, all had less to do and got
less wages. And all because the village
authorities wouldn't let Deacon Rogers
build house without filming him for do
ing it,
And the vacant lot which lay next the
new house increased in value by nearly a
thousand dollars as soon as the house
was built; and the man who had intend
ed to used his savings in buying it and
building house upon it found he
couldn't manage it.-W. e. Wood, NJ. ID.
Now, who Is the Worst Man Unhung?
Rev. Benjamin Waugh has testified
before q committee of the British House
of Lords that every year "a thousand
children are murdered for insurance
money in England" Such testimony is
calculated to make Jack, the Ripper,
feel that he is not the worst man who
goes unhung in England Boston Globe
THE Chicago News, which has been
doing SO much good for the single tax
cause in Illinois, is out against the per-
sonal property tax. Itsays:
.The personal property tax is fatuous'
| and it ought to be abolished. 1t IS
farce in the cities, and most unjust
imposition in the country, where It's DIS
couraeing effects are most grlevously
felt The assessors can not possibly
assess it with even approximate fair
ness: and, as matter OF plain fact. they
do not attempt so to do They far more
frequently use it as club for the pun
ishment Of their political enemies than
as a means of justice, and it has thus
become Kissing and by-word, odious
in the sight of the people, and re.
,roacb to our civilization, which ought
to be beyond dning the citizen for MS
~ l. &c thrift and his enterprise. =