Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-02-26
STOP GRUMBLlNG.'
Capt. Peter Berkey Says There
is Too Much Complaint
About Hard Times.

The st. Paul Dispatch PUBLISHERS
the folio wing encouraging interview
with Capt. Peter Berkey. ~ that
city, relative 10 the times:
1T nnlazes me TO hear the people
growing about hard timrs,' said
Capt. Peter Brrkey this morning.
"Nu've had harder times than tl.cse
and we've gotten over them. too.
Every place you go you hear
Somebody crawling to somebody
else ami that sunrh''dy els" gr.'wls
t. the next man he meets. 1t ia
ridiculous and there's no Sense in 1t.
"Think Of the times when we were
sending thousands Of men to tho
South to destroy each other. zen
we had neither silver nor gold az
money 1t was an article Of mer-
chandise selling at owe, 20O. Directly
after that came the Indian outbreak
aud the " hole Mort h " eslern country
was devastated. What are the
such awful times as those?
And still We got over 1t. didn't
we? And we prOspere0, didn't We
afterward? OF course we did. me
OF the great troubles IL TINT the
people bavrgont beyond their means
ana gotten into debt. Then to top
it off they go around talking blue
devils to everybody they meet. We
are not az loyal to uuI selves as we
ought to i,e. A. a matter Of fact
property IL worth intrirsir"ll\ more
today thanit over wan. yet 1t doesn't
bring the returns.
"NOw II every man would talk
chrrrfully and not seek to discourage
every ,nun he me. II. 1t will be vastly
better for us. We are ali the while
trying to pull down. We're f"r
enough down ~ II II. Now let's pun
up. This tow IL good. the state IL
good and SO IL the climate.
Think Oft! Think Of Minnesota
with her iron her rich timber and her
fertile soil. ana a climate that IN
second to none. growing nhont the
hard times. v hen no on" thinks Of
hard times in those uthe, states that
do not possess th' +. advantages and
this wealth We ought to have
courage. do our duty and stop
grumbling.
"l've seen all the hard times we've
had In this city und this state. I've
been here fur,y-fuur years, almost.
I've seen and been through al the
| hard times. they were ALWAYS Il
great deal worse than they are now.
and still We picked up and came back
again, didn't we?
"Think Of our comforts and con-
venipnces. We cnn jump on Il car
and go 20 Fort Smelling for 5 cents.
can remember the time easily when
we had to nay $3 to go there. We
can go to Minneapolis for 10 cents.
and yet in other days 1t would have
cost all the way from 5Qc to vs.. And
still we grumble. ! say there rs too
much fnult.fintiiDg. too little study
OF conditions ns they exist and ns
compared with the conditions Of
past years. when there was sumo
reason for grumbling. Why, W" can
buy u newspaper for 2 cents contain
ing enough reading matter to last
us a day OrtwH. There never was Il
tiMe when the poor mans dollar
was worth half what 1t IL today.
| There meyer was Il time when iC
would bring more or clOthe him
better than 1t will now.
''Anl yet we grumhle. tell yUu.'
and the captain looked rrflpctively
out OF the window, III the people Of
today had to contend with what the
pioneer and the settler met with they
would 90 crazy. My theor..' is that
every man should be good to him-
self, to his family and to his neighbor,
and do no wrong. Now, let's apply
the rule on broader scale, and he
good to. our city and good to our
state. Let's try to make our town
az good as we cun. Let's talk
cheerfully, and make believe we are
doing well. Let's quit pulling down
and ull get together and build up.
et'a n,,,t vrnmhlinp'