Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-09-17

Labor Commissioners Wants &c.
600 With Which to Adver.
tise the State.
Special to Times-Republican
Des Moines, Sept 17.-Evidences are
on every hand that the deep mourning
of the people of Iowa over the death of
President Mckinley Is sincere and we'll
rign general. Public buildings carry
their flags at half mast and are draped
in black. public business is almost sus-
pended, memorial meetings in churches
and elsewhere are being eld,resolutions
are passed by5various patriotic and other
societies, and there is the keenest inter-
est in all the news relating to the funer-
al arrangements. The mourning ap-
pears to be even more general than that
which followed the death of President
Garfield just twenty-five years ago.
State Superintendent Barrett has sup
plemented the governors proclamation
with one addressed to the schools of the
state directing them to place their flags
at half mast. The republican state com
mittee put out the following announce
ment which sufficiently explains itself.
The republican state committee de-
sires to announce the abandonment of
all republican speaking dates for the
present week. Mr.. Cummins felt that
there should be no field work until after
| n NOT hpI
tribute to the lamented president and
until the sacred dust had been con-
signed to the grave, and this belief was
shared by the committee. The post
ponement of the republican opening will
permit Mr.. Cummins to be present at
the funeral of the late President Nc
kinley, whose close personal friend he
was. The necessary work at the re-
publican headquarters will be pushed
| forward by an increased force of clerks
and when the people Of Iowa shall have
turned their eyes from the sad scenes at
Canton. the advocacylof the principles
(which the president believed in will be
begun by the leaders of the party
which he dearly loved, and the cam
patgn pushed vigorously and without
cessation until electiofsssay.- The repub.
Il
by Mr.. Cummins at Centerville. on next
Monday afternoon. Sept. 23."
%ss
/ Chairman Reed, of the populist state
committee, and few other Iowa popu-
lists, have gone to Kansas City to at
tend the conference called there by Ma
tional Chairman Parker, of the populist
party, and to which have been invited
large number of reformers of various
brands and varieties. While the con-
ference was called ostensibly to enable
| populists to get together and consider
fusion and similar questions, it is ex-
pected that large number Of the ad-
Vocates of direct legislation governs
ment ownership will be present and not
a few socialists, and the Iowa delegates
believe that an effort will be made to
get the various groups of Performers"
| together and form party with an en-
tire new name. The Iowa populists are
not averse to the remaining of the party.
They say that the name ''populist" was
not given the party by the members
thereof, but by the wicked newspapers.
The name selected for the party was
peoples, but the people did not take
kindly to this name. 1t is expected that
the government ownership people will
dominate the conference, and it is pos
sible that the populists, or what is left
of them, will be asked to go into a par
ty having government ownership as a
corner stone.
| great many good things have come
out of keokuk in the past, but not all
have yet come out, if one may judge
from the following bit of oratorical hu-
NOR delivered by one Ed F. Carter, on
Watermelon Day" at the grocers' pic
mic in keokuk last week:
But to return to the subject of the
watermelon that national fruit which
has ousted the potato from the throne
of public idolatry. 1t would indeed be
an oversight if failed to pay tribute
to him. America has her national game
poker; her natioanl drink-beer; her
national four-buckwheat flour: her
national bird-the rooster; her national
! song-"Just Because She Made Those
Goo Goo Eyes" and her national fruit
| the watermelon. Ireland for her pota-
toes, Scotland for oatmeal, Jamaica for
Jamaica ginger. the Sandwich islands
for ham sandwiches, but America for
the watermelon. Bible history tells US
chat Adam choked on an apple, but if
he was a black man as some people
hold. no apple stuck within his craw.
but 1t was a rind of watermelon The
watermelon first made its appearance in
this country when Christopher Colum-
bus discovered it, The first sight that
met the Italians naked eye when his
ship hit the sands of the shore of Amer
lea, was a grocery store and in front of
this grocery store were three Indians
eating a large round green apple with
blood-red inside. Columbus asked
what the fruit was and old Chief Keo-
kuk replied that it was a watermelon.
The truth of this can be found in Wash
ington Irving's account of the. doings of
Columbus. vol. S. page 327, which can be
found at the public library. All hail to
the watermelon which from this day
forward until the end of time snail be
known as the coat of arms of the Retail
Grocers Association of Keokuk. And
may the grocers. whose guests We are.
grow round and fat and juicy like, the
melons and With hearts as good and
sweet
In the report of Expert Examiner