The Bemidji pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Beltrami County, Minn.) 1896-1917, 1901-05-30
is BEMIDJI REALLY GETTING
BETTER?

345#SS DE i ~ M 5fgl79
YElHE Cass Lake Times Of last
week asks the above ques-
ton and then launches forth as
follows:
The Bemidji PIONEER seems
to think and take comfort IN the
thought, that Cass Lake, in a
moral and social point OF view is
much the worse of the two. It
may be true, and if 50, we rejoice
with the PIONEER in Bemidji's
Improvement. Have patience,
Brother Greeley, these condi-
tions will not always last. By
the time you have spent as many
winters .on the frontier as we
have you will have learned to
take things as they come. You
can t make a.Whistle ontof a pig s
tail, and It's useless to try to
govern a new town by the meth
DDS governing the old ones;
towns, like boys, must have time
to scatter their wild oats, if they
SOW them early in the history OF
their experience the crop will
ripen and be ready for the sickle
before the frosts of winter of dis
content cuts them down. AS a
general rule towns are no better
than the people who. inhabit them
desire them to be, If it is the de-
sire Of a majority Of the inhabit-
ants of new town that wide
open policy, gamb bling and variety
theaters contribute to the general
welfare land that attribute is
usually measured by a monetary
yard stick, the authorities will
find some means to evade the
letter if not the spirit Of the law
and a wide and open policy is the
result. Cass Lake is now measrr-
ing the disposition Of its people;
4 we are in that nascent state
where experiment and cut and
try is the rule. Give us a little
time and we will come ont Of the
nnire and wash up and be good. \
The above is full Of logic which
we have no desire to contest. The
Times has a state wide reputa-
ton for honesty and independ-
ence. A newspaper should re-
fleet the sentiment of its locality,
and when it's town is making an
effort to pull itself out of the mlre
the paper should be on the spot
to give an upward pull. "You
cannot make a whistle out of a
pigs tail, !" but by twisting the
tail you can make the pig squeal.
The true paper is not afraid to
twist.
In the first place Bemidji has
scattered her wild oats, and every
taxpayer is industriously at work
in the harvest. The seeders are
ready to plant a second crop, but
there are a few soreheads like
the PIONEER who object. The
winter Of discomfort has come on
early. We do not object to a
wide open policy as long as the
system does not extend to the
village treasury. Contrary to
what the Times evidently believes
We editor is not a piece Of green
house exotic. We were born in
the woods, reared IN the woods
and have wandered in the woods
from the Big Fork to Texas. In
our study of towns, new and old,
we feel justified in making a few
observations.
A town should be conducted
for the benefit of all
Selfish men and greedy meth
DDS which fatten the few and
paralyze the many should be run
out of town.
New towns smile on a man who
works outsiders for the benefit
of his town; but the smile fades
to a frown when he works his
town for his own benefit.
No matter how wild or woolly
a town is conducted, SO long as
the citizens are not jabbed by the
wild or obliged to furnish the
wool, few complaints will be
heard. But when the fiddler is