The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1901-10-04
WHOLE NUMBER 2428.


Conkey, Mrs. Phebe A. Coleman, Mrs.
C. II. Rogers Mr.. Floyd Monroe (2).
Mr.. Edd Hall, Mr.. Frank Bringard.
The canning factory shut down Tues
day, after a large pack of peaches.
About 80 people were on the company's
pay roll during the heghth of the season.
There will be services at the Disciple
church next Sunday morning at the
usual hour. Rev. h. b. Cross will oc-
cupy the pulpit. general invitation IS
extended to all.
Special music will be rendered at the
Free Baptist church next Sunday morn
ing as follows: Solo, "Holy city" Miss
Muir; anthem, quartette; duet, Miss
Waters and Mr.. Haworth.
There will be meeting of the board of
trade at the court house next Monday
evening at 7:30, for the election of a new
board of directors and the transaction of
any other business that may properly
come before the meeting All members
should be present.
Mrs. G. A. Van Fleet has moved into
ed of J. E. Kingsnorth on Niles street.
She has rented the larger portion of the
house to Geo. Showefman, who will
move his family into it as soon as it is
vacated by Mr. and Mrs. Kingsnorth.
South Haven is to have another(? p cleo
trio railway via Paw Paw Lake to Ben
ton Harbor. This must be about the
'steenth electric road constructed-on
paper-in our sister village. Pedestrian
ism must be getting risky down there
among such a multitude of street cars.
The valuation of real and personal es-
tate in Michigan as fixed by the board of
equalization in 1885, was 81, ,105, 100000,
of which 514,500000 was apportioned to
Van Buren county. The valuation as
fixed by the board last month is S1,578,-
100000 for the state and Sl6,000,000 for
this county. This is an increase of S473,-
100000 in the state valuation and 81 ,500,-
600 in the valuation of this county. Van
Buren's share of state taxes under the
new apportionment will be about one
twentieth of one per cent less than un-
der the old valuation.
The autumn festival held by Paw Paw
Grange last Friday evening was a decid-
ed success. The exhibits proved that
the severe drought did not do so
general damage to crops as was feared.
The corn and potatoes placed on exhibit
ton were very fine; indeed they would
have done credit to a state fair. There
different farms. There were no exhibits
except those grown in this vicinity. The
tables were beautifully decorated with
vines and small flags, and were laden
with potted plants and cut flowers, while
vegetables and fruits were intermingled
in great profusion. Among the speci-
mems was sweet potato weighing six
pounds, and a watermelon weighing As
pounds grown by Bruce Cumings 1t
is needless to say the melon was sampled
and pronounced very delicious. A stalk
of corn, with we'll developed ears more
than eight feet from the ground, which
was grown by David Woodman was pre-
sented by him to the grange. 1t was so
majestic that it was surmounted by the
stars and stripes and is to be left as
souvenir. Messrs. and Mesdames Coop
er and Loveland were the ones making
the finest and largest displays.
A great deal of fault is being found,
and Justly so, with the electric light SER
vice in this village. Last winter, the
heavy ice interfered with the water power
and we had no street lights. Nearly all
summer, the water has been low and,
even with the assistance of the gasoline
engine, there has not been power enough
to run street lights. Many people carry
! lanterns in the evening as in the primi-
tive days when the streets were not
lighted and when the people did not
pay taxes for their lighting. Not only
have we been without street lights for
several months during the past year, but
the short power has made it necessary
to shut off private lights at 10 to IL
o'clock instead of midnight. Tuesday
evening, new difficulty was encountered.
So many leaves had fallen into the pond
as to clog the water wheel, and the pri-
vate lights there were of course no street
lights we're so poor as to be practically
useless, and people had to hunt up their
kerosene lamps, and the current, poor as
it was, was turned off at $50. Wednes-
day evening, the water was lower than
ever, the engine could not be used, the
lights were useless and, were turned
off at 9 o'clock. Thursday evening
the lights were turned off at 8. The
absence of street lights is not fair to the
taxpayers, and something should be
done to remedy the condition. There is
no probability that the water power,
growing less as it is year by year, will
ever be adequate again the year around
with the aid of the present engine, to
run the plant with the largely increased
and growing private use of electric lights
The True Northerner is of the opinion
that the village should cut out some
other expense for next year and buy a
steam engine and boiler of sufficient
power to run the entire electric light
plant when necessary, continuing to use