Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-01-21
INTERVIEWS AT LONG RANGE.

Governor onaW IN chicago. IL is
inevitable that a state like Iowa
should turn out some good specimens
of the American CITIZEN" he said.
THE atmosphere of Iowa never has
been tainted with the blight Of popu-
llism. An air of hopefulness always
brings out the best qualities of men.
II remember more than twenty
years ago in my town of seeing Ger
mans arrive there right fresh from the
fatherland. They walked with the
slow, measured, Indifferent step of
those who have been discouraged, and
their faces bore a stolid expression.
Then they got to work at digging in
the bitches, and their first days toll
earned them $1.50-more money than
they ever had earned in one day be-
fore.
"The first day they welded their
shovels at the rate of a shovelful a
minute; the next day they walked
faster. They began to grow hopeful.
They met some Of their c%ountrymen
who had been in Iowa five years and
owned farms, and then they flung the
dirt like it was fun. That illustrates
the air of h%opefulness which pervades
the state of Iowa."
Prof. T. A. Mcbride, of the Univer-
sity of Iowa: 1.-THE people of the west
today are engaged in destroying their
country as fast as possible. The
farmer is busily engaged in cutting
down the trees that save the water
supply from running away in the
springtime, the factories + so busy
making produce that they are becom-
ing blots upon the landscape; the cit
les are so busy in pursuit of the dol
lar that their houses become a confus-
ed mass wherein is no beauty, and on
all sides outrageous posters. signs and
bills greet the eye, SO that to any per
son to whom beauty is in some degree
an essential for his life, our western
country is almost uninhabitable.
And these persons are more nus
merous than is generally supposed. Ev-
cry man, when he buys a property, is
, a lover of beauty, and will always give
an enhanced price for the land if it
!, is nicely laid out. has trees correctly
grouped, and if the outbuildings and
unsightly places are hidden from view
by shrubs and vines.
"In our cities today no two property
| owners are able to agree as to wheth.
| er they should plant the trees in front
: of their houses and in their yards in
clumps or at regular intervals, in
: straight lines or crooked. The result
l is that the trees in most of our cities
5 are a confused tumble that detracts
: much from what they might be il
l planted correctly.
: Minneapolis is a city where the
trees are planted correctly, and hard
, ly any one will deny that Minneapolis
I is a beautiful city. 1t costs but little
to plant the quick growing shrubs thai
5 add so much to the natural beauty Of
r a place, and the trouble in planting
any of the quick growing vines to GOV
err up unsightly places is confined al
3 most to the work involved in planting
l the seeds.
I "The cle1 ats. %woodbine, morning
4 glory and cyn-ass vine are easily
I planted and + rate themselves af
I ter the C.r~ season. The wild plum
i the wild cab and hawthorne, the
witchhazel, the dogwoods and the vi
burnum are shrubs that grow easily
in almost any soil, and are especially
R adapted for planting as beautifers o:
the grounds and landscape.
me llC Sull II IL SulhoOl
association has decided to make an ex
tended effort to spread the idea O.
more beauty in our home places, oul
|, farms and our parks throughout The
west. We have made a start by visit
t ing many factories n showing thu
S owners the advantages that would
;, come to them, by setting out thu
qu~ick-growing shrubs to hide the un
e slightly parts of their buildings and b.
inducing them to plant many of thu
vines, to trail about the factory build
r ings, and in short time make them oh
d jects of beauty, instead of prison
walls.
It I'VE have asked, too, that each fac
tory have a small park near it if pos
sible, where the employees may res
}, during the warm weather.
1.-The railroads, many of them, hav'
combined with us in an effort to re
move the unsightly advertising post
ers and bills that have no place an
}, noying the public in the depots an,
along the railroad lines. The rail
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