Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1903-07-30
SOME CLEAN CUT CRITICISMS
BY q Former Resident Of Mineral Point
and Who Stiii Loves the Old Town.

rather peculiar points. which Il self.
| appointed critic would like to line
| up where people will see them.
Whatever may be said is in no casv
to be taken as personal, but as fit
ting large per cent. of you, and l.
said in spirit looking to the good
| of the whole city.
First: the celebration was the flu
est, best ordered and most enjoyable
that old Mineral Point has held in
many year. The program was well
arranged, the parade was well gen
eraled, showed skill and taste in its
separate parts, and in itself was
worth going hundred miles TO
see. But back of it and from the
published report, can we not draw II
lesson? Start with the subscription
list. | notice the name of one firm,
and not saloon mt that, which gives
$500, while its receipts during the
day were unquestionably but little
short of $4,000, and most Of it from
people who came to see the celebra-
ton. | also notice two or three others
whose donations did not go above
$1,000, while the receipts We're n
hundred dollars or more, Is this
treating fellow citizens and the city
fair?
AS a straightaway business propo-
sition believe that if every business
man donated all he received on the
4th above his regular daily profits'
to the celebration fund, his profits at
the end of the year would be in
creased by five times what he do
mated. For example, if his daily
profit is $4 90, his profit on the fourth
$1,000, and his donation $500, by the
end of the year his profits will have
increased $4,000, due to the adver-
tisement the city and his business
received on the fourth. Then think
OF the celebration you could have
with the increased fund. 1t could
have equalled any exhibition given
by any city in the state outside of
Milwaukee, and people farther away
than Calamine would not cease TO
talk Of it for year to come.
Business men, it is to your interest
to make such occasions the best it is
possible for you to do. If you give
(by mistaken little more than your
profits for the day, you Will get it
back by the end of the year. If you
give $1,000 and your business in
creases to the enormous extent that
your private profits are added to at
the rate of s cents per day, you will
enough left to put 10 cents in the
collection every Sunday, and you
will do it with better heart than
you now pay Is cents for "A Is cent
supper which the good ladies of the
church often provide.
Another class of men from whom
the city has right to expect more
than they get, is that composed Of
those who have enough and more
laid up to take care OF themselves
the rest of their lives. They spend
their time along the street and eX-
pect the working citizens to enter
tain and amuse them. Let them
help pay the fiddler. In the list of
donations ! notice a laboring man
giving as much as retired man. Or
let me put it this way: man who
can count his wealth with five fig
ures does not give more than the
man who is getting Sl75 per day and
supports large family.
Men of this stamp are doing moth
ing less than stealing from their fell
low citizens. They spend only for
their plain living, clothes and a
meagre tax. Everything else they
enjoy they get from their associa-
ton with fellow citizens without ex-
pense to themselves. This enjoy
ment may come from walking the
streets, gossip around some store
Keepers stove, or quiet game of
whist. They should be willing to
pay for the opportunities to occupy
their time, and this can best be done
by giving a little for public enter
prises
Business men and others, drive
these feelings Of grouchiness from
among you and you will be surpris-
ed at the growth of your business
and the reputation OF your city.
These remarks apply not only to the
Fourth, but also to your approaching
fair, the new school house, the pro-
posed railroad. A man with au or
binary head can figure out in an
hours time whether these things are
benefit to the city, and If they are,
they are benefit to him and he