Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-13
3 LOOKER.ON IN IOWA !


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Maxwell, Dec. 12.-.The c. M. 81 st.
=. railroad has now established
passenger train service along this
part of the state that is thoroughly APP
preciated not only by travelling men
but by the general public. Four pas
senger trains and a way freight each
way every day enables a traveller to
make" all of the towns without much
use of livery teams. The two local
bob tail trains as they are called are
particularly handy for the boys that
want to make time" Either this In
creased accommodation has made
more business or more business has
compelled the management to put on
the trains is self evident. Their freight
business Is also making big showing.
The other night a stock train conduc-
tor told the writer that from Manning
west were rush orders to pick up from
there to Council Bluffs. one or two
loads at every station. save two. The
movement of live stock westward is at
tracing considerable attention.
About as curious expression of opln-
ioI DIS Vic OIlcIt uGStTS, CrtIIe IIofIl lIles
mouth of a well-,to- do business man in
one of our Iowa towns, recently, when
the subject of conservatism was the
arrest and conviction of a railroad
agent in iowa for selling some of
railroad company's coal and for
getting to pay the railroad
for the same. "rhe railroad had no.
body to blame but themselves. This
man only was paid SIS month,
handled thousands Of dollars of money.
had to do two mems work and all for
the wages many mechanics earn" The
speaker of these words actually pitiea
more than he blamed the defaulting
railroad agent. It's that kind Of SEN
timent openly and frequently exposed
that has omething to do with so many
of these cases. These remarks were
made before a crowd of men, young
and old, that We're gathered In the store
Some of us wondered II one Of that
merchants clerks should act on the
theory of paying himself out Of the
cash receipts for the real value of
said clerks services, say $50 a month
more than the, agreed upon wages, IL
the sentiment would stall hold good.
Talking about wages the writer once
knew bank cashier in Iowa, that
worked a year in the bank in ---
for $3.50, $40 month, less than a dol
lar day. And this bank cashier had
a wife and three children to support
According to the above mentioned
theory in the first paragraph, this
bank was daily tempting this cashier
to steal This cashier handled much
more money than the referred to
railroad agent Therefore. If he helped
himself to the banks money, pity,
rather than blame? It's too bad, to
spoil this story by mentioning the fact
that the cashier was well to do" and
was there at $40 a month to learn the
banking business, and now runs a
bank Of his own. But If this low wages
argument is good the bank would have
been to blame if he had been de-
faulter Of thousands.
This kind Of talk suggests that the
number of damaged regulations in ev-
cry town is more than occurs to one at
first thought. Visiting the same towns
nearby twenty years the writer nat
urally has got acquainted with much
inside history of the men that live in
these towns. BY no means is the num-
Der large, but it is surprising how
we'll the business men of these towns
know these men of "off color" They
mention Jones as q CRATER, Smith as
not to trust him too far, Brown as man
1t is we'll to have everything down in
writing, Thompson as a dealer where
toJ hot nffv
scales, Black man you'd better see
the land before you trade, and so on.
They don't give them clean bill of
health. All this referring to their bus
mess affairs. When 1t comes to their
private characters, their morals or
lack of them, it is really astonishing
how much the public knows. One
would think but few would ever hear
of that trip to Chicago and what hap
pened there. OF course the smaller
the town, the more Of this publicity
not to say gossip, for men, OF course,
never gossip-never talk scandal. OF
course there Is more or less exagger-
alton concerning the actions of such
men. But If any Of us, really want
to know what the community in
which we live think OF US, hire
private detective for week and get
full report. Like the man that
came back to earth to attend his own
furenal, we wouldn't know the corpse.
Only the detectives report would
differ very much from what the
preacher says on such sad occasions.
IL - Aeb5A-o@1