Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-11-28
RAILWAYS SURE TO CONE.
Interesting Article From The Iowa Home.
stead Concerning Interurban Roads
and Effect Upon Cities
and Farms.

and Farms.
The corn belt has not been hasty in
establishing interurban electric lines.
However, there is not state in this
area into which this new method of
transportation has not heen intro
duced, and we predict that during
the next five years there will be the
largest interurban railway develop
ment in the central west that has ever
taken place in this country. We base
this belief on the fact that these roads
wherever they are established have be-
come exceedingly popular.
Every man in the corn belt is di-
rectly or indirectly interested in this
modern railway. They are beginning
to branch out from populated centers
in such way as to very materially
affect the value of land in the town.
ships through which they pass, and
in the very near future it would not
be surprising if no point in the corn
belt were more than a very few miles
from an inteIurban electric line.
1t has been demonstrated beyond
doubt that interurban railways do not
injure small towns, but on the other
hand the experience is that their in
PRODUCTION means increase in popula-
tion, increase in business and certain
ly greater comfort to the residents Of
such towns. True it is that these
roads change the character of the
business that is transacted in towns
through which they pass, but where
"a people instead of fighting the sys-
tenn adjust themselves to the new
order of things it only means growth.
The records mp to date indicate that
the interurbans not only increase the
population of the towns adjacent to
largely populated centers. but chat
the townships through which they
pass are affected in the same manner.
1t goes without saying that the es-
tablishment of interurbans increases
the price or value of agricultural
land. Land ordinarily doubles in value
In five years after the establishment
Of an electric line. This is due to
the fact that such land is more desira-
BILE for farming purposes. 1t means,
of course, that fashioned methods
can no longer be employed in farming
land worth 500. $3.50 and 5000 per
acre. Improved crops must be grown
on such land, and likewise improved
live stock. One can no longer keep a
cow that will ouly make 200 pounds of
butter a year or raise steer that
weighs 500 pounds at twelve months
of age. 1t means the application of
scientific principles to practical agri-
culture, or, ON the other hand, dispose
of the land and let the next man try
it. But the greatest effect of interur-
bans on rural communities is to in.
crease the attractiveness of the farm.
When churches, theaters, lecture halls,
etc., are easily accessible to rural
people life on the farm becomes to
many a different proposition. Isolation
because of poor roads or poor trans
portation facilities generally spells
in too many instances monotony,
which results in discomfort and final
ly in the boys and girls leaving the
farm. Those without practical ex-
perience along this line might think
that the opposite would be true,
namely, that the electric lines would
tend to make the city more popular
in the esteem of country boys and
girls, but this is not true. All the
advantages of the city are easily OBJ
tainable where these lines are es-
tablished and yet along with this
there is the independence of farm life.
Interurbans to some extent solve the
help problem in rural districts. Men
will much more readily leave the pop
ulated centers for rural districts on
these lines than they do over the
wagon road. This has been proven
beyond any question of doubt. 1t is
as true when applied to help inside
the house as it is when applied to help
outside. This means an improved
situation generally, because there will
be fewer idlers in the city because
the work and the man will be brought
together.
On general principles, therefore,
we have no hesitation in advising all
of our readers to do everything that is
reasonably possible to encourage the
establishment of electric lines. We
have known men to fight these lines
just as If they were undesirable limo.
vations. but it would be just as sensi.
BILE to fight the introduction of the
telephone, new farm machinery OF
anything else that is modern.
A lady down at Nicola mauled a
burglar to death and smashed his Ian
tern. When the police came and she
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