The Oskaloosa herald., 1906-04-26

/ stopped at a town where there are
perhaps $50 men employed at the
railroad shops. On visiting the shops
III spoke to an elderly gentleman and
asked some questions IN regard TO
the work and machinery. Pretty soon
he said: "You are an American! BY
ginger 1t certainly Is refreshing TO
see some one who speaks good, pure
English. I'VE worked here TWENTY-FIVE
years and in all that time ] don't be-
llieve we have had dozen Americans
In the shops"
/ sold him that needed a little ex-
perience in the mechanical depart
ment, and that If he would see the
boss and help me get position
where / could saturate my pantaloons
In machine oil few weeks, prepare
tory to becoming president Of the
road. would appreciate the favor
and guarantee to dish up the genuine,
lunadulterated United States lingo ac-
cording to Swinton and Kellogg every
time met him. He gave the assist
ance, / got the Job, and old Uncle
Dick" and were fast friends until
discovered the railroad wasn't in
need of a president just then, and
quit the work.
For a poor man North Dakota is
haven of rest. Her soil is rich and
productive. Her lands are still cheap.
Twelve to twenty dollars per acre
will buy land here that will produce
more dollars per acre than our hun
bred dollar land in Iowa. Qm not In
the real estate business either) Here
one crop will pay for the land. Ten
years of careful management and In.
dustrious labor will put any farmer
beyond the daily struggle for groc-
cries. He can retire at the end OF
that time, move to town and have
enough to pay his gas bin regularly,
on a meter basis, the rest of his life.
But aside from the money making
opportunities of the state, can see
no other magnetic attraction up here.
North Dakota is certainly not a sum-
mer resort, Her blue sky and brown
prairies are just about the same eight
months out of the year. Even In
early autumn her grasses are brown
and sere, but very rich and nutritious,
and many farmers are reaping rich
harvests of fat cattle and sheep from
them annually.
The grafters and bootleggers spok-
en- of are, as a rule, some sort of an
American, usually in business and in
a position to "skin" the needy public.
The hotel business is perhaps the
most abused line of any commercial
enterprise in the Northwest. One is
in luck to get bed at any price. Usu-
ally so cents, but sometimes more.
Whether he sleeps on fur over
coat, cot, horse blanket or s1.49
Sears Roebuck e Cos straw mattress,
its all the same price-50 cents.
There are usually three beds crowded
into a room scarcely large enough for
one, and six people are compelled to
occupy the space. The other articles
trunk. pair of overalls, National
Biscuit Co. cracker box for a stand,
and lamp with a genuine smoked
glass chimney.
Last week registered for a room.
The clerk marked me up "Cot"-best
he could do. At ten said, Landlord,
| IL you will please show me my bed,
will retire" He looked over his list
OF victims whose names were on the
register. and then said, ''Why, I've
given you cot. You'll have to sleep
with the dishwasher here in the din
ing room"
I asked him if the dishwasher was
male or female, and If so how long
he had known him to be such, and
what was his excuse for it? He told
me that he was all right, and opened
the dining room door. There stood
the cot, and on the edge Of it sat
Isome big greasy specimen of foreign
humanity who could not talk English,
struggling with a reluctant knot in
one OF his shoe strings, preparatory
to laying off pair of No. 10 cow
hides. The cot was only large enough
for one, and after sizing up the mis-
cradle situation, I said: Landlord, If
1t makes no difference to you, I'll just
set up behind the stove here, for I
haven't much of an appetite for sleep
tonight anyway"
The meals served at most of these
$500 joints are neither eatable nor
Idigestible. The cheapest kind of
food, poorly cooked, is served, but it
keeps one digging for the so cents
three times day-that is, if his sys-
tenn requires provisions that often.
High freight" Is the scapegoat rid
den by most business men when "call.
ed" in regard to high prices. Why,
the freight Is so high that it costs 25
cents to get a shave up here-though
most places 1t is only Is cents. ask.
ed a newsdealer the other day If he
needed the money when. he charged
me 10 cents for a Chicago daily paper.
and as walked out of his shop 1
heard him explaining that the freight
was so high they cost him 9 cents to
get them here. But such is life in
the new Northwest.
Very truly yours,