Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-02-23
BUSINESS MEN
ENJOY BANQUET
Nearly 200 Participate in
Happy Affair, and Forty Are
Turned Away
PosT-PRANDIAL ADDRESSES
PosT-PRANDIAL
ADDRESSES
Lawyers Debate Question of Whether
Boosters Are Born or Made, to the
Amusement of the Entire Assembly
Membership of Retail Merchants
Association Largely Increased

| in this community, was given express
sion at the banquet of the Retail Mer-
chants Association at the Pilgrim Ho-
tel Thursday evening. Never before
has it been necessary to turn anyone
away.
| At the last merchants banquet about
| forty tickets We're sold that did not
show up at the door, and the hotel
proprietors greatly over provided then
so it seemed safe this time to oversell
and besides there was no way of stop
ping people without offending them.
AS it was those left out We're promised
that they would be provided for at a
second table if they would wait, or they
could have their money back. About
ten took their money, six or eight got
away without their refund, and twen-
| ty-four sat down to the second table,
where they We're served while the pro-
gram was in progress. The hotel men
say they always count on less than the
ticket sale, owing to the lapses that all
ways occur, but this time everybody
came. Every piece of silver, every
plate and every chair in the hotel was
in use, and the committee was COM
PEELED to send a rush order to McCombs
Bros. to break into some furniture store
and deliver a wagon load Of chairs for
the second table, which finally arrived
in the nick Of time.
Altho greatly delayed there never
was more successful banquet held
The purposes of the Retail Merchants
Association were explained, and over
a hundred signatures obtained for
membership in the association at 81
per month. By evening today $50 men,
bers are enrolled, which means an in
come of $1,S00 per year, with a secre-
tary receiving SIS per year for the
work of doing the corresponding, coll
lection of dues, etc.
Mr.. o. L. Ingledue added another
laurel to his wreath as a POSTMASTER.
Mr.. B. w. Sinclair, who really is a clear
and forceful speaker, presented the
purposes of the association in harmon
izing and organizing the merchants
for the promotion of their trade and
the development of new industries for
the city.
Mr.. L. G. Abbott explained just how the
doSOS4dlIOA AlcL0 OGCll olSctlllACQ, CllQ
what it expected to do with the money
received.
Mr.. P. F. Arney surprised his aud
fence with the happy way in which he
presented the scheme of county fair,
reading from letter which told of a
county fair having been conducted
successfully for twenty years in Mall
com on a capital of $500. This fair
has competed successfully with sim
liar fair at Grinnell, in the same coun-
ty, and now owns $4,000 worth of
property.
The membership rolls were then pass
ed, nearly everybody signing except
those who were known to be worth
from quarter to half million, and
to have money to loan.
Following the business program
Judge G. w. Burnham talked interest
ingly upon the mistakes made by mer-
chants in seeking shelter behind legis-
lation to protect themselves from the
ferceness Of competition. He advised
them to band together in strong or
CARNATIONS, like the one formed at that
meeting, and to cooperate in going to
the farmer for his trade, Just as the
mail order house goes to him with it's
cata1og.
The fun of the evening then came,
and everybody stayed for 1t, altho the
hour was very late. Col. j. M. Parker
and G. Fl. r. Boardman We're to argue
that Boosters are born and not made.
C. III. Van Law and ]. L. Carney were
to take fall out of Parker and Board
man on that proposition. Parker led
2ef t,,;1 o,,+ o;n 81
about chickens with wooden legs being
Matched from eggs laid by the hens
which had been fed on saw dust.
Parker asserted that the booster who
was not born booster was wooden
legged kind Of booster and he drop
ped into rhyme and verse to prove
his proposition.
Van Law was vigorous and vehe-
ment. He seemed to have taken his
case on a contingent fee. He asserted
that everybody, and especially Parker,
came into this world kicker and
knocker, and that Parker was the
worst kicker of them all until he had
been made over into booster. He
described Boardman as tow-headed
urchin, kicking and knocking at every
kid in the alleys of Marshalltown, I'M
til he grew to manhood and was made
into a booster for Marshalltown. Mr..
Van Law spoke from experience, when
he insisted that every man began with
his first "yip," kicking against the
boarding house to which the stork had
brought him, and only became a
booster when he had been made so.
Boardman then let Van Law down
easily by making fun of him, and
amused the audience with some very
witty stories.
Carney, who was to close the debats,
captivated the audience with the story
of that young man Curtis, who had
opened a case in court and so worried |
his colleague that he was sure the devil |
himself couldn't close it. With the |
hour close to l o'clock Carney held his |
audience.
DIR. Steiner, an accidental guest, was
called upon extemporaneously for a
few closing remarks, and he fairly in
spired the audience to enthusiasm as
boosters, at the same time he made
the small-souled men who had passed
that membership paper by feel so much
smaller that they felt uncomfortable I
about it. In spite Of yexations and