Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-12-31
LOOKER.ON in IOWA


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| Malcolm, Dec, 3l.-As this town ls
entirely free from the disease. this is
good place to headline q few words
| on Iowa "feuds.'' For we have them
in many towns in Iowa. lacking only
the bullet and the knife to make them
| fully as sensational as those of Ken
lucky or even Italy. For instance. in
one Iowa town there is "a line up by
two doctors and their friends. Into
! this neighborhood quarrel are drawn
the two banks of the town, several
| merchants, two churches and preach
| erS and the women almost in entire
| ers and the women almost IN en-
| tirety. A new family coming to town
| has to line up on one side or the
| other He that is not for us. is
| against us This feud crops out ev-
| cry time "a new school teacher is
! chosen or Il city marshal appointed
| Even the street commissioner has to
be careful and not do too much work
in front of the houses of certain ad-
herents of Doctor A or Doctor h.
Church members animated with the
spirit of love. peace, charity ana Tor
giveness, forget all of these lovely
characteristics. when the new family
calls in DR.. A, even II the patient Is
at the point Of death. Business men
will not be patronzed by DR.. BIS pa
tents, If he happens to have sick
child, and calls DR.. A. Not one word
of the above is exaggeraton. Some
of the readers of this article, In this
particular town, will bear witness for
this scribe.
In another town some years ago n
scandal case involving the names of
prominent people started feud that
is alive today in fully Intensity and
bitterness. 1t has shown itself since
by personal encounters, hangings In
effigy and always showing in politics.
where all parity lines are forgotten on
each election day. the test of party
fealty being. whether the candi-
date for office believes that twenty
years ago Mrs. Lightfoot was guilty
or innocent. That is, ii the Sixteenth
National bank official twenty years
ago took the part of Mrs. Lightfoot,
why in 1907, of the cashier of the Fiji
teenth National bank wants to go on
the school board, all of the employees
of the Sixteenth National take legal
holiday and help clean him out.
Preachers here have to go slow in
references to the social evil, or
church members take him to task.
They want to know IL he referred to
Mrs. Lightfoot's case.
In another town its the river that
flows on forever that's the cause of
dissension, and a dividing line, that
makes business men enemies and even
draws the line socially. Travelling
men to sell goods on the east side,
must stop at the east side hotel, and
if he sells goods on the east side the
west side merchants will not buy
dollars worth of him. Such a thing
as a new postoffice building, or pub
lie library building starts all of the
bad blood on both sides Of the river.
building had to be built in the river.
access by bridge from both sides,
which was the solution of fight to
secure the Carnegie thousands When
new school house is needed, the only
way to have new one is to vote for
two, one on each side of the river.
| While in all other mentioned cases
feuds seem to be decidedly bad for the
growth and business prosperity of the
towns, in this case this rivalry for
each side of the river seems to help
things They strain themselves all OF
the time.
There's another feud, religious
| feud in several towns In Iowa that
hurts every time and all of the time.
| Maybe it's a Congregational church
town, where everything is one church
land to the devil with everything and
everybody that does not belong to our
church. Perhaps it's town where the
Roman Catholic church has majority
of the voters, and here is trouble all
of the in towns unwise and i'm
prudent enough to use their power.
i Such towns where trading is done with
members Of our faith, where the may
or is elected because he's a Catholic,
where a strife occurs every election
day to get Catholics in the city coun-
Gil. All this hurts and such towns
grow slow.
Last and least is the town where the
/ farmers cooperative society run
things and business men fight it every
way, shape and fashion. Such towns
grow smaller year by year and while
| each side fails to gain any particular
advantage, business men looking for
new locations, or others seeking homes
| pass them by for the reason of the
antagonism known to exist, and the
| impossibility of growth in wealth or
population while the fight is on.
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