Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1907-09-11
PEERLESS IOWA.


LATE Young was down to Cincin-
natl the other day, and made great
speech before the Associated Advertis-
ing Clubs of America There was
none your participating calamity
howl about it. 1t was the clarion
voice OF real optimist; one who be-
Iieves the country is pot going to the
devil anyhow, and looks on the bright
side of everything; one who knows
what he says, and is not afraid to say
what he thinks. The speech was not
an oratorical effort, but brought the
association to its feet at the close. lt
was good enough for the Cincinnati
Enquirer to print in full the next
morling. Some of the things he said
may be interesting to the people, OF
his home state:
Il come from state that CARRIES
no advertising car; it is as little
known possibly as almost any other
state in the union. We haven't any
thing to congratulate ourselves upon
but the waving fields of corn-Indian
corn, native of America. along with
tobacco and the turkey that you all
have. on Thanksgiving day-all natives
of America. or as we would say now,
natives of the United States. The
white man, when he came TO these
shores. found Indian corn growing on
the high grounds in Mexico and Peru.
It didn't do we'll in the hot climates :
it never amounted to anything beyond
roasting ears, and wasn't even good
for that it was only a temptation
TO flies and bugs TO swarm about but
when it reached the highlands of the
great north, where the SHOWS fall in
the winter and the cold winds blow,
and the summer sun beats down for
100 days from May TO October, there
they grow Indian corn, that solid sub
stance that never put germ of i'll in
animal or man; which makes the
solid meat in hogs and cattle and
builds the muscle of stalwart man
hood, the pride of the Anglo Saxon
race.
Even at this time in our state you
can hear it's green blades creaking in
the wind, and see it's tasseled ears
peeping forth still in the husks, the
tassel at the point indicating where
btiC Sldin 10 anu III lilC ldl1 MilCn w o
cut and put it in the shock, it will
be stored for animal and beast, and
then in the cold billiards of winter it
will be fed in the sheltering barns
where are housed the cattle and the
hogs. 1t is one of the most appre-
ciated agricultural products, the
queen product of the soil.
In the state from whence | come
there never was battle fought for
liberty or for life or for law yet she
lies between the largest of the great
rivers of the continent, and to us who
live there always she is source of
pride. We lived ON the prairies when
there were no railroads. when we
kept the stage driver simply to have
his society over night to learn what
the great world was doing on the out
side; we made the long drive to the
Mississippi river of over 125 miles to
trade, paving % cents a yard for
calico, and buying shoe leather and
sole leather waxed ends and thread
with which to make the shoes for
the children of the family. Those
were the days when the clothing of
the larger boys was passed down regu-
larly TO the Younger ones. know
how II was for 1 was the youngest,
and got the last whack at the clothes.
y, They came home with the sole
leather from what they called "the
river in those old days and think of
it, we never thought of throwing a
garment. shirt or a co away till
there was no room for anorher patch.
You never haze anything like that to-
day. By the Introduction of
machinery, and the taking away of the
labor from the home the cloth is cut
in the factory, and goes to the home
ready made. 1t is SO cheap that it is
never patched, you throw it away
In our school days we sat upon
puncheons with the round side down
and the fiat side up and two legs
reaching to the floor
Talk about patches There was
not boy in the school that didn't |
have a letter in the postoffice!
And many young heart felt its