Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-08-01

Every Town Should Take Quarantine
Measures Against Him.

Every Town Should Take Quarantine
Measures Against Him.
1t has been said that there is time
and place for everything and that
everything has some good and prac
teal use in the universal plan. While
this may be true, there remain to be
discovered the benefits to be derived
from the IMAM with the hammer"
This does not refer to the man who
Yields that useful implement of toll,
but to the figurative hammer in the
hands of that species of the human
animal known as the "knocker.'
The real man with the hammer is Il
builder He is one of the most neces.
sary and beneficial of our citizens.
The figurative man with the hammer
is 4 tearer down, a hindrance, an OBJ
stacle, tumor on the body polite, q
municipal cancer, menace to prog
resS, a breeder of dissatisfaction, u
promoter of trouble.
Thank heaven Beaumont has not
many of these enemies of peace and
prosperity, editorially remarks the
Gateway Gazette, published at Beau
mont, Cal. There may be one or two
of the species among us, for it is
said that no community is free from
them. Some recent editorials and con-
tributiOns in southern California pa
pers indicate that there are men with
hammers in neighboring towns. For
this reason warning is here given.
Let us quarantine against the pests.
One of the towns which seem to- be
infested is Huntington Beach. and an
editorial in the News of that city con-
tains so much good and sensible ma
terial that it is here appended:
''Much has been said and more has
| been written of the person who is al
| ways bewailing the fact that the town
in which he lives is doomed to be for
ever small and unimportant, its people
| shiftlesS and Incompetent in business.
| its streets in filthy condition-in short,
| the other towns are in every way
more desirable as places of residence.
To define his qualities, the word
| 'knocker' has been coined. II is i'm
pressive. 1t is even emphatic. yet it
is not strong enough
This kind of alleged citizen is found
everywhere, even in Huntington Beach.
| The News meets him occasionally and
| tries to talk him out of his dumps
No one so quickly contracts disease
physical as the one who always seems
| to think that he has it. No one con-
tracts disease financial so certainly as
he who is always telling and finally
persuades himself that he is doomed
to be pauper; that his town affords
no opportunity of earning a decent live
| lihood Brace up. Talk cheerfully.
Make your opportunities. Boost your
town. Join the board of trade. Try to
have some enterprise. Try to believe
that others have. Be sure that youl
town is the best in the country. Why.
| the members of our Woman's club are
more manly in spirit, more helpful to
the town, more likely to build 1t up.
than male knocker' An admonitiou
that has been given ever since the ad-
vent of the Prince of Peace is. Bury
the Ratchet Quite right Favor al
ways peace, but Bury the hammer is
not bad motto, either
i Deducing from q poetical contribu-
ton to the Chino Champion, the sugar
beet town is not all sweetness. The
article is entitled Boost Bit and is
contributed by one of the merchants of
the town. 1t, too, is worth reading
and it is here given:
Here you disconnected knockcr.
II Growlin' bout the country's ills.
i Chloroform yer dismal tallier;
Take course of liver pills.
Stop yer durn kiotee howlin
II Chaw some sand an get some grit
Don't sit in the dumps a-growlin'.
II Jump the roost
An boost
A bit.
II Fall in while the bands a-playin',
II Ketch the step an march along
II Stead o pessimistic brayin'
II Jine the halleluyah song
III Drop yer hammer, do some rootn',
Grab a horn, you cuss. an split
Every echo with yer tootin'.
Jump the rQost
II An boost
A bit,