Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-12-05
Looker-On In Iona

Ogden, Dec Son a. previous visit
to this place the opening of a coal
mine was the interesting subject. Now
the mine is in operation. employing 175
men and shipping out hundreds of cars
loads yearly. The same company Is
now sinking new shaft about a mile
and half south of town and building
a railroad spur track to the mine This
means in a short time there will be
400 men employed in the mines here.
making. the retail business good. and
adding much to the general prosperity
OF the town.
AS usual the writer attended
church on Thanksgiving day. This in
an Iowa town of $4,000 inhabitants.
Union services were held ov,r a dozen
churches closing their doors. and all
expected to attend one service. BY act
ual count 16S men, women and child
rem We're present Six children, forty
two men and 100 men showing by
their presence they were thankful at
least one day in year. Only six
ministers were on the platform, per-
haps the other six thankful preachers
were in the audience And in that town
every manufacturing concern was run
ming full time. every store had big
stocks and were selling goods freely.
Twenty saloons were in operation.
Hardly a tramp puts in an appearance.
Farmers having big crops and getting
big prices, and yet think of 1t, only
forty-two men in a town of $4,000 in
habitants attending Thanksgiving SER
vices.
1t has been said many times 1T takes
all kinds of men to make world.
Here's story of what one banker did
recently and boasted of it. Yes. sir, 1t
was a pretty cheap trip. l bought a
thru ticket at Nextown and gave the
ticket agent a $40 bill. He gave me
back 1880 and the ticket. Thought
I'd given him a twenty" Now this
banker thought and pretended he had
beaten the railroad company out OF
$40, but he knew the ticket agent was
the one that was out the $40. And some
of us that heard him tell the story,
remarked to ourselves that the bank he
owned d controlling interest in. really
needed guaranteed bank deposits, and
others suggested there was one ticket
agent in Iowa who couldn't afford tur-
key on Thanksgiving day.
AS heretofore mentioned in this coll
umn, the c., r. 7. & P. railroad, by
enforcing a rule to show tickets before
entering the cars, has made much trou-
BILE for brakemen and conductors. 1t is
to the credit of nearly all of these en-
ployes that they will take your word
that you have ticket or mileage, and
so save the trouble of actually getting
out your mileage book and showing it
to a conductor that perhaps you have
been on his train twenty times in a
week. Just the same the. company is
u dtis anakingl any friends by this rule.
On the contrary so perverse are the
travelling public, that many get mad
and show it. by riding on other roads
and shipping freight on other roads
when possible so to do. The company
is also unfortunate that it has a few
brakemen that seem to enjoy enforce
ing this rule, and are very offensive in
tone and language in performing their
duty. There's one or two 'colored gen.
tiemen' porters that very pompously
prevent some white men from enter
ing the cars till they actually produce
the pasteboard. ALI of which does not
increase the gross receipts of the c.,
r. I. & P.