Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-05-16
CITY IMPROVEMENT HINTS

lost TO the community. 1t cannot even
DC reached by the tax collector TO be
made to bear its share of the cost of
public improvements and public pro-
tection
Every good citizen owes allegiance,
first. to his family; second. to the COM
munity i'll which he lives. and. third,
to the nation. This is the theory. ac-
cor1ing to Richard A. Haste, well
known writer on home trade topics.
But when the nation is in peril and
calls for help men sacrifice both family
and friends for the nations good. We
call this patriotism. And the first
duty of the loyal citizen is to the ma
ton. for 1t embraces both the. COM
munity and the family welfare
We don't think much of the men who
ran away to Canada to escape their
duty during the days of the civil war.
We don't think much of the woman
who neglects her family that she may
entertain her friends. Selfishness,
when home is the object is almost a
virtue. What are we TO think of peo-
pie who pass up their town and do
their trading in the cities in the hope
of saving n few cents? If they live in
the town. if they lie lawyers. doctors,
preachers. teachers, bankers or COM
mon wage earners, it is froI; the town
| they get their living; If they be farm
ers. it is the town that affords them
/ markets and the good things of mod
| efn civilization. and. more than that,
! 1t is the town that gives value to their
/ farms. What shall we think of such
people If they deliberately ignore the
allegiance they owe to the community
for protection and the very bread they
eat and send their money, some of
which may come directly from the
public purse. as in the case of school
1, teachers, to the cities for the things
| they can get at home? What shall we
| think of them?
This is what William Allen White
| thinks of them in Emporia Kan 1t is
| straight talk. but is has the ring of
| good sense in IT:
| 1.-The man who buys his goods of a
| mail order house and expects his
neighbors in Emporia TO buy goods of
him or buy labor of him or to buy
| professional service of him is econom-
| ically a leech. He is sucking industrial
| blood out of the town and gives none
back. He sends his profits out OF
| town like a Chinaman and has nc
more right to a standing in the com
| munity than foreigner. We are all
neighbors industrially in this town
| and the man who sends away for his
goods is not one of us. He is of an
other Industrial system and deserves
no mans support in Emporia."
!, What is true of Emperia, Kan. is
true of every other town in the United
States. One of the primal obligations
4 any good citizen owes to the commH
nifty in which he lives is that of recip
rocal trade 1t is only thus that the
community interests of the country
can be maintained.
/ This buying of catalogue houses ant
through soap clubs is fad that ha!
grown up in the commercial garden
like q rank weed. 1t grew and flour
ished because there was no attemp
made to keep the garden clear of sucl
growths. People have been so bus,
about other things that they simpl,
forgot the obligations they are unde
to their neighbors and to themselves
as community. And even sine,
there has been O marked awakening t,
the need for civic Improvement, 70
building up the Industrial and ethica
interests of the home town, the work
ers seem to have overlooked the mos
Important feature of 1t all-the protec
ton of the retail trade of the hom
merchant.
The women's clubs all over the coun
TRY have been doing remarkabl
work in holding public sentimen