Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-03-20
Looker-On In Iona

Mason City. March 20.--Thost IN
fatuated with bridge whist will appre-
ciate the following 1t seems that dur
Ing Lent, "our" whist clubs by com
mon consent, agreed to observe Lent
by not playing bridge" and 1T must
be confessed this was real penance
to nearly all. So much so that one club
agreed among themselves to meet only
Saturday evenings for quiet game
to end promptly at midnight. The 9TH
or Sunday morning one of the lady
members OF this club failed to get
breakfast on time and 1t was touch
and go'' to get into the church pew at
1890 a. m. But she got there all right
and feeling very warm from the hur-
ried walk, took off her sealskin jack
ct, and Joined in the opening exer-
cises. Somehow she felt herself the
center of attraction, but only fully un-
derstood 1t when she sat down and
found the score card used the pre-
yious evening, prominently pinned on
her shirt waist.
It must be discouraging to be a re-
former. General Grant is reported to
have mentioned the ingratitlde of re-
publics. And so the average minister
that starts a temperance crusade in a
small Iowa town Is pretty sure to feel
the ingratitude of communities. Nine
times out of ten II the preacher sue
ceeds In closing the saloons of town,
II he successfully prosecutes the blind
pig man, il he sends the bootlegger
to tail, IL he does all this and more
It will be well for him to have anoth-
er pastorate in view. Otherwise he is
likely to have some idle time on his
hands. Somehow there is feeling in
the community that "Brather Jones
has outlived his usefulness in our
town."
And the same result comes frequent
Nv when some energetic minister builds
a new church in the town. The bigger
the church the sooner he leaves town
seems to be the rule. A $4,000 church
sometimes gives preacher a year to
preach in the new church. If he raises
$40, 900. six months is about as long
as they need him. And If by extra hard
work he manages to build a $4,000
church edifice, three months is the
time when they call another minis
ter. To attempt to raise any amount.
ever $4,000 generally means the
preacher will not even help dedicate
the building.
The creamery business in Iowa is
very, much in the experimental stage
these days. Where the big creamery
hundred or more miles away has sue
M
town jewellers and some farmers fig
ure out a big loss to the community.
The opinion is, as soon as the local
creamery quits business, the price pald
by the big central creamery Is dropped
to the lowest point the traffic VIII pear.
And here is another factor IN this
cream business many think works to
the disadvantage of the consumer. In
town the other day, that supports
three cream buyers, and whose pur-
chases collectively amount on an av-
erage to 500 a day, the hotel man was
unable to buy at the stores butter 10
serve on the dinner table. Realize the
situation in this little Iowa town. Not
a pound of good butter for sale at the
stores, and yet 500 paid out Tor cream
the same day in the same town. Grad
ually these small towns are beginning
to order from some creamery, the but
ter needed for the retail trade. So the
consumer seems to be paying the ex-
press charges out on the cream, and
the freight charges back on the put
fer. Meanwhile the retail prices on
butter in these small towns are higher
than in the town where the big cream
cry is located. All of which seems poor
business but how much difference is it
from the meat market in these small
| towns where the owner handles pack
| ing house products?
| ap MAs7--n|