The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-12-30
KANSAS COMMENT
HARD LUCK.

Lincoln branch towns seem to be
getting little more than their share
OF the hard luck of late
Morland, Plainville and Hill City
Hill City has been hit twice. 1t is
hard for a small town to recover
quickly from such fires as have visited
these towns.
Sympathy, of course, goes out to
/ these towns in their misfortune but
that doesn't help rebuild the town.
What is needed by the small town
is some way of either fighting fires
more effectively or keeping them from
getting started. Better construction of
buildings VIII help in stopping the
rapid spread of fire in the small
towns, but better construction means
more money invested in buildings, and
tive
More effective means of fire fighting
seems at present the only way for the
small town to protect itself.
For small town to employ even
Two men as nucleus for a fire fight
ing force, and for that town to pur-
chase an effective fire engine, and pro-
vide itself with some sort of water
pressure seems like a pretty heavy
drain on the towns resources, but
| when the damage of even single fire
Is considered, it is possibly not out of
reason.
Hill City, for instance, is town of
small size, but it's loss in the Mon
day morning fire was $4,000. while it
suffered the loss of its opera house,
worth $40, 600 a short time before. De-
Quoting insurance, the loss to the town
was probably $4,000 and this amount
OF money out at interest at 5 per cent
would more than pay for maintaining
good paid fire department.
Possibly the small town has not
fully realized the Importance of hav-
ing some effective means to fight fire.
MOI only Is some fire fighting force
Valuaole as a money saver in fire
losses, but it also ought to operate
and usually does operate to reduce
hre insurance premiums.
Generally speaking. the small town
can better afford to pay more for fire
protection and enjoy the benefits of
more safety than it can afford to take
chances with a fire which may wipe
out half the town, simply for lack of
good line of hose with an intelligent
man or two to handle it, and handle it
promptly.-Salina Journal.
WHO GETS IT?
Attorney General Jackson has start
cd an antitrust suit against the COM
mission men, claiming they artificially
elevate prices. The commission men
Indignantly deny the charge The fact
remains, however. that somebody is
making tremendous profit in various
KINDS of produce. Eggs, for instance,
at 40 cents dozen, ought to mean a
good profit for somebody. The farm
ers say they are not guilty, because
the hens won't lay and they have no
eggs to sell. The retailers say they
make nothing on eggs. and the fact
that they offer to buy at cent or two
less dozen than they offer to sell in
dicates that they have a good alibi
A Salina commission man. who
handles eggs in wholesale way, says
positively that there has been no profit
in eggs for him because they have
been too high all the year. He has
not been able to buy eggs for much
less than IA cents. He says:
IF YOU will follow the trail Of the
serpent far enough you will likely find
that the chap who is really making the
big profit is the big packing house
and cold storage houses at Kansas
City, who buy when eggs are cheap,
and hold them till they are dear, and
then turn them loose very, very grace
fully
And yet we do not doubt that these
establishments can prove that they
are just barely able to exc out a liv-
Ing from their scanty profits.
Somebody. however, is getting a
profit on eggs, for there are plenty of
eggs to be had. Who's guilty ?-Sa-
lima Journal.