Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-05-13
IOWA NEEDS PUBLICITY.

e. B. Hill, secretary of the Greater
Iowa club, delivered an address the
other day before the Northern Iowa
Editorial association in which ne told
some plain truths that should pc
brought home to Iowans. Iowa, says
Mr.. Hill, has served as nursing
ground for the population of the en-
tire west. Iowa men and Iowa money
are taking the larger part in the de-
yelopment of the Panhandle of Texas.
They are paying for the irrigation
bitches that are to turn Idaho into the
promised land. They are dry farming
In Wyoming. They are truck farming
in Colorado. They are making fruit
ranches in Washington. Any two by
four town west of the Missouri river
boasts of one or more of its Iowa
artisans. Mr.. Hill goes on to say:
.sWhat has caused this situation?
Lack Of faith. Iowa men are in the
position of the deacon who prayed all
morning for rain and went to church
without his umbrella. They believe in
the future of Iowa. but wave gaudy
semi-arid land advertisement before
them and they are off, Tell an Iowa
man of the possibilities of cheap land,
and if you are persuasive talker you
can sell him. Companies with semi
arid lands to sell find their best mar
kets in Iowa. This condition exists
because of the apathy of the Iowa peo-
pie. For twenty-five years we have not
lifted a finger in our own behalf. We
have stood idly by and allowed Iowa
men and Iowa money to go OIL to the
last end of the jumpingoff place be-
cause there was no one to tell them
the truth about Iowa and the truth
about the locality they were going IN
to. We have allowed the state to be-
come overrun with a hoard of land
agents, each one salesman selling
faith in some other locality, and we
I have not uttered one word on the be-
half of Iowa We have prayed for
rain but failed to provide an umbrella
men have gone to Texas to raise
onions because there was no one TIC
tell them that onions could be grown
in Scott county, or for that matter
anywhere in Iowa, and with better re
districts-lured by the large acreage
yield-because there was no one tc
tell them that the same sort of, ex
tensive farming would get results on
Iowa land Men have gone into dis
tricts that are in the dry class q
have reference to the bathing ma
terial, not beverages) because there
was no one to tell them that govern
ment experts stood aghast at the un
precedented rainfall, because there
was no one to tell them that the lane
salesman's rain follows the plow was
more or less talk. Men have gone ou
of the state who would not have done
SO were Iowa being given publicity
This conditions exists because We
have gone on the supposition that we
could raise corn and God would take
care of Iowa. He won't. He ha:
given us natural resources, but We
will have to exploit them. We mus
give the state publicity that we ma!
maintain our logical position in com
parison with other states"
The only remedy Mr.. Hill sees lie'
In publicity. Iowa" he says, mus
place herself in a position to tell thu
truth about Iowa and if necessar.
about other regions; must publish def
mite facts; must publish specific III
stances of success on the farms and il
the factories of the state; must GREAT
an Iowa spirit; must cultivate pei
sonality; must preach intensive farm
ing; must defend herself, and the onl
way she can do it is to obtain tn
publicity that is her due"
Cooperation is the plans of tn
Greater Iowa club, which seeks u d
for the cities what the local CON
mercial clubs are doing in their owl
localities, is Mr.. Hills suggestion, an
( it Is well worth considering for Their
is no question as to the accuracy Q
the statements he makes regardin
Iowa's apathetic Indifference towar
Its own resources and wealth.