Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-09-11
Local Comment

For years Marshalltown has been
rather shabby represented in its
church buildings for town OF its size
but that day mas gone by. With the
Presbyterians leading with a new edi-
fee, the Church Of Christ and Epis-
copalians actually building and with
the Baptists buying ground for some
thing handsome, it only remains for
the Congregationalsts to loosen up and
Marshalltown will be practically re-
churched within the next twelve
months.
Visitors to the county fair all passed
by a four-story frame building which
is going up for new factory enter
prise to employ men and buy corn in
this vicinity.
1t was novel sight at the county
fair to see thirty or forty automobiles
lined up along the road outside the gate
and as many more comfortably ar
ranged along the track on the quarter
NJetch. 1t was typical Of the times,
put then when any farmers boy can
buy a fine automobile with the pro-
ceeds from one crop OF potatoes from
twenty acres OF ground why shouldn't
there be plenty Of them at the fair {?
An auto has a real practical place on
the farm.
This years fair. was not a record
was not the fault of the weather either
Every year can not surpass all others,
yet the program this year fell short
ne 10 ~,
year will require extraordinary effort to
keep up interest.
When Councilman Clark sought re-
election last spring he gave as his only
| reason that he had important work on
the water committee unfinished. 1t is
to be hoped that the tapping of the old
galleries was not the epoch making
mission to which he referred.
II Herman has reason to believe that
the $4,000 dam owes its excessive price
to the mayors neglect to give the wild
est publicity to the bidding he should
demand an investigation. It would be
very easy matter for some favored
contractor to come in with his own and
a few straw bids and walk away with
a contract at q terrific price if there
was not real competition in the bid
ding. The granitoid man has shown us
! that in his effort to get s1.9s last spring
for paving which he now says he would
be glad to lay for sl.25.
Is concrete paving other than grant,
told, cheap paving in quality? Last
tspnng the granitoid man told the coun-
Gil that their revised specifications
called for the same thing as granitoid
but had been changed just enough to
evade his patents. Now he says that
those specifications will produce a
pavement good enough for all residence
lstreets but not as good as granitoid
1.-THE Times-Republican, which claims
to know something about paving by
this time. will make the assertion that
the city's revised specifications call fol
q pavement equal in every respect te
the granftoid and so nearly like 1t tina,
no man uninformed on the subjec1
icould tell the difference. The founile
ton which gives strength is the same
in both. The wearing surface is thu
same in thickness. Whereas granitoit
uses 40 per cent cement the revised
pavement uses 80 1-3 per cent, practi.
caliy no difference, and whereas gran
itoid uses 60 per cent crushed granite
the revised uses 68 2-3 OF granite ant
sand. Any cement worker Will say tina
one is as durable as the other. II tn,
lpqe is q cheap" pavement. SO is TIN
other. The facts are both are the mos