Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-02-08

field and the mother had the girls to
help with the house work, milking,
churning and duties Of that kind.
There was always people on the farm
to raise big crops, milk plenty of
COWS, set hens and attend to the
chickens, therefore, there was plenty
Of all raised.
But 1t is different now. BY the time
the boy is Is or liz years of age, he
has seen enough of town life to make
1t attractive to him. He sees the boy
who is working in the city living, he
thinks, little better than he Is in the
country. He thinks the city boy has
more advantages than he has, there
fore, he becomes dissatisfied at home
and finally lands in town and starts to
work in some office, or shop, or fac
tory. He soon finds out that the town
boy who was having such good
time is The most regular applicant he
has for loan of dollar between
pay days. And he sees that most of
the boys who work in the city do not
save any money because they do not
try to. In little while he drops into
their ways and maybe after a while
sees his mistake and maybe he does
not. But al any rate, he has left the
farm and his father has to depend on
hiring some one to do the work he
ought to be at home doing, or let it go
undOne.
Then the girl also. Just about the
time she is old enough to help her
mother, wants to come to town TO
work in an office, a factory, or be a
nurse, or some other occupation that
will take her away from the farm.
The result is that the farmers wife
has no more help around The house
than he has out in the field, so that
the number Of COWS kept and the num-
Der of chickens raised, is reduced.
There are not enough people there TO
do the work.
They do not raise them because they
have not sufficient help to attend to
them. If there is any milk to spare it
Is dumped into the cream separator
and the cream dumped into the milk
can and sent to the creamery. The can
full of milk has round trip ticket
so that the express company works a
confidence game on the milk can and
makes it think that it is riding one
way free. But it has to pay its freight
both ways. Then that makes a high
freight rate on the cream going to the
creamery, on the milk cans coming
back and on the butter being shipped
out.
That is different from the way it
used to be done when every farmers
wife tried to be the best butter maker
in the community, and there was a
continuous stream of butter coming
into the town with no freight rate
whatever to pay.
1t seems to me that the railroads
are getting great deal of any in
crease there is, but they are giving
service for every bit of it, 1t is not
the fault of the railroads if the cattle
are shipped over them three times and
the beef enc time or that the butter
has three freight rates marked mp
against it. That is simply change in
the system of doing business. The
railroad is simply getting paid for the
service it renders. 1t cannot be ex-
pected to make three or four ship
ments at the price it would one.
We have got to look at this matter
the way il is, and use our judgment
and not our prejudice, and we will then.
and not until then, find out just what
the cause of increase or decrease
may be.
Yours for continued prosperity and
plenty of home employment
G. p C.