The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-03-06
BECOMING MoDEsTY OF kEokuk

Inc becoming moueSty or pristine
Keokuk,' to use the language If the
Jacksonville (Ill.) Courier express
ed in Gothic type similar to that at
/ the head of this article, has attracted
the attention of that paper and excited
its admiration. With every incentive
! to become excited over it's future pros
poets and to indulge in wild specula-
ton and elf-glorification now that the
success of the water power project is
assured, Keokuk preserves its sanity
and pursues the even tenor of its way.
with deep gratitude for the good for.
tune in store for it, but without the
lebullition of spirits that bespeaks the
shallow mind But the Courier is en-
titled to speak for itself. 1t says,
IF there is one becoming thing
about Notwithstanding that the
community life Is reflected in the Iowa
city's newspapers-it is modesty.
"Keokuk has had ample justification
for becoming a little chesty of late. 1t
isn't every Mississippi river town at
can even hope for anything fraction
ally comparable with the great water
power project which apparently is an
assured fact at Keokuk. This dam and
other necessary equipment required to
bring the improvement to an actual
basis OF commercial operation will en-
tell the expenditure OF over S20,000,-
900. How easy to write $20,000,000.
But the reality is rarely realized ii
its fullness by people used to seeing
millions and billions shufhed and
dealt out daily in the public press.
This project pushed to completion
as it doubtless will be within few
short years, Keokuk not only will be
in position to supply ST. Louis with
power and light but, me.aphorically
speaking, she will become a sort of
center OF solar system of her own
down here in the great Mississippi
valley making dark places light and,
thereby, crooked things straight, She
will become sort of Young Sol. but
will not enter into competition with
Old Sol, who confines his fulgent en-
deavors 70 the hours of the day,
"Keokuk will be the light in the.
valley and should speedily become a
prime good manufacturing city, With
her Tuture suburbs-such as Burling
ton, Des Moines, Quincy. Galeshurg.
Sorghum City, Carthage and kiader
hook to say nothing of the smaller
communities which sooner or later
will come under her spell-keokuk
bids fair to some day crow on the
top OF greater commercial dunghill
than the smoky one topped today by
Greater Pittsburg. But it will be a
smokeless victory, no coal famine aav
ing terrors, no rust-controiled gas sup
ply hampering success by man-manip-
ulated ebb and flow.
But Keokuk is modest in the midst
! of all this She sits calm and unruf-
fed on her hills unblushing. linabash-.
ed, unpuffedup! Her real estate men
remain sane, her public press retains
its wonted nationality. her baseball
club prepares to once more make its
opponents play the game. 1t is large
ly the same old Keokuk despite the
preparation of her long skirts. corsets
and other fixings of adultness
1t jars one TO contemplate the
goingscn which would have eventual
led had it been Springfield or Peoria
or Quincy o. Burlington facing the
prospect Of the growing pains which
are in store for ,Aeokuk 1t would
have hesn pitifully pathetic, but it is
not to bs
"Keo,,ux's modesty is becoming, her
blush is tht of maidenhood, and she
| l. almost XII sable as she demursly
sits in the pristine glory of her inno-
cence and virginity."
There is quite a story leading up
to Keokuks admirable self-control
and modesty as exemplified in its
present conduct, but only few of
the salient points can be limited at in
I this connection. The fact that this
/ city once INDUCED in the luxury of a
/ wholly to be overlooked in the search
for causatiye influences. That was
matter of more than fifty years ago.
| but there are still men and women
living in Keokuk who retain vivid
I recollection of the conditions which
followed. 1t may be argued, and with
1 truth, that conditions now are very
different from those which led to the
wild initiation of values and reckless
speculation of 1861, but it is none
+ the less true that "a burnt child
1 breads the fire"-eyen though assured
4 that fire of late pattern is essen
TALLY different from the old-fashioned
kind
I More important yet as con-
ltributing agency to Keokuk's even
mindedness and Observation-Disclosures is
/ the self-discipline it has practiced for
many years. 1t may as we'll be con.
fessed here and now as again that Keo-
kuk has had much to contend against in
past years and has suffered many
grievious disappointments. These
have not been without Christening eff.
feet But at no time did its people
ever lose courage or wayer in their
belief of the ultimate success of the
water power project By sheer force
of will they schooled themselves
against both undue encouragement
and depression and unwarranted ella
ton, as the two sides of the shield
were alternately presented to them
This frame OF mind was conspicuousl1
in evidence during the past ten or q