Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1910-08-31
THE COMMERCIAL CLUB
Regular Meeting Takes Up a Num-
ber of Important Subjects.
THE AASE HAUGEN HOME
Citizens Urged to PatrOnize No
Statesmen or Peddlers, or Give
to Charity Solicitors With
out Approval of Club.


That the Decorah Commercial
Club is live institution, imbued
with the spirit of progress, was evil
dent from the very enthusiastic
meeting held at the city hall on Fri
day evening, when several matters
of Importance to the city were dis
cussed. There was a goodly attend
ance present, and every one seemed
enthusiastic over the organization
and the possibilities of doing some
thing for Decorah.
After the disposal of correspond
ence and routine business, the first
matter to be considered was that of
the bequest of the late Miss Aase
Haugen to the United Lutheran
church of her entire estate, for the
purpose of building a home for old
people, or if this was not deemed
advisable to be divided among the
charitable institutions of the church.
1t was the general sentiment that
her expressed wish to build home
for the aged ought to be carried out,
and that the logical point for such
home would be in Decorah; that
the large membership of that church
in this county; the fact that the for
tune which makes this bequest pos
sible was accumulated here, and
that there is only one United Luth-
eran church institution of this char
acter in Iowa, together with other
similar reasons, ought to induce the
church organization to locate the in
stitutiou here, and a resolution was
passed urging all citizens in any way
connected with the church to use
every honorable means possible to
secure the Institution for DecoraN.
The Secretary was elected a dele
gate to the meeting of Iowa Feder-
ated Clubs in Des Moines, Aug. 3Oth.
The matter of the new style of
street lighting, clusters of lights in
electorliers in front OF the stores
and at the outer edge of the side
walks, was then taken up. CORES
pondence read and discussed at
length. 1t was the universal senti-
ment that Decorah ought to be light
ed in this manner, that we would
have the finest looking street for
city this size in the country; that
the light would be more evenly dis
tributed and more satisfactory in
every way. Fl. A. Warner, DR.. c. l..
Topliff and H. j. Green were ap-
pointed a committee to investigate
the matter in all its phases, and to
confer with the city council and
electric light company.
Ben Bear was instructed to pro-
cure booster" buttons for the Club,
and Phil Hexom was requested to
draw design for the face of the
buttons.
Messrs. C. F. Ambli of the Mil
waukee and L. r. Schrempf of the
Rock Island were present and both
spoke upon the matter of better
train service, each promising his CO.
operation in any movement taken by
the Club.
A matter of Importance to every
business man and every citizen of
Decorah was then taken up and dis
cussed at length. 1t is the establish
ment Of uniform basis upon which
to govern the soliciting of charity.
canvassers, peddlers, grafters, etc.
So many people are making the So
Letting of aims a business, and
there are so many unworthy re-
quests for charity, scarcely day
passing without something of this
character, that it has become a prob
lem where to draw the line. In ad-
dition to this, there are almost
countless peddlers going from house
to house, selling articles that might
just as well and better be purchased
of the city stores, taking money and
trade out of town that belongs here.
In order to properly regulate this.
with a due regard for the blessings
of rightly applied charity and the
misfortunes. of fellowmen, the Com
mercial Club appointed committee
consisting of l.. b. Whitney, A. L.
Haakenson and F. J. Rosenthal to
take charge of this matter, and
passed resolution requesting all
citizens of Decorah to refuse all re-
quests for charity. all subscription
lists, all peddlers, canvassers, and
everything of this character who are
not able to show a card certificate
signed by at least one of these gen.
tlemen, showing thai the matter has