Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-07-13
THE WEATHER.

Cd 2
In the general weekly forecast is-
sued by the weather bureau a drop IN
temperature, accompanied by rains IS
predicted. Comparatively cool weather
10 to prevail throughout the country
this week. according to the forecasters.
The Chicago forecaster again predicts
thunder storms for this section. He
II q persistent cuss. and II he keeps at
It he may yet deliver the goods.
.s Ottumwa, by the way, persists In
remaining dry, atmospherically speak
Ing, yalthough most of our neighbors
have enjoyed good soaking rains. A
heavy rainfall was reported at Daven.
port and Dubuque and other points
along the river yesterday. At Bur
ington there were heavy showers.
Council Bluffs enjoyed good rain. Up
In northern Iowa automobilists were
driven of the roads by soaking show
ers. Kansas, Nebraska and Okla
homa reported downpours OF from one
to four inches.
Speaking about the weather, and
everybody has been speaking about It
lately, q CHEEKY soul on the Omaha
World-Herald, tells US that it might be
much worse WI:
Here's the way the Omaha scribe
wraps up his sample Of hot weather
optimism %r ~,
I Its bad enough, friends and fellow
citizens of this sizzling Missouri Val
ley, but stop for q moment and, con-
slider how much worse it might be.
!; We're worrying over the corn crop,
and the potato crop, and the pastures
land here in the city we're even ,wor-
rytng about our lawns and growing
bent, before our time sprinkling them.
But, consider what we already have
In the way of crops; not merely the
wheat and oats and alfalfa OF the pres
ent year, but the accumulated storings
and transmutations Of the crops of q
dozen years and more We're rich.
Except for the very thin fringe OF
poverty barely discernable In this
region, we're beyond the danger of
want. five of the Missouri valley
should 20 hungry then the whole world
would starve.. We have comfortable
homes and well filled barns and gran
aries, and more cattle and hogs than
we ourselves, by any gargantuan mir
acle, could possibly consume. The
partial loss of part of the crops for
single year means no hardship to us;
no deprivation; it is simply the kind OF
loss that the prosperous merchant en-
dures when there comes to him one
bad year out Of twenty; that the sue
cessful gambler suffers when he has
four queens beaten-a mere unpleas-
ant incident of the game, fortified
against by prior winnings and to be
made good by still greater future win
nings. ..l'
Suppose some one or half dozen or
hundred of families of us had been
cast down on these same: prairies a
hundred years ago, and that this same
pitiless sun were sscowling down at us
from the same pitiless skies! With
no accumulation of wealth, none OF
the modern provisions for comfort and
protection, howacruelly d ifferent would
be our $ condttlon! What privation,
what keenest suffering, would be
oura; how almost. beyond hope the
future! With none Of the defenses
modern civilization has erected; how
naked We would stand before Mother
Nature in her insane spell OF f1endish-
ness! Where now we can, in a meas
ure, defy her. then, with our families
and fortunes and futures, we would
have been literally at her mercy.
4 Civilization has done wonderful
things for us, and her benefactions
seem to be most In, evidence In sea-
son such as this. She has stored for
us portions of the crops Of other years,
to insure against hunger She has con-
,verted other portions Of those crops,
through the magic alchemy of COM
merce, into cool and comfortable
homes-and cool and comfortable bank
accounts. She has given us ice-a
blessing beyond computation. She
has placed within our reach electric
fans. She has given us plumbing and
the life. saving bath tub, in even the
humblest homes She has brought to
us the cooling and soothing fruits OF
the tropics-the melons of Florida and
Texas and California. She has given
us screens. and taught us the luxury
Of sleeping porches. She has, through
safe and speedy and cheap transporta-
ton, brought the cool places Of earth
within the easy reach of scores OF
thousands. She has taught us santa
ton and hygienics and sane living.
With her brick and stone and mortar
and artificial ventilation she has made
it possible to be cool even when the
thermometer registers los degrees
Fahrenheit!
Mysterious providence may figure
that it is best to send us an occasional
summer such as this If only to remind
US how exceedingly well of we are.
And If we are wise, instead of spend
ing these days of binding heat and
blistering drought In despairful cater.
wauling, we. will the rather take
thought and give thanks that the very
worst. July could do to us would be
comparatively so very little. Above
all we ought to be thankful that we're
experiencing this weather In this val
ly In this. early year Of the twentieth
century, instead Of an early year OF
nineteenth.
A fire that might have wiped out a
large part of Ottumwa's downtown
business district but for the prompt