Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1911-07-11
ANOTHER LETTER
FROM CALIFORNIA
San Jose Woman Corroborates What
Former Freeman Tribune
Correspondent Said.

Correspondent Said.
Eds. Freeman-Tribune: see by
the Morning Times of San Jose an
article written to the Freeman
Tribune in answer to a letter writ
ten by Sioux City lady. At the
close of his letter the writer asked
10 hear from her again but, If ne
does not, perhaps I will do as well,
as am an Iowa woman, am happy
to say. Every word the Sioux City
lady wrote was true only she put it
very mildly considering what did
happen. The we'll paved streets Mr..
Goodman speaks of were one sheet
o. water. San Jose was surrounded
with water for weeks, which the
cutters and sewers could not carry
off. He asks if the lady was in an
old cellar! Surely he was not in
San Jose, for all the cellars had
from one inch to three feet OF wat
er in them, which had backed up in
| the sewers. West of town people
had to move out of their houses on
account of the water. The paper
stated at the time that twenty
thousand dollars damage had been
done to the park alone. To see it
one would not imagine it worth
that, as all they have in it is poor
bear and the deer are all sick, and
would be a disgrace to amy place.
The roads and bridges are not fixed
yet so great was the damage. They
have bonded the city so now we
may have some kind of roads. Pee
pie living in the country had to take
provisions home on their backs as
even horseback riding was unsafe
The railroad was washed completely
away and you cannot get within
two miles of the park yet, this be-
ing the rivulets' work Mr.. Goodman
spoke of. l do not know what he
calls storm. AS for the climate we
have plenty of it. The climate here
is very changeable, in the morning
cold and foggy until eleven O'Clock,
then very hot until night when an
cvercoat or fire is comfortable. This
is why so many people have catarrh.
1t is very unhealthy country. You
see no rosy checked girls. all yellow,
sallow compilations, and those COM
ing from the East soon lose their
fresh young looks. Anyone sick
should never come here. You sell
dom meet well person. Mr.. Good
man says we need no rain. He
means we do not get it, How can
We raise the. vegetables he. speaks of
without water? They are raised
only along the creeks or rivers by
foreigners. They must have water
and since it does not rain for months
they have to be irrigated. Farmers
Uuy dil lueii Vegetables CAScpI pSi
haps a little lettuce or /radishes or
something they can riase on small
space of ground and water with a
bucket or hose. He says he can
show you, any month in the year,
growing peas, radishes, lettuce, etc.
Now anyone knows everything has
its season for growing and will not
bear out of season. So If he can
show these vegetables in winter
they are shipped in here and poor
people cannot afford to eat them.
How can a working man eat pota-
tees at five cents per pound? That
is what they cost and then are very
poor, wormy and rotten. There are
no crops of any kind this year. The
fruit is frosted, and we had such a
long dry spell last fall and then
such a long storm that thousands of
acres could not be put in to hay. IL
you put your crops in early, they
either sprout and die for the want
C. moisture or get drowned out. Ill
you wait to put in late sowing, it
may rain like last winter and never
give you a chance to pillow at all. |
So you never know what to do in
this country. 1t is poor country
for a poor man. The men working
in the hay field at the hardest work
get only s1.25 per day and sleep In
a barn or chicken-house, never be-
ing allowed with the family no mat
ter how long they have worked for
you. When / gave my workman a
rcom in the house people said must
have come from where white people
live. Most of the land here is very