Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1912-05-14
Looker-On In Iona

W'ellsburg. May 14.-Traveling men
| are great story tellers, and the point
| is easily seen to any of them. Here's
| one Some time ago one of our Iowa
towns loca ted on the Great Trunk rail-
| road had an agent placed in charge OF
| the company's business who was for
good and sufficient reasons decidedly
| unpopular with the town people. And
! soon after the railroad company IN
making some grade changes moves the
DEPOT half mile from the business
part of town. This combination Of
grievances resulted in the business men
holding a meeting. appointing a COM
nittee and this committee taking trip
to headquarters. They were received
by the superintendent of the road, with
the question What can I do for you,
gentlemen" The reply by the chair
man OF the committee was in sub
stance, I'VE want the depot moved
back where 1t was before and another
agent sent here" Some talk followed
and finally the superintendent re-
marked to the chairman. When we
need your services to run this railroad
We'll send for you You need not take
the trouble to come here again CThis
was some years ago. Real polite su-
perintendents don't talk that way
now.) Well the committee aRd chair
man went home. The next daySa trans
fer company was formed. Every mer-
chant in town ordered his goods
shipped to NeStown. four miles away.
on the Willow Leaf railroad. The stock
buyers ordered cars on the Willow Leaf
and shipped over that railroad And
alrho they didn't send for him, an as
sistant superintendent came to see the
business men. Result: The depot was
moved back to the main street of the
town-it's there todav-the obnixious
agent left for another field of labor.
hasn't been hack since. All this some
years ago in a little Iowa town of 500
people.
At Dumont. Iowa on the Chicago
Crest Western, is pile Of old iron as
high as two-story building and COW
ering. say two business lots. There's
every imaginable kind, from a stove
litter to thresning machine The
owner has been six years in buying all
this and has nearly as much at an
other town near by. 1t is estimated It
will take twenty cars or trainload to
haul 1t away when the owner gets
ready to sell. lie. get his price. The
writer was told that the buyer Of old
iron came to town with a one-horse
OUTFIT and began buying old iron. brass,
rubber shoes. hides and furs. Evident
/ ly had small capital for everything
but the old iron he shipped at once and
used the returned money over and over
again. If for any reason he was not
buying. he hustled up any kind of days
| labor and the farmers were glad to get
him. for he was No. man at any
kind Of work. He now makes consider
able by selling pieces Of mowers, reep-
ers. threshing machines. in fact any
kind Of farm machinery. Some farmer
| breaks down. He can go tothis mans
scrap pile and find the broken piece of
| iron. get it at once and at half the
!! price II would cost to send away and
| get 1t. and incidentally if the scrap iron
dealer makes thousand per cent profit,
| the farmer is still glad to get 1t. Some
man in town wants a stove fire-back.
F! II he is lucky enough TO find It IN the
| pile, he gets for a fourth what a new
one would cost but the dealer paid
perhaps quarter Of a cent a pound
for 1t. Here's a savings bank that
pays more than per cent It repre-
sents six years Of deposits Mean
while this depositor whose deposits of
old iron are as big as a grain elevator
has made a good living otherwise by
steady hard work. It might be men,
toned some other men coming to town
with one-norse rig have not done so
we'll.
Is it any wonder farmers are buying
automobiles this spring? One dealer
says he ordered twenty-five machines.
expecting to sell that number this year.
He has already sold fifteen automobiles
Of this one manufacture. An agent for
an insurance company tells Of settling
| a claim for real $500 loss. The man
was so thankful he needed the money.
, And the next day a new automobile
was on that mans premises. A bank
cashier tells Of man with a new
$500 car, that has borrowed all he
could at one bank and been turned
down" at another hank. All this before
1 he bought the :pew auto. But the
farmer who buys the new automobile
can afford it. ssSenty8cent corn. SIS
icent oats, I cent hogs, s15 ton for
hay, s125 for bushel Of potatoes. II he
mas this kind 5of. property to seilit soon
buys car.