Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-02-29
IOWA PRESS COMM ENT.

Des Moines apital-Fifty thousand
unemployed are to march in parade in
San Francisco. Labor leaders of Ore
gon have appealed to Gov. Carroll to
warn Iowans not to come to Oregon,
Now follows the report that labor
conditions in Oklahoma City, Okla,
are appalling. The boom there has
busted" Half the population is out
of work. There are 800 empty build
ings, 200 empty stores and 900 empty
offices. The sound of the hammer will
be heard all over Iowa in few weeks
building more houses for people to live
in. The Iowan may have kicked a lit
tie on his coal bill this winter, but he
shouldn't forget that he had the money
to pay it, had a good job or business
and is enjoying every possible COM
fort and has prospects ahead Of him
for the greatest year Of his life in
1912. Iowa-this is the place. Iowa
will do yet awhile.
Monticello Express. - President
Taft has submitted to congress the
report of the employers liability COM
mission and the recommendations of
that commission concerning employ
ers' liability bill. President Taft heart
lily urges the enactment Of the meas
ure into law, for he believes that it
would insure the employees of rail-
roads engaged in interstate commerce
quick adjustment of their claims for
damages and relieve the courts of a
great deal of work. President Taft has
recommended and urged more sane
legislation for the benefit of working
men engaged in interstate commerce
than his opponents are induced to
give him credit for.
Spencer News.-This is especially
of political ideas. 1t is a time when the
trend Is decidedly toward innovation.
A time when It is considered mark
of chief merit to cut loose from ira
ditional mornings and launch out into
a realm Of political and even religious
speculation The terms progressive
and advanced thought seem to pos
sess a sort of hypnotic power that
makes men ready to fall over one an
other and "fall over themselves" to
get into some band wagon that shall
invest them with a reputation for pro-
gress. People are swept away from
their sober convictions because they
are not able to stand the pressure Of
the popular swing. 1t is easier to fall
into line and be counted in the swim
because it is considered chief virtue
to discount everything that belongs
to bygone days. We believe in prog
ress and new ideas, but we believe
there never was time when people
more needed to take time for the So
Der second thought, and to be steady
and not swept off their feet by the
popular clamor and shout. This is a
year when the thing most needed is
calm, sober judgment and to avoid
being stampeded into ruinous politi-
cal extravagances and vagar1es. Let
us not be so afraid of being called
slow that we throw down the lines,
lash the horses into a dead run on the
brink of great political precipices, or
steer the team out into the woods and
break the wagon to pieces to show
our nerve. So ,u
burlington Hawk.Eye-A Burling-
ton fuel dealer has knocked out the
old axiom about supply and demand
as relates to cord wood. 1.-The reason
wood is so dear in Burlington" says
the dealer, "is because there is so lit
tie demand for it, The dealer is right
and the explanation is not far to
find In the city many people heat
their kitchens from the furnace and
cook with gas. Those who do not find
it to be cheaper and more convenient
use coal in the cook stove or range.
The result is it does not pay the far
mer to chop wood and haul it to town
in as large quantities as formerly, and
dealers stock up with smaller guam
titles. And it costs so much to saw,
split and pile stove wood that the de-
mand falls off accordingly. Thus we
have the phenom enon of high price
with low demand, thereby reversing