Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-11-06
Looker-On In Iona

Story City.-It is astonishing the
number of good roads" plans advocat-
ed by many men and many communi-
ties. Equally strange is the amount OF
ignorance concerning the state la wv
on this subject and the cost Of good
roads" Not SO long ago a farmer In
this vicinity told the writer the present
plans II carried out would bankrupt
him. Another man in another locality
said it would cost him $1,000 in addi-
tional taxes if good road was built
along his 160-acre farm And a quite
generally expressed opinion is that our
present or rather past system Of road
building was good enough, and the
present agitation and law is the work
Of town automobile owners In fact.
many farmers consider this whole bust
ness of good roads talk as an Injurious
thing to the owners of Iowa farms
Mentioning the fact that one of our
southern Iowa towns was actually
building a mile and half OF cement
road, the speaker was regarded as a
first class liar. While the Lincoln
highway is regarded as big thing in
the towns and localities thru which 1t
passes. fifty or more miles away. some
look on 1t as scheme to rob the tax
payers. So intense is this feeling the
writer believes that If state cam
paign was in, progress, and the issue,
the supreme issue, was good roads"
the candidate favoring such improve
ment would be defeated.
1t would be news to many, that IN
some localities, electric light companies
employ man and horse and buggy
to drive around nights and make writ
ten reports concerning the use of cleo
trio lights. The man that uses the
front porch light until midnight. Us
noted exactly as the one who goes to
bed and leaves the light burning in
the basement all night. In the case OF
sickness and an all might use OF cleo.
tricity it is also noted down. Even II
the hired girl has steady and burns
electricity into the small hours. the
light and power company Is "onto" it..
And this spying system is claimed to
be necessary to protect the company
from "kickers.' One case is told where
good honest woma, called at the
office with bill she refused to pay the
collector. They had charged her about
the same as usual per month for June
and July, anw she had been away, out
of town, all the time and no one in the
house. All the office force could say
was the meter reader so reported it.
Then the meter was wrong. she did
not use a light during June and July
and she wouldn't pay the bill. Strange
to relate on the way home this good
woman met a neighbor, glad to see
her back and SO forth, "but why in the
world did you keep your basement lit
up all the time you was gone" yes,
you left three burners going all Of the
dered at it." Then and there this good
woman walked back up town and paid
her light bill.
The town Of Ames after decisive
vote OF it's citizens has commenced an
enlargement Of their electric light plant.
The system in Ames was success
fully operated city plant, self-sustain-
ing and better, but few or no improve
ments. The town grew in population
and demand for more light. Two big
companies offered to sell the town
Juice" at wholesale and at less than
heretofore cost, the home plant to re-
tail it and supply the town consum-
ers but the proposition was voted
down, the town OF Ames preferring to
manufacture and sell its own product.
A citizen Of Ames told the writer OF
the use OF convicts Of the state Of Iowa
in working on the streets and grounds
Of the agricultural college. Thirteen
convicts from Anamosa have been
working there during the past summer.
They wore ordinary working clothes,
only one man was In charge OF them
and he even was not armed. The G. 4
N. w. trains pass almost hourly within
q few hundred feet from where they
are working, and freight trains fire.
| guentiy make the grade at fve miles
! an hour, Some trains even get stuck
on this grade. They sleep in . tent
without any guards and yet only one