Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-12-16

weekly Implement Trade Journal.l
Fever and good health don't go to-
gether. This 10 why Marshalltown
proudly proclaims itself az The City
That Never Had q Boom" Further
more Marshalltown IL sensibly hopeful
that It never will have q boom, for ex-
actly the same reason that your
healthy man hopes that he never will
have a fever. They hustle In Mar
shalltown, but they do It intelligently.
"A dog that chases his tail may be u
very energetic dog. but he doesn't get
anywhere. Running round and round
may be very good exercise. Progress.
however. doesn't proceed that way. 1t
goes steadily ahead In q straight line.
So, whatever impression you get OF
Marshalltown. don't think Of 1t as a
boom town. There are plenty of boon
towns, but only n Marshalltown
Having never had a boom. the city a
never had a period Of marked depres-
sion. Adversities, Of course. 1t has had
along with Its sister cities in Iowa ind
elsewhere. but 1t has always breasted
them triumphantly. 1t is not SO with
the typical boom town. II It RECEIVERS
at all from difficulty, 1t usually takes a
painful term of years that more than
offsets my mushroom prosperity that
it might have enjoyed.
About $1,000 alert Iowegians make
their homes in Marshalltown. The class
Of citizenship Is unusually high. Mar
shalltown people are enterprising. A
man who has looked over more than a
thousand cities for gas companies In
this country Is the authority for the
statement It is the largest place Of 49,
900 inhabitants in the union.
The city lies very, close to the
geographical center Of Iowa. That in
itself is q great advantage. Three Inn
portant railroad systems bear traffic
to and from Marshalltown. Should
a circle be described on the map. pass
ing thru Chicago, st. Louis, Kansas
City, Omaha and the Twin Cities, Mar
shalitown would occupy a position near
the center. 1t Is within seven hours Of
nearly every one Of the cities named.
Marshalltown had about the same
sort Of a start that most Iowa county
seats have had. However. 1t had as
pirations to be something more than a
mere county seat. The average capital
OF a county grows to a population of
., 500 say, then stops. But Marshall
town kept on growing steadily n
surely. Retail stores were not enough.
Marshalltown saw opportunity for
wholesale trade and seized it. Early
in the history Of the city the general
shops Of the Iowa Central railroad
were secured for Marshalltown. They
now support 600 families.
Then factories followed. With plenty
of coal only sixty miles away and
tapped by three competing railroads,
plenty of cheap power was at hand. AS
a result Marshalltown has grown to
be one Of the foremost factory cities Of
Iowa. Probably half Of the population
yves It's livelihood to local manufac-
turing industry. The annual pay roll
approximates a million dollars, the
factory Investments amount to a mil
lion and a half dollars. and the value
Of the annual output 5is not far from
$4,000. 900. =
The larger part of Ave counties are
tributary to Marshalltown. Their an
nual production Is estimated at $780,
900, 900. Thus the city has practically
unlimited backing for its wealth and
enterprise. Oil products to the value