Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1914-05-12
Editor Observer: l was talking to


Editor Observer: l was talking to
a grocer the other day. There come
times in the lives of all men when
they must talk to grocers. | might
go so far as to say that there are
some grocers to whom | am very
proud to talk. And there is one to
whom | am very anxious to talk each
month Immediately after his active
and enthusiastic assistant has slipped
that annoying little statement of ac-
counts through the mail slot in my
door. In anticipation Of the never
ending demand for another month s
groceries / always 60 to the corner
and slip a check to the said grocery
man and he, in his exuberance over
receiving it, invites me to take a
smoke with him. 1t is not a real
smoke, just a dried vegetable that
never would have been saleable in its
natural fresh state and was, in con-
sequence, kept in storage until it de-
cayed sufficiently to assume the color
of real tobacco. But the smiling
good will that goes with it always
persuades me to accept and | sit on
condensed cream box while my food
producing friend pours out the dregs
of trouble from his ever-agitated
heart.
"I don't know what the grocery
business is coming to- he walled last
Saturday, after he had bowed over
the customary presentation OF the
ouondam cabbage. As the fumes
doated above my head when | had
set fire to the parched salad he con-
tinued: Nowadays folks insist on
their butter being fresh and their
eggs being newly laid. They must
have seedless lraisins and boneless
chicken. Crackers are put up IN
sealed wallpaper boxes, vinegar Is
bottled and molasses comes IN tins
instead of bulk. 1t costs me more
and it costs them a little more. 1t
is not the high cost of living that
is the matter with this country-lt
is the cost of high living. Long and
loudly he raved while | fumigated
myself with my facial bonfire. He
sputtered of "the good old days
when the grocery business was a real
business. | suppose he was think
ing of the times when cat slept in
the box of crackers if it happened to
be in a sunny spot Of the vanished
days when the molasses dripped out
onto the flooh and offered to the cas-
ual visitor an excellent opportunity
to do spectacular neck fall.
The fault that this man possesses
is that he is blind to the things of
the present-he is living in the past.
And his condition is very much like
that of lot of other people. They
look backwards and dream OF the
good qualities or other times without
remembering the bad ones. There
never were such good groceries as
there are right now Business was
never better, as whole. Grocers
are better off than they have been
in the history of the world. There
is not an item that can be mentioned
that is not an Improvement over its
predecessor in the past. The groc-
erynlan that sobs for return of the
days when he sold oysters out of an
open barrel that sat in the street and
served as landmark for the village
dogs is still more retrogressive than
the actor that sighs for the narrow
gauge period when the janitor filled
the footlights with coal oil and the
only steam heat noticeable came from
the pot-bellied stove upon which those
in the front row expertly expectorat-
ed. Keep your "gool old days"
stuff for scrap-book musings-these
days are all right if you keep up with
them. OPTOMlSTlC.