Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1914-02-20

or oo1.rt v
ur .o-' .ul
ie mc'us. III late a
e. ar1 .et rr =. $500 lis
4tr lis o1ts elloyMa-(-
- u s"appn5 janus with' Jack
,.Jl"A mleu ae cgme in off his nun,
r wits. dt-er joke. iaclaed que, tt.
The HOtsing on Stat Bank was new
institution with A. ]. Hoising,on as
president and A. s. Cooke as cashier.
E. NJ Carr and W. C. Early were
painters. Money was being raised
for a Methodist church. building, the
corner stone of which was laid very
shortly afterwaTd. Rev. E. H. Rubi-
can was the pastor. Mrs. s. B. Ami.
don and Mrs. j. C. BoiSelle were the
most active in behalf of the ladies of
the town IN their effort for a church
building.
It rs the history Of every new
town that at that stage in its growth
when it is positively necessary that
it reach out and make some necessary
improvements there are always some
old fogies who are impressed with
the idea that every cent spent in
improvements is the peoples money
wasted, Small and larger towns have
a class Of people who can always be
counted on as against public improve
mems. and some mighty sensitive
knockers of this kind are sometimes
encountered. A few years after the
Dispatch was started some of the en-
terprising people thought 1t about
time we were having some sidewalks
in. town. The city had been organ
lied for years, no sidewalks had been
built, no Improvements Of any kind
had been made, and yet ordinances
rad been passed that used up the
city's money and not one thing ac-
comphshed. Finally one spring a tick
et was gotten up pledged to the build
ing Of sidewalks. The opposition. i'm.
mediatefy put out a ticket and a bit
ter fight was the result. The old
fOgies unjustly termed the fellows
who were in for improvement whis-
keyites audo many other names they
had no right to be called. The writ.
er, Of course. took some active part
in the contest and was for improve
ments. The next morning after elec.
ton when! it was known that the i'm
provement fellows headed by Captain
Peck for mayor, were successful, SIX
of the old fogies marched up to the
Dispatch office one after the other,
paid up what they owed and cancel
led their subscription. l was rather
expecting this for l knew this was
about their caliber. ! met them with
a smile, gave them thl2ir receipts,
and never argued with them-and
not one of them had nerve enough
to tell me why he. was stopping his
paper. A few of my friends heard OF
the run had and before SHUTDOWN
they came in with the cash for thir-
ty-one new subscriptions. SO it was
not such a bad day after all. Really,
these fellows who thought they were
chasdsing me did not dislike me so
much. Nearly. all afterwand renewed
their subscriptions and all were even
tually friends of mine, but they were
a little sore over defeat at the time
and the Dispatch was the easiest
thing to get at. After the new city
administration got to working, and
gave the town the improvements that
We're needed. and did not do the
many bad things the opposition said
they would do, a better feeling pre-
vailed and 1t seemed that someone
had been mistaken-that some wrong
ideas had been circulated.
The Dispatch and it's editor had
many experiences in those early
years that were interesting and i'm:
structive but this letter is long
enough for this time.
RAu NJ ARK