The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1914-12-25
About Those New Years Resolutions

proper that,as individuals should
all endeavor to live better and truel
lives than we have in the past. but ii
is vitallyEof more Importance that we
as town, as community, put forth
our very best efforts to. make this a
better community to live in. We
ought tosdecide, on some things that
will help to make Wood better social
fly, morally and commercially and we
should work and strive along these
lines during the coming year. Moth
ing can be accomplished without hard
work and ,effort-united effort, and if
we would keep abreast of the times,
if we wouIdsgrow and prosper it be-
hooves every citizen to be wide awake
to every opportunity that has tend
ency to push Wood TO the fore. We
should keep uppermost in our minds
the fact that the greatest need of
this town, this county and the COM
munity is thesextension of the North
western railroad, and while the pros
poets of the extension being built
during the year 1915 may not look as
bright to- some of it might, never-the-
less and Notwithstanding we believe
that with a united effort backed up
with an earnestness Of purpose we
will be able torstart things along this
line early in the new year.
Wood should also grade it's Streets
it would add much TO the appearance
of the town, some more sidewalks
should be built, number Of trees
should be set out, there are are sew
eral manufacturing Industries that
might be promoted here during the
coming year that would be of great
benefit, among whichiwe might men
tion pop factory an ice cream. fac
tory, creamery and cheese factory,
or a combination Of the two latter. a
cigar factory, a small packing plant.
In this latter it would appear to us
that there is a good opportunity for
some one with few hundred dollars
capital. Hogs are worth about or s
cents on foQt!and we are thirty-fve
miles from a railroad, and the home
steader who is compelled to take his
fat ,porkers to the railroad market
must stand considerable shrinkaYe
and also lose considerable. time, and
then in the course Of time our merch-
ship these same hogs back to Wood in
the form of hams, bacon and lard and
sell this meat to some of the same
homesteaders at prices ranging from
20 to 30 cents per pound. This is all
wrong. Every pound of pork produc-
ed in the county should be slaughter
ed and cured right here, saving the
middleman's profit, the freight
charges and other overhead expense,
and even if the finished product was
not sold for less price than the
packing house product now brings, it
would leave the profits, all of the
profits in Mellette county and we
would all stand a chance, Of getting
hold of a dollar much easier than we
do now
Here is another proposition that
should receive the serious considera-
tion Of both, the homesteaders and
the local merchants. Perhaps you do
not know it but it is an absolute fact
that for the past five or six months
the people of this community, who do
their trading or what trading they
do locally-here in Wood, have been
sending on an average OF from $500 to
$3.50 every month to the large mail
order concerns in the east. This
matter should be remedied, and it
can be remedied by the people of this
new country getting together. and
talking this proposition over from
every angle. Cash is hard enough to
get hold of, the Lord only knows, and
this drain of the mail order houses is
entirely too heavy on a community
the size we have. Eventually it will
destroy the community. We know Of
people who have gone to%.our merch-
ants with large bill Of goods that
they contemplated sending for, told
the merchant of their Intentions, but
gave him an opportunity to sell the
bill for cash, and in every instance
the local merchant sold the bill. The
merchants of this town should take
the initiative in this matter, for their
very existence depends on remedying
this condition, and III 1t is allowed tc
continue to grow, the mail order
foctopus. in the eastern cities will
get them.
i Printers ink is the big gun with
which the mail order houses bombare
every community in the land, anG
which has spelled success for them
and the local merchant must fight
them with the enemies own weapon:
| If he does not expect to meet defeat
The mail order house has not 9
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