Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-01-05
Press Comment

the STOCK or the chicago, ROCK lSlanO
and Pacific railway was worth in the
market $175 a share, over $124,O0O.-
900 in ALL The other day it was sold
for $7,135,OOO, being bought in by
creditors at $40 share. 1t is the last
chapter OF the biggest of American
swindles, in comparison with which
the skinning of the New Haven and
the Chicago and Alton was modest
and respectable. The Rock Island
was one Of the finest railroad prop
critics in America until the financiers
entered upon the complicated series
of maneuvers that juggled tens of mil
lions out of investors pockets into
their own, while the railroad went to
ruin.
La Crosse Tribune: OF the bubbles
who swear off smoking New Years we
hazard the guess that ninety-tive per
cent received box of cigars for
Christmas present from wiley.
Burlington Hawk-Eye: There Is
golden mean for the United States be-
tween defenselessness and ultra mill
tarism. Annual increase of the navy,
as heretofore, and increased efficiency,
equipment and numbers of the militia
is a prudent, conservative policy to
pursue while waiting and watching the
developments of the war in Europe.
Clinton Herald: Some Of the econo-
mic horrors of that medieval anachron-
ism, the general property tax, are
plainly stated by T. S. Adams, of the
Wy 81 ,<ok1 To- Nfcof 0r X 10
fine upon business and punishment
upon the man who makes improve
ments. 1t takes no account whatever
of mans or corporations ability to
pay.
Cclfax Clipper: Why not install tele
phones in the rural schools Practic-
ally all town schools have this conven-
i"nce and a phone in {. rural school
aid be not only a convenience but
almost a necessity. In case Of a severe
storm or an accident there is no place
where there is greater need fo.' prompt
assistance. Our farming population in
the past has not burdened itself with
heavy school taxes and it should be
willing to bear this very slight addi-
tional expense when the need is so
apparent to every one. Let Jasper
county rural districts take the lead in
this improvement.
Toledo Blade: The American farmer
planted to such an excellent purpose
last spring that retail prices remain
moderate in spite of extraordinary de-
mands for food from abroad. He gave
I, - lat 10 40 1x-l,or fha in
dustrial sections failed them. He put
vessels at work on the Great Lakes
when the ore trade was somnolent. He
made it possible for the charitable to
send shiploads of -four to the starving
and homeless Belgians. But for his
energies and the bountifulness of the
soil he has coaxed into industry, but
for the chickens his women folk have
raised and the turlseys they have shell
tered and nourished through the wealth
er that preys on turkey life, the Christ
mas bells would seem mockery, the
Christmas decorations ironical.
Davenport Times: Congressman
Mann has introduced in the house
tariff bill providing for a tariff COM
mission. It is the opening of the 1915
republican campaign. OF course he
has no hope that the bill will pass,
or possibly that it will get out of COM
mittee, but it will be matter to which
to point, foundation for an agitation.
1t happens that this bill incorporates
the proposals of both the republican
and progressive parties with regard to
commission. It would be the bust
ness of the commission to study the
effects of tariffs and to make recon.
mendations. One member would be
appointed by the president and four
by the house and senate committees
having to do with the financial af.
fairs Each party represented on the
committees would be represented on
the tariff board.
Burlington Hawk-Eye: AS the
prairie lands of Iowa and Illinois ap-
proach the great river, they are inter
sected by ravines, worn down by the
flow of water during prehistoric ages,
and some of later origin. The first
settlers counted them as waste land,
excepting where timber grew. They
became waste land after the timber
was cut off.
Then came the Germans and utiliz-
ed the steep slopes of the ravines for
grape culture, sometimes in terraces
but land less rough was so cheap, and
more convenient, and the market for
grapes so limited, that only a small
portion of the ravines were put in
cultivation, they were used chiefly for
pastOrage.
Western lands have now attained
such great value that not only the
swamps but the declivities are being
utilized. An ingenious method has
been adopted by California fruit
grower for utilizing steep hillsides for
the planting of fruit trees. At regu-
lar spacings he built semi-circular
walls of cement and cobblestones, the
walls curving outward from the hill
side and forming retaining walls for
holding the soil to level surface.
Three were then planted in the cen.
tiers of these level spaces. Something
of that kind might be adapted to the
oil he ;tc