Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-04-17
LOCAL COMMENT

| The town of State Center is to be
congratulated upon its enterprise in
letting contract for a system OF
sewers. State Center already has a
good city water works, altho 1t re-
| quired heroic measures to obtain the
water, and the sewer system Is but
the next logical step toward lifting
| State Center out Of the village class
into the comforts Of well improved
town. The next improvement which
we will expect to see will be the paving
of it's business streets. Then the rural
schools in the vicinity of the town
will be consolidated so as to give
everybody who can use it, the advant-
age of well graded schools, and in
few years when the Lincoln Highway
is paved there will be interurban SER
vice by motor bus between State Cen
ter and Marshalltown. Life becomes
more worth living as time goes by.
Our own school board is to be COM
mended for it's determination to beau
tify and improve school yard grounds
upon a definite plan and to provide
adequate play grounds wherever avail
able. We need spirit of forwardness
in this community to keep US abreast
Of our times in the matter of our pub
lie improvements and this school board
is headed in that direction. Only a
few years ago a former board was
urged to acquire lots adjoining the
Rogers school at $1,000, which are
now going to cost $500, and had the
former purchase been made corner
building site could have been sold re-
duc!ng that very low cost OF play
grounds by $1,000, but the board failed
to foresee the growth in property val
ues that was coming and the present
board Is paying the penalty. What this
board fails to buy now will cost some
future school fund premium and the
higher our property values 60 the more
congested our city becomes and the
more need for play grounds will arise.
Out in CALIFORNIA; cities they have
done away with the sport of lawyers
playing ducks and brakes with techni-
cal defects in paving resolutions. In
stead of one set Of lawyers relieving
some client from paying for his street
paving by ferreting out some clerical
error of the city's lawyer in the city
councils procedure and thereby COM
pelllHS All tQe taxpayers OIL tle lOWi "
pay for the one mans street improve
ment as has been done this week in
Marshalltown. the California law pro-
vides that the issuing of street paw
ing bond and assessment therefor is
of itself sufficient evidence of the
regularity OF the proceedings. In other
words the property owner who got the
paving must pay for it UP to the &C
tual benefit received from the streets
improvement. There seems to be some
sense to law like that.
1t is to be hoped that the present
determination of the city administra-
ton to keep the unpaved streets of the
city graded and dragged will hold out
until the end Of the summer. The thing
to do is TO appropriate money enough
for a full season of dragging and then
do grading with what is left. Hereto
fore the custom has been to jump into
the spring season with far more grad
| ing than the fund could withstand and
! then rob the dra aging in the fall. Most
| of our city streets can be maintained
satisfactorily with the drags at much
| less expense than the cost Of grading.
| &
i That the operation of our city gov
eminent is a business enterprise of
some magnitude may be realized from