Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-05-13
Looker-On In Iona

Goodell, May 1S.-The small Iowa
town everywhere these days is quiet
place after 10 o'clock in the morning.
Farmers come to town only when
obliged to for machinery repairs. to
haul in the cream or to get a few gro
ceries. The elevator man is having a
long rest, so is the coal man and the
lumber man. The garage man Is the
busy man these days. And In the
quiet streets of these country towns,
one now sees three automobiles to one
team. The merchants are making
garden and the clerks on the side
walks doing the social act. The rural
free delivery, the cream gatherers, the
egg buyer who drives over the coun-
try trading groceries for eggs, the
butcher who runs peddling wagon
into the country, the parcel post and
the automobile have all combined to
keep the streets empty. But Just the
same the country merchant is holding
his own" and more. And the end OF
the year his sales have averaged. The
percentage OF failures in small towns
is much less than in the cities.
A well posted travelling man says his
grocery house has installed a depart
ment system which shows some In
teresting facts. He asked the ques-
ton, what do you suppose l sell the
most Of? and Of course the answer
was sugar. But the record Of sales
shows, a larger sale Of cigars and to-
bacco. The reader should remember,
this is wholesale grocery house, not
tobacco dealers exclusively. This house
has found out that sugar is fourth in
gross sales at this time of the year.
Later in the season when housekeepers
are putting up fruit it will probably
head the list.
In this part of the state numerous
inquiries and some personal observa-
ton brings out the facts that the
frosts Of last week damaged the straw
berries more than any one kind OF
fruit. They Will blossom again. but
"a bumper crop" is unlikely. Plums
come next, some plum trees showing
injury from some cause before the
frost. Cherries promised half crop,
but the frost will lessen that. Apples
seem TO be little injured but curiously
enough some trees show the effects Of
the freeze, on one part OF the trees
but not on other parts. Grapes and
raspberrtes seem to be unframed. Gar
den stuff in the same towns were UNI
injured in one place, and beans, to-
mato plants and cucumbers killed in
another part Of the town. It's becom-
ing quite a general opinion, It's not
SO much the freeze as the thawing out
that does the harm.
80
President Wilson is reported to be
''watchfully waiting for the people to
decide what he should do in the Lusi-
tan:a affair. Travelling men as whole
have long been considered as sort Of
a public pulse, count the beats and
know the condition OF the public senti-
ment on any question. The writer has
been listening the past few days, also
to the remarks of the business men of
our Iowa towns. And the consensus
OF opinion seems to be for President
Wilson to go slow. At Bows in the
hotel one 'beardless youth" Of a travel
ing man, hoped the United States
would hitch up with the allies and
lick hell out of Germany" But he was
promptly silenced when older knights
of the grip began asking him how
President Wilson would do the licking
act. Another thing brought out prom
inently is the real feeling OF neutrality
existing among travelling men and
business men and the strong opposition
to this country getting mixed up in the
fight. It's none Of our funeral is a
common expression. Better than all is
a big majority expression from repub-
licans and democrats alike, to stand
behind President Wilson In his official
acts. OF course the exceptions are
those who blame him for not licking
Mexico. This same element wants him
to Click" Germany. And underneath
and often expressed is desire to
somehow, and some time punish the
one country really responsible for this
war. Men differ as to this RESPONSE
bility. The case Of the Lusitania
brings out this kind Of talk. And here
is a common remark, of being glad
congress is not in session or Roose-
welt in the presidential chair.
-