Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-04-27

been saved. hut there ars Others who
60 there In middle life or ak soon 20
they become prosperous and II ID the
way they live and the things they DO
that make California q wonder land.
Enjoying Living.
have spoken Of the millionAires
now note q friend OF mine. . retired
farmer. When knew him back IN
Iowa he was notoriously tight. He built
a home in town but It was not . nota-
BILE one. He lived very economically
and was generally known az Of the
type Of citizen who would oppose tax
levies for public improvements. He was
a very fine man with all that. but his
town life In Iowa was next door to his
farm life where ne had shaved and
saved to accumulate the land that
made 1t possible for MIN to retire.
He moved to California to build .
new home. He employed q top notch
architect, purchased q hill site COM
handing q magnificent view across
valley and built q perfect dream OF q
bungalow. Something that for real
beauty and comfort Of living II It were
located in Marshalltown would be one
Of the sights Of the town to which We
would all take our friends when show
ing off the town. When called upon
him it was with the real pride Of q
Californian that he asked me how
liked their roads and then he remarked
that it was high time Iowa was paving
her roads as California had done. Well,
anybody could have, blown me over
with feather for he was the last man
I would ever have dreamed Of ap-
preaching with q petition for paved
road bond election. In Iowa his life
had been one Of .oil and he had not
yet learned how to enjoy his accumu-
lations until he got to California. There
everybody was doing It and he became
a new man. Had he built as fine q
house at home he could have throbbed
with pride in its possession and had
his people built the same kind OF roads
there would have been no more enjoy
ment in California for him than at
home.
I had heard that there would be co.
900 ex-Iowans just like this man at
the Iowa picnic in Los Angeles. There
were not, for the picnic had been post
poned once on account OF rain and the
crowd looked to me about like q 1900
udy DIT OuI COuuly ASdhS OuS Sh0 LIVE
Angeles newspapers estimated 1t at
81, 900. Whatever 1t was, 1t Is safe to
say that there are $1,000 families OF
ex- Iowans in all California, whose an
nual income from Iowa investments
spent in California would average ST.
500 for each family. This drain upon
the resources Of the state would In it
self pave all our main Travelled roads
hat
at home.
Iowa Comforts Wonderful Out There.
But retired farmers are no different
from business and professional men
In California I visited the home Of q
Cedar Rapids dentist who had retired
to California to enjoy himself. He had
tried 1t at San Diego for while, liked
the climate but had located in Los An
geles county. where he could use his
on paved roads all Of the
year. He had small but very pretty
bungalow on an acre and half OF
ground. He kept a COW. chickens. rab-
bits, a garden and q gardener. With
me was a dentist tourist from my home
town and the raptures Of delight thru
which my fellow-townsman gyrated at
the unheard- of luxuries which his pro-
fessional brother from Cedar Rapids
was enjoying was something to behold.
"Oh that's the life! Look at those
chickens! See here, see this lettuce and
radishesl Come see these rabbits. Isn't
that sport? No moro poking around
in other peoples diseased mouths for
me, ETC."
Now. 1t was all nice enough but !
didn't enthuse for I had kept cows,
chickens, flowers and a garden In
and for the life Of me
couldn't see what there was to pre-
vent prosperous dentists enjoying these
luxuries in Marshalltown and in Ce-
dar Rapids without retiring to some
far OF land. So long as they and their
friends persist in building three houses
on one lot for the money there il In It.
they will have that eramped-up feeling
that makes an acre look like farm
and be called a ranch in California
They little realize that they as we'll as
the farmer have been denying them
selves while they were making their
fortunes and when the time arrived for
them to enjoy the fruits of their toll
some strange impulse seized them TO
go to spending 1t in some other land.
Big Men and Big Thinss.
Nevertheless the progressiveness Of
men who have uprooted themselves
from all home ties. from friends, family
and investments and who have moved
to new scenes when 1t eliminates in
the activities Of an entire population
produces action. These are the men
who vote bond issues and pave their
roads at no more taxation expense than
Iowa farmers pay for impossible mud
blockades. In Los Angeles when they
found the town too big for the river
they voted bond issue Of $50, 600, 900,
and piped water in concrete conduits
240 miles from the mountains. Just