Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-04-06
Gulles,Re4ubltul1l
Published Daily BY Tho
TIMES PRINTING CO.
TERMS.
iOWA'S TELEPHONES.

| telephone lines in a hearing before the
! Iowa railroad commission the other day
made the assertion that Iowa has more
rural telephones than New York. Mr..
Byers usually knows what he is talk
ing about and the statement may be
accepted as he made it,
When we stop to think about i there
will be no one to doubt the assertion.
| Every farm in Iowa, speaking in fouho
mum bers, has it's phone. 1t couldns get
along without it. 1t is business prop
osition as well as a social ADVANTAGE
Moreover we can afford 1t. 1t is as
staple a necessity as other tarm I'M
plements and as the buggy or auto the
farmer drives about in.
Did YOU ever stop to think that we IN
Iowa do not stop to think how well we
are fixed? In some respects We are
like the old man who can not forget
that his land cost him IS an acre and
that ne was ten years paying .or II
with 80 cent wheat and is cent corn.
Some of those old fellows cant reaiize
the difference between now and then.
They got the habit.
But when We stop to think about It
we realize that Iowa Is the richest spot
on the face of the world; perhaps not
in money right in the bank bu, in pro-
ductiveness and prospect. Iowa IS the
center of agricultural excellence. An
unfailing return awaits the annual
stirring of her black soil. She has
big income" growing bigger in a go
ing and growing business based on the
solid rock of agriculture.
Why shouldn't Iowa rural homes
count more telephones than New York?
WEy farmers in New York can call
across the fence or stone wall to eacn
other 10 talk about the crops on the
farms that are narrow strips running
a mile or so ba2k 70 the hills. When
they are done talking they can go out
and haul in the crop with a hand cart
by comparison with an Iowa crop And
still. travellers aver that rural life in
New York state has the advantage
over rural life in Iowa in many re-
spects.
They have good roads. they have So
cal centers. They have in some re-
spects learned how TO live better in
some ways on cheap and sterile farms
Of small acreage than we on the big
gest farms in the world.
When we stop to think about 1t 1t
is evident that we can afford to have
all New York has and then some. The
number of telephones suggests that as
soon as we do stop to think and make
q proper estimate of our own wealth
and advantage we shall get and have
the things we need for ourselves and
our children. better schools. better
roads, greater social advantages, all
that belongs to an Iowa farm in the
Twentieth century. We have more
telephones than rural New York be-
cause we need them, enjoy them and
necessities because we need them, can
afford them and deserve to have them.
Just now we are fussing and argu-
ing. voicing our prejudices and con-
tlicting plans. Put when We stop to
think il will be different. A farming
state that is scarcely building a farm
house without furnace heat, bathroom,
laundry, modern conveniences of all
kinds and which has more telephones
| in It's houses than the Empire state of
the union is not going to lag behind
other states long. The change is at
hand We are just beginning to realize
| how much we can have and ought to
have.