Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-01-15
LOCAL COMMENT

| The MarshalltoWn Club has an
| nounced its regular committees out
there is yet need for special and very
active committee to consider the pos
sibility of consolidating contiguous
rural school territory with the city ana
educating the children Of the nearby
farms in our magnificent city schoois'
What is the use of having schools In
Marshalltown famous from coast TO
coast for their excellence without CIV
! ing all of our people the advantages
| our schools afford. The school bus has
come to stay. 1t relieves our best class
of ambitious parents from the neces-
| sity of moving to town to educate their
children and it builds up a class OF
homes Upon our farms which can
make our community. the. most pros
porous in the world, community OF
home owning farmers rather than one
of tenant farmers.
Councilman Austin is looking for the
right man for fire chief He must be
a man who does NOT drink. for the
safety of all our property from IRE
can not be entrusted TO man who mas
any periods of uncertainty as to the
preparedness and clearness of his juds-
ment. Mr. Austin thinks he would like
to secure man who knows something
about building, as the re-fghter must
always understand building construc-
ton in order to locate and reach fire
with the least destruction. 1t is the
hope of the community that a strong
man can be placed at the head of the
fire department who will lift it up to a
1f
creditable morale.
Mr.. Herman, who acted as a paving
inspector, has cast a serious doubt up
on the compliance of the contractor
with his contract. The city council can
we'll afford to pause before certifying
assessments and require the contractor
to cut into the paving and explore
wherever Herman thinks the paving is
deficient The contractor should prove
his compliance to the satisfaction of
the property owner. in fact the coun-
Gil should call a conference of prop
erty owners and proceed III .o-opera-
ton with them. We do nc. 1ant any
more paving law suits but we can not
afford to overlook crooked work IL any
has been done. The time to settle with
the contractor is before he gets his
certificates for he is vastly NOR 2
reasonable then.
The people of Marshall county dug
up S610.6I5 in taxes of all kinds this
year. In the past their property has
been increasing at the rate of per
cent per annum and this year 1000, 600
of new houses and buildings were
added within the city alone so that tax
revenues are bound 10 rise as the total
volume of taxable, property rises. In
twenty years these revenues Will
double because the property will
double. During that period we viii
average 100000 per annum in taxes
or s20O00.000 for the twentyyear
period. Who's afraid then of s1,0o0,0oo
bond issue for roads and bridges for
instance?
I. has been suggested that when ac-
cident puts out an electric circuit THAI
notification be made as soon as posi-
BILE to the central telephone office as
to the extent of the damage and ap-
proximate length of time which yili
be required to repair IT. Many house
holders are not supplied with gas ana
in such houses the residents would like
TO know whether the lights VIII come
on again within few minutes or
whether they must raid the closets and
lumber rooms for old lamps. There are
always a flood of calls and repeated
calls for the light offices. If central
were informed at once as TO the break
and its extent much annoyance would
be saved the company. the telephone
offices and the patron who is sitting
in the dark wondering when and how
he shall have light 80 <,
The city fathers could win much ap-
proval by insisting that the walks
before vacant property shall be
cleaned within the legal limit or fall
ing that by the city at the expense OF
the property owner. OF course the city
would have to wait for its pay until
the taxes came in but at that there
would be fairly good interest upon the
sum invested when the money came al
last. The legal pay allowed the city
would clean the walks and pay good