Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-09-21

HTee or IOuT mySterlOuSlS lHSpiTeu
politicians have e~ndeavored to capital
ize this inherited prejudice of the farm
ers by organizing what they call a tax
payers league. Mr.. A. j. Banks, a
farmer living near Montour. in Tama
county. is one Of the organizers of this
league and a member of its executive
committee. quote verbatim from a
letter which he wrote the other day to
a prominent citizen of Des Moines:
Not one farmer in Iowa except some
selfish brutes who live on the proposed
auto pixies are in favor of increasing
the present levy and valuation and any
man who SAYS contrary is a common
liar or CRATER or both. Did o ever
| stop TO think hat If all YOU town
fellows We're cast into h-N Iowa would
still be the greatest state in the union!
II you have in your head that the farm
mers of Iowa are a lot of gullible bone
heads YOU damn town fellows will have
a crude awakening"
Fortunately for Iowa there are not
many farmers like Banks and Doran.
of Boone county, or Hans johnson, OF
Clinton county. Already a great many
OF The broad minded. aggressive farm
ers OF the state are ~repudiating these
seif-imposed leaders. and the tax
payers league, under such leadership,
Is even now exhibiting the paroxysms
Of an approaching end.
City Folks Unfair.
The city folks have been narrow and
unfair in their estimate of the farmers
and the farmers prejudice against the
city folks is likewise narrow and n
fair. The United States is the lead
ing agricultural nation of the world.
and Iowa, by actual test and statistics.
has o " herself to be the leading
agricultural state. There is nj equal
area In all the world so naturally pro-
ductlve as Iowa. Our population is
about equally divided between those
who live in the rural districts and those
who live in our incorporated cities and
towns. No n OF us will ever live &c
see the day when Iowa's material &C.
tivities will not be dominated by az
riculture and animal husbandry. And
the men who are engaged in these rura.
pursuits are going to be the con-
trolling factor in Il public life for a
long, long time. When We have pro-
vided that common ground upon which
both of these classes Of citizenship may
get together. when we have established
a mutual confidence on the part of the
farmers and the city folks. we will then
begin the creation of a really greater
commonwealth. AS long as these pre-
JUDGES exist the brakes will be applied
TO the wheels of PROGRESS.
This Is no discovery OF mine-it is a
problem tina has vexed s~ociologists for
centuries. But. l believe the solution
ic c0r,Irp IN rbic avn ;p urL5ch VIC live \
and coming from a source where we
least expect it-thru the automobile. 1
The greatest factor in the develop
ment OF our civilization has been trans
portation We may be inclined to think
that our wonderful p~resent-day means
OF transportation are a result OF our
high standard of citizenship and our
intellectual development. but. as a mat
ter of fact. the conditions are reversed
our mental achievements are due d.
rectly to the increased facilities for
transportation, either of persons and of
goods or otsthought. The average man
of today Ia a knowledge Of world az
fairsand of the achievements of science
which would have been utterly impos-
sibie fifty years ago. and this is due
to the fact that news "A be flashed
around the world In half a day. And
individuals can cross great continents
in days as compared with the months
OF the pioneer.
And 50 his most modern means Of
individual transportation. the automo-
bile, is going to eliminate these pre-
JUDGES that have existed between the
farmers and the city folks. The auto
mobile is doing more towards solving
the road problem than all the efforts
Of all the years that have passed.
Situation Changing.
Twenty years ago not very many of
US who lived in the cities had any con-
ception of what the country looked like
five miles out Of town. The farmers
used to drive in to the cities once or
twice in the spring and one or twice
in the fall. They had to leave home
very early and then hurry thru their
business in the city in order to drive
back that ten or fifteen miles before
dark. Today IN Iowa M man out Of
every thirteen in the cities owns al
automobile and one out Of every nine
in the country owns an automobile. We
who live in the cities know every cross
road and every sign post within a ra-
dius Of twenty or thirty miles Of our
home town. We crank up the car and
cross two counties by lunch time and
get back home fore dinner. The
farmer drives into town once a week,
or twice a week, instead of twice
a year and he leaves home after a
leisurely breakfast and has time to visit
a good deal in town and then get back
home for supper. We, In the cities.
unconsciousiy are developing an ac-
Guaintance in the country and once in
a while on Sundays we stop at some
farmers house for a moments visit
We may meet other farmers and their
families who are calling on this farmer
and in hat way our acquaintance in
the rural districts spreads and a mu-
tual confidence is begun.
Most of our commercial clubs in the
cities and towns OF Iowa are making
especia! effort to include in their mem
bership the representative farmers OF
the county. 1t is not unusual at these
club meetings to find ten or a dozen
members from the rural districts who
have driven in in order to mingle with
their city friends and participate in
those discussions that have for their
object the advancement Of the town
and the country. And SO these mutual
condolences develop.
We can begin to see that common
ground where the rural and urban pop
ulation will live in harmony. Having
adopted the automobile as the modern
can of transportation, naturally, the
next eftc-. -E!l! be .cwe- ri greater eff
cheney and economy, as well as greater
comfort and safety in the operation of
these automobiles. That. naturally,