Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-05-05
KEEPING TAB on IOWA.

| Iowa county makes complaint that the
! daily press of the state is doing harm
. by misleading crop ana weather re-
! ports and says:
! All of last year the daily press Of
| Iowa continued and persisted in giving
! exaggerated and glowing accounts Of
! the great prospects of corn crops and
! the beneficial effects of weather. They
! estimated the corn crop of Iowa at
/ much beyond full crop long after it
was generally known by the farmers of
! the state that there would be no mar
ketable corn in the state. There is no
doubt that these false representations
/ had a serious effect and even continue
! to have serious effect upon the mar
ket price Of the agricultural products
! Of the state
| II is likely that the files Of the daily
press Of the state if the different dis
patches were carefully gone over and
checked would afford a very fair view
Of weather and crop conditions as they
existed day by day in Iowa last year
as they were gathered from the differ
ent localities; at the worst they would
opinion OF the correspondents that sent
them and they had their news as best
they could from the agriculturalists OF
their own communities Also, it is to
be remarked that the reports of COM
plete disaster have not justified them
selves. AS it turned out there seems
10 have been more money in the crops
than the press reports indicated last
fall.
The correspondent goes on TO say:
/ notice in the daily paper this
morning statements that the rains are
oenehtting the crops III Iowa and at
tention is called TO these statements by
prominent headlines and il raises q
fear in my mind thai the mistakes of
last year are 10 be continued and re-
peated- For that reason / wish to call
particular attention TO the importance
Of having the conditions of crop pros
poets correctly and honestly reported
in the daily press. Ours is An agri-
cultural state not surpassed by any
country in the world. We do not need
advertising and we DO not need mis-
representation in order to call the at
tention of the world to our advantages
and our prosperity. The fact Is that
we have had a cold, wet, backward
spring with continuous rains and only
a very few days OF sunshine The
streams and bitches all over the state
are running bank full and in many
places are oyer1owing. Thousands of
acres Of land which should have been
seeded before this are still TOO wet to
cultivate and the GOODNESS and wetness
OF the ground is causing serious fears
upon the part Of farmers as to the
prospects for corn crop this year,
especially when our ground must be
planted with seed that has only been
procured by culling. testing and sort
ing Statements in the daily papers
that the rain has been a great benefit
TO the crops are bounced upon at the
great market centers to force down
the price Of produce that we have to
sell and think II is not asking too
much in behalf Of the farmers Of the
state Of Iowa that statements Of this
kind be carefully investigated before
they are published and emphasized in
the daily press.
Now the correspondent is mistaken
except as to localities. Spring is a
little backward-a not uncommon
thing in Iowa. But conditions az he
describes them are not in evidence in
this particular section of the state. No
doubt on low ground and in some sec
tions conditions are different and back
wardness is accentuated. But If he
| will seek the press dispatches from his
part of the state and hts county they
should show the fact And when they
are balanced against the dispatches
| from other and more favored sections
he will find that the daily press reports
are fairly gathered and fairly repre-
sentative Of conditions.
This is big state and it may be
| raining at Clinton and the floods be
| out when folks in Marshall are plow-
| ing corn and going to the ball game.
The correspondent is right when he
expresses the opinion that "the T.-R.
| desires to serve the people OF Iowa
and Of the world with fairness and
justice and to disseminate the news
| correctly and honestly" And If he
will balance the press dispatches
against each other as to locality and
date he will probably be even more as
sured that every effort Is being put
forth to hold mirror up to Iowa and
Iowa conditions. ..,-.. ..s..-