Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1917-05-15
Prologue.

rative, conditions on the Border,
but am positive that not few OF
the Freeman-Tribune readers are
considerably interested, and begin
ming with this issue, and continuing
at regular intervals, the narrative
will be completed some time this
summer.
am not professional story writ
err, consequently will not offer any
apologies for paragraphs not properly
assembled" words not properly
timed" or language not properly
"borcd out"
! Heaven knows that if l should
have let my Imagination run wild,
and use it with the facts have gath
cred, this narrative would be blood
Thirsty from radiator to tail light, ;"
so will stick to the facts, especially
while working on the United States
side of the Rio ,Grande.
So here goes-keep your. eye on the
indicator.
With Headquarters company, Sec
ond Iowa infantry, l set foot in
Brownsville, Texas, on July %, 1916,
and found in very short time. that
we were in one of the real interest
ing parts of the United States-not
only from a sightseeing standpoint,
but from the fact that conditions
were of such different nature than
those of the old home town, that one
was busy guessing what was going to
happen next.
Brownsville is city of about 49,
600 inhabitants and about so per
cent of the population is made up OF
Mexicans. The business section
proper does not cover large area,
yet there are business houses scat
tered about the entire city, many of
which were instituted upon the ar
| rival of the various guard troops in
the Brownsville district, the troops
being from Virginia, Illinois, Colo
RADIO, Louisiana, Texas and Iowa.
| An electric street car system is in
operation from o'clock in the morn
ling until midnight, and am going
| to tell you that after each payday
| It was getting business so fast that
lit took four Mexican kids to count
the days proceeds. The system,
though not completely modern, has
real cute little cars, is kept in good
repair, and it is quite evident that it's
stockholders are receiving their div
idends with taX-like regularity
Brownsville is the county seat of
Cameron county and has one of the
finest court houses in the United
States. That might sound like long
stretch of the Imagination, but is a
fact. OF course there are number
of court houses that are larger, but
this one is conceded to be one of the
finest and most up-to-date. 1t was
erected and furnished at an expen-
diture of over 100000, and the
county officers are as proud of tho
structure as if it were their home.
In this little city are located four
banks, and now close your eyes
while | tell you that approximately
/ 81, 100000 are on deposit in the four
banking institutions. When one
|strolled around the business and res
idence section of the city, he would
imagine that the entire deposits of
the city would not amount to over
40 cents, and l decided that if the
four million dollars were mine that
II would invest the whole cheese in
promoting industries that would soon
double the present deposits. By the
way, l am going to mention some of
the possibilities of Cameron county
and the Rio Grande valley in this
bunch of dope and do not for mo-
ment think that it is an advertise
ment.
A country club. members of which
are the live wires of the city, thrives
here, and they have beautiful site
and home for their club. They have
some regular honest to goodness cell
ebrations there, and what some of
them do not think of doing cannot
be found in any of the libraries of
the south. A Masonic Temple also
graces the city, and this organization
has healthy membership.
The city is handicapped to great
extent because of the fact that but
one railroad reaches it from the out
side world. the Gulf Coast Line. and,
as one would naturally suppose.
competition is not the life of trade"
However, fruit, vegetables, grain,
ETC., are grown here in profusion and
there is no fear that they will suffer
from hunger, although merchant