Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-03-14
IOWA EMERGING INTO
CAP|TALISTIC CLASS
FROM a State of borrowers Iowa Has
Become State of Investors.
tIONEER DAYS ARE PAST
LOG CABINS ARE ALSO GONE
haDits of Saving Have Brought
About Great Prosperity. Future
Unaffected by Rumors of
War.

WIN Iowa producing enough field
crops every year to pay off every cent
or Its farm mortgage indebtedness
and have left over $500 annually for
every family in the state, with an av.
erage of $1,000 per family. ready
cash, on deposit in the banks Of Iowa
we are we'll within the facts and tbe
bounds OF reason when we assert
that our state is rapidly emerging
INTO the capitalistic class. saws John
a. Cavanagh, Vice President Das
MONIES National Bank. From being
a state of borrowers, we have already
become state of loaners and of in
vestors
NO more striking picture, fulI or
contrasts, could possibly be painted
Dy the financial and economic artist
than that OF Iowa in the early days
and Iowa as It is today. The pio-
neers crossed the Mississippi river
(often driving the creaking OK cart
as Blashfield has depicted it in the
painting Westward Ho,' in our
state house, and proceeded to make
clearing in the forest and grub a
foothold in the virgin prairie sod
Inc entire capital of the family. all
that they possessed in the world.
was in the prairie schooner.
what is the contrasting picture?
we are today commonwealth of
nome owners; We are no longer de-
voting all our time and attention, or
investing all our monev, toward buy
ing the adjoining eighty, acres or the
adjoining town lot why notg Be-
cause these acres and these lots have
already been purchased and are now
owned by men and women who. like
ourselves, want them for home
(elther now or in the future) or as a
means of livelihood We are seek
ing new channels for our surplus mo-
ney, realizing that it is fully as i'm
portant that our savings should work
as that we ourselves should work.
Lazy money is disappearing from our
midst; our money is now as industri-
Gus as we are. But it is working in
different ways, Of recent years.
We are accumulating money rap
idly in Iowa nowadays. Money is
plentiful the state over. Two years
ago we had $3Os,11G,916 on deposit
In the state and savings banks of
Iowa. One year ago we had s329,--
633.6S6. Today we have $3S9,4S3,-
604.
But this is not all. We are adding
to our earnings and to our savings
at remarkable rate With a good
margin Of profit in both agriculture
and manufacture, Iowa is earning
splendid wages these days. What is
she doing with her savings?
To begin with, Iowa is living bet
ter than ever before: the log cabins
of the pioneers and the comfortless
homes of our fathers are being dis
carded for modern, up-to-date homes
which would be credit to any state.
Iowa is dressing better: she is enjoy
ing more luxuries Of all kinds Iowa
is spending almost $1,O00,00O every
working day of the year for new au-
tomobiles. Yet in the face of these
increased expenditures. Iowa is saw
ing money as never before. The bank
deposits testify to this. If we are no
longer buying land as extensively as
we were a few years ago what are
we doing with our money? We are
investing it in mortgages, in stocks
and in bonds. From being state
of borrowers, we have already be-
come state of loaners:
The European war fastened this
evolution. We found good opportu-
mites abounding on every hand to
invest our money at good rate or
interest, and we have taken advan-
tage of these opportunities. We
are not specula;ively inclined here
in Iowa; we are taking few chan
ces, but we are devoting our savings
to mortga ges. to stocks and to bonds
which preserve the important ele-
ments of good investment; sound
security of collateral, a legitimate
rota op ;nteresk and ease of converta-
'bility.
Iowa will always be a productive
state: we will always be working
people. But we are annually be-
coming, likewise. an investing peo-
ple. We are looking beyond the
confines of our own state for sood.
sound, legitimate investments. There
CONTINUED on last pages