Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-01-22
VILLAGE THAT HAS NOT GROWN
IN POPULATION PROVES
ITS LOYALTY.
DOES MORE THAN ITS
SHARE OF LOYAL WORK
Sends Seven Young Men. or Ten Per
Cent Of Population TO War--lessons
IN Thrift Have Not Fount Permanent
Judgement in Some Minds--Wilson's
Rural Observations
Special to Times Republican.


Clifford, Jan. 22,-"Giford!" called
the brakeman as the train SLOW ed down
for the stop at the station. This ism
Clifford, is it?' asked tall lanhy in
diyIdual. rising from his seat and ad-
dressing nobody in particular. Hesitat-
ing moment he passed on out Of the
car, protesting as he went, This can't
be Clifford" Good heavens" remarked
a travelling man, what's the matter
with that fellow? I've beer travelling
thru here for years ana the place looks
just as il did the first time | saw it,
And the road man certainly spoke the
truth. Few indeed are the changes
that have occurred in the scattered out
little village SO far as appearances are
concerned. Yet Clifford has made a
renarka Die record in the past tNu
years as the following will attest. The
postmaster OF the town estimated the
population al about seventy souls,
Given ten minutes he probably could
have stated the exact number Three
or four business men, few railroad
employees. a small farmer or two, some
lay laborers, the wives and childre n
Of these that comprises the humanity Of
Clifford. No retired or leading citi-
ecn' class or anything Of the kind
sometimes found in small villages,
everybody self supporting but nobody
purdened with wealth.
Now for the remarkable feature men,
toned Seven young men Went from
the little town 10 war. Ten per cent
II the population. All appear in a fair
way to return, one having already ar
rived from overseas This one walks
With a limp yet. explaining that the
rock that sheltered him on one ex-
citing occasion did not happen to be
IN the line between one of his feet and
the bullet rom machine gun and the
wound resulted. Then in the matter
ct liberty bond subscriptions. AS the
postmaster remembers it Clifford took
none of the first liberty lean. the idea
hadn't taken hold" at that time. In
the second issue the citizens of the
place subscribed s4S00. In the third,
With a quota OF $500 80 $50 was taken,
a little more than 400 per cent Of the
requirement and in the fourth 81 200
more was taken or 4i0 per cent OF the
amount assigned. II is said that prac-
tiCally all Of this is paid up. Other
war drives have been met and paid in
full Conditions considered il is douo =
full II any community in Iowa or any
where else has made a better record
OF voluntary financial contributions or
nopulation percentage of soldiers in
service than Clifford which the passen :
,phiHh
travelling man declared hadn't under
gone a perceptible change in the lapse
Of dozen years.
+
What has come Of the prediction so
freely made year or two ago thal
our great object lessons In enforced
thrift and food conservation would re-
suit in a return in large part, to the
good old DAYS of modest living, the
DAYS our parents and grand parents
remember as children? Already the
trend of comment on the subject is in
the opposite direction. A former busI-
ness man told the other day of a son :
iu-Iaw with a salary of some $3.50 a
month, living it up" as ne earns II.
Inducing in expensive things the fam
ily would be better off without and ap-
parentlv making no attempt to Keep
back anything for the inevitable rainy
dav He told OF meeting two soldiers
boyss on their way from training camp
TO home without the means to BUY a
meal and who asked him, stranger
TO stake" them for a cup Of coffee and
q plate Of cakes. Then one OF has
hearers renern bored hearing a railroad
brakeman say a few days earlier. yes,
we get better pay than we did but we
don't have 80 much money after ex-
penses are paid as we used to have.
Five rninuets before this statement was
made the man had explained that he
paid a. boy Is cents week to deliver
his daily paper and that ne always
buys a 10 cent Sunday paper now
bringing his daily paper Dill up TO IL"
Der year insta a1 Of "a as in other days.
II his other expenses rose in proportion
NO wonder the wage raise didn't help
his condition IN life.
The plan OF filing up the coal bin N
early summer tor the next winters use
does not appear to be at all IN FAVOR
at this time. Complaint is heard every
where that Notwithstanding the UNI
usually mild weather Of tie past three
or four weeks the coal isn't holding
out as it usually does and this Is I'M
iversally attrio to air slackine
thru the summer. If conditions IN ses .
eral nearby towns are representative
there will be more wood fuel used mex
season for fuel than has been the case
IN MANY years as a considerable num-
her q, men from each Of these are
cbono,np steadily at this time In what
rama,ns Of the wooded tracts Of this
q f. Wilson.