Baxter Springs news., 1919-03-21
CLEAN UP

Auc AOiOWihb ieteor miBherTtW
been written by any Of the hundreds
Of strangers who pass into and thru
this town every thirty days:
Springfield, Mo-, March 10. 1919.
Dear Kaltenbach:-I promised to
write you after / got back home and
give you an idea Of what I saw in
your town. As you asked this from
the standpoint Of q stranger ! shall
not spare your feelings in endeavor-
ing to say just what i gathered in my
first trip thru that place.
After getting of the west bound
Frisco train / took q "taxi" up town
and by holding on succeeded in riding
the thing to a very mediocre hotel.
The shell holes in France have moth
ing on the holes in your roads; you
seem to have no streets, at least /
didn't see any while there. / also
hired taxi to take me to the south
part Of town, down what l think you
fellows call Military avenue. / was
glad to discharge my driver at the
other end and walk back, as my feel
ings had been SO badly hurt I couldn't
stand the jolts any further, and since
getting home have been using lini-'
ment on the affected spots to remove
the soreness.
! noticed in walking that you do not
afford street crossings; you have some
good side walks but for some reason
seem to leave out the cross-overs.. In
southeast Missouri where they make
no pretense of doing things, we don't
mind that, but out in Kansas the lack
of walks doesn't argue much for a
town that is trying to become city.
Your city seems to be well watered;
there was lots Of it along this same
avenue and the driver didn't seem to
mind slushing part of it over his Gus
toners as he went into low and plow-
ed through it.
You have no city parking along
your roads; you do have some splen-
did trees and noted also that blue
grass grew well where it had chance
to do so. / also noted that you be-
lieve in keeping a good supply Of tin
cans. By the way some of the homes
had piled them in the front yard !
took it there was a premium on them
and that probably your mayor had Of
fered a reward for the biggest pile in
town. am sure if all the tin cans
and old rubbish such as rubber and
iron that enters into Ford could be
revamped and sold to Mr.. Ford, he
would have enough material to keep
his big plant running thru the next
six or eight months. However, you
may have some reason for keeping
them so / won't suggest any plan to
get rid of them.
/ notice also that where you have
recently built walks or put in sewer
lines that the excess dirt and rocks
have been allowed to pile up and
"waste their sweetnes on the desert
air."
Your assortment of old moving ma
chimes, well drills and worn out ma
chinery laying promiscuously over the
landscape would do justice to most
any town in Arkansas which doesn't
even boast a railroad.
You seem to have a number Of lot
hogs by the great areas Of waste
space scattered over town. If was
q tax payer there / would appeal to
the city fathers to put a double tax
on such lots and tighten the tax on
the honest-to-goodness fellows who
build homes and improve their lots
otherwise.
What you fellows over there need
is pride-p-r-i-d-e-that's something
that makes a fellow wash his ears ev-
cry day and comb his hair and clean
up his back yard and 60 to church on
Sunday and live according to pro-
gressive ideas and love his wife. II
you fellows will rally round the few
men who are giving their time and
spending real money to make that a
city, / have no doubt you can do it.
/ am going to be there again in a
few days and will see if the old can
and ash piles are still there. If any
signs of improvement I may decide to
buy a home there, otherwise am go
ing to buy in Miami or Joplin.
Respectfully, Henry MulhOlland.