Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-09-04
Local Comment

other railroads In oil parts of the
country. The waste and extrav
agance OF government ownership is
past. Money is so tight that there
Is little to be had by railroad com
panies for their financing. Wages
are so high that the railroads can
not Increase their incomes fast
enough to keep up. The discharee of
10000 by the Pennsylvania system
early In the summer was forerun-
ner OF what was to be expected, and
the end is not yet In fact, when
one learns of the rapidly subslding
speed Of industry in the manufac-
turing cities OF the east, the dis
charge of thousands from automobile
factories, tire factories, shoe facto-
ries. clothing factories and building
industries 1t begins TO look as tho a
job would be a good thing to hold on
to for the coming winter. Business
is going thru it's inevitable recon-
st~uction. which means that IL is
getting back to normal, when every
body must work hard to hold his
job. and few must have difficulty
finding Job. We can not have fall
ing prices without slackening speed
to industry.
The sale OF small acreage tracts at
prices OF $1,000 and $4,000 per acre
can be accounted for only by the
fact that as soon as q country road
Is paved the adjacent property Is
brought into the city. and acreage
fronting the paved street takes on
the value of city lots. AS the paving
extends farm lands will also take on
additional values. altho there will be
a limit to the zone Of city values
but farm on a paved road will
command n premium because OF the
pleasure and comfort OF living there
which the farm on mud road can
never have. Before the war inflated
land prices, the experience OF east
ern states was that strictly farm
lands were boosted from $50 to 800
per acre In value the minute a paved
road extended from town to the farm
gate.
alone have paid 100000 this year
for their auto licenses In ten years
they will pay $1.o0o.0oo. All Of this
money must be spent first on about
sixty miles of primary roads. and the
federal government stands ready to
contribute dollar for dollar, which
puts about $4,000 900 In sight for
primary roads during the next ten
years. When it IL spent, and one
fourth OF tho cost OF a paved road Is
assessed to adjacent property, an
other 100000 is available. This Is
much more than enough to pave the
entire sixty miles, and as soon as
construction costs come down, and
county bonds can be sold at low
rates OF interest. this county should
pave Its entire primary road system,
issue bonds for the money, and pay
the bonds out Of Uncle SANS con-
money. IL we continue TO temnorize
tan years will slip by and we viii
have sunk over a million dollars In
the mud.
A Marshalltown man motored this
week all the way from Duluth, Minn.,
to Ackley Iowa, via st. Paul, on
gravel. and encountered the only mud
within forty miles OF home. This
should suggest to people In this
county that or secondary roads adj
jacent to $500 land are entitled to as
good a road as swamp land and cut
over stump land enjoys. and the laws
OF Iowa provide for the creation OF
special graveled road districts wher-
ever majority OF the land owners
will petition for them.
Marshall county can cheer for the
boys who captured the silver cup at
the state fair with their baby beeves.
These youngsters are going to make
4 superior race OF farmers for this
county and the event should excite
admiration outside the immediate
and relatives Of the winners.
q
The local gas company IL acting
wisely In accepting the councils gas
rate OF $3.50 per thousand cubic feet,
Is that rate 10 probably more than
an adequate price for gas The pre-
war price OF 81 was fair base.
and a portion OF that was for the In
vestment in pipes In the ground
which have not been changed. Fuel
and labor have doubled easily, but
the 81 rate need not be doubled to
cover this cost. The fact that Du-
ouque and Waterloo have signed up
Tor less than the $40 offered here
would indicate that the local price is
high enough. The trouble is that
except the company's
Is guessing in the dark.
The thing that ought to be done by
The city council now is to employ q
irm of expert accountants and put
hem on the company's books while
he new rate is being tried out. 1t
would cost several thousand dollars.
put 1t might save our citizens ten
lines as much.
That the many hundreds OF Nor
vegian visitors to the city were more
han pleased at their reception, 10
estified by the expressions of Of
icers and members Of the Stavanger
Amt Laget to the committee provid-
ng their entertainment. MARSHALL
own, as Of yore, has done herself
proud in entertaining the visitors.
rhe guests say that never before
nave they seen q city where people |
70 generally put themselves out to
provide for the comfort Of their |
suests; they had never had so many
Individual courtesies extended, and
when 1t came to providing quest |
,ars" to take them about town they |
hardly knew how to act One Of
acer Of the laget said that If Mar
'ha1ltown had been a city where |
people of Norwegian birth and de-
scent predominated. he could see
yhy such a. condition might be ex.