Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1910 — Editorials [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Editorials

Opinions of Great Papers on Important Subjects,

STOP FUNERAL EXTRAVAGANCE.

YQUNG business man died unexpectedly, leaving a widow and three small children. For two years he had worked hard to establish a business, which was just beginning to pay well and gave promise of coming highly profitable dtfring the coming spring and summer. But his cash re-

sources were small, his insurance was almost nothing, and, with his ability and hard work taken away, the business he left offered precarious support for the widow and children. All this his widow knew. Yet, with rent overdue, the doctor to pay, and her children and herself to look out for, she buried her husband’s body in a 1150 casket, and the undertaker's total bill ran more than $250. The desire of the living to pay final tribute to the dead frequently outweighs the dictates of common sense' and prudence, even to the point of violating the known wishes of the dead. Extravagance along this line "is encouraged by Undertakers, who suggest expensive funerals and offer long-time credit, as many a family knows to its sorrow. In other countries societies, the members, of which agree to keep all funerals under their direction within a certain cost limit, have done much to check extravagance. There is room for organizations to reduce funeral expenses in this country, and a movement in that direction should be encouraged.—Chicago Journal.

EXPENSIVE ERRAND BOYS.

HE American farmer in 1.909 received $300,000,000 fqrthe egg crop. The American consumer paid $540,000,000 for the same eggs. Who got the difference of $240,000,000? The farmer raised the hens, took care of them, fed them, housed them, and paid about 50 cents apiece for the care of

each one. It cost him not less than $75,000,000 to keep the hens satisfied and prolific. So, all together, his earnings were reduced to $225,000,000. But somebody else got $240,000,000—-which is $15,000,000 more than the farmer received. From the time the eggs left the farmer to the time they reached the consumer the price on them was almost doubled. And the consumer, of course, paid.

Somewhere there is a leech in the egg market and the butter market and the meat market and the grocery market, and all the other markets, that is sucking away at the American consumer’s pocketbook. Until this leech is found and beheaded prices of living will be tremen- > dously high, and will grow higher, just so long as there remains anything in the pocketbook to be sucked out. It has not yet been shown that the leech Is not' the rail

road and the rexpress companies. In 1909 the traction companies increased their indebtedness by 11,015,000,000. The interest that is to be paid on this, of course, comes out of the public’s pocketbook. And the express companies during the year paid dividends that ranked among the highest on the whole list of industrial Institutions. They’re expensive errand boys, the railroads and the express companies.—Cincinnati Post.

N THE current number of Vogue is a most pathetic essay by Maria Scott on the successful management of a small Income. Maria admits—though reluctantly—that a young couple may venture to begiff life in a simple manner on $5,000 a year. Realizing that this is a drastic saying and one

COST OF LIVING.

that may be received with incredulity by the mass of the people, she goes on to apologize even for hinting that really "nice" people could live on so meager a sum, but is obliged to admit that by dint of a great effort it may be done in a way. She asks what denials are necessary for those who contemplate living on $5,000 a year, and then, seeing nobody rising to answer her, answers it herself by saying that great self-denial will be necessary to keep the wolf from the door. The one consideration that forces itself on the mind after perusal of Maria’s reflections is the tremendous amount of self-denial that is being practiced all over the country by persons who are living nobly on this small amount, not able to have more than one automobile and one short trip to Europe annually.—St Paul Dispatch.

A ROAD THAT STANDS WEAR.

EW JERSEY claims to havq discovered that bituminous roads cost less than macadam and stand the wear of automobile traffic much better. The State has elghty-five miles this road already and announces that it will lay no more of the old-fash-ioned kind. The objection to macadam

is that It is picked up by the wheels of automobiles and scattered to the four winds of heaven. The wear on the good roads leading out from automobile centers like all of the large cities shows conclusively that an Improved material is urgently needed. The bituminous road seems to serve the purpose because it has sufficient resiliency to meet the needs of traffic and at the sam* time is compact enough to prevent the particles from being picked up by rubber tires.—Nebraska State Journal.