Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 87, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1913 — The Hitch Post Question From Two View Points. [ARTICLE]

The Hitch Post Question From Two View Points.

The interests of Rensselaer as a city and the surrounding country as agricultural land are so closely interlaced that nothing should ever happen to mar the pleasant relationship or to create any hard feelings. The present discussion is brought about by a notice forbidding the hitching of horses to light and telephone poles and tp posts and trees and threatening arrest and prosecution. As the order read, however, the main business streets only are forbidden to be hitched upon. It is a fact, as our correspondent says, that many come to town for a short time only and do not care to pay 20 cents for the privilege of hitching and they do not care to hitch outside the corporation. It is probable that every farmer who comes to Rensselaer to trade encounters times when he would prefer hitching outside while he does his trading and it would be very unfair to try to shut this off entirely or to seriously limit the privilege. There should be a restricted district and no more. Then the establishment of a ”few hitching posts within a short distance of the business centers would not be amiss. The most objectionable features to the hitching posts are the fly breeding places, the fact that the horses paw up the streets and perhaps a still more serious one, which is not so vital since Rensselaer is saloonless, that some abuse the privilege by leaving the animals stand for long hours without attention. The first objection would be serious if it were not for the fact that in the absence of a thorough street sweeping system there are small breeding places left all about the streets by the mere fact of horse travel over them and also because there are better breeding places in the neglected rubbish heaps about the city. That the horses paw up the streets some can not be avaided but teams that are left out for long periods of time can be taken to the hitch barns and the expense charged to the owners. But it is the farmer who stays in town only a short time that needs the hitching post and he seems to be entitled to the privilege and we believe there is no ordinance that prevents him hitching any place except on the main business streets. Rensselaer businessmen do not want to lose any of the patronage of their farmer friends by reason of failure to treat them with every cordiality and our friends in the country should never lose sight of the fact that the value of their farms is to a considerable extent based upon the success of the merchants in Rensselaer and upon the appear ance and health of the city. The hitch barns are adequate in size and are well kept from the sanitary standpoint and it is better to have horses in them than standing for several hours on the street, but the Interests of the busy trader who is here only a short time demands that there be a place where his team can be tied without expense.