Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 100, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1918 — Short Furrows [ARTICLE]

Short Furrows

"Abe Martin*' in Indianapolis News.

Prof. Grover Quince, once o'. Syracuse, Indianny, addressed th' Economic Club in th’ Bryan room o’ th’ New Palace Hotel last night Prof. Quince is tourin' th' country in th’ ipterest o’ th' good ole days an’ in tryin’ t’ arouse th' people t'j discourage th’ growin' feelin* among! manufacturers that what we can't j tell from th’ genuine won’t h irt j us. Prof. Quince took fer his Sub-1 jeet, "Th’ Era o' Shoddy. ' an' spoke j as tollers: "My friends, I can not find words t’ express t' you my deep sense o' gratification at bein' privileged t’ address an audience o’ Hoosiers. While I have been away from Indianny almost three months, my great love fer th' ole state remains firm an' steadfast. In my wanderin’s, which have taken me as fer west an Pana, Illinoy, I've seen no place that can compare t th’ scenes 1 left behind. So it is with genuine pleasure that I once more stand on Hoosier soil an look int’ th’ honest an’ intelligent faces o’ Hoosier sons an’ daughters. My friends, we may recall th' hardships an' simple diversions o' th ole days with a shudder, but we must admit that those days comprised an era o’ genuineness in all things —in friends an’ food an clothes an’ amusements. My friends, when I wuz a young man jest startin’ out in life things wuz what they seemed. If I et sausage it wuz sausage. It wuz not adulterated with liver an' p’tater flour. If I wuz introduced t’ a man he did not try t’ sell me somethin'. If J bought a rockin’ chair it wuz not plugged an’ 'pieced an vaneered. If I bought a silk handkerchief, or a necktie, it wuz not shoddy an weighted with tin. If I bought a suit o’ clothes it wuz not cotton an’ wood fibre. A man wuz invariably buried in th’ suit he got married in. If I bought buckwheat flour it wuz not ready mixed plaster. I knew nothin’ o’ corn cob maple syrup an’ alfalfa smokin t’backer. If my underwear scratched, it wuz because it wuz wool. If a feller bought a drink o’ liquor at th’ grocery store, he wuzn lost fer two weeks. Ther’s too much attention paid t’ production an’ not enough t’ quality these days. Ther s too many things goin’ on these days under th’ guise o’ efficiency. Ther haint nothin’ efficient about adulteratin’ salt or producin’ a substitute fer somethin’ that haint that somethin’. That’s humbuggery whether its labeled or not. Ther’s too many articles that are said t be jest as good as what you want. Why haven’t our dealers got what we want? Largely because it wouldn’ be efficiency t’ fool 4 with a thing if somethin’ likt it could be produced at less cost. I bought a pair o’ shoes th’, other day an fergot an’ went out in th’ rain with ’em on, an’ jest little things like that are cornin’ up in our daily life with increasin’ oftenness. Ther seems t’ be a determination among manufacturers that ther shall be no waste. That’s efficiency!” All th' odds an’ ends must be made inf somethin’ t’ take th’ place o’ somethin’ real an’ good. Shows are shoddy: Ther adulterated with coarseness an’ vulgarity on account o’ th’ expense o’ providin' merit an’ decency. Public speakers are adulterated an’ lackin’ in th’ peculiarities o’ th’ genuine. But th’ worst o’ all, my friends, is th’ fact that our population is becomin’ shoddy. It's adulterated with hyphenated Americans, profiteers, aa’ th‘ riff raff o’ other countries, who have no sympathy with our civilization an' purposes an’ institutions —people who have left ther hearts in th’ lands o’ ther birth an’ come f America t’ fill ther stomachs an’ pocketbooks. Anything short o' unqualified Americanism is spurious. Jest because somebuddv or somebuddy’s father ‘fought mit Sigel’ isn’t enough.”