Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 2, Number 29, DeMotte, Jasper County, 9 February 1933 — EDITORIAL [ARTICLE]

EDITORIAL

We do not know who won the war, but we certainly do know who is paying for it. A banker states that hard times might not be so hard except for the fact that they are accompanied by two opposing factions--the softboiled optimists and the hard-boiled pessimists. Subscribers to the Kankakee Valley Post can pay subscriptions to the correspondent from their locality, or at the office at DeMotte. The date following your name printed on your copy is the date your subscription expires. We admire and enjoy contact with the man who dares to be himself. The world tells us to be ourselves and then turns against us or critcizes us because we do not conform to every little convention and custom The world does not mean all it says Now and then there is a brave soul with the courage to defy the world and be himself, out there are few such. Congress and our Indiana state legislature are both now in session “Balance the Budget” is the main topic of conversation at Washington and at Indianapolis. And the “how” of the thing is all that keeps it from being done. Every legislator knows it must be done, and every legislator wants it done at the expense of some one else or some department in which he is not directly interested. Laws could be passed guaranteeing bank deposits, the budget could be balanced without raising taxes, departments could be combined, farmers could be given more lenient treatment under mortgage laws, but we venture to say that about all will be done will be "the drawing of salaries and creation of more debts for us to pay. You folks have all heard that expression about DeMotte and community, “The biggest little town in the State”. Over in Crown Point, up in Valparaiso, in Gary, down in Rensselaer, all the merchants know DeMotte; they know and admire the citizens of this section. It is good to be able to say “I’m from DeMotte.” This section right thru here, DeMotte, Shelby, Thayer, Lake Village, Wheatfield, San Pierre, Virgie, and all the other towns and communities lying btween, is envied by every big-city merchant within trading distance. The Kankakee Valley Post is the only newspaper published in this district--between Lowell and Rensselaer, and Momence, Ill., and North Judson. The Post is published at DeMotte right in the center of this district. And we’re proud of it. A long time ago someone said: ‘‘Build a better mousetrap than anyone else and the world will make a beaten path to your door.” In view of the interpretation that is usually put on this expression, we hesitate to assign to it the responsibilty of its authorship. More businesses have gone to smash operating under this false theory than for any other cause. We know today that no matter how excellent a mouse trap one may build, unless he advertises it as he should, the world will not only, not make a beaten path to his door, but will not even know he is alive. Business of the purchasing public these days, gets its direction and bearings from advertising and the man who attempts to lure business to his doors in any other way is blind to facts of the world in which he lives. Christ presented the finest theory of life that the world has seen since its creation, yet after two thousand years of constant preaching by thousands of preachers and disciples and teachers, less than half the world has accepted the Christian religion. The mere fact that a thing is true and good, does not guarantee its acceptance. It must be “sold” to the world. It must be “sold” whether it is a philosophy of living, a service, or prunes or mouse traps, and the fellow who

follows the “beaten path” theory today is going to find himself at the bottom with others who have entertained a like belief.