Show BIG COUNTRY MERCHANTS R 1 What John Lindsay Has Done for Iowa By A. A B. B Macdonald In Country Gentleman If you go to the village of Id Ida Ida- i- i grove in Western Vestern Iowa the tra train in n will put you ou down don at the end of a street one hundred feet wide pave paved d with asphalt smooth as the topa top of ofa f a billiard table Go up the slope to where the wt wide de main street crosses at right angl angland angles es and there stretching away to ti the le e I 1 edges of the th village In front to U the Le left and to the right Is this asphalt It paving clean as a parlor floor Usually in villages of this size in iii inthe inthe iiii the l West there is no paving pavin g Sometimes there are a few tew blocks of brick paving Sometimes is have been made at paving by dum duming dumpIng dumping dump dump- p ing broken rock into the mud of t the he main street making a black stick sticky T y mess with many humps and hol hol- 1 lows Few towns even those mu much ch h larger than are so we well 11 paved and so clean Ask about this paving and th the the- e- e who man will tell th that at has sixty blocks sly blocks six mil miles es of of streets paved like these blocks exclaimed Sixty a vial via I. I i- i tor Why this village has ha haJ few fewer er than 2000 people Where do yo you u find sixty blocks to pave I was about to say continued continue d the man who lives here that we have havee lave not only sl sixty ty blocks of asphalt It paving already down but when we went into the war we had contracts contract let for forty blocks more The rhe go government government gov gov- v wouldn't let us go on wit with u the work Now peace has Jias como come an and 2nd d we will go ahead and finish the pa paving paving v ing lag job One hundred blocks tha a s to ten ten n x Smiles S- S miles said tl the visitor Ten es of asphalt lt paving In a s village of 1800 population Its It's the leans leanest st town Ive I've seen in many a day tay one of the things we bra braon brag bragon g on mister This is a town without ut a This town from rom cf cent center er Ir to circumference is as clean as a n hounds hound's tooth We not only have hay e six miles of asphalt paving hut but o on n every street clear out into he lie edges edge os of the farms that border us are concrete concrete con con- L crete and sidewalks An And d even the alleys are paved pando A lad lady y can walk anywhere In f In Inthe Inthe n the wettest wettest weather and never so soil 1 the soles of her shoes with mud Who Is responsible for all of this It must have cost a bunch of money who put it through The business men of the tow town n the Community club John Linds Lindsay ay Is president of it One block to the left on a corn corner er of the main street Is a long to low w building of stucco shaped after t the he fashion of the old Spanish o u houses of the Southwest That said the man who ltv HV live 3 here is our Natatorium i- i in n a d of f de es le e I 1 Le It in iii iiii g of is p T y 1 ch h 11 e- e at es I. I i- i er u d It we v u d v n es of st g ut er Ir a n e n os L d y In n 1 of of ay er w u 3 Natatorium Yes that's the only public swimming swim swim- ming pool In the state of Iowa Who built that Well John Lindsay started it going The other business m men n Inthe in inthe inthe the Community ity club got under it and put it over but John thought o of oC ites it first The Tho Bunch That Does Things Across the street on a corner Is 18 the hotel its two fronts made of tapestry brick with the soft old- old rose shades of an Oriental rug rag a ain hotel of forty eight rooms all aU of them with running water and twenty ty with baths a hotel with a rose rase garden in a shaded courtyard where the the village folks talks and the farmers from all round come on summer summery evenings and Sundays to sip coolIng cooling cool cool- ing drinks listen to music and toch to dance ilance a big city hotel in a little country town a hotel built by the villagers and farmers and owned and operated by them Whose idea was that 7 we asked Well sir air Lindsay had a big hand handin in that too Of course everybody in n town helped but John hes he's president president pres pres- ident dent of the Community club and andu that's the bunch that does things here This man John Lindsay what about him who him who is he Well sir John used used- to work right there on that corner in theold the theold theold old shack of a hotel that stood there His father died when he was a kid about knee-high knee to a grasshopper and John Jahn was left with a big family on his hands they were mighty poor didn't have ha money enough tf to I j ur rf Johns John's oh fat father had d to b borrow borrowes roy it so so Johnny he to work work as as n a kind of a roustabout there Then he hest got got to clerking in the Williams store and now he owns it all Hes He's been tour four years In It for himself and doubled and trebled and quadrupled quart quad the business and is going so so fast you cant can't see him for dust Hes He's Hosa Hese a comer all right and some people here who have money are going to toos build him a big store down there on that main corner They're going tod to tear down those two frame buildings and put him up the best est store anywhere anywhere any any- any I I where round So we went to see this man roan John Lindsay His is a small store only twenty- twenty five feet wide on the street and one arse onehundred onehundred hundred feet deep with one floor but it 1 is piled packed jammed anday and stuffed with goods to the ceiling all round and on tables wherever there is room for far a table to stand and on the floor wherever there is room to tuck in is some boxes i Clerks were bus busy One was standing standing standing stand stand- I ing ing on tiptoes on the edge of or a bot- bot I bot-I Continued on Page Two BIG IG COUNTRY MERCHANTS 1 Continued from rom rom- Page lage One tom loin shelf clinging with one hand to the edge of the top shelf as f if he were going to try and climb through the ceiling and reaching for fora a bolt of cloth up the there e. e There were fifty persons In the little little storeroom buying buying buy buy- ing lag goods John Lindsay sells nearly worth of merchandise a year In that thaL room and he sells only dry goods women's wear to garments garments gar gar- ments women's shoes and groce groce- roce- roce ries des Sixty per cent of or his trade I Is with farmers Tb They tell of or this store that on Sat Sat- afternoons ls it is so eo filled with farmers farmers' that others waiting to ge geIni get in Ini hav have to stand in line at the tr front fron nt until door door until one aIle makes males room by com corn f frig g out at the rear rear John Lindsay was In iu a rear corn corn- er-b er sleeves rolled up allowing a couple of carpenters how to wedge edge a few more shelves into that space space He came wiping his hands on a towel He Is a n. tall man strongly built built and there is a a. slight I stoop to his broad shoulders In In where he has lived lIvel all his life they say of John Lindsay that if ir he ho says sars so-and-so so you can depend depend depend de de- de- de pend on it he lie will keep his word Nord He has In his face the look if f that s sort snit rt of manGot man Got to make malo more room some some- w v he he said I cant can't let et a bigger bigger bigger big big- ger store building In town and have ha to get along here until un un- well tU til well I r hope to have a new store soon J Pretty Prett nice sort of spotless town you you o have here Yes he said you cant can't have a good good od I big business these days das in a dirty slovenly town we found that out and are cleaning up up fl Tell me about it 1 Lindsay pushed aside a pile of w Omens women's mens men's house dresses and sat down on on one corner corner of the table one foot swinging i back and forth as he wiped wIped wiped wip wIp- ed the sweat from his face He is a ayoung ayoung young young oung man not far beyond thirty I What hat do you want me to tell he ask asked d. d Of Well Vell there Is widespread com com- complaint complaint plaint from storekeepers in country towns that the the- order mail-order houses are ere are killing their business and throttling throttling throttling the small towns They say fth that t what the Order mail houses donot donot do donot not get the d department stores inthe inthe in inthe the bigger places do They say the day is past when a young man can start in a country town and build up a big business The They say you began here without a d dollar and have built up a big business business business' busi busi- ness ness ness' ness and and that you ou are largely re responsible responsible responsible re- re for the improvements in inthis inthis inthis this town Tell about those things He hesitated a minute rubbed his chin and looked at his foot swinging swinging swing swing- ing like a pendulum a mile on his face Cace He looked up and and said I do dont don't t know now whether a fellow o ought to t talk talk lk about himself that wa t way way 1 A AD Day of at Opportunities Many lllY a COUl country merchant would like to read d about bout how re you succeeded succeed- succeed ed ed many a c country boy with an ain ain- I to be a merchant might get I am-I alesson alesson a alesson lesson from your experiences many manya I Ia a farmer would like to know your opinions of r the order mail business and country business In general the people p pi In other country towns would like like t to know how this town washed it its t i face and put on a new dress Maybe It wouldn't hurt he said said getting off the table and str straightening up the house dresses he had he-had had disturbed and leaning his el elbow elbow el- el boY bow bow upon pon the the pile But you want to get right righton on one thing at the outset outset out out- set set and that is is that what I did in helping elpi g to clean up this town was no nomore nomore more than almost every other busl- busl mess n s man an h here re did We Ve all jumped In together You mustn't give me more more credit than any other It It Itis is true he went on on that I st started with nothing My father tather dle died when I was thirteen years ears old I Iwas w s the head of the family with my my my mother two brothers and two sisters 8 one of them born three months after father died I went to work york in the old hotel for Cor two years then began clerking right here in inthis inthis inthis this store when I was fifteen Mother Moth Moth- er and I raised that family of ours and I saved up too by the time I 1 was twenty-three twenty years ears old and then then I cut loose and went in business for myself The day of opportunity past Lindsay grunted Huh That's what the croakers There say are always a lot of f gloom spreaders to try and discourage a a. fellow who 7 wants lo to strike out and do some some- thing I couldn't find a person in who thought I did right when I quit clerking here and opened opened opened open open- ed a little store in the village of Arthur close by They all shook their heads and predicted failure but I was there only three years I when hen I sold out and came here with with and bought a half Interest inthis in this ihla store The day of or opportunity past hoy hey There never was In all the history o of the world such a day of or opportunity as this day as any day this year next year ear the next year This is 9 the best day day that ever dawned dawn dawn- ed for for young m men n. n Tho generation of young young men coming up now is the I most niost fortunate that has ever lived I wish I were a boy again and dead broke Id I'd climb higher Opportunities ties are everywhere A young man needn't have a dollar nor anything I but good health a clear head energy energy energy ener ener- gy ambition and gumption that gumption that was my mothers mother's name for Cor self dence to t to get on in this good old world Ill say this though for the benefit benefit benefit ben ben- of any young man who is al already already at- at ready in a store If you are w working working work work- rk- rk ing for Cor a dead one get out A merchant merchant merchant mer mer- chant must have experience ot of the right l kind The Tho trouble with most of these storekeepers in small towns who are are hollering about the mall mall- order houses gobbling them up Is that they dont don't know anything about merchandising never had the right kind of exp experience dont don't know knout the first rudiments of It They think all that Is necessary Is 13 to rent a room chuck in a lot of blue overalls and work shirts and then sit down and play checkers and wait for people to toI I come in and buy but i So So I say if you are working for fora a a dead one quit him or you'll be a dead tead one too Theres There's a n. new time new time here a new era The old-fashioned old storekeeper fits into the scheme of ot things today about as well as an Egyptian mummy at a shimmy I dance The man I came carne to work for here I was C. C C. C Williams He had owned one forty stores in different towns in n the West and Southwest He had made three distinct fortunes He was the best merchant I ever knew w and I learn learned d under him When I was twenty six years old I came in here as half owner Four Pour years ears ago Williams wanted to go Into ino into in- in to o the land business and I bought him out We were doing a business of a year then Now I am crowding the the m mark That's enough to say about abou myself F Farmers are prosperous t these lays days days and they've gone ahe ahe d of the little ittle country store which has stood till still still not seeing what is going on nn Lindsay straightened up and grasped his visitor by the elbow Come on he lie said sala Ill take taka you out and show you The business I Ican can run itself for Cor the rest of oC the day I 11 get my car and well we'll drive out into nto the country i iA A mile and a half out he stopped the he car in front of a group of farm buildings set in a sea of yellow oats stubble It was a modern house of st stucco cco with tiled tHed roof wide porches and sleeping porch There was a large larg stucco barn and another just like Wie it in cour course courbe e of building a stucco hog house and a long stucco hen hen- house There said Lindsay waving his hand toward It It there Is what I mean That Is Chris Kitchner's KUchner's home That house alone cost 10 to build It has Jias baths hot- hot water plant polished hardwood floors every modern convenience that any cit city house has and it Is furnished richly That henhouse has a sun parlor for his chickens Would y you u expect that man and his family who built and live in a plant I like that who provide such good I living quarters for their farm animals ani- ani mal mals would you expect expect- them to go goto goto goto to some dirty slovenly little town and trade in an old fashioned dinky little store A man who can farm so intelligently that he can make enough to build like that knows more about merchandise than the average country storekeeper This county is full of prosperous Carmels farmers farmers farm farm- ers els and the farm home of today Isa is isa isa a luxurious place compared to what it used to be and be-and and it Is a palace compared to the average country store Nearly every farmer in Ida county grows some popcorn the average being from ten to forty acres In this county there was grown last year twelve and one-half one million pounds of popcorn It is a aI profitable crop bringing about I to gross an acre but hard on I. I the soil Farm lands have gone up wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully won won- in price here said Lind Lind- say They have advanced an acre since a year ago A few days ago acres of land adjoining Battle Bat Battle tle the Creek a village of GOO people seven miles from sold for forI I an acre Ed Page bought acres cast of two years ago for an acre He sold It this this spring for Cor |