Jefferson County, Iowa The Fairfield Weekly Ledger

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Fairfield Ledger
Fairfield, Jefferson County, Iowa
Transcribed by Sherry Bash

From Locust Grove Township.--Last Saturday this part of the country was visited by a hail storm, which proved to be no small affair. About 10 o'clock there was seen gathering in the south-west a small, dark cloud, and before eleven oclock it was raining and hailing in earnest--coming down in perfect torrents, and doing considerable damage to our gardens; field corn looks a little worse for wear, but otherwise I do not think it seriously damaged. May cherries were pretty badly bruised and have already commenced rotting.-- Small grain, as a general thing, looks well, and the chances are favorable for a heavy crop.
  --Potato bugs are plenty. They made their appearance sooner than common this year, and I think it is caused by planting an early variety. Early potatoes bring early bugs.
  --The army worm visited this neighborhood a short time since, but after a brief stay made their exit.
  --Quite a number of farmers in this neighborhood have planted maple seed, and in a few years they will be rewarded with nice maple groves.
          HEN. WARD.
    Locust Grove Tp., June 5, 1871.

Majoiity Report of Special Committee appointed by the City Council to consider complaints in relation to certain ordinances recently enacted by the council :

To the Mayor of the City of Fairfield :
      The undersigned special Committee to whom was referred the annexed resolutions of "Citizens Meeting" presented to the Council by Capt. A. TURNER, beg leave to report that they have carefully considered the resolutions, and at the request of several citizens have had a personal interview with a committee representing the several Wards, consisting of Capt. TURNER from the 4th Ward, Col. THOMPSON from the 3d Ward, and Mr. Adam CASE from the 2d Ward.
  The special occasions of grievance on the part of the citizens complaining of the ordinances recently revised, and of late act, of the Council, as learned from the resolutions and from the representations of the ommittee of citizens, seem to consist principally as follows :
  1st. The act of the Council in purchasing the lot of J. V. MYERS, for which they have agreed to pay one thousand dollars.
  2d. The ordinances in relation to the sale of liquor by the drugstores, and the tax paid upon billiard tables and bowling alleys, and an alleged inequality of taxation.
  3d. The ordinance to restrain swine from running at large.
  In relation to the lot purchased, there seems to be on the part of many persons quite a misapprehension of the necesssties (sic) of the city for a lot.
  In addition to the various articles of property heretofore owned by the city, she has recently made an appropriation for the purchase of fire apparatus, which, while not extensive, is supposed to be reasonably adequate to the wants of the place. This apparatus includes hooks, ladders, truck, &c, and it is certainly apparent that a safe and convenient place for the preservation of such property is as necessary as the property itself. In the repairs of the streets, construction of sidewalks, &c., large amounts of lumber is used by the city, and heretofore she has gone begging for places to stow such material until needed for use, and for places to keep tools, and the waste of property from having no certain and safe place to keep the same has not boen a small tax upon the revenues.
  As to the price paid for the property, considering its character, location, &c., your committee regard that there has been no waste of the finances of the city. Before its purchase, many other locations were examined by a committee of your body with a view either to rent or purchase, and we think had the facts in the case, and the knowledge of the price of other property been before the citizens meeting, they could not have concluded the purchase of the property is ill advice, and besides the present wants of the city, your committee are hopeful for the prosperity and growth of Fairfield, as indicated by its present prosperous condition and increasing prices of property, and should our hopes be realized, no better place can be selected for the erection of a City Hall and market place or such other public improvements as may be needed, than the MYERS lot.
  As to the special tax upon the sale of intoxicating liquors, and upon billiard and bowling saloons, your committee cannot recognize the legitimacy of the argument that there should be "no distinction in the occupation or business of any of our citizens." Your committee do not here wish to discuss the character or advantages or disadvantages of these kinds of business in our city. We recognize the fact that in every community there is demand for such places, and this character of business, and in view of the comparatively small amount of the tax by your ordinances upon the occupations

(Memorial Day) Address of Geo. ACHESON, Esq.
  Then followed the remarks and a stirring, inspiring poem, by George ACHESON, Esq :
  Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :-- I hold in my hand a poem written by a citizen of Fairfield and adapted to this most interesting occasion. I propose reading it in your hearing, and finding its expressions so much better then anything I might utter, I shall not risk marring its beauties more than by a single thought, and that thought is this :
  Standing as we do to-day, my friends, beneath the protecting folds of that starry banner, typical of our country, her honor and her greatness, let us not unduly mourn for those who in its defense have laid down their lives, but rather let us, in reference to them, with unshaken confidence, adopt the language of the poet when he exclaims
       This life of mortal breath,
  Is but a suburb to the life Elysian,
    Whose portals we call death."

Address of W. T. BURGESS, Esq. (text omitted)

Address of Hon. D. P. STUBBS (text omitted)

Speech of Rev. C. G. MILNES (text omitted)

they proceeded to the resting place of each soldier and strewed it with flowers. The following are the names of the soldiers who now lie buried there :

Another Citizens’ Meeting.--About 35 or 40 citizens assembled in the Courthouse on Saturday evening last. The proceedings will be found elsewhere. The chairman meanly insinuated that the absence of the people was to be attributed to the action of the City council in destroying the posters, in which mean insinuation he was meanly sustained by Col. THOMPSON. The committee on resolutions reported, when Mr. NOBLE moved to amend by striking out at the end of the second resolution the word "honest" and insert "give place to men who will obey the will of the majority." Mr. NOBLE did not like the slur contained in the word "better" but was willing to let it pass. After the passage of the resolutions, a desultory conversation ensued, at the conclusion of (column torn, parts of seven lines missing) -ich an adjournment was effected. Evi- ... -y as much interest is not manifested ... -erly. The reason for non attend- ... -igned by speakers was not the ... Persons went around the Park ... up spectators, but they did no- ... -cceed. The meeting went back on all their former resolves but two. Not one word was said in the meeting about the purchase of the MYERS lot. Have the leaders in this movement discovered that the people strongly sustain the Council in that matter? Not a whisper was heard in regard to the license on billiard tables and bowling allies, nor was the remotest intimation dropped about the ordinance imposing a license on persons engaged in the sale of liquors for lawful purposes, We did not hear a word about taxation of bonds. One of the speakers did alude to good old Democratic days, but he is a relic of the past, and his enunciations were not taken in a political sense. Why this backing down, gentlemen, from your former advanced position? You took the ground that it was injust to compel certain persons to take out license and not all. We want you to stand up to the resolutions like men, or else like men ac---wledge your error. We don't want to -y "squirming on the back seats."

  Personal.--Rev. John BURGESS, so well and favorably known by our citizens, preached in Harmony and Church Street M. E. churches on Sunday last. He discources with his usual power and eloquence. His many friends were glad to see him.

DISSOLUTION.
  The co-partnership heretofore existing under the firm name of CRAINE & SLAGLE, in the general merchandise business, is this day dissolved by mutual consent. The books and notes of the firm will be found in the hands of James SLAGLE for settlement, and all parties are requested to call on sight, make settlements and pay up. The business will be continued as heretofore by Mr. CRAINE, the senior partner.
        EVAN L. CRAINE,
        JAMES M. SLAGLE.
  June 1, 1871.

NOTICE is hereby given that the Board of Education of Independent School District Fairfield, Iowa, have set Thursday, July 6th, 1871, for the election of Principal and teachers for the ensuing year, applications will be received by the Secretary up to that date.
        WM. SHAFFER, Secretary.

A CARD.
To the Voters of the Fourth Ward.
      As Councilman of the fourth Ward of the City of Fairfield, I propose resigning my position if a majority of the electors in said Ward so desire. The test in this case is on the ordinance known as the "hog law," and if a majority of my constituents desire its repeal I will resign and give them the privilege of electing some one who will vote for its repeal. I believe the ordinance is a good one, and that its advantages will be better appreciated the longer it is in operation and rigidly enforced. I also believe that a majority of my constituents sustain me in my advocacy of it. So believing, I will not at this time vote for its repeal. The position I occupy is an onerous and thankless one, and I was not placed in it on my own motion; but while filling it I am determined to do what I believe to be my duty without fear, favor or intimidation.
  I leave the matter with you. If you desire me to resign, or remain in the Council for the balance of the term for which I was elected, you will oblige me greatly by signing the request, either for or against, which I learn the opponents of the "hog law" will present to you. Whatever your decision may be, I shall abide by it.       Your fellow-citizen,
                              W. W. JUNKIN.

Fourth of July.--The prospect for a celebration on the Fourth in Fairfield was not very flattering on Saturday night last. The various committees were all to meet at the Court-house, but the writer hereof was the only member present. He re-passed, with great unanimity, the resolution to "celebrate in an old-fashioned manner." So look out for a grand time. A committee to collect funds to defray the necessary expenses was appointed. Committees were re-appointed on speakers, ice-cream, toasts, cake, responses, lemonade, procession, &c. A remarkably unanimous resolution, that no politics should be considered on that day, was passed amid repeated cheers and clapping of hands. A motion was made and passed without a dissenting voice that everybody in the county be invited to participate in the glorious Fourth, and that each one be expected to give of their abundance to enable this meeting to celebrate in a manner befitting the occasion and the dignity of the assembly. A suggestion as to the manner of raising funds elicited considerable discussion, but it was finally left to the well-known ability of the august assemblage to "raise the wind."-- After returning thanks for the harmony that had prevailed during the stormy discussion of the congregation and making a request for the city papers to copy, the vast concourse dispersed with the mutual and tacit understanding that it was to meet "every other opportunity" until the anniversary of the Birth-day of American Independence.

City Council Meeting.
(Article damaged and part is missing) -peal, and as ... taxation by reason of ... of bonds, your committee -ail to find any power in your Honorable Body to alleviate the burdens of our citizens in this respect, that being a question that must be redressed by higher powers than the Fairfield City Council.
  Your committee have carefully considered the ordinance known as the hog law, and find the principal arguments made in favor of its repeal to be
  1st. That it operate oppressively upon the poorer classe of people, who it is claimed are not able to feed their hogs, but by allowing them to be at large, especially through the summer, the hogs will get their own subsistence.
  2d. That as scavengers, the health of the city is promoted by their being at large and picking up the refuse of the streets and alleys. On the latter argument your committee suggest that the sanitary ordinances of the city are certainly equal to the occasion of keeping clean the streets and alleys, and if they are not, such ordinances should be at once passed as will fully regulate the healthfulness of the place without resorting to the use of hogs as a source of cleanliness.
  Your committee estimate that at the taking effect of the ordinance there were probably one thousand hogs within the corporation limits, numbers of families owning each from ten to forty hogs, and as your committee are advised, it is not the poor of the place by whom the greater proportion of these hogs are owned, but in many cases they are owned by persons who seek to make the business of hog raising a source of profit, and where only such numbers are kept as are necessary for the use of the family, there can be no urgent necessity for their being at large, for in such cases the welfare of both hog and family is unquestionably promoted by confinement to the pen. The claim that any portion of the citizens should be permitted to grow their swine than otherwise upon their own premises, involves, in the very nature of the hog, if not in the intent of the owner, the feeding them at the expense of the neighbors by their breaking into the lots or stables of these neighbors, and the depredation of an hour often destroys in the garden the fruit of the whole summers labor; and here the plea may well be made on the part of the poor, who by reason of poverty have insecure enclosures, against feeding the stock of their well-to-do neighbors, which seldom depredate upon the premises of their owners, generally well protected.
  It is also the opinion of your committee that it is inappropriate that the business of farming for profit should be carried on within the limits of a city. The division of land into lots, by which dwellings may be multiplied, and into streets and alleys for the convenience of dwellers upon lots, and the free and uninterrupted use by the citizens, of their lots, streets and alleys, is the only method by which population can be concentrated and cities established, and the very intention of this division is not for farming purposes, and cities so used will come far short of the attainment of distinction of first class cities. That neatness or cleanliness in the fencing of lots or the surroundings of premises can be attained, swine being at large, your committee need not discuss, for the experience of our citizens must have settled this question.
  The safety of the public should also be considered in this connection, and if there is but one instance, such as the case of the child of Mrs. NORTON, where, except for its timely rescue, the child would have been killed, the law will certainly commend itself at least to such of the citizens who have children all liable to like danger.
  Many other considerations present themselves in behalf of this ordinance that cannot be conveniently embodied in this report, and your committee think there should at least be a fair trial of the ordinance, and are convinced that experience will justify the convictions of the committee as to its salutary affects, and the citizens of Fairfield who will sustain the efforts of the Council to build up the material prosperity of the City will have abundant reason to rejoice in the result of these efforts; and, in view of the entire premises, your committee recommend that their be no repeal of the ordinances in question.
        C. W. SLAGLE,
        DAVID B. WILSON

MINORITY REPORT.
  The following is the Minority Report of the Select Committee on Resolutions of citizens :
To the Honorable Mayor and City council of Fairfield :
      As a member of the committee appointed to report upon the resolutions adopted at a meeting of citizens of Fairfield, I beg to report that on the resolution asking for the repeal or submission of the ordinance known as the Hog Law, that the question be submitted to a vote of the citizens for adoption or rejection.
  On the matter of the MYERS lot, I am in favor of keeping it. The city is in need of the property and some of those who asked loudly for its sale will not commend its purchase. With the majority of the committee I believe that a power higher than the city of Fairfield controls the taxation of bonds.
  A third resolution says, "we are opposed to unequal taxation, and hereby request that all taxes and excises on the property or business of the city may be uniform, and no distinction in occupation or business of any kind of our citizens." This resolution asks for the rescinding of the license to drug stores to sell liquor for lawful purposes, and on billiard tables and bowling alleys. I cannot agree with those who passed the resolutions that all licenses should be rescinded, but would report in favor of a new ordinance modifying and reducing the license on each branch of business mentioned, believing that in each case the license as now established is too high.
  All of which is respectfully submitted.
                    JAS. S. BECK.

School Teachers
Wanting employment, at from $50 to $100 per month, should address
  4w22    ZEIGLER & McCURDY, Chicago.

Potatoes.--We are informed by Mr. A. G. WOOLARD, who has been engaged extensively in the shipment of potatoes, that there have been bought and shipped from this point this spring 13,000 bushels of potatoes--34 car loads. Nearly all of these tubers were shipped to St. Louis. The prices paid averaged 35 cents per bushel. We presume that large quantities of potatoes were shipped from other points in the county.

The Beer Saloon and confetionery of W. G. "Brigham" WILSON is one door West of JUDSON & YEARICK’S Boot and Shoe Store. The lovers of the beverage know where to find his pleasant face.

Music, Music.--What makes life more pleasant than a knowledge of Music? Prof. POTTER will open a class in Vocal Music on Saturday evening of this week, at the Baptist church in Fairfield. Come one and all.

  Improvements.--That good friend and neighbor of ours, B. B. TUTTLE, has placed a beautiful picket fence in front of his lots. He is a carpenter and knows what kind to build.

  John SCHAEFER has fitted up in good style the house on the South side, owned by Dr. WARE, and will dispense lager beer and native wine to the thirsty, and give them a lunch beside.

GEORGE GILCHRIST,
  Photographer,
Over Risk's Store, Fairfield, Iowa.
  Gems $1.50 per dozen, and all other
kinds of pictures in the best style of the
art, and at proportionately low prices.     4tf

ESTRAY NOTICE.--Taken up May 15, 1871, by James W. TUNING, 3 miles S.E. of Glasgow, in Round Prairie Tp., Jefferson county, Iowa, 2 work horses: One a dark brown, almost black horse, small white star in forehead, some white on the heel of the left fore foot, some tug marks on sides, about 13½ hands high, and supposed to be 5 years old; appraised at $75. The other a bay mare, black mane and tail, very little white in the forehead, some white on the heel of the left hind foot, draft shoes on fore feet, supposed to be 8 years old, and about 15 hands high; appraised at $65.00, before J. F. HOWELL, J. P.
            GEO. H. CASE, Clerk.