The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1857-04-15
A Change OF Tactiesk eo kuk 100
Fast.

ovxu Z. Il. HART sous BOOK sroAx
A Change OF Tactics -k okak TOO
Fast.
Our envous neighbors, including all the
towns for a couple Of hundred miles above
and below, have recently changed their tao
tics and adopted an eatirely new mode
Of warfare against keokuk. A few years
ago they demonstrated to oil the world,
and the balance of mankind, that keokuk
was no place at all-that there was not
any thing here but a contemplate row OF
worthless shnnties and miserable squad of
gamblers and sharpers. Then for another
sp eriod, after We had advanced little, and
were evidently in a fourishDg condition,
they proved that we had no titles, and could
have none on the Half breed Tract, and that
the business done here was all dependent on
low water--a mere Tightening trade' with
on. any elements Of permanency or genuine
prosperi.y-that We had no buildings, no cap
ital, no improvements, no manufactures
that property was valueless, and the people
oil squa,ters, birds Of passage, who would
soon seek ether locations.
But Notwithstanding all their incon.ro-
vertible reasons, showing that Keokuk didn't
amount to anything, and never could be q
place Of any consequence, she continued to
grow right along. Emigration rushed in
with m unceasing food, property advanced,
Titles were settled, business increased, and
business houses were rapidly multiplied,
manufacturing establishments Of various
kinds sprung up, and every kind of business
aourished beyond all precedent. City i'm
provemeuts on scale Of magnitude that as
tonishod our old fogy neighbors, were under
taken and pushed through successfully by
this "upstart town." Railroads were pro-
jscsed, and are now in forward aud prom
ising condition, and building, business, man
ufacturing, and growth Of population for the
last year or two, have exceeded the most san
guine expectations, and still 60 on in srith-
metical progression. And now, in Al the
essential elements which demonstrAts the
certain and rapid rise Of an important COM
mercisl and manufacturing cityN keokuk
stands confessedly without rival moth Of
ST. Louis.
Under this change OF circumstances, the
envy Of the old towns along the river il in
creased, but they are forced to change the
grounds Of their assaults upon keokuk.--
Hence we hear and see, on oil hands, the as
sertions that Keokukhs a ''gassy" town, with
no substantial basis. La order to present
the substance Of the TRADES which abound
against keokuk, in many Of the papers along
the river, we clip the following condensed
expression of it, from the Warsaw Bulletin:
"The prices Of property 10 Keokuk cannot
be sustained they have already reached .
figure fully equal to the best business sites
IN st. Louis, and no man IN his senses can
believe that there Is anything like the same
intrinsic value IN keokuk property that there
IL in st. Louis. What business, we would
ask, 10 keokuk can stand Sic 200 for 20 feet
front Of naked groundf Why, by the time
man can get decent store house erected,
his stand will cost him the snug little sum of
$4,000. Interest on this is $500; add to
this insurance and taxes, repairs, de-, and a
business stand in keokuk will cost yearly
rent of $1,000. Now, I'm interesting enquiry
might be started how many yards of tape,
calico and broadcloth, and how many plugs
OF tobacco, pounds OF tea, coffee ind sugar,
viii man have to sell to realize profit that
will justify such enormous rents.
SOUR neighbors Of keokak are fast men.
We like fast men, and We wish we had few
more OF that sort amongst our citizens but
We hope our fast ones will keep on their legs.
md hssA Ats.-m
This kcokukian mode of travelling in bal
loon is dangerous-for the gas might ex-
plode, and then, like the fellow that rose On
the wings Of the morning, We nigh. com,
down 'cachug,' and get hurt if not .busted.''
Now that person familiar only with til,
business Of Warsaw and such like places
where trade spoken Of in the terms Of Thu
paragraph, ~ the sale Of SO yard Of tape O
Of calico, and Of plug Of tobacco, and
pound OF sugar." should think keokuk fas
place, and be utterly incapable Of conceivin
that business man could afford to pay 6f
teen hundred or two thousand dollars ne
annnm Tor rent, is perfectly natural. liza
the editor Of that paper, and the inhabitan,
Of the old fogy towns along the river, bee
accustomed to see bankers making fro,
twenty thousand to thirty thous and dollar
per annuu, and to witness the sales OF bus
ness houses and manufacturing establish
nsnss running up from one hundred thou,
and to two hundred thousand dollars per IN
mum, - has been the case in Kcokuk, the
would apprchcnd no difficulty in paying ,w
thousand dollars per annum rent for hous
IN which to carry on such . business. An
instead OF looking upon the fac, as precu,
sor Of decline and ruin, they would see 10 i
~ We do, the most unHistakeable evidence
OF present prosperity aud prospective rapi
sdyancemant.
A to the illustration and compariso
drawn BY the Bulletin the sale which h
quotes was Of fancy piece Of ground, at
fancy price, for = banking house. The asse,
ton that even that affords an indication tina
property is as high in keokuk us in ST. Loui,
syinces . lamentabie wan, Of information
for while that sale OF the very choicest prot
erty in our city only Amounted IA E.a h.,