The independent. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Kan.) 1860-1874, 1860-09-05

many Of the most wealthy merchants
have built country residences. and now
have those they formerly owned or oc-
cnpied in the city for sale or rent. An
other reason is, that the business here
tofore done there has been too extern
sive, unless it had been en- cash basis.
and the merchants are disposed to con-
tract rather than expand their range Of
custom. and sell only to such men as
are prompt in payment.
St. Louis is destined to hold . prom
inent place in the west in all time to
come. Her position gives her control
of certain amount of trade. and it will
as naturally go there as that ''wa:er
runs down hil."3 If the right kind OF
men control her business affairs. she
will take the lead Of all other cities Of
the great central valley Of the country.
But Chicago and other lake cities will
take a portion Of her trade. if she has not
the right kind of enterprise to hold it.
After leaving St. Louis, we find no
important place until we reach the bor-
ders of Kansas, when all at once We
find cities of IMMENSE IMPORTANCE all
along the river. which are destined to
eclipse every thing in that line which
the world has yet witnessed.
St. Joseph is as full Of Importance
as balloon is Of gas, and is "bound to
be the city of the upper Missouri" and
she sticks up her nose at the pre,entions
of all other places, and processes not to
esteem them as rivals
Then there is Atchison. the child Of
destiny. whose population in Eve years
is to be fifty thousand ! and she is 60
ing to flat,en St. Jo. and lay her out so
cold that an iceberg would be comfort
able in feeling BY the side of her!
Leavenworth city thinks that she will
walk off with the trade. and St. Jo. and
Atchison will be no where. So goes
the war of the rival cities. We might
name others.and especially Kansas city.
as claimants for the palm but these
three seem to have the lead.
Of their rival merits rs outlets and
inle:s of trade, we shall speak hereafter
in an article on that subject. At pres
ent We shall confinc our remarks to
another aspect of the case involved in
their prosperity.
The great misfortune of almost all
western cities has been the wild and
visionary schemes Of those interested
in their first development. Spectators
get up fever. predict impossible Won
ders for the place they are interested
in, and run up the price of real estate
10 five and ten times its value. This
is the case now in these cities. Lols
are held as high in them as in ST. Louis.
This is worse than folly-it is folly
run mad Small vacant lots in Atc!-
ison are held at one thousand dollars,
when actually they would be dear at
two hundred' This bubble must burst
before that city can grow permanently
and prosperously. II ~iH be more than
ten years before tie surrounding lopula-
ton riN support ten thousand Inhabitants
in Atchison. The mad men there will
not believe this, but it is true. as time
will determine and the sooner they
come down to this matter -of-fact basis
Of growth and prosperity, the better it
will be for them there. Gas will sus-
tain its load for short sine; but il il is
not let of gradually and with discre-
tion. a collapse will always be the result
and collapses are always dangerous,
generally fatal.
The same remarks hold equally good
with St. 10. and all other. places where
the expectation Of the people is ahead