Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1869-05-05
VOLUME XXI.
{. The Fogy Family.
/, ST. Louis Democrat

. Ine F0Sy Eam1ly.
From the ST Louis Democrat.
We sometimes hear men talk as if
all tire stupidity and fogyism in the
universe was concentrated in ST.
Louis There is enough of it, to be
sure. Especially, there are quite a
number of that class of men who
like to get rich by sitting on their
land and doing nothing, while the
enterprise and labor of those around
them makes their property double in
value. Who does not know these
fossils, who own large tracts in the
city and leave them unimproved and
refuse to participate in any of the
measures by which the business of
st Louis can be increased and it's
growth FASTENED? They argue, "St.
Louis will grow without my risking
a dollar. 1t will prosper without my
giving a cent to railroads or bridges,
or to any other enterprise. Other
men will have to do all these things
to keep themselves alive. / can just
sit idle, risking nothing, and get the
lions share of their work and risk
the outlay. / make the rest of the
city work for me ~
But st. Louis does not enjoy a
monopoly of them. Chicago, it seems
has at least one member OF the fami-
ly. The Tribune supplies the world
with a photOgl aph of him, as fol-
lows:
"There is a man living in Chicago
who is very rich, and Is Well known
for two things: One is his great
wealth, which has been made by the
rise>Of real estate in Chicago; and
the other is his certain and unvary-
of the city. The growth of this un-
rivaled city it is that has made him
so rich, and that growth has taken
place not only in defiance of his judg-
ment and expectations, but also in
defiance of all he could do To prevent
it. There is not an Improvement
that Chicago has ever made, not one
of the enterprises or institutions that
has built it up and given it the dis
| tinction it has abroad for bold ener-
gy and sagacity, that has not found
| in him an active opponent. I'e
| fought our pavements, he scout i
our waterWorks, he denounced our
tunnels-both LAX e and river; he is
ever abusing and berating our school
system, and he cannat endure the
| religion of salaried preachers and in-
| evitable pew rents. He has always
| been croaking over every scheme OF
| improvement. and prophesying ruin
from every effort of progress. To him
all things are visionary, crazy, inIat-
ed and eXtravagant. 1t is true that
| everything has turned out Just eX-
actiy the opposite of what he pro-
claimed, and the city vas never SO
prosperous, nor so rich, nor so full OF
hope and promise as it is to-day
| But he learns nothing from the past,
and only croaks more loudly and
| more hOaraely, and still fights with
| the same old Gercenes5 and just as
bitterly against every improvement.
| You hear him now, loud AS ever,
croaking and s fri,mbling about the
parks. The disease with him is both
| chronic and violent, and, we feaf,
entirely incurable. The only way is
| to let him go on croaking and grumb-
| ling, make the parks in spite OF him,
and add still more to his wealth by
carrying through the improvements
right in the face of his opposition.
That man is clearly eur brother.
| And in Cincinnati also there is a
complaint of the same kind, and one
paper, stealing a remark made by us
long ago, insists that the one thing
needful in Cincinnati, as in st. Louis,
is, "fifty first class funerals" Fifty
funerals in high life, as quickly as
possible-what a blessed change they
would make!
Misery loves company, and it Will
be a consolation to the enterprIsing
men of ST. Louis to know that the
Fogy family curses other cities also.
But it does no good to talk to these
people. Blowing them up is as fruit
less as the lashing of the wind around
an old stump. Fogy knows perfect
ly well that nobody loves him. He
knows that the whole city thinks
him a mean and selfish curmudgeon;
that his neighbors despise him, and
that enterprising business men re-
gard him as they would vampire.
He knows that men will give thanks
when they hear the bell toll for him.
Hence, no human feeling, no SEN
timent of common interest in the
welfare of the city, ever moves that
fossilized heart. AS for newspaper
scribblerS, what should he care for
them ? They may say what they
please, and he Will answer with Shy
lock,
''Tili thou canst rail the seal from on my bond
Thou but offend ST thy lungs TO speak so loud -
There are his title deeds there his
land, there his rent rolls. No public
censure will rail his rent away, and
all he newspaper articles in the
wo Id will never deprive him of his
land, or make 1t fall in value. On
the contrary, the very public spirit
which newspapers stimulate leads
other men To invest their money for
the benefit of Fogy. Therefore, let
them rail- he says, "and L will
pocket my cash ~ What blessed
thing il is that some men are foolish
enough to be enterprising