Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-01-07
THO CITIES.

There is, probably, no better indication of
the relative commercial standing of cities
than the amount of freight and passenger
receipts by the several railroads centering or
passing through the respective towns. By
far the greater part of the business Of mod
ern cities passes over the railroads both COM
ing to and passing out of the hands of the
merchants and manufacturers. We have,
therefore, tolerably infallible guide by
which We may judge of the relative business
of all the cities in the country. A compari-
son between the dual cities of st. Paul and
Minneapolis is not out of place OF this time,
especially when the latter is laying claim to
commercial importance in this locality.
We regret that the data of some of the
roads, having exclusive connections with st.
Paul, are not 10 be had, while all the railroad
business of Minneapolis is readily obtain
able.
From statistics at hand from railroads e1-
elusive of the st. Paul, Minneapolis & Mani
toba, the Northern Pacific, and the st. Paul,
Saltwater & Taylors Falls roads-all St.
Paul feedsrs-it appears that the receipts for
passengers at st. Paul during 1879 amounted
to 1903, 561.16, and at Minneapolis to $146,-
SS6.9S, difference in favor of st. Paul of
$156,6741S. The receipts from freight at
st. Paul were 1852, O07.62, and at Minnea-
polls 1896, 044.41, q difference in favor of ST.
Paul of 1858, 1921. The number of pas
sengers going from and coming to st. Paul
was 37s, 7Os, and going from and coming to
Minneapolis 323,2S5, a total difference be-
tween the two cities in favor of st. Paul of
5,423. The receipts of wheat and other
grain at st. Paul have been more than
quadruple those at Minneapolis as
far as heard from. The difference be-
tween the business of the two cities would
be largely increased by reports from the rail-
roads we have mentioned, which do business
almost exclusively with st. Paul, and by the
statistics of the river trade, which belongs
wholly to this city, so that it will be seen that
the transportation business of st. Paul is
more than three times in value and bulk that of
Minneapolis. In but two articles-four and
lumber-does Minneapolis have the advan-
tage over st. Paul, but even in these the diff
ference is slight.
1t is impossible to conceive how person
with reasoning capacity can, in view of the
facts We have mentioned, claim that the two
cities are anywhere near equal in business
importance. st. Paul is the great commercial
center of the Northwest. The railroads of
distributing point for the produce of an en-
pire of wonderful productiveness. Its bust
ness men are wide awake, enterprising and
liberal. Their facilities for supplying the
wants of the people are unrivalled by the
merchants of any city of three times its pop
ulalion on the continent. Its wholesale trade
far exceeds in volume that of any city west of
Chicago and north of st. Louis. 1t covers
thousands of miles of territory, and trenches
upon the domain that for many years Chi
cago considered as exclusively her own. To
say that a city with one-third of its freight
receipts exceeds this city in the volume of
its business IS to utter q patent falsehood
The two cities are not to be compared with
each other in that respect, for ST. Paul is
proportionally as much in the lead of Min
neapolis as Chicago is of Milwaukee. Here
all the commercial business of the country
centers, and here it will continue to come
| until st. Paul shall control the trade of the
Northwestern States and territories as we'll