, 1881-11-04
How TO KILL A TOWN.

earnest soul who always cut through
to the pith of his subject, and whose
plain speaking did more good than
all the palaver ever expressed, had
this to say Of killing new towns: "li
you want a town TO keep from thrlV-
ing don't erect any more buildings
than you can conveniently occupy
yourself. If you should accidentally
have an empty building, and any one
should want to rent it, ask three
times the value of it. Demand n
Shylock price for every spot OF
ground that God has given you stew
ardship over. Turn cold shoulder
to every mechanic and business man
who seeks to make home with you.
Look at every new conner with q
scowl. Run down the work of every
new workman. Go abroad for wares
rather than TO seek to do business IN
your midst. Fail to advertise, or in
any other way to support your news
paper, so that the people abroad may
not know whether business is going
on In that town Or not. Wrap your
self within yourself with a coat OF
impervious selfishness. There is no
more effectual way to retard the
growth of town than actions like
those enumerated, aud there are peo-
pie who are pursuing the same course
every day of their lives, and to whom
the above remarks are respectfully
offered for their consideration"
All along the Pacific coast, and
especially on Puget Sound, there are
towns that rapidly ortstrip others in
growth, without any apparent advant'
age of commercial position or sur
roundings. Years ago, when bust
ness men wanted to start shipyard
ut Port Townsend, it was thought of
little moment that they were asked
such fabulous prices for ground to
operate on that they concluded not
to start, and that the shipyard went
to Port Ludlow, and finally to Port
Blakcley. When others wanted to
start n sash and door factory here,
and received such Encouragement
that they located at Seattle instead,
nobody seemed to care. Indeed, iso
lated instances like either of the
above neither make nor kill place.
but the result of their tendency is
tangible enough to be appreciated
by the dullest of our readers. Twen'
ty years ago there was hardly enough
OF Seattle to call a town. Port
Townsend, then the superior of hel
neighbor, and ever since enjoying &
vastly better commercial location
has plodded along at snail's pac'
until to~day she sees herself out
numbered in population four to on'
by the latter, and indications point
ing to a still wider diverging of thei
paths. The unthinking man proba
bly, notices such results as thes
without inquiring seriously wB,
they occur so. To such we ma,
remark that they are not occasionet
by any great burst of enterprisin!
action on the one side, nor to an,
marked lack of it on the other
They are the natural and necessar
sequence of just such small matter
as we have described. The polio
which led Port Townsend busines
men to allow small manuiacturin,
enterprises to go to Seattle, wher
they might have been kept here, ais
constrained them to stand with folde,
arms while Seattle business me-
secured control of the steam carryin,
trade on local routes, going by ou
very noses (and even forty and Gft,
miles beyond us) and gathering
weekly orders for goods in larg
amounts. Thus the country trad
which should have been altogethe
tributary to this place has been par
TALLY turned out of its natura. chan
mel to enrich another town.
| We do not speak of these thing
in spirit of fault-6nding with indi
viduals, but merely to point out tn
true reasons why Port Townsend
with natural advantages in location
harbor, &C., unsurpassed on m
coast, has grown SO slowly. l.
Conner, even, will catch US vet if W,
do not move along faster. OF course
the growth we have made has beer
permanent and healthy, and it is t.
be hoped that there may be a new
departure soon in the matter of tn,
rapidity of its development. MAJ i
not be the time for business awak
ening has arrived? The present sea
sons showing has foreshadowed suel
result. Now, if the proper and mos
effective means of growth be kept il
view, the desired end may soones
be reached.