St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-05-18
81. JOhnSbury.-SOme Of its Adj
Vantages and one of IFS Wants.

VantageS and one Of its Wants
The prospects are that large amount
of money will be expended in st
JOhnsbury this season in the erection
and improvement of public buildings
Work upon some of them has com
menced, and the completion of arrange
ments is all that delays the commence
ment of operations on others. This is
gratifying indication. 1t shows that
this model and typical New England
town has a healthy financial fOunda-
ton; and while st. JOhnsbury can
boast of some fine public buildings,
there is room for many more. While
| there is IA remarkable and an unusual
activity i'll the erection of public build
lngs, there is a corresponding degree
of inactivity in regard to the erection
of tenement houses. With such busy
season in prospect, what would hinder
wOrkmen locating here more than the
scarcity of tenements This COM
plant is universal. There are over one
hundred wOrkmen employed in this
place who have more than a mile and IA
half of trave! to and from their work :;
and there are probably more than
twenty-five who live more than two
and half miles from their place of
daily labor, while several drive five
miles. One man comes from Lyndon
Corner and another drives in every
working day from Il point in Barnet
eight miles from the scale shops where
he is employed. There are also cases
where parties have removed from the
place because of their inability to Sc
cure tenements adapted to their needs.
Not only is there IA positive loss in
every such case, but there is negative
loss in the unwillingness or inability
of people to remove here from other
places because of the scarcity of suit
able tenements. The increase and en-
largement of our industries have
tendency to call people from other
places, but they get discouraged in the
search for tenementS. The advantages
of st. Juhnsbury Academy and the
AthenRum are widely known in this
section of the state and elsewhere,
which, together with the exceptionally
pure moral tone of the community,
make this Il most desirable place for
the education of youth. While board
ing-houses are useful institutions, they
do not build up place in charging its
grand list and making corresponding
reduction in the rate of taxation. vet
they furnish resort for those who seek
them for relief from the perplexing
search for tenements. Building has
not kept pace with the natural increase
of population and the accessions which
the place has had by reason of its in
dustrial, educational and other advan-
tages. 1t is hard to understand why
this state of affairs should exist. 1t is
not because there is no capital in st.
JOhnsbury, and it is not because all
the capital is employed or in operation.
Cottages suitable for small families
could he built for comparatively small
sums of money, and many of them
could be rented before the ground
should be broken. Residences, we are
well aware, cannot be built on paper
or in a newspaper article; but good
service will have been done the town,
if one of the greatest needs of st. Johns
bury to-day is brought anew and afresh
to those who have the ability and the
means to relieve the pressure which is
working against the advancement of
its material interests.