Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-01
SACRAMENTO.
Annual Exhibit of the
Trade of the City.
Our Industrial, Business and Edu-
GatiOnal Statistics.
Business Of the City Advances
S4,894,225 Over 1882.
Aggregate for 1883, s45,5e6,loo,
Against s4o,7ol ,875 for 1882.
IMPROVED REAL ESTATE VALUES.
Twelve Per Cent. Increase in Business
Twenty-one Per Cent in Shipments.
Reasons for the Growth and Commercial
Advancement of the City.


Sacramento, the Capital of the State,
occupies position which draws upon her
the critical gaze of all sections. 1t is
oftener misfortune than otherwise for a
city not yet fully matured to become the
seat of government. In many cases this
political arrangementinvitesu unfair compar-
isons, makes her the target for envy and
the object of jealousy, while she is looked
upon too often as State pensioner, subsist-
ing upon such prey as official necessity
throws within her reach. Doubtless, in
some instances, there are grounds for
much of this antagonism, but a more Sc
rious evil results from the location of
Capital within the limits of munich
pality. 1t is found in the reliance the citi-
zens of the locality are apt to place upon
its political attachment, to the neglect of
natural resources and the stagnation of
enterprise. When, therefore, a city which
has been chosen as the seat of government
for
STATE THE SIZE OF AN EMPIRE,
Rich as the tabled and favored before all
nations in climate, resources, soil and the
energy of her people when city such as
ours has been thus set apart, on account
of her centrality of position, as the
most suitable place for the seat of the
State government, it becomes the central
object Of criticism, and if it rises superior
to its political position, develops its
natural resources, establishes a wide and
permanent trade, and takes its position
among commercial cities, it achieves a
triumph in the face Of great obstacles
which is indicative of great native strength,
self-reliance and positive business advan-
tlges Such is the position of Sacramento
to-day. She is no longer the mere Capital
Of the Golden State ; to that dignifed posi-
tion, of which she is justlyproud, she adds
the loftier one of the second city on the
Pacific coast in commercial Importance.
HER COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE.
That Sacramento, the beautiful city of
the plains, is entitled to this position,
Tears no rival luNlIG5 COlll DCILG.OLs dhu
Yields not a jot or title to that claim, is
demonstrated with such convincing GER
tainty that the impartial mind cannot re-
sist that conclusion when they read what
follows regarding Sacramento. Prepare
tory to the recital of proofs in detail, which
will prove as interesting and of as vital i'm
portauce to other citizens of the State as
to those located here, it becomes necessary
= IL,
the completion of the railroads diverging
from Sacramento, the city was connected
directly with the seaboard and the great
commercial centsr of the Pacific, that phe-
nomenal city of wondrous growth, marvel
GUS energy and fabulous wealth, which sits
as a queen of the ocean at the mouth of
the finest harbor of the world, and
stretches forth her scepter Of power over
thousands of miles of sea coast, over the
islands of the Pacific, over a domain of
untold wealth and marvellous possibilities,
and touches with the finger OF her COM
merce the shores of distant continents. By
the same means Sacramento was brought
within easy reach of the markets of the
world and the older cities al the West.
THE FORMER POSITION.
Prior to that event Sacramento was the
market town for the territory reaching
northward to the Columbia, southwark to
the barrier mountains of Inyo and Alpine,
east to the deserts of Nevada, and
westerly to the mouth of the majestic
river that laves her feet To her maTt3
the great valley of the Sacramento. the
hundreds of mining towns in the Sierras,
the busy villages on the agricultural plains,
the farmers in the foothills, the miners in
the gulches, tle lumbermen on the noun
tain SUBMITS, all contributed. Here was
their chief and most accessible market,
here they poured out their plenteous
wealth, and Sacramento, failing to read the
future in the light Of the past of other
cities. sst content with the riches heaping
in her lap, and closed her eyes to the inev-
table which the future held plainly to
view. So ingrained was the confidence and
belief that Sacramento would hol / by per.
petusl Tenure the position she then had,
and be tribute-taker from the great heart
OF California forever, that even to this day
there are not wanting men so color-blnd |
that they fail to see the fictitious position |
she occupied who are stll ohlivious to !
the truth and still bewai the means !
which stripped from the city at one |
grasp the delusive garment Of self |
conceit and fancied security. Such still |
fail to see that the days OF old have gone,
that new methods OF transport alton, new |
mediums of INSTRUMENTATION, and more |
certain and rapid means Of transit, have |
worked revolution demanding the enforce
ment OF the true laws OF business, the |
arousing of dormant energies. and the en-
ployment of new measures of commerce. |
-, 80 So Lat
able as the laws OF nature the basic de.
crees of commerce are as interchangeable as
the edicts of the Supreme Power; they are
born OF natural causes; they produce
natural and unvarying results While
faith and trusttulness are at the founda.
ton of trade and commercial intercourse,
and business transactions of every kind,
they must rest upon firm foundations.
COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE
Is never achieved by accident-it is al.
ways the result OF convenience and true
economy. Sacramento's former position
was that Of circumstance, accident and
temporary necessity when the circum.
stances were changed, the accident re-
placed by the railways, the necessity re.
moved by competition, Sacramento stood
face to face with her fate. She could no
longer command her trade she must seek
it. Commerce flowed in seemingly re.
sistless tide past her doors and paused
only upon the busy market places of San
Francisco. II Sacramento would divert
the stream, even in part, she must
plunge boldly in and battle with the cur.
rent. While bordering upon the situation
the change still went on, and the city
gradually lost the supremacy she had held
over the trade of tae interior. With
this conviction came the realization that
she must now enter the competitive field,
and do so over the same lines of transport,
through the same channels Of trade, by ,
kae same means of communication, which ,
were open to her powerful rivals east OF 1
the Rocky mountains, and her apparently |
irresistible competitor upon the west. 1t
was no longer a question admitting of
loubt Sacramento must enter the lists
md conquer a victory, or sink to the in s
ignifcance of a village living upon State
patronage, and based upon the unstable 6
oundation upon which political capital a
0 often stands.