The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-30
INDIAEAPOLIss BUSINESS PROSPECTS.


The closing days of 1886 find indianapolis
and its business interests ia better condition
than they have been for many years. We do
not speak Of mere surface indications, though
these are encouraging, but of those of deeper
and wider import which go to make up the real
commercial status of the city in its relations
to the present and the future. 1t is useless
to deny that Indianapc,i is has been under a
cloud. For quite a number Of years it was
in hard luck. To begin with, it was terribly
inflated before the great panic of 1873. That
very imitation, however, proved there was
something in the location or advantages of the
city to justify it. to lead mon to think and
basis, either real or supposed. Men do not
go wild about nothing. That a good many
did go pretty wild about indianapolis during
a few years preceding the great panic is quite
true, but there was some method / in their mad
ness. The location Of the city as the geo.
graphical and commercial metropolis of the
State, its railroad facilit 3, its advantages as
a manufacturing and distributing point, and
as a livestock market, not to speak of its at
justify a belief thai it had a
| great future before it. It had
and has. The general belief of that time,
based on the facts mentioned, begot a boom.
The boom was overdone. The future of the
city was discounted-in billiard phrase, double
discounted. The advantages were here, but
they were prematurely forced and banked
upon too heavily. Men lost their heads, and
later their money. The city was inflated be-
yond all reason. 1t was a beautiful balloon,
but too beautiful to last. 1t could not soar
always. When the boom collapsed, it col
lapsed completely. When the balloon came
down it was with adull thud. When the city
fell, it fell hard. This was ten or twelve
years ago. 1t seems almost like ancient his
tory. After the collapse recovery was very,
very slow. There were years of hard and
painful struggles. The city had got a very
black eye, two of them, in fact, and they
were a long time healing. Then came the
bank failures, one after another, wiping out a
large amount of active capital and impoverish.
ing or crippling hundreds who had escaped the
real estate panic. So one disaster followed
another until it seemed as if the run Of i'll
luck would last till the crack of doom. The
city was like a ship in the trough of the sea-
foundering about, unable to make Roadway. 1t
got a bad name in the business werld. Travelling
men and drummers talked about it as q dead
town, and too many of its own citizens echoed
the talk. Many of the latter had reason
enough to feel discouraged. But all the time
the solid advantages of the city were here,
and all the time its future was secure-more
secure than ever before. Sagacious men saw
this and never lost faith in the city's outcome.
Its best business men showed admirable pluck
and nerve. Too much praise cannot be
awarded them for their course in this regard.
They stood by the city through evil report as
they had through good, doing business under
great disadvantages, some years at a loss,
making the best of the present and trusting
to the future for better times. All honor to
our brave business men. Their vindication
mas come. The dark days of indianapolis are
past, and the clouds that have Swallowed her
course in recent years are lifting. The nat
ural advantages of the city are again assert
ing themselves, but in a different way
from that of fifteen years ago. Instead
of begetting q boom they are causing a healthy
revival of business. Instead of an era of wild
imitation they are ushering in an era Of stead
lily improving trade. The revival is not COM
ing, ii is here. There is no discounting the
future this time, no kite-fying, no sending up
of balloons. 1t is a healthy revival Of bust
ness, the inevitable result of natural causes.
Never before was the business of the city in as
healthy a condition as it is to-day, and never
were the prospects better for continued
healthy growth. The city has a bright future
before it-brighter than it had a dozen years
ago, because its resources and advantages are
better understood and its business men know
better how to utilize them. The close of the
year 1886 will find the business of the city in
better shape, and its future prospects brighter
than ever before.
Hon. L. M. CAMPBELL, Senator from Hen
bricks county, who was elected as an indie