Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1886-12-29
Is IT WICHITA?
n III II Y " L
The Walnuts, Jan. 1886.

To the Editor Of the Eagle.
A remarkable feature of city building
throughout the world is that very nearly
all of the cities Of importance in commerce
have been built at one or the other end Of
a considerable valley, or in the middle of
some well defined geographical division of
the valley. | am rather fond of abstruse
philosophy in its relations to all things
thinkable, especially where things material
comprise the major part of the subject
thought of | also know AS an amateur
that daily newspaper is not, on account of
the brevity required in its every element,
the place TO air metaphysical disquisition;
even Though it should bear close relation
incidentally to such local and common
place things as outside additions and corner
lots
| find two principal divisions in the re-
quired clements for city building. First,
the exact natural location in its RELATIONSHIP
a maximum Of all those natural objects
which ages of progress have caused him to
need in his social and commercial inter
course with his kind. Second, the move
ments, of a people governed by inRumer-
able wants and peculiarities upon
the territory surrounding such nat
ural location In such a condition of
things admitting the truth Of the two
premises, it next remains for US to deter
mine, if we can, which premise is the
superior. If, as | apprehend most people
would contend, the main element is the all
powerful and controlling influence, then
building city is, regardless of location, a
matter purely of human enterprise. We
should in that event find CON. uercial cities
located upon more choice ground than
most of them are. Local patriotism would,
as it scarcely ever has been able to do,
locate cities upon certain ground in this or
that county or state; it would give a great
commercial emporium that which not one
of them ever had, lie, a purely sectional
provincial and auti-coSmOpelitan character
To illustrate. Rome was as the constrained
70 bber's camp of her earlier days, not the
grander commercial Rome of latter years.
Her Pantheon temple of all the Gods, and
consequently of all religions, amply proves
that the Caesars made this uneXampled
concession to all nations in the interest of
international trade When Rome became
again scctarian and provincial her CONNER
cial greatness departed The empire of
the Saracens carefully guarded the freedom
of commerce The cities of the Neither
lands sprsng from the bed Of the sea in a
time when the better parts of Europe were
by utter sectsrian and provin-
cialismS, which made trade subservient to
and ignorance. From these
examples it viii be readily admitted
that man eXerts under constrained
political and religious influences of his own
making a controlling power to given ex-
tent. Yet il only amounts to a brief inter
ruption or deviation of the irresistible
course of commerce.
In our own free country-free at least By
cemparison-no human influences ina very
degree have ever been able to
CONTROL the location of any commercial
city of much importance, except through a
first consideration as 10 c 'uvenience of its
location with regard To the objects in IA
ture which they needed. In commoner
1hraseology, the mountain rarely comes TO
Mahomet. save in very limited cases. Under
this law cities of considerable importance
are sometimes built NV the local preponder
ance of some specially desired natural pro
duct. as precious metals, coal. oil and etc,
Such cities. owing TO the general limit Of
knowledge possessed by the masses. are
frequently carried beyond their legitimate
size by blind faith in the vast extent of