The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-29
THE PAST AND THE FUTURE.

A retrospective glance by way of comparing
progress is sometimes needful and is usually
agreeable, especially if the progress is marked.
If not, if on the contrary there is no percepti-
BILE advance, but rather a retrogression, no
occupation is more depressing than that of
meditating upon the past. AS an illustration,
take our beloved city. indianapolis has a
past, but good many people who have called
the place home for twenty years or more
prefer to turn their thoughts in some other
direction. There is a gloom over that past
because its beautiful promises have not
been realized. Once, it was in 1870 or there
aboits, glorious future pictured itself in the
minds of the inhabitants. Tt was a very
materialistic vision, and concerned itself in
the main with the rise in real estate. Town
lots in those days served chiefly as points
upon which to rest inverted pyramids of
figures, the lowest and smallest numbers
representing the first cost and actual value of
the ground, the intermediate sums the prices
paid by successive purchasers. and the last
and largest Of all the amount the last buyer
expected to realize, but which he never did.
This delightful dream soon vanished; like a
lovely bubble with irridescent sides, it burst
and left nothing but a tear. The hopes of
the lately sanguine citizens fell lower than
the prices of lots, and with such force that
they were buried out of sight. 1t has taken
a long and weary time for this city to dig out
cf %1a int viz, bxy@ he
lamented collapse of that celebrated boom,
and only recently has it fairly begun to
emerge. In view of all these facts. glimpse
at coming peace and prosperity is naturally
have been but never was. Let the citizen,
for instance, fix his minds eye upon Indian
apolis as 1t will be, say ten years hence, and
he will see sight to encourage him. First
and most striking change of all-he will
behold the place through clear and clean
atmosphere. No SCOT will mar the
fairness eff his face, nor inky water
drip upon his new spring suit, for
by that time-surely by that time
we shall be burning natural gas,
and coal smoke will be thing gone by.
Through this clear air he will discover many
an improvement. The streets themselves
win be transformed from noisy, bouldered
elevations into level, solidly-paved thorough
fares, on whose surface no filth accumulates
whose crossings are swept and whose walks
are cleared of distractions. There will be
street-cars, and they will run silently, swiftly
and on time, but the mules will not be there
They will be in green pastures, it may
be hoped, and if there is anything in the law
of compensation the fields in which they feed
will be very fair, to recompense them for their
Affections here. The prophetic sight-seer will
miss from the Circle the familiar log fires, the
teamsters' wagons and the stable doors which
render that little park spot of much
bucolic interest, and his ears viii no longer be
assaulted with vulgar and profane language
while passing through it. No longer will that
park give the keynote to the shiftlessness
and poor management of city affairs, but its
trim neatness will be sample Of the thrift
and order prevailing everywhere. and the
most magnificent soldiers and sailors monu-
ment in the world, rising in its center, will
make 1t the pride of the city instead of blot
and disgrace.
Looking about, the observer will notice
general air Of prosperity; new buildings in
every direction, new factories, an appearance
Of business activity no-sl as welcome, and,
strangest sight Of all, r. notable scarcity of
saloons This, he will be told. is due to the
thousand dollar license law. Another circum-
stance conducive to peace will be the existence
of viaducts. which'will enable the South-side
citizen to 90 up town without the risk of
being brought back in fragments. Locomo-
tive whistles will not blow, nor trains run at
dangerous rate of speed within the city
limits Streets viii be sprinkled
in summer and made safe for Pc
destrians in winter. Electric lights
will turn night into day, and Illuminating gas
will be twenty-five cents thousand feet.
Merchants and manufacturers will have
ceased to fear that some one viii discover the
nature and scope of their enterprises, aud will
advertise their business and their city liber-
ally, and will conduct themselves in the wide
awake manner now common to such citizens
in other regions. Representatives Of
outside capital VIII not be frozen out,
but gladly welcomed by those who once
showed only pitiful jealousy toward possible
rivals. One thing to remind the observer that
the millennium has not arrived will be the daily
II told you so" OF some evening paper. "As
we first declared five years ago." it will
remark, zone gas company cannot be trusted