St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-23

and have become rich-as these form
erIy poor men now are by holding
Bernard michel still keeps his little
grocery store, corner Martin and Rice,
bat the bankers will tell you he is worth
hundreds of thousands, is large holder
of bank stock. and keeps big deposit
I account, and this he made in real estate
| Investments. And so Of the LawtOns, the
BTyants, NJ. ID. Miller, Blair, and hun
dreds Of others.
Commodore DayidsOn's millions and
Langevin's millions came i'll the same
way. Aside from all else he ever aid
single investment by Peter Berlley Of
$3.50 has made him near, if not quite,
$4,000
And regularly as the sun goes round
in his course. our wise men tell US
prices are above value" "Our growth
cannot always continue at this rate"
These thousands Of new dwellings
cannot be filled" There are more
business blocks than will be needed for
five years" ''Where are the people to
come from to fiji all these offices?" etc
1 have heard these same stale phrases
yearly, for twenty years. and still the
poor parrots repeat them over and over,
and they express the sum Of their
knowledge.
Ask almost any man of fair intelli-
gcnce what he thinks our population
will be in 1880, and he'll probably an
Wer 100000. What in 1900? and the
answer will be, most probably 600,0O0-
and so say we all. But do we know
what this means? Do even the conser-
natives realize what territory 100000
more peOple-Or even POO, 900 more pe0-
pie will cover? What area will
ha nnnaIhaH -
the West Seventh street dis
trict as far out as Randolph
street. will be covered with costly bust
| ness structures, and lots now worth
81 300 or 5000 be worth $4,000 to
$4,000; that the cable line will be eX-
tended on east Seventh street, two or
three miles beyond where they are now
building the power house, and that lots
on Seventh now worth $1,000 will be
worth $500 per front foot; that
not one, but several cable lines
will connect us with Mime
apOlis; that the Middle District
must become like "Woodland park" and
have its local business centerS where
property viii be worth $500 to $500 per
front foot? That by well graded high
ways and by railways and motor lines
all our beautiful lakes will have been
made easy of access and the lands on
their shores have become immensely
valuable?
That the population and trade at
South st. Paul and at Fort Smelling and
Mendoza will have so increased as to
Justify a motor line connection? That
the Highlands OF West St Paul will
have become to st. Paul what Mt. Au-
burn and Clifton Heights and Avon
dale are to Cincinnati? That Eighth,
Ninth, Tenth. Eleventh and Twelfth
streets will have become what Third
and Seventh streets now are? That
many new railways will have
entered the city; many new
industrial Centers have followed. and
that in all the lines there will be sta
tons at intervals of three to five miles,
and so the surrounding vacant diStric IS
will have become densely populated?
That one of the most beautiful suburban
districts to be found near any city will
be between White Bear and Bald Eagle
and Birch lakes. with hourly cOnnec-
tion with st. Paul, Minneapolis and
Saltwater?
see the smile cf incredulity on the
faces of the same witty men who de-
Clined to buy lots in West st. Paul, say
ing they would wait till spring and buy
them by the gallon-on the faces of the
same wise men who thought the man
was a fool who bought the Ramsey
farm at 500 per acrC-nOW covered all
over with houses; who stood by and
saw the Warmers sell hundreds of lots
for the Choteaus at 800 each below the
Merchants" pointing TO the buyers
aud whispering to the man next to
them: The fools are not all dead yeti"
who thought Merriam and llinkei looney
for plating Merriam Park and Union
Park.
Who ever yet, in predicting what
given number of years would accom-
pliSh for st. Paul, came up to the act
ual results? Twelve years ago, i'll adj
dressing the Ramsey county pio-
neerS." | predicted that in twenty-five
years the dual cities would have
population of 100000 and was thought
visionary, and yet each of them have
that number to-day. and not half the
time has elapsed. Every prediction |
then made for twenty-five years has al
ready been realized.
The errors of the blind in this case
do not affect only themselves. If we
all had a full comprehension of our
future ana its needs, we would at once
and at any cost widen Eighth and
Minnesota streets twenty feet, and nave
at least one north ana south street, and
one east and west street, with fifteen
feet sidewalks to relieve the other
streets from the crowd col pedestrians,
and have two irSt-claSS retail streets.
1t must be done.
Every years delay adds to the cost
and difficulty.
If we comprehended our future we
would not be satisfied with a little If
regular lot for pOStotfice site, and
with S750,000 for the building on it.
That will not answer our needs for
more than ten or twelve years. A full
square for a site and S3.000.000 for a
! building is the least we should accept.
Better go along as we are for five
years than take less.
If we understood our future we would
ut once go to work to secure the build
ing of a capitol in the Midway district
to be completed in four or five years
that would be creditable to the city and
state. costing not less than S5,000.000.
If we had understood our future we
would, five years ago, have secured 500
! or 600 acres for a cemetery at One-fourth
of what it would now cost. If we I'M
derStood our future we would at once
open negotiations with Minneapolis for
the Joint purchase of 1000 acres between
the cities for the same purpose.
If we understood our future we
would thunder in the ears of congress
our continuous demands for millions to
improve the navigation of the upper
Mississippi, from st. Paul TO Rock
Island, instead of few hundred thou
sand.
1t is the kinglieSt river on this or any
continent, and the productions of its
valley exceed those of any like area on
the globe. 1t is yet to be the most
potential factor in promoting the
growth of ST. Paul. 1t is vitality i'm
portant that we realize that we live i'll
city soon TO contain 4 million of people
that is at the head of navigation of
ris,l Of l,o baS