, 1889-11-07
A DYSPEPTIC INSPIRATION.

Elsewhere in this paper we publish a
letter to the New York Sun, written by
Mary y. Putnam, NJ. b. We do this be-
cause ii will serve to amuse our readers
and not 10 sanction its absurd and pessi-
mistic conclusions. In reading this
dyspeptic outburst against the West In
general, tho reader is perplexed in an
endeavor to detect its aim. 1t is written
from Spokane Falls, and alludes to our
great fire, and sneeringly mentions
water power. Hence We conclude that
1t is directed against this city but In the
remainder of thc'sketch not the slightest
feature can be detected that in the faint
est manner resembles the city of Spo-
kane Falls. The false comparisons are
plain to the residents, but they are cal.
oulated to deceive the hundreds of thou
sands of Eastern readers of the journal
in which they are printed, and ncces-
sarily will have mischievous eject.
! 1t Is difficult to determine how best to
answer this illogical tgment of the
brain of wandering female physician.
The facts are SO numerous and so un-
answerable that it seems like turning
the concentrated fire of score of heavy
batteries upon 22.caliber revolver
In the first place, any reader possess
ing ordinary common sense knows that
you can not succeed in persistcntly de-
ceiving the people. That there have
been mushroom towns of the character
mentioned in this letter we do not pre-.
tend to dispute; but in no case have they
been cities OF commercial importance,
in every instance their resources were
speculative. But person with linger-
ing trace of judgment will attempt to
compare such towns with young
fiiantess like Spokane Falls, which al
ready has seven railroads pouring the
commerce of an empire into her lap
and whose trade relations extend into a
rich and fertile area as large as half a
dozen of the smaller Eastern states.
1t is not the purpose of the REVIEW to
speak of speculative resources, even
though many of them are assured be-
yond possibility of doubt. We shall
coniine ourselves to the elements OF
wealth actually here and in operation.
The growth of Spokane Falls has been
phenomenal, we grant; still 1t is not a
city of weeks building, nor of year.
For five years or more people destitute OF
/ judgment have been singing this same
old song OF Spokane's overgrowth, and
time has persistently failed to verify the
predictions of their miserere.
Mrs. Putnam takes a stroll along the
! Spokane river, and that which hun
dred experts have termed the most mag
nificent water power in the United States
she sneeringly terms Greek" 1t is II
very useful sort of creek after all,
| for it grinds our wheat, supplies power
I to scores of manufactures, lights our
homes and the streets of the city, and
carries our citizens totheir happy homes
ut night, and to their places of business
i i'll the morning. Very likely Mrs. Put
nam would prefer half mile frontage
down on the Swanee river to similar
l location on the Spokane. The shrew,l
and far-seeing men who control the cap.
ital of this country, however, take u diff
ferent view OF the matter.
Mrs. Putnam takes a walk through the
burned district, and pronounces the hun.
dred and odd five and six-story struct.
ures of granite, marble iron and brick
cheap, frame buildings The gentle
men who are erecting these structures,
and who weekly distribute fortunes
among an army of laboring men, look
differently upon the rising city.
So illogical is this writer that she is
confounded by her own article. After
writing Of these cheap, frame build.
ings," she proceeds to tell about the
great fire that consumed them with Il
loss of millions of dollars. In this grea.
conhagration which sent sadness to hun
the outside world u mighty wave of sym.
pathy, Mrs. Putnam can detect nothing
but poetic justice"
"And SO in the West she says, "his.
tory repeats itself from town to town."
At last, gentle Mary, you have struck a
mighty chord OF truth, Let us take u
brief glance at history's westward move.
ment and repetition. We have:
CINCINNArI.
CHICAGO.
ST. LOUIS.
KANSAS CITY.
MINNEAPoLIs AND ST. PAUL.
DENVER.
SAN Francisco.
PORTLAND.
SEATTLE.
TACOMA.
SPOKANE FALLS.
The foundation of states, the building
of cities, is no child's play, The West
is no place for the dreamer or the idler
No man is wanted who has i.ot some
equipment for the battle of lile. II an
Eastern man is so reckless as to cut his
home anchor and drift into the stirring
West without capital or skilled occupa-
ton, he should not complain IL all is not
fair sailing.
This letter will probably be productive
Of some injury to Spokane Falls. 1t is
printed in paper circulating hundreds
of thousands of copies, and will exert an
~ Al.