Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-05-02
OLYMPIA'S PROSPERITY.
What We Must Do to Promote It.

What We Must Do to Promote It.
While it really seems that Olympia
has entered upon a season OF perma-
nent prosperity, it is well to consider
the conditions which tend to promote
and ensure continuation OF the prog
ress so auspiciously begun. The great
danger, it must be admitted, is in over
doing the matter OF approaching real
estate values; the placing OF fictitious
rather than true values upon lands |
and holding them purely for specula-
tive purposes. There is too much of
the stock gambling element in system
atically conducted booms. The very
nature of the business is dependent
upon fluctuations in values The
"bull' OF to-day becomes the "bear"
OF to morrow, and joins IA just as earn
est an endeayor to pull iown what he
has helped to build up. High pressure
methods may be effective but they are
exceedingly dangerous when the engi-
n.er loses his head and weights the
safcty-value.
The object OF those who seek to pro-
mote permanent welfare should be
to enlist the cooperation Of as many
bona Fl u home seekers, or those in
tent upon developing local resources,
as is possible. 1t is better for the
community, and in the long run more
profitable to the operator, to sell one
OF in each block OF large holding to
the man who will improve it, to selling
whole blocks to SPECTATORS whose sole
object is to unload at an advanced
price. 1t is evident that there must
he an end to such method, while a
system which will increase the value
of a tract in proportion as the lots are
sold, gives an intrinsic value to the
reality which will command its price
at anytime. Too little thought is
given to this important fact. Too
many are intent on the present oppor-
tunity, without thought of the health
of the goose which is laying the golden
eggs. 1t may sicken; it may die; and
then too late will we realize that the
point Of the moral was lost, when its
wisdom, if needed, might have been of
the greatest service.
Olympia. to-day, at Portland, Seattle.
and Tacoma, stands in the front rank
OF progressive cities. 1t was not so a
few weeks ago. What has caused the
change? Simply the manifestation Of
. little Of the enterprise which has
been productive of such grand results
oil around us. A speedy compliance
with the requirements for railroad con-
nection indicated that Olympia had
some backing from her own citizens !;
that they had confidence in her ability
TO enter the race with hope of success.
This was the leaven. Confidence
speedily begets confidence, when there
is . manifestation Of .earnestness and
sincerity, and the fact was noted in the
wide-awake business centers long be-
fore many Of our citizens had rubbed
their eyes after awakening. The re-
suit was that many Of the first prizes
were drawn by far-sighted people from
abroad, who have invested simply to
make money; men whose judgment is
seldom at fault, and whose plans are
controlled a. systematically as the
moves on = chessboard.
Olympia must not, however, depend
for future benefit upon those specula-
tors who have invested simply to sell
out. It is the men who carry forward
enterprises as the basis of operation,
who encourage the home-seeker by
according him special inducements for
improvement and occupation, who
give tangible proof Of the faith they
possess by their business methods,
that will ensure future progress. Some
of our most active dealers in real estate,
we are pleased to observe, are at work
on this basis. Others are not. They
ride up the steepest hills, while the
true workers put their seoulders to
the coach-wheel to keep it going.
It should b. understood now, that
the start in the race is not all that is
needed. We must make some self
sacrifice to keep ahead. Continued,
persistent, intelligent effort must be
directed towards the grand object
sought, if the fate Of the once doomed
cities Of California and the decadence
OF some nearer home, is not our lot.
Live and let live is the only rule in
business that stands the test of time.
1t should be applied now, and every
step of progress made = point OF ad-
vance Of the whole community. II
this is done we will be invincible.
JULEs Vernes' theories are not so
much matter Of conjecture when we
find such prominent civil engineers, as
A. H. Demsford, advocating the use
Of dynamite to force northwest pas,
sage through the Arctic regions. He
declares that "As for the proposition
that We can open q sea, we must re-
member that the ice is not Of great
thickness, and that we 1ave'a power
full explosive that is perfectly effective
when frozen and that every mass of
ice touched in the source OF the stream
flowing southwark will float away of
itself. The advantages to be gained
by the opening of the sea and the
anelioration Of the climate can scarce
~ be overestimated, rendering habita-
bic the shores OF the Arctic and the
growth there of civilized communities,
and opening . direct route to the Pa
cific coasts Of America and Asia. Thus
would be opened lands suitable to COL
0nization within easy reach of Great