The record-union., 1891-10-03
A HOME METROPOLIS NEEDED.

If time were afforded and the perview of
this discussion permitted, would be pleased
to present views have long entertained upon
the intToactive value existing between q great
commercial city and its supporting territory
Cities are the reservoirs of capital, and in
them the surplus wealth ofgreat communities
is accumulated. The capital thus engendered
by the wealth producing forces of a region
being at the center of that region, Is in natural
sympathy with its industrial development:
1t is in touch, as it were, with the business
activities and the progressive enterprise of the
region which it serves as an emporium. The
Pacific Coast needs u great home METROPOLIS
and our industrial progress Will necessarily
be retarded If the surplus wealth we generate
is to be accumulated in remote cities. The
wealth so accumulated would be q stranger to
our wants and lack intelligent perception of
our needs. 1t would be at such long range as
to be in the nature OF things timid, hating
ana uncertain. The entire western third of
the national domain needs here at the Golden
Gate metropolis in which to reservoir its
surplus capital, and conserve in the highest
degree the mercantile side of our industrial
production.
SO long as the commerce generated by the
products of this great territory must find inn
port and export in distant METROPOLITAN cities
that long Will there be wanting in our devel-
opment q potent factor. The surplus capital
accumulated at such long range suffers es-
arrangement, and thus impoverishes the re-
gion from which 1t is drawn On the other
hand, the wealth accumulated in q metropolis
belonging to our own region becomes a con-
staDtly augmenting force in Industrial and
commercial development. The present use
leSSnesS, in commercial sense, Of the ocean
which washes our shores is denying 10 us the
existence Of great commercial metropolis,
with its indispensable influence upon ali
growth and progress.
In my humble opinion the construction of
the canal means to us new position on the
commercial map of the world-the introduce
ton OF entirely new conditions, making pos
sible the full development of our vast natural
resources. The very statement itself is preg-
nant with meaning-"the development OF our
natural resources" These resources exist
They will be developed only if all the econo-
mics influencing and controlling their devel-
ment are fayoring, and they are so vast and
varied that their development necessarily
preSuppoSeS the existence of q vast population
tinding profitable employment out of the de-
velopment.
am aware that generalizations are danger
GUS and otttimes misleading: but conclude
this by calling your attention to one consider
alton, which seems TO me to exhaust the argu-
nent and close its conclusions in favor of this
resolution. Our industries and the commerce
they engender are burdened with the highest
bill of cost for transportation of any in the
world, both in their import and export as
poets. Whatever will cheaper that communi-
cation will proportionately relieve that bur-
den, and thus add TO the wealth-conferring
power of every industry In which we are en-
gagged. New activities will be possible to us
where more economic method of communi-
cation shall unlock our vast treasures of re-
sources. The wealth of country resides in
| the productive caractty of its people, and the