Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-04
THE PACIFIC COAST.
Too Many Town Site Makers
and Too Few Producers
Out There.
SOME SLOPE SPECIALTIES.
How the Guarantee Method of Fruit
Farming Pans Out.
WORKERS WHO SHOULD GO THERE.
No Place for the Hewer of Wood and
Drawer of Water.
SOME SLOPE SPECIALTIES.
WORKERS WHO SHOULD GO THERE.
No Place for the Hewer of Wood and
Drawer of Water.
THE sHIFTLEss BETTER REMAIN EAST
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArCH.l

WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH.l
In a previous chapter the enterprising
"Town Boomer" OF the Northwest was per-
mitted to show by a glittering array OF
figures not only the great growth of that
section in the pasta growth which is not
disputable-but he also assumes that an
equal or greater ratio of increase is assured
In the future, and on this airy capital,
brains and Drawn are invited to enter into
the Promised Land" submit that the
proposition is untenable, delusive and mis-
leading. Nearly everybody believes that
there is greater probability of increase in
value of cheap available land than of dear
land or land that has already been
doomed beyond its normal value. As
the cheap Western land gives place to the
higher priced land it becomes less inviting
TO both labor and capital, and then the
corner stone of new "magic cities" disap-
pears. There are very many reasons why
the mushroom growth of the past cannot be
continued. Growing scarcity of tillable
land, restriction of foreign emigration,
scarcity of manufactures, poor prospects
for renlunerative labor, the growth of small
towns which operate as ''suckers" of the
growth and vitality of the larger cities-all
these contribute to show the fallacy of the
Boomers" proposition. In circular is
sued by the Board of Trade of Helena this
suggestive paragraph occurs; "St. Paul
and Minneapolis have their Chicago and
Duluth, Portland its San Francisco and
Tacoma, cities that not only share their
trade, but destroy the circle of their COM
mercial empire"
Artificial Growth Of Cities.
Between Fairhaven and Portland some
24O town SITES have been laid out. As
suming that many of these, at present
merely ''blue print" towns, will become
magic Cities" will they not draw away
Just so much population and trade from
larger and older cities, like Portland and
Seattle, and impair, if not destroy. the cir
Gle of that commercial empire? If you ac-
cept the business theory that large city is
q more desirable factor of growth than
number of smaller ones, would it not have
been better for every interest in the State
of Washington, except terminal specula-
ton, if the energy and capital
AID railroad backing which were
put into Tacoma had been added to
Seattle, and thus made one city of say 100
900 population. instead of two rivals, and
business ''cut-throats" of say $4,000 each?
The question answers itself. The growth of
Sound and Coast cities out here is in many
instances purely artificial Portland and
Seattle are commercial rivals When the
census of these cities showed a population
verging on 50, 600 each, it is related that
Portland got on a ''high horse" and said:
''This must not be. We will annex East
Portland and Albina and add 20, 900 or so to
our population, and Seattle must take
second place" Accordingly an annexation
was effected, and Portland now proudly
points to population of $4,000. They
forget in this comedy of ''The Rivals" that
mere annexation is not growth and the popu-
lation of Oregon had not increased single
soul bv this census fiction.
But to the outer world the census had
shown indeed a 'tmagic" increase of 5000
to 20, 900 souls in a single day! Very many,
If not most of the magic cities out here
ore laid out more with an eve to quickly en-
rich the "Town Sitter" than with any view to
future growth or greatness. 1 appreherd
that great cities are not made in that way.
1t has been tried with variations since the
birth of time and its projectors have not
been pleased with the outcome. This kind
OF booming makes an artlhclal and fungus
growth that is unreal ana is sure to be dis
appointing. Mere growth OF itself in a
country like the United States is the natur-
al condition. When Oregon or Washington
point to their growth we need only remark
that Pennsylvania, without a boom, has
grown % per cent in the last decade; that
the other Washington, ID. c., has grown 90
per cent, and that the United States has |
grown III 10 years 40 per cent. |
Natural Laws Must Govern Growth.
Growth. except under healthy and natural |
conditions. is not a thing to which we NAV |
point with pride. II depends on how yon |
look at it. Emerson saws the true test of |
growth is not the census or the crops, but
the k,ild oI men you turn out But that is
100 ,oo Pi,Iiosoi,i'i1al we" iol our purpose
I I 5I ltiIoie anu nos'i!to"n m"l siom up IN
1 oat anu uis'l pear in q uay. Du1 ,hG sranlte
tr,as 'ne ses Wien are
M'gs to Seli; nefer inaue d Guy
~ is ttie law ahu tie pr1Pnets Gities
sro" ".,u 1los seay onit Al iTIaiilies
W. Iiaue anu popIlaiion aaI r raturaliy cen
;oi d,s soou ee"i " Da5WInlanlsl, 5
,n ,a,rTaI .eIo,,;dpp o. .Tto SIiuhess, anu
IT, a,,ar-rat;o snoorIotnr ,,,a,, ~ q n' ~.
.se;. ;; anu t uuv iu I. ou MS !a'oi-
lN si'e' uut natuiai iass assert tnem-
,S ss1rts i'uh at soua Sse oCer Cl .ne map OF tne
a To,Jon nv" snS Iiraz anu 0Gn
md paris cbicaro and New W. W. 'enrue p;.ts
bnrr and Nv Orleans arc 1ocoted watas
,ars ons "nr I'D no.rrai adrant.oss a Ja.oJ ma.e
" s,.o cu rsi'n" a NJ oiI go ;.;e
;'to,doJ a;, ,,a. 90 %, go oi.e
hsurd pofn 0St ore In de,al ane
ipsuro cldlhiS VI llian. VI .iiese acluc Slope