St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-17
THIRD STREET AGAIN.
A Property Owners. Claim 70
This Business Center.

n property owner s. Cta1m IOr
This Business Center.
To the Editor of the Globe.
'''Tis thrice the brinded cat hath mewed,
And thrice the hedgehog whined.
And thrice again TO make up nine"
But Still | have to thank the GLOBE
for one article on the decadence of
Third street without reference to the
valuable property on Sixth street or
elsewhere. You see we are making
Roadway, and at this rate will get down
to bedrock in time.
What started the exodus from Third
street of the very few firms who have
left it was, as you say, ''to secure lower
suitable accommodations" 1t is how
ever freely admitted that the rush in
former years of business men to get on
Third street ran up rentals largely
above their legitimate value, and out of
proportion to both the capital invested
in, and the business done by the occu-
pants. When cheaper rents were offered
on other streets few business houses
availed themselves of the low rents and
bonuses and left the street. And why
not? They will all come back when
rents are cheaper OH Third street than
where they are now.
But candidly, can the business men
of st. Paul expect metropolitan accom-
modationS at village rents? A careful
personal inquiry at Chicago two years
ago developed the fact that five to six
story buildings of fifty feet front and
about 125 feet depth rented at from siS,-
600 to $4,000 per year, aud IN a few
cases of exceptionally desirable corners
the rents were still higher than the last
named sum. Stores of 100 feet front,
to 10 stories high, were far above these
rates. The tenants found no difficulty
in paying the rents, for the reason that
Chicago commands the trade of more
than 100000 people, aud the business
they do justities it. Ii tenants will, or
can pay these rents, bring them forth,
and the accommodations will be fur
nished for them on Third or any other
street.
1t certainly is in every way more de-
Sirable, for the city .and its prosperity.
that ST. Paul should be known as a
place where goods can be purchased
cheaply, than as city of palatial stores
and high prices. The very instinct of
the farmer, mechanic and laboring man,
upon whom all good business must have
its foundation securely built, drives
him from these eXtravagant surround
ings. where he knows by intuition that
it must necessarily add to the cost of
what he buys.
The construction of all. these eXtrava-
CANT and costly buildings erected on
borrowed capital from outside the city
is of questionable value. Every cent of
the rents go to aliens and strangers,
and makes q constant drain upon the
people. When one citizen pays his
rent to his nelghbOr, the money remains
with US. Let us all go in for economy,
large sales and small profits, and | give
you my word we Will do the people
more good than building extraYagaut
and useless buildings, until such time
as we can do so without borrowing the
money from Europe and the East.
In your article on Third street printed
in this mornings GLOBE. in reference
TO the influence of newspapers OIL the
subject under discussion, you say:
This thing has come about gradually,
and this talk OF the newspapers crying
down Third street, and killing it, is alb
Surd. Newspapers can nelthe r make
nor unmake street." If this view of
the case be correct. fear you have
proved entirely too much, as | have
always believed in the power of adyer-
Using to make or unmake whatever it
touched, even down to the fortunes of
mice and men," And yet you say it
can neither make nor unmake a street.
Are streets exempt from universal
law? If so, why?
In former article / demonstrated
that Third street was about the only
one in the city since the 1St of January
that had made material gains in renting
buildings. The statement that the
buildings on Third street are entirely
worthless. and not suited to the general
business OF the city, is not borne out by
the facts by any means, From Wacouta
to Wabasha steets the. buildings are
better than on any other six consecutive
blocks in the city. Besides all the
buildings on the south side have a full
lighted rear, and most OF them front on
Second street as well as on Third, which
is not the case elsewhere. Very truly
yours. GIDEON GRIP,
st. Paul, May Il, 1892.