The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1892-07-14
BUILDING UP A TOWN
Mr.. Howe Thinks No One
Knows the Art.
& What Applies to One APP
plies to All.

E. w. Howe, in his "Story of a !
Country Town." describes with
merciless accuracy typical Kansas
agricultural Village, and incidentally
he drops some very sage observations
on the art of town building, country
newspapers and the miserable con-
dition of people who can't get away
from Kansas. Although the con-
ditions of building town are radically
different in a mining country there
are nevertheless, soma valuable hints
in Mr.. Howe's book, particularly the
proposition that town, il it builds
at all must he built by its own citizens,
generally speaking. Little depend
ence is to be placed on the aid OF
vhgue .'syndicates, be they every SO
colossal and omnipotent, or on foreign
capitalists, though it be Jay Gould
himself. Towns grow healthily by
virtue Of inherent strength-latent
resources and individual energy.
''There was one thing ! noticed Of
Twin Mounds, which is probably true
of every other country town-it was
constantly threatened either with
great prosperity or great danger, but
whether the event threatening the
prosperity or the danger came to
pass, the town progressed about the
same. There was no perceptible
effect from any Of the events the
people were certain would prove
either verp disastrous or Of great
benefit, from which / am led to
believe that no one is familiar with
the art of town building, although
have never known a man who did
not profess to known all there is
worth knowing about the science
Towns seem to be the natura
acceretion of years, and though thu
people of Twin Mounds often re
lated how desperate were thei
strugglrs with adversely, the fact
= probably are that the place woult
have been fully as large as it wa
without the great numbe
1 of public meetings for public purposes
and the endless worry Of individual
= with reference to it.
e There was very general impressio
e that manufactures were needed, an
f this was talked about so much, and 8
f many inducements were offered, this
9 the people became discouraged, b
lieving that the average manufaturt
had wicked heart and hollo
# head to thus wrong Twin Mounds
o the face of his own interest, thereto
g we were very much surprised to leaI
/ once, after all hope had bee
/ abandoned, that quiet man WI
II building a wooden mill down Il
:. river, while he completed and afte
!. wards operated without the help Of Il
, Commit ,es which had been appointe
* to aid in such matters OF public wea
T T lie trouble was that the man liv,
9 in Twin Mounds; whereas we hi
been expecting q man and money
come from distant point for th
re purpose, and had never thought
al looking about home, but spent
great deal of money in sending col
mittees away to make arrangemer
II for wooden mill. This circumstant
although humilating, proved go
thing, for it taught the people th'
d. if the town were built up at all,
o. must be by its own citizens; whi
IT. knowledge was afterward used
g. good advantage.
The people were always miseral
by reason Of predictions that, unl'
ad impossible amounts of money w
We given to certain enterprises, the to
he would be ruined, and although tt
IDS always gave no sooner was one fu
ms exhausted than it became necesss
les to raise another. 1t was said duri
the collection of each amount tha
would never be necessary again
the give to this sort Of charity (as
nd enterprise then in hand wol
,ry insure the future of Twin Mound
ian but there was never an end to
of ridiculous business and we were
the ways in state of dreariness on
the account, as the men demanding
,n2 charity for insignificant cnterpri