The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1892-03-23
why @rhe Metropolis p.

Metropolis Of Somerset county But Is this
so VIII the real facts sustain this claim
OF IS il only the vapering and blowing Of
seif-conceii, with more rot in it than any
thing else What does it''require to justify
a city or town in setting up the claim that il
IS the metropolis of a state or country Is it
not because Of the fact that it contains the
largest population, the largest aggregation
Of wealth and property, that the volume Of
its trade and business exceeds that of all
other cities and towns. that it leads in ali
these particulars and that al roads of the
entire.state or country leads toward its gates ?
So also on a smaller scale must the town as
piring to be considered the Metropolis Of
county posses these conditions, to Justify its
pretentions- Wei how far can Aeyersdale
meet the required conditions over and above
what her neighbors possess to justify her
claims to being the Metropolis and chief
business town ST this county9
In the matter Of population it is conceded
that Meyersdale does lead The next largest
town by perhaps a hundred souls. This
alone is a very slender claim and unless il
be sustained BY Others of those named it
viii not hold We viii therefore examine
further into the merits OF her claims.
The mercantile appraisers list for the cur
rent year, jast published. reveals the fact that
Meyersdale has twenty three business houses
on the list that pay mercantile license.
By business houses we mean stores, places
where merchandise is sold. Somerset
shows up with tbirty-three Of the same.
Berlin is credited with ten, so that instead
Of this so-called Metropolis of Somerset
county leading all the other towns OF the
county in the number Of It's business houses
il has only one more than two-thirds as
many as tue slow going county town has.
We imagine we hear some denizen of the
Metropolis exclaim, well if We have not as
many stores as Somerset has, we are ioing
lots more of business" Let US see. The ap-
praiser in rating the mercantile tax. which
each house must pay, does it on the amount
of sales OF each one. Measured by this
gague, ii would appear that the volume of
business at Meyersdale in their houses is
Sl60,0 900 per annum, while in Somerset it is
SPA 600. Here The Ne ropolisn only
shows up a moderately good second, the
same as it does in the number Of its business
houses These figures tell their own story.
They are cold facts and their force cannot
be broken except by saying that the bust
ness men of one or other Of these towns have
deceived and misled the Mercantile Apprais-
er, and this is not very likely. We believe
that while these figures as deducted from
the Mercantile Appraiser return may pOssi-
bly, not represent the full volume of trade in
either town, yet as between the towns they
are relatively ccrrect and 60 to show and
prove that the Metropolis is just that much
behind the county seat, and We shall justly
eontinne to hold this opinion until we see
that business houses of Meyersdale pay
larger license fees than at present. Meyers
dale Is credited with { distillery and the
only thing Somerset can show up against
that is billiard room. Well, the fewer of
these in either town the better fj- them.
The Metropolis has two rival baLk nd
as these institutions are not required to pub
lish any returns, no one but themselves
know what IL the amount Of their annual
business. Somerset has two National Banks,
and on March lst their combined resources
were Sl24, 9I3 while their loans and dis
counts amounted to s272, 5000 In the ab-
seace of reports from the banks of Meyers
dale it IS not possible 10 make any actual
comparison; yet. if there could be, there
would be no doubt but that the Metropolis
in this, as in everything else, would be
found n the second place in this sort of bus
iness.
Bat We are not yet done with this matter.
According &c the returns made by the assess
ors to the commissioners Office, we find that
the total valuation Of ali property in Mey-
ersd2le that is taxable for county purposes is
S296, ,s36 while that of Somerset is ST., $40.
Measured by this standard, the Metropolis s
again relegated to second place. In these
assessment returns in the column of proper
ty taxable for state purposes only, We find
the towns of the county to stand in the fol-
lowing order: Somerset, S5l3 ESQ; Sails
bury, Sll5.3o9 Berlin, $50, 2o6 Meyers
dale, $50, ,402 Here the Metropolis falls back
TO fourth place.
All tbs figures We have given relates to the
business, wealth and prosperity of these
towns We assert without fear of contrade-
ton that the town which desires to set up as
the Metropolis of Somerset county, must
lead all the other towns of the county in eve
rything relating to business. We have
shown oonclusively that measured BY this
standard Meyersdals cannot claim TO be the
Metropolis Of Somerset county The mere
fact that it happens to contain perhaps
hundred more inhabitants than any other
town in the county IS too slender thread |
on which to hang any such claim.
The writer is not jealous OF the prosperity |
of Meyersdale and whenever she has any |
just claim to be called the Metropolis of |
Somerset county he will be the first TO ac-
knowlede it. He only objects to the claim
at present on account ofthe shallow founda- |
ton on which every one must see that it
rests. The best that can be said of Meyers
daleis that it is live, progressive town, and
is the metropolis-not of Somerset county,
but Of Summit township.
HANKS.