St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-01


and ST. Cr0iX. and being near the head
of Lake Superior she occupied the gate
way through which the traffic between
the West and East must necessarily
pass. This was before the introduction
OF railways, and it was the proximity of
these rivers that gave st. Paul its stand
ing as point of pre-eminent CONNER
cial Importance. The stage coach and
the Red river cart were the means used
in the distribution Of our merchandise.
Thus was st. Paul made from its very
early existence jobbing center. The
railways confirmed and strengthened its
position as lediStrlbuting point for
commerce. until today st. Paul sup
), plies the trade over terrtofy stretch
ding from Lake Michigan on the east to
the Pacific coast on the west, and from
Missouri on the South to the Cana
dian border on the north. We
have never been without factories,
! for manufacturing must invariably
follow the iobbing trade. If
the material used in the manufacturing
OF any line of goods exists or can be inn
ported sufficiently cheap to enable the
manufacturer to manufacture the ar
ticleS at the point of distribution
cheaper than they can be produced else
where, plus the cost Of tran sporting, he
! has gained his first point of advantage.
Other things being equal. the lobber
would prefer to buy from the producer
nearest at hand; he can buy more fire.
qucntly, and in smaller quantities; thus
he avoids carrying over goods from one
season to another hence it was per-
fectly natural that there should be more
or less manufacturing done in this city,
bat not until the last two Or three years
was there any united efforts put forth
to make ST. Paul great and manufact-
uring city, as it had already become the
jObbing center.
1t was to discuss this question that a
few of our enterprsing men were called
together, and from this small gathering
sprung the ST. Paul Business Mems
has accomplished more for the city at
large than any other organization which
had ever existed.
Permanent Organization
was effected Nov. q 1891. 1t is com
posed of large membership. but its
work is carried on by an executive COM
mittee composed Of nine men, including
| the officers, assisted by an advisory COM
mittee OF twelve members.
For those who have not been in close
| touch with the executive committee, and
are not familiar with their methods of
! work, it is difficult perhaps to fully
| understand the vast amount of work
| that has dCvolYed upon them during the
! past eight or nine months. -Four
general meetings have been held,
but the executive committee have
met in over sixty executive sessions,
/ have considered vast number of sub
iects and appointed about 200 Subc0m-
mittees of three and five members to
| consider various questions, and these
subcommittee have met upwards OF
800 times. To the casual observer this
| may not mean much, but when COnSid-
cred in detail the result is astonishing,
even to those who have been intimately
connected with the work from the be-
ginning. The sessions of the executive
committee are from one and half to
two hours in length; suppose they aver
age one and half hours with an aver
age of twelve members, which is posi-
bly, a low estimate, it seems that
one man has doEe eighteen hours
work for the business mems union
and this multiplied by sixty and re-
duced to days, calling nine hours a day,
you will find that one man has been
employed 100 days. Now, let us esti-
! mate the work of the subcommittee, Of
which there have been about 200, which
have met upwards of 800 times. These
committees are composed of never less
than three, butfrequently five, members.
Three persons meeting 800 times, with
an average session of one hour; thus
again we see that one man on the sub
committee has worked 100 days, uine
hours each day. But this estimate does
not include time spent in writing let
tiers, of which there are hundreds. and
doing vast amount of personal work
of which there is no record and of which
no cognizance is taken, such as talking
with strangers in the city, showing
them about, interesting prospective
business men, consulting with investors,
etc, etc.
Actual work Done
A careful estimate of the actual
amount done each day by the various
members of the executive committee
reveals the fact that twenty-four hours
are spent daily in this work; but to
state the same thing in different man
ner, three members OF the Business
Mems union are devoting eight hours a
day to the city at large. When you
consider that all of these men, who are
thus giving their time 10 branch out and
to advance the Interests Of the city, are
among our most active and successful
business men, and that no one connect
ed with the Business Mems union has
ever received 81 of compensation, but
has given his time and efforts
gratuitously at large personal sacri-
ice of time and convenience, some con-
ception of the magnitude of the work
may be had.
There are many matters which have
engaged the attention Of the union from
time to time, of which no publicity is
given, but upon which considerable
time and labor have been expended, and
from which there are no apparent re-
suits, but which III the aggregate have
doubtless been of benefit to the city.
Numerous propositions have been
made by various persons for the estab