The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-07-04

| miut,ls business with pleasure, and many
| of Them would take advantage Of eXcur-
sion rates TO come to Anstin on business,
as Ii is a conceded fact that the finest
goods can be purchased at Austin at
| wholesale and retail at the very lowest
| market prices.
Several years since one Of our leading
merchants made proposition to the bus
mess men of Austin to arrange with the
railroads for regular excursions to TINS
city from the towns and villages along
| the lines of the roads and near enough
to Austin to warrant the merchants of
these places in purchasing their goods
here, but we believe the scheme did not
Ian out successfully. 1t may have been
little too premature, but certainly from
| the evidence Of the large number of peo-
lie from adjacent towns and cities that
visited Austin on Sunday, without any
particular inducement, we may conclude
lthat the time is ripe for any such scheme.
The Statesman does not agree with the
generally expressed opinion that Austin
is a slow place and IFS business men set
Of mossbacks. While the people of this
city have neglected many small things
that might have been to their advantage,
there are no people in the world who have
more eagerly and earnestly taken hold
Of larger things and pushed them to a
completion. Men who are engaged in
such enterprises as the great dam across
the Colorado river and the utilization of
cry of mills are apt to neglect to think
OF the pleasures the lake formed by
ii affords TO our citizens and visitors.
Men who are engaged in the construction
of great temple are absorbed in its arch
itectural beauty and finish and regard the
lacking up of the curtains and drapery
of the windows as insignificant.
The business men Of Austin have ven
turcd farther than most men in other
cities who had but lukewarm support
and backing by the large property owners
of the city. There is great wealth in
Austin, but it is the men of moderate
means, the merchants and business men,
who lease from these landlords, who
have given encouragement to every en-
tcrprise that would result in the pros
perity of its citizens, and the growth
and development of the city.
1t is not the large property owners of
the city who have accomplished its great
est deeds. but it is the men of small means
who have given Il large per cent of their
incomes to give vigor and health to every
enterprise. These large property own
ers with a few highly honorable eXcep-
tons have been content with the increase
of values produced for them by its bus
mess men. 1t is, therefore, a SANDER up
on these business men to say that they
are either slow or afflicted with moss
backism. If there is fault anywhere
it is in the conservatism of large wealth.
But on the whole, we are not behind 9th
err cities. If the wealthy men of our
community have been somewhat slow, 1t
has been on account of the conservative
spirit that has always characterized the
citizens of Austin. But we are now
that even the wealthy men of
the city are convinced that the time to
strike has arrived, and we believe they
are ready to administer the kind of
blows that will shape the hot iron into
a form most advantageous to the whole
public. We have always had an abiding
faith in the business men of Austin, and
we are also beginning to have confidence
in the wealth of Austin to come up at the
right time to accomplish the great re
suits within our reach.