The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-01
GRASP THE OPPORTUNITY.

To one familiar with the history Of
the growth of ST. Paul during that
period when her progress was most
rapid, it appears certain that another
opportunity is now offered, of which
our people are too little conscious. This
city did not reach the rank of which
we are all so proud, it did not achieve
the growth in population and industry
that made its name a household word
from one end of the country to the
other, and was the wonder and admira-
tiOn of dabbIers in statistics and cal
culators in percentages, by relying
merely upon natural advantages of po-
sitiOn. Neither did it grow solely be-
cause of the extraordinary influx of
population and the opening up of vast
areas of unoccupied fertile land with
the opening of the two transcontinental
railroad lines between this center and
the Pacific coast. 1t is true that it
was upon these material foundations
that the edif1ce of our splendid pros
perity rose. Yet there were busy
hands to help the work along, and I'M
firing brains conspiring night and day
to assist fate. Given the advantage
of situation and of opportunity that
came to US in such abundant measure
we were, nevertheless, to an important
degree, the architects of our own high
fortunes.
In all those busy and cheerful years,
when the population of this city was
doubling and quadrupling and the vol
Ume Of its business was following suit
our people did not sit with hands fold
ed idly in their laps, waiting to accept
the good things that might drop from
heaven, but they We're laboring as in
diligently, as ardently and with as
much determination as II their whole
future depended upon their own fore
sight and action. Organizations of our
business men were constantly on the
lookout for new industries to establish
here. Individual citizens. committees
and agents were either looking the
country over personally or conducting
a wide correspondence to secure the re-
moval to st. Paul of active business
men and the centering here of a larger
industry The problem of our growth
was studied with some approach to
scientific accuracy. Our most energetic
business men, realizing that the pros
perity of the whole would be divided
into the prosperity of each one of its
parts, were as interested and as active
IN contributing to the general growth
as they were to the extension of their
own business.
Everybody was working with a vim
Tor St Paul, and that work told. Thou
sands Of people were brought here as
residents solely by virtue of the adver-
tisement that st. Paul received from
her energetic citizens. New wholesale
and retail establishments were secured
in the same way, and there is no adage
'truer in the business world than that
trade brings trade Pretty nearly orr
built up in this way; not waiting for
some stranger to come along and open
his eyes to the magnificent unoccupied
field, but bringing it constantly and
urgently to the attention of outsiders
with capital to improve it.
1t is true that we made one vast and
fatal mistake. We assented to the use
OF means radically wrong and certain
to react disastrously upon ourselves.
When we began to invite enterprises
here by the offer of cash bonuses or a
share in the proceeds of real estate
speculatiOns, for which the building of
some kind of factory was a mere ex-
cuse, we sOwed the seeds of that cron
of failure that has since been reaned
down to the last singing nettIe. Ru+
leaving that aside, which was a mis-
take of detail and not of general pol-
Icy, nobody in st. Paul can DENY that
the intense effort that grew out of orr
rivalry with Minneapolis, our apprecia-
tion of the possibilities of our own
city and our recognition of what earn
est and united action could accomplish
in its upbuilding were the main factors
in the creation Of the ST Paul Of today,
The question most vital to us now
is whether that spirit, during the years
when financial and commercial distress
left no room for it to operate, persisted
or was only sleeping. To one who has
scanned the signs of the times with an
eye taught by past experience, it is
evident that another opportunity is
here. Upon us it will depend whether
we seize it and go forward to anotb 7r
era marking the second stage in the
growth of great metropolis. or allow
ourselves to drift idly with a current
that swinging others, better awake
than We to the needs of the hour. on
to larger destiny. shall leave us
stranded in some shoreward eddy. con-
tent with past achievement and relin-
Iuishing the hope of a greater future
That the whole country is at the be-
ginning of new era in It's developmeat