The Mena star. (Mena, Ark.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-26
A CONFESSION AND COMPARISON

Il
Springs Flashlight, in his efforts to
bclittlc Mena as compared with
his town, makes statements which
cannot be corroberated and CON
fcsses his ignorence not only Of
Mena but of the carly history Of
his own town. He says:
The Star man brags muchly about
what Mena is, while yet but two years
old. When Eureka Springs was two
years old she had about Is, 900 inhabi-
tants, and Mena at that age has about
3, 600. Eureka Springs now has about
5 000--cut twothirds of her popula-
ton off in boom" Every body knows
what 'bocms' will do for towns In
twenty years cut two thirds of Mena's
population off for BOOM" and where
will she be-
Where will she be. Right in
the lead MS a town Of ut least 10,
600 people. If the FIashlight
man would make Mcna a visit he
could readily see that we have no
"boom" here and never have had.
The town has had a steady, healthy
growth from the start. the build
ing of homes and business houses
keeping even pace with the in
crease in the price Of property.
He would sec the difference be-
tween town at the end of bob
tailed railroad charging ST cents
mile for passenger service, and
town at midway division point
on one of the greatest railway
systems in ali the great West.
1t is quite a confession to admit
that Eureka Springs has shrunk
its population from $1,000 to s,
600 and shows why we have so
many Eureka Springs people liv-
ing in Mona.
Our friend, however, is little
off in his dates as well as in his
figures. 1t was our fortune to be
in Eureka Springs when it was
about two years old" and all
that could be seen was Il strag-
Cling village Of perhaps 800 peo-
pie stretched along Mud street.
1t is true that a few years later, or
in 1882, it was struck with
"boom" and had about 1900
people, bat eight years later, or
in 1890, Eureka Springs had less
than $500 inhabitants. less than
Mena has at present.
10 show that Eureka Springs
has not increased any in popula-
ton since that date we will ask
our Flashlight friend if it is not
fact that the enumeration of chill
dren of school age has not de-
creased steadily each year since
Surely we do know what
Blooms will do for towns especi-
ally when they have nothing but
water and ''health" to sustain
them, and mind you, Mcna has
never been considered boom
town or health resort. but a
good hcalthful place in which to
live and do business.
Replying to what we said of w.
Il. Blocksom's corner lot here that
he had refused $4,000 for, the
Elshlight says:
The fact is that there are a number
of NAKED lots here held at higher
figure than So, 900.
"Held at p That is good. We
were not talking about what lots
were "held att but what had ac-
tually been offered and refused.
We will now ask our friend if
there is property on Spring
street in his town that will sell for
what the buildings cost! Is there
any property on Main street that
will sell for half what the build
ings cost, saying nothing about
the value Of the lots! Ii he can
find the buyers we know of own
ers who will be glad to sell at
prices indicated above, and then
come to Mcna to invest. We
chance to know of one man who
had property in Eureka Springs
that cost him Si3, 900 which he sold
for 81, 800, and another who owns
lots there costing him $3.50 that
he cannot sell for $25.
Blythe way, while in the mood,
will our friend interview men in
business there who have :branch