Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-14
mrs TYE T1JL SOIIIRELr

OMAHA Dec. 12.-To the Editor of
The Bee: Inclosed please find an article l
found in the Merchants Journal of Topeka
that struck me as being very applicable 10
Nebraska because the one great need OF
Omaha and Nebraska are more manufac-
tories. If we are not blind we can see that
each and every one of our neghboring cities
are making strong efforts to get manu-
faCturers to locate in them and each week,
almost we read of new mills of various kinds
starting up west of Chicago and uncomfort-
ably near Omaha.
Are the capitalists of this city aware that
golden opportunities for increasing their own
wealth and building up magnificent city
here are slipping away? We pat each other
on the back and say we are progressive peo-
pie. Are we? Scan UP and down the river
and see what is going on before answering
the question. What about Des Moines and
other cities we read about, which are making
long and rapid strides in a manufacturing
way?
We need, as no other city needs, more
jobbing houses in the line of dry goods,
notions, millinery, clothing, furs hats and
caps, etc, but local capital stands aloof,
therefore foreign capital whi not venture
am mindful of the fact that we have
splendid wholesale dry goods house, but two
more would make better business for the
one now here. which is also true OF hats
and caps and furs. 1t would then be dry
goods market as it Is now hardware, gro
Gerry, shoe and implement market. Don't let
the citizens who have money be called too
late for the train that is now being made
up for wideawake people for 1900
The railroads are coming to Omaha for
business. Shall we disappoint them? If the
business men would work for new enter
prises as politicians work for party and OIL
fees, Omaha would have a population of
25O, 900 to 100000 inside of ten years pull
forward and all together is needed and
needed now. Yours truly,
z. T. LINDSEY.
This communication and the accom-
panying article hit the nail squarely
and only reinforce what The Bee has
for years been hammering. Omaha
and Nebraska can only be made to oc-
cupy their proper position in the in
dustral world by the development of
their natural resources.
Nebraska raises cereals and food
stuffs to furnish bread for the world.
1t raises hogs and cattle and sheep to
keep the worlds larders replenished.
In the meat industry it has forged to
the front further than in any other
line and furnishes its supplies in the
form of finished product But there
is room for scores of cereal mills, sugar
factories vegetable and fruit canneries,
and other manufacturing establish
IL hn pny nj 4
Nebraska fields, farms and orchards.
In the iobbing line, too, Omaha could
well support several more houses han
ding all the principal staples. The diff
Guilty in the past has always been that,
when the suggestion is made that en-
couragen1ent be given the location of
some new plant, by so doing we would
be building up competition to under
mine the institutions we already have.
Project a new jobbing house handling
hats and caps, for example, and all the
iobbers now here would Immediately
enter their vigorous protest much less
would they assist with their capital in
erecting rival institution
In other cities men of wealth take
pride in giving financial support to all
new undertakings tending to increase
the trade Importance of the community,
In Omaha our capitalists seem to prefer
to invest their money outside of their
own city and state. AS long as Omaha
people prefer TO plant their capital in
Texas townsites, Mexican coffee planta-
tions, Missouri zinc mines and Colorado
holes in the ground, instead of develop
ing the resources at home, Omaha will
be in danger of falling behind in the
race for commercial supremacy.
The prospect however Is not so dis
couraging. Our people have learned
what they can do by united effort in
various large enterprises successfully
carried through. They will have TO
bend their energies from now on to
systematic campaign for the upbuiding
of the city and state.