The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-05
BUSINESS MN, WAKE Up!
ST. PAUL'S LACK OF WAREHOUSE
FACILITIES is PROVING
VERY COSTLY
OPPORTUNITIES ARE WASTED
Especially In Handling Oriental I'M
pOrtatiOns Is the City Being
neutrality-suspicious.
Importers Opinions.

at is absolutely imperative for st. Paul
&C secure adequate warehouse facilities,
or the future of this city as Il large dis
tributing center is simply Tennis.
The above was spoken yesterday to a
reporter for the G O b by Cne of the
members Of u firm which is me largest
iuiit rter of O'ientai produces in tie
Northwest. He expressed himself in the
strongest possible manner to the effect
tilat the commercial future of this city
as a wholesale cenrcr was directly de-
pendent upon the immediate enlarGing Of
the facilities which in the past have con-
tributed so greatly to the growth Of the
city
Take this tea business, for instance"
he continued, when st. Paul had rea-
sonable storage facilities, not so good by
any means as should have been provided,
but still fairly adequate to the demands
upon them, the city took rapid strides
as a distributing center for Oriental prod
ucts, and two years ago was the fourth
port in the United States, SO far as the
importation Of teas and other Eastern
products were concerned. The nagnif-
icent railway facilities with which the
city is favored, aided by the splendid
lines of boats which are building up a
constantly increasing trade with Eastern
countries, threw in our way a volume Of
business, which the people of this city
should have fostered and endeavored to
encourage to the best of their ability. 1t
seemed though that the opportunities
thus afforded were accepted as a matter
of course, and when the cold storage fire
left us without any facilities to speak Of
an amount Of apathy was shown which
does not speak well for Western agrees
siveness and push.
what has happened? The large i'm
porters, instead of sending their prod
ucts to st. Paul to be distributed from
here just send their consignments to
San Francisco or Chicago, and give this
city the go-by. The railroads realize
this, and the notice which the Great
Northern addressed to the Chamber of
Commerce came as a timely and merited
rebuke. Two years ago st. Paul stood
fourth in the list of cities importing
from the Orient. This year 1t will take
a great drop not because of the develop
ing Of better distributing points per Sc,
but because there does not seem to be
enterprise enough to provide the needed
facilities In the season Of 1899 the three
north coast roads. the Great Northern,
the Northern Pacific and the 500 (via, the
c. P R.), brought transported just DC
| per cent Of the entire amount OF tea
imported into the United States. Much Of
this came direct to St. Paul, and was dis
| trfbuted to all parts Of the United States.
| The same year only so per cent of the tea
! importationS arrive at San Francisco.
The Northern railroads are building up a
| large trade with the East, all the lines
| are augmenting their fleets, and the
| Great Northern in particular, recognizing
| the immense possibilities of the future,
| is building boats which for carrying ca
pacity will be unexcelled anywhere. All
the trade done by the Northern lines can
be encouraged to flow into st. Paul. We
cannot get it all, of course, but we
should at least try.
ST. PAULS GOOD CHANCE.
With proper warehouse facilities, the
future of the import trade of st. Paul is
practically unlimited. and when it is con-
| sidered that there is plenty Of money in
| it, 1t is almost ineonceiyable that more
| is not available. understand that the
| cold storage company, which was the
victim of last years fire, cleared 49, 600
| for the twelve months preceding the de-
struction of the warehouse. This on an
investment of between $4,000 or $4,000 is
good enough to satisfy anyone. Another
important consideration is that with the
erection Of properly constructed and
properly situated warehouses, the insur-
| snce rates now prevailing In this city