The Saint Paul globe., 1902-12-21
BY H. P. HALL.

A few weeks ago 7 took OCCASION to
publicly criticise St. Paul for some. of
it's shortcomings, but those remarks did
not in any sense apply to the business
of st. Paul, or it's great business inter-
ests. It is a sort Of poet fiction or po-
etic license that poets are born, not
made" In the case of cities, the mat
ter is little different. Cities are both
born and made. There probably is not
an important city in the country where
the original settler had the genius or
forethought to- exelaim, Here is. a
point for a great commercial eityw and
still no greater city exists which was
SO foreerdained like a great eity-by
natural causes. Many attempts have:
been made by railroad and other capi-
talists to make a great city from the
ground up, and while. they have at
times been somewhat successful in
making a considerable town, there has
never been a great city made in this
way. When the boufders and sand bars
were put into the Mississippi by the.
Creator Of the Universe, it was His
design that here at st. Paul should
be commanding cosmopolitan COM
mercial center. OF course, it must
necessarily follow that men should be
produced to- do the rest; 50 it is not
surprising that what was originality a
little frontier Indian trading post
should have reached proportions which
gives ST. Paul the commanding posir
tion it occupies not only In this coun-
try, but in the commerce of the world.
There is not an important city in the
world with which ST. Paul does not
have commercial relations fora greater
or less degree. OF course the business
of st. Paul has had it's ups and downs,
but in spite Of this there has alwo5Ss
been a steady growth and advance
nent- Come years greater than 9TH
ers, but always something. The panic
of '93 came nearer holding things down
to a level than anything which has ever
happened in our history. For many
years thereafter the business Of 1882
was considered high rate landmark,
and it was recalled as a, record break
ing year. 1t was not really until last
year-19d1-that the record Of 1882 was
completely eclipsed, and passed into
ancient history. There Is no longer &C.
easion to refer to it, except as an obsoL
Iete5 record OF the past. 4F
Fer the purpose of preparing ttis
article have personally visited and
talked with most of the leading jobbers
of the city, and their testimony is alb
solutely unanimous that no prior year
in the history of st. Paul was business
SO extensive and prosperous as it has
been In the year Just closing. One of
the prominent merchants said to me-:
The conditions Of trade the past year
nave been the best ever known to- st.
Paul wholesale merchants. There has
never been a year in which so much
business has been done, or so little frie-
ton IN It's transactions. This has been
due to the conditions of the country and
the acknowledged condition Of st. Paul
as a wholesale center. There is scarcely
merchant or manufacturer in ST. Paul
who has not during the past year been
seeking and securing enlarged aeconnIo-
dations fer his business. Not only is the
present business extremely good, but the
outlook for the future was never better
than now The losses this year have been
proportionately less than for any recent
year The enlargement Of the territory
tributary to ST. Paul has made marked
increase in the demands upon us. and
the increase of population in the territory
we already have and the territory we
previously had has added to this Per-
sonally, / am inclined to take a pessinris-
tic view. There are always elements of
eral condition Of the country will carry
us along safely unless there is some mis-
take OF the government, or the failure of
some great financial operation. The coun-
try must adapt itself to the condition of
things, and in doing so may eneounter
and probably will occasionally, some
shock. Prosperity is SO general and
widespread that it leads to the enormous
comhina ton of the capitalists, and the
result of these combinations no man can
safely prognosticate.
T 1pfn 1,s e~;,1
views generally expressed by the mer-
chants of st. Paul. Perhaps one of the
brightest omens for the future of the
city is the alarm which now exists in
San Francisco over the great strides
Seattle is making. The growth Of
Seattle is an index of the transfer of
the Oriental trade from San Francisco
to that port, and the change of the
route of the Oriental trade from the
Pacific to the Atlantic coast over the
Northern lines rather than through the
Central West.
have no patience with the cIamor
raised against business interests for
political effect. 1t makes but little diff
ference to the world at large who holds
the Offices or what party flag the Off
eials carry. twenty-five years from
now the masses of the people then ex-
istfng VIII not know that a single one
of the off1ceholders of today ever had a
physical existence; but everyone Of
them, so far as they reside in Mime
sofa and the Northwest is concerned,
will know that the trade and traffic Of
500, ,009,o00 people, almost half the pop
ulatfon of the world, has been turned
in this direction; so while we, are
proud, and with reason. Of the great
strideG which ST. Paul has made In
fifty years, it will show in history as a
mere trifing incident in comparison
with what is to come when we substi-
tute wheat of our own production as
food staple for rats and rice in the
Orient.
AS a little straw showing the signs
of the times, it might be noted in
passing that st. Paul at no distant day
will probably have another direct
transcontinental road to the Pacific
ocean. 1t is currently reported that
the Grand Trunk system of Canada is
about to construct such a line, and as
Indicative of the position st. Paul &C.
cupies, the first move of the Grand
Trunk will be to purchase some line
running from Chicago to st. Paul, so