The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1902-10-17

Things are moving quichiy 'iii'
month. The post Office site purchase
has been ratified by the people. The
vigor- o company is making active plans
for the prompt beginning OF the erection
(, of its factory. The Elks building com
mittee is ready to take a running start.
The Woodard factory is nearing COM
pletion. All these things make this
month full of interest but there is
another proposition which during the
next week will have to take precedence
in the minds of most people over all
of these or it will be lost to the city and
county. IT. is the beet sugar factory.
In this matter work has been done
quietly for months by the members OF
the committee which came so near land
ing factory for this city last year and
the matter has now reached point
where the united action of everyone
must pe had or the matter will be lost
The matter stands in just this posi-
ton. Eastern capital of practically
unlimited amount stands ready at this
minute to make contract to erect a
one thousand ton per day factory IN
this city provided the site be given and
two year contracts for eight thousand
acres of beets be turned over with the
deeds for the site. The total cost Will
amount to something but it will be
+. worth many times what it will COS
The site wanted is that selected last
year by Mr.. Burt with the addition OK
about ten more acres of land ad-
Joining it. The site which was con-
sidered plenty large enough for the
factory projected last year is not large
enough for the one which these capital
lists propose to erect by fully that many
acres. The entire cost of site and con-
tracts is estimated at about twenty
thousand dollars, divided about half
and half between the site and the
acreage.
To begin with as already noted, about
ten acres additional to that pur-
chased last fall will be required for this
factory and the company asks also that
II be graded, that streets be opened into
and through it and that they be graded,
and the water be piped into it. The
cost of this work will be heavy but it is
estimated that the ground can be bought
and put into the shape demanded by the
company at the figure above named.
The matter of securing the acreage is
no small one as those know who had a
hand in the securing of the acreage last
fall. 1t Is not matter which the
county can afford to fall down on at this
time however. 1t may be stated in this
connection that it is not this time a
question of getting out and hustling as
it was last fall because there are in
dividuals or firms ready to give salts
factory bonds3 guaranteeing that they
will secure contracts for the requisite
acreage 1t thus again becomes merely
the question of thesexpenditure of some
thing less than another ten thousand
dollars as rough estimate to secure the
acreage asked for. This too seems high
but to thosE who workedEnight and day
last year o-.secure a much smaller
acreage than thecone asked for now the
cost of securing eight thousand acres in
4 good contracts is lrealized. The ex-
.perience of last fall proved to the salts
faction of all who had hand in it that
enough business men and farmers can
not leave their sown business for long
enough time to secure any such number
of acres. 1t will be far cheaper for
them and all others to pay their pro-
portion of the cost of semploying some
individual or firm tp: undertake the
task.
These are the two things demanded
and as already said it is estimated that
the cost will be in the neighborhood Of
twenty thousand dollars There is nc
further string to the proposition as now
presented to the people. The only thing
in the line of bonus asked il, the site
properly opened up, graded and laid with
the water mains, and the acreage-fol
n which the bond of one Of the firmi
above referred to will be accepted, thu
relieving the people Of the strain Of and
uncertainty Of making a long canvas
h for the acreage. The company has MOI
time to wait for such canvass anyway
y and is perfectly willing to take such {
contract instead. No further bonus il
asked.
A year ago such proposition would
have seemed tremendous undertaking
Today the people of the county know
much more about the profits of the bee
raising industry than they did a yea