The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-09-13

continued from First Page
turing. and those who are engaged in
trade live and prosecute their aVoca-
tons in villages and cities.
The products. of the primary, producers
must be sold, and such producers must
buy many products Of other sections, and
of other countries. These - exchanges
make the villages, the: way-stations on
lines of tranSportationorn an accident
but an economic necessity
The characteristics OF the village are.
one, sometimes two, and rarely three rail-
way stations, the merchants, who sell the
products of distant sSectfons and foreign
lands. the blacksmith, the carpenter, the
doctor, etc, also, the grain merchant the
live stock and other dealers. who buy the
surplus products of the producers of the
adjacent territory. The population of the
Village ranges from a few hundred to a
few thousand, depending upon the size and
productiveness of its territory. The trade
of villages Is too small to justify the use
of large capital. hence their merchants
and dealers are men of comparatiy ely
small capital
These conditions render it necessary for
the selling merchant to buy in small
quantities, and the buying merchant, the
grain. live stock dealers. etc, to make
frequent shipments, which in. turn pro-
duces the economic necessity of market
towns. ~
Distinguishing Characteristics of the
The market-town has all the charac-
teristics of the village All of the vari-
Gus petty trades of the village. both in
buying and selling, are carried on in the
market-tow but i1YRddition the market
town has characteristics which the viii
lage does not possess, and which it may
never hope to possess.
The characteritics sof the market-town,
which distinguish itofrom the village, are
the jobbing merchants. who buy the prod
ucts of other sections and of other lands
in larger quantities, and sell them to the
Village merchants; and the grain and live
stock and other buyers with sufficient
capital to buy the grain and live stock
and other products from the village deal
erS.
The larger trade requires warehouses,
capital, banking and other commercial ia
cilitieS, upon scalesNhich would be inn
possible, and useless if possible. in the
village. 1t also requires larger Transport
tation facilities.
The aggregating of capital comm ercial
and transportation facilities in the mar
ket-town attracts manufacturing eStab-
lishments, educational and other advan-
tages. which tend to augment the wealth.
population and Importance of the market
town.
Hence. while the wealth, population and
Importance of the village Is strictly linn
tied by the productivaness of the limited
area with which 1t ladies', the wealth.
population, importance and influence of
the market-town is not so strictly limited
areas with which it. trades. And, while
the village, in the nature of things, may
never hope to attaina population exceed
ing a few thousands there is practically
ket-town may hope to attain. And ex-
perience teaches that the larger market
towns get, the faster and easier they
grow. ~
The Market Town-A Necessity.
The market-t town Is not an accidental
Nhnr h3 c.fa IF
ment of this country shows that the first
market-towns We're located on the At
iantic coast-New York. Boston. Philadel-
phia Baltimore etc AS settlements. adj
vanced westwardly. new marllet-towns,
like Chicago. Cincinnati. st. Louis. etc,
came into existence. and later, as settle
ment extended still. further to. the west
ward still other market toWns-M1nne-
apolis. St Paul. Omaha and Kansas CITY
st. Joseph-have been established, not by
accident but as an economic necessity
for conducting the exchanges of great
country covering a vast area, inhabited
by more than eighty millions of indus
trious people.
The fact that the city of Omaha has es-
tablished itself as a. market town. and
has maintained that position for more
than quarter of a, century, is conclu-
sive evidence that it has been called INTO
existence by that natural law of economic
necessity which willfienable it to forever
maintain its positions
Omaha Founded on Agriculture.
Now. I have said that there is practi-
cally no limit to tlieoimportance which a
market-town may attain but as the job
bling trade is the distinguishing charac-
teristic- of the maFket-town, and as the
volume of the jobbHng trade is measured
by the productivepeSs of the tributary
country, it Is important to consider such
present and future pfeductiveness.
The principal products of the tributary
territory at present. are and. so far as we
know, must always be- the products of
the farm The products of single farm
are so insignificant, 1compared with the
products of the uASSpof some other in
dustries, that it sometimes gives rise to
feelings akin to contempt for the insig-
nificance of agricultural pursuits.
A short time since. I had the pleasure
of visiting the iron ranges of Minnesota
The whole train carrying our party was
iitaroiiv booked into one of the great iron