The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-13
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1903.
MINNESOTA AND PROSPERITY.


Whether or not the Northwest is to
witness great prosperity in the future
most minds. Predictions concerning it
are read with the greatest avidity, and
all the circumstances that could make
for or against it are canvassed with
the eagerness we bestow on all that re-
lates to our immediate personal for
tunes. But the curious thing about
this particular inquiry is that so many
people who are directly interested in it
incline to refer it to conditions remote,
reconcile and beyond their control They
are looking for hope and help to agen-
cies outside themselves. They treat
their prosperity. very much as a bust
ness man would who should consult
an astrologer or a palmist to learn
whether he would be able to sell a con-
signment of boots and shoes quickly
and at a profit if he should order
them.
The foundations of prosperity are in
ourselves. The conditions that make
for good times or bad are determined
by us. The exceptions are times Of
great calamity or the reverse. A crop
may fail, and the distress of the peo-
pie paralyze business by destroying
their purchasing power. A great war
may break out in a foreign country,
creating such a demand at high prices
for the things we have to sell that pros
perity comes as in a wave. But these
things are exceptional. not to be
counted upon, and distinctly seen and
known when they occur. In their alb
sence, in the play of ordinary forces,
when conditions are normal, a COM
munity Will win prosperity by the
same method that brings it to individ-
uals and by no other.
A man rises in the scale of, comfort
in proportion to his industry, thrift and
devotion to his business, whatever il
may be. A community must add to
this one other requisite. enforced by
the intimate relation of interest be-
tween one man and all others, in bust.
ness transactions. 1t must work
heartily in unison with all the agen-
cies that make for the growth of BUSH
ness and the increase of wealth. 1t
must not divide its energies and fritz
ter away its strength by internal dis
cord. 1t must not devote to the war of
Interest upon interest that splendid
energy which should be given to the
common and united upbuilding of the
industrial state. The old parable of
breaking the bundle of sticks is as true
as 1t is ancient. In the strenuous eff
fort of modern industrial and COM
mercial life. the communities that d.
vide and dissipate their fortunes are
broken by the competition of other
communities more alert. sagacious and
compact.
The mighty resources of the North
west are unimpaired. They have
grown with every step in the in
the area under cultivation, the WIDEN
ing of markets, the multiplication of
Facilities for cheap communication
with the rest of the world. This sec
uon and this state may profit nightly
by the change. But there is no profit,
nothing but stagnation and loss, in at
tempting to face the future with any
system or any qualities save those that
have made cities and states and ma
tions foremost in the race in all the
history Of the past. Close up the lines.
stand shoulder to shoulder, put the de-
velopment and prosperity of the state
above all other considerations, stop
dividing forces by quarreling, cease
sacrificing material interests to the
flamorous plea of the idle politician.