Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-23

scarce worthy of the name and, neces-
saruy, a fire department in keeping
with this service. A few Pickering
street lights shed sickly ray over L
limited area for a limited portion of the
night, and then-darkness! We had
scarcely the beginning of a sewer sys-
tenn. Our cotton mill was using but 4
small portion of the power which the
VISION OF our fathers had made posi- :
bic. We had no pulp and paper mill,
and no shoe factory
| Oar postoffiCe facilities were of the
crossroads order. We had no library
pull1lnS, no Opera House. no City hall.
mo hospital, no street railroad. We had a
Ipopuiatlon Of 5000: a valuation (Statc)
OF 10, t5S,ocO: roll of 1884; and a
ISchool membership of 1867. Their.
was wealth of possibilities, but W.
were living toe much upon Our record.
we needed to get move on" ana
This association was formed to accel-
crate the molten.
Elsatecn years have passed, and 70!
now changed! Do you fully realize
what these years Rave done for us?
Let me remind you
Since 1856. there has been expended
Iii the construction of new buildings
according to the figures and careful
estimates Of the contractors themselves
not less than Sizes ,OGO, represented by
lfH dwellings,. 191 stables. II bric, blocks
. churches, > schoolhouses, the Cotton
mill, Pulp and Paper mill, Shoe factory
ana several smaller manufactures.
Our bank deposits have doubled. Our
population has increased to nearly
/
OO0.. our polls to 3,07$; and our school
membership to 3.O57 scholars,--welI
housed and well taught
Water Street has been transformer:
it has been paved, it's entire length;
plato glass is in every front; our stocks
OF goods are large and varied, and right
, in price.
Miles of McAdam streets have
been built. and more miles of concrete
sidewalk. An excellent sewer system
is we'll advanced towards completion
| We have a street railway which. reach
ing out to the prosperous communities
Fast, West and South, has become a
trade factor of great magnitude, and a
convenience of greatest worth.
I, The water power which formerly ran
to waste now falls on the wheels of in
dustry. and our Cotton mill. is enlarged
End improved, with it's 100000 spindles
and employing LOO hands, is paying
ont in wages more than $500, 600 per
year.
Our Pulp and Paper mill distributes
$4,000 per year. Our Lumber mill
| SCI, 600.
| Our Shoe factory, operated by one of
the best concerns in New England.
pays out to it's nearly 300 hands more
| than 100000 per year: our Publishing
| houses, each three-fOurths - much
! more Our smaller industrie. ire all
nourishins.
We have a water supply, which for
fire purposes stands almost unrivalled,
| and a Fire Department underpaid. and
Outlines unappreciated. of which, be-
| lievc, any city might well feel proud.
We have a most excellent lighting
plant, and have strewn our lights
| around so literally that this is vertically
as Il city set upon a hill, which cannot
be hid
Orr connection with the outside world
has bccn steadily improved until. with
| the addition of the Davis Limited"
put on by the Maine Central at the
special request # this Board of Trade.
we have steam rail service uneXcellod
| by any city outside of a metropolitan
| zone. Our hospital has proved bless
| ing beyond the dreams of it's most
earnest advocate.
We have a fine Opera House.
capacious City Building. a Masonic
Temple and Club Room unsurpassed in
| its attractions. Our Post Office is, or
v-b of
beauty and convenience. Our Library,
| beautiful lin design. and rich in it's
treasure OF the best thought of the
world. has few equals in the New Eng
land States.
Our State and county buildings have
been enlarged and improved. and today
are BETTING the dignity of this Grand
Old State as we like to call it.
There is no poor quarter" and there
are no Sums in this city. Every
body is prosperous, and everybody
happy.
What Il mctamOrphosis!
We have swept the entire field!
These Is years have almost covered
the transition period from the tallow
candle to the electric light
In all that makes for good citizenship
and good homes. Augusta has few
rivals. and no superior.
l have said that there are no poor in
this city. That is true; and it is be-
cause the wage standard here is high
enough to enable people to live decent
ly.
Let me give you an example: In 1856.
skilled mechanics. good carpenters, for
instance, were getting SITS per day,
when employed; today they are all en-
ployed at $2.75. Masons. typesetters,
plumbers, all show like increases. In
1856, the cotton mills paid it's 700 hands
in round numbers S13,7O0 per month; to-
day it pays it's LOO hands $4,000 per
month; an increase of 81 per cent in
hands, and per capita increase of
about 80 per cent in wages.
SO much for the past-what about the
future?
What are the duties and responsible
ties which good citizenship lays upon
us? What can we do as individuals,
and members of this association?
Well, in the first place. we can stop