The Republican journal., 1905-12-28
Letter from the South West

| IAN oOU Nm AL. 1u0 JOuTudl came 10
hand this morning and, as has often
been the experience of the writer on
other occasions, it reminded him of a
neglected duty and also suggested one
or two topics for brief letter. So
winter has settled down upon you in
earnest. with eighteen inches of snow.
In the southwest we are having de-
llghtful winter. AS | write men are
strolling by with overcoats on their
arms. The ground is bare, the streets
dry and clean, the atmosphere balmy
and the thermometer stands at exactly
AZ. We have had one short spell of
cool weather, but only one, and almost
all kinds of outdoor work is going on
as usual. The trees of course are bare
OF leaves, but cattle and horses to
considerable extent still Craze in the
pastures and some people still sit on
dry good boxes or stand on the corners
OF the streets in the sunshine Build
Ing operations on quite an extensive
scale are in progress all over the city
and largely throughout all this section
OF the southwest. The southwest sec
ton of Missouri is fertile in more than
one respect. Besides being the home
of the big red apple the mining inter
ests are carried on on a gigantic scale.
Aurora, Joplin, Webb city, Stotts city
and various other places are to very
considerable extent hives of industry
due largely to the lead mining inter
ests; while only about a hundred miles
west of Springfield vast coal mines are
in operation.
| The city Of Springfield has been max
ing rapid progress during the past two
or three years. Houses. store rooms,
hospitals and churches are in process
of erection in all directions Governor
Folk was here at the laying of the cor
ner stone of new hospital a few
months since, the building of which is
now nearly completed; and another hos
pital has built an addition to it's .spaci-
Gus com N Cd a i ons S, while the
Frisco hospital, erected andamain-
tanned for the benefit of the employees
all over the great Frisco SYSTEM" is
| located inside the city limits.
For more than twenty years Spring
| field has had railroad running n. E.,
S. W; and S. E. and n. W., connecting
st. Louis with the great States of
Kansas and Texas, the Territory of
Oklahoma and the Indian Territory,
and Kansas City with Memphis,
Birmingham and other southern cities.
The principal shops of the Frisco Sys-
tenn are located in Springfield and
something over one thousand persons
are employed in the shops. The north
side shops are verltable city within
city as viewed from the roof of one of
the central buildings. First of all
| among the buildings is a round house
of thirty stalls, upon twenty-four of
/ which the writer has put new gravel
roofs within the past four years. Next
comes a big boiler shop then larger
machine shop; next is the paint and tin
|
that the mill shop, not far distant is
the blacksmith shop, 800 feet long. OF
smaller dimensions are the rope house,
the lumber sheds and various other
! buildings, some larger, some smaller
| What the Frisco railroad has been and
is to Springfield cannot be enumerated,
for ltsSlife and interests are very close
| ly interviewer with the entire life and
interests of the city. Soon, however,
another great system, the Missouri
Pacific, is to enter, and probably will run
through the city, furnishing Northern
and Southern outlets. Quite a portion
of the grading has been done within
the city limits and gangs are at work to
the southwest, and probably by the
early summer we will hear the whistle
of the new locomotives. This with the
much to the business interests of the
J Queen City of the Ozarks.
In the west. however, more largely
than in the east, business changes are
of frequent occurrence. Men come and
go, buy and sell, or change business or
locations with considerable frequency.
| Here, too, as well as elsewhere, some
succeed and some fail, but generally
there is another willing TO try his hand
in the place in which anC Their has made
a failure or won success, and those who
make failure or win success when
they change from new ombinations
and start out again to try their luck
once more. Business competition is as
keen here as elsewhere it is probable,
business ethics are not, judge, more
highly developed here than in other
places One man is just as eager to
crowd another in the smaller as in the
larger spheres of influence and activity
and all men do not always stop at honor
able means to secure their ends. The
golden rule in business is Lot universal
" observed That the millennium is
coming is more evident to faith than it
is to sight, but the one thing for any
man to do is that which is right.
Missouri. as you have learned several
months since, elected Republican
senator, Major William Warner The
contest was bitterly fought between
the different factions of the Republican
party. We hope Warner will make a
good senator He has certainly fol
lowed man with a good honest record.
Few men have aught of i'll to say of
Senator Cockerill. 1t remains to be
seen what the outcome will ultimately
prove to be in Missouri politics. Gov.
| Folk has A strong hold uEOn the atfec-