The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-04-05
THAT FORTY THOUSAND.

THAT FORTY THOUSAND.
A gentleman of this city recently
stated in reference to the claim that
Grand Forks is destined to become a
city of forty thousand people, that no
city which was supported by purely
agricultural community had ever
reached that point.
This is identically the theory of the
Evening Times. 1t is folly to pre-
the territory contributory to this city
that it can support Il population even
half as great as forty thousand.
The question is, can the city be
made into one of forty thousand peo-
pie. and what would be the effects
both upon the city and itself and the
contrbutory territory if it were So
If the population is increased much
beyond what it is at present, it must
be by a class of people who are not
primarily .dependent upon agriculture
for their support f. .r, .n.ui a.
g., When, a city depends upon the agri-
cultural interests alone for SUPPORT
the city itself can have no very large,
class of people except the trades peo-
pie and a;few allied interests.
This restricts the business of the
lefty to this limited trade. +.
81 But suppose there were half doz-
en- industries here, each employing one
hundred men, there would be six hun
dred men in the city earning wages,
and spending these same wages in the
city, and to that extent increasing the
actual business of the community.
Suppose that Of this six hundred,
one-half were men of families and that
the average number of members of
each household were five, the total in
crease in the population of the city
would be eighteen hundred.
In the Industrial centers where the
labor conditions are normal, the esti-
mated cost of living for each individ-
ual is fifty cents per day, which in
this case, would mean nine hundred
dollars per day which would mean
t.t T.
third Of a million dollars added to the
business of: the city yearly. e..
These people would not come in
competition with the agriculturalists,
thus increasing the output of the
farms and reducing probable prices.
On the contrary they would be large
buyers of farm products-not only
those which are now considered the
staples, but of the smaller ones which
are large money makers when grown
near a consuming market, but which
are practically valueless when they
must be shipped long distances to the
consumer.
Grand Forks has a great future be-
cause it can thus be made a city of
dual enterprises. Nature has given
1t the agricultural advantages. The
industrial advantages are artificial and
must come through the efforts of the
people.
That the city can be made a great
manufacturing center is believed by
every one familiar with the conditions.
One of the greatest industries of the
world is lying undeveloped at our
door.
Millions of bushels of wheat are
shipped through Grand Forks every
year to Minneapolis. there to be manu-
featured into flour to feed not only the
people of the great industrial centers
of our own country. but of Europe as
we'll.
Why cannot this manufacturing be
done here just as we'll as it can in
Minneapolis? Mills can be built hav.
ing the same processes as those of
that city, and a product can be manu-
featured that is in every particular as
good.
There are other enterprises that
will be just as important to the city.
Wooden products could be manufac.
;tured with profit because of the rea-
sonable proximity of the city to the
great timber supplies of northern
Minnesota.
Unless the population of the city is
increased property values must re-
main largely stationary. 1
3. Real estate values depend entirely
spon the congested conditions Of the
stipulation of the community, and as
this increases the value Of the prop
erty increases.
z The fact that the present tendency
Of real estate In this city 10 decidedly |