Evening star., 1907-05-03


The estimated population Of Baltimore
Is $50 600 souls, who are engaged in d.
vers occupations, greatly to their profit.
This Is demonstrated by the fact that
the wealth Of the community has in
creased more rapidly than its numbers.
Other cities have grown more rapidly In
size, but few have kept pace In the In
crease Of wealth. The population has
advanced as follows:
1ssS ,sS ssa ssa "a s,s 1892 1922 sas sassiI siI
1880. 4s4. 4s8 1907 iestimatedj 100000
Both Boston and st. Louis. which stand
next to Baltimore In the population list
due to foreign immigration. Baltimore re-
ceives very few aliens. The foreign-born
population is smaller than that Of any other
city Of size in the United States. Baltimore
American breed. without foreign mixture
Of any community in the country. Occa-
sionally Baltimore girl marries a duke
or prince or some other person with a
attractive The Baltimore girls rank with
those of Cleveland and Louisville for
beauty. and men Of taste frequently go
there In search Of wives. But only 13.5 per
compared with 10 per cent In st. Louis. 2S6
per cent in Buffalo, 326 per cent In Cieve-
land. 34.8 per cent in Chicago. and 30 per
cent In Boston. Although Baltimore Is reck-
the metropolis of the south-regardless Of
geographical location-she has hmited
negro population. not more than Is per cent
Of the whole. and probably less.
Conservatism Of Baltimore.
Tho people Of other cities are pleased to
make sport of Baltimore and call 1t "slow."
The refinement Of its domestic life has been
called 1.-The civilization Of repose," and the
conservatism tof the people Is undoupteaiy
more pronounced than that OF any othes
large community. 1t is similar to that OF
Charleston, Savannah. Mobile and other
proud and self-satisfied old towns. The
best society Of Baltimore does not en-
courage frivolity or extrayagance. - dt,ds IL Is
rapid people go elsewhere for divertise-
ment. Money does not count for much IN
fixing the social position Of family. Good
the chief factors. A stranger cannot break
into Baltimore society by using a golden
wand. He must show good reasons for
his right to be there. No stranger can
he comes we'll recommended. Formerly
similar exclusiveness attended business re-
lations. The commercial community was
split up into cliques. each OF which had It's
own standards and regulations and looked
after Its own kind. but 1 am told the great
fire. burned down the barriers between busi-
ness sets. AS has been the case elsewhere,
q great calamity brought men together
bors. The spirit of cooperation and mu-
tual assistance and encouragement which
has been invoked by common misfortune
and new responsibilities has very largely
revolutionized commercial relations. 1t Is
also said that the fire burned many old
fogies out Of their seclusion and content
ment. 1t disturbed their fixed habits and
compelled them to change their methods or
living and doing business.
At one time the people Of Baltimore were
famous for their enterprise. The first rail-
road in the United States was built from
Baltimore to Ellicott City by local men and
the world was stretched from Baltimore
to Washington. and many other innova-
tions of universal importance originated
shers @ But the fGs ysh thst and
when their progress reached certain
point 1t was arrested and they settled down
to q condition Of conservative contehtment
from which nothing but great calamity
turbed them. When I asked one Of the
oracies around Monument Square how he
accounted for this. he said:
1.-THE people Of Baltimore have lacked
friction; they had no Imagination and no
speculative instincts. They were doing
well enough and were satisfied They did
not want their prosperous and satisfactory
conditions disturbed. They wanted to be
let alone. They preferred to follow ira
dition rather than prophecy. They were
like storekeeper that I heard OF down
in New England village. which suddenly
became a popular summer resort. A
young woman went into his shop one day
and asked for marshmallows.
Don't keep EN-. said the storekeeper.
"'You kept them last summer?
"'Yaas but they were more trouble than
an'thing else. never could keep 'em in
stock. The minute I'd get box down
from Boston you girls ould come in and
buy 'em all UP and I'd have to send for
more I'm not goin' to be pestered that
way again this summer
The Old Baltimore Clippers.
This disposition to cling to the good old
habits rather than adopt better ways is H.
lustrated in the history of the foreign COM
merce Of Baltimore After the war of 1872
this city became the headquarters of fleet
of sailing vessels, which carried cargoes of
-four. provisions and manufactured mer-
chandise to all ports of the world and
brought home tea, coffee, sugar, rubber, silk.
hides. hemp. drugs and dye-woods. and
various other natural and manufactured
products Of foreign nations. The Balti-
more clipper" was the highest type of
trading vessel. 1t was an ideal Of COM
merce. But as time went on and boilers
were gradually substituted for sails. the
Baltimore merchants refused to adopt the
improvements. They chung to their clip
pers as the most economical and conven-
lent vehicles Of trade, and many still cling
to them and refuse to ship freight by
steam. British and Norwegian shIpowners
took advantage Of this popularity and
filed the harbor Of Baltimore with tramps,
which offered to carry cargoes at such low
rates that the clippers could not compete
with them and finally the trade died out.
The last of the feet now ply between Bal
timore and Brazil, carrying down flour and
provisions and bringing back coffee. But
the bulk Of the carrying trade has been
snatched from the control of the Baltimore
merchants, and because they would not
build their own steamers it Is now done
under the British and other foreign Euro
pean flags.
Until the recent fire large portion of
the older business men--the passing gen.
eration-were stubbornly opposed to all i'm
provements, to all Innovations to all devia-
tions from the ancient means and methods,
and, for that reason, many of the young
men-the active, energetic, enterprising
spirits-left Baltimore and sought more
congenial and sympathetic fields for the
exercise of their talents.
..s, AeeAsi1.