Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-10-21
HOW CITIES GROW

dOW C1IlEO GhOW
 In the upbuilding of a city and in the life of an individual there are times when contentment is sin against progress; when satisfaction with what exists becomes the most formidable foe to the securing of anything better. A cer- tain kind of contentment is commendable and is an asset for effective living. But, of course, there is no law to prevent people from misusing word as much as they please. And so, when we find either person or eity's populace preaching the doctrine of contentment it is al- ways we'll to make sure that apathy instead is not being advocated. There is wide distinc- ton between mental poise and the policy of ''Let it rip!'
 It is sin against the race for any human being to be satisfied with mediocre success And similarly, it is far greater crime against soci- ety for any community, of its own volition to fail to grasp and foster every factor that makes for growth and progress
 But whether through apathy, or failure to recognize the value of certain public facilities, it is not uncommon for city in its early stages of growth to unwttingly or malciously oppose the very enterprises that would most hasten its advance to prosperity. Particularly well is this illustrated in the disposition often encountered for determined resistance to the extension of railways.
 A railroad is, of course, corporate enter prise promoted by company from purely bus mess motives. But 1t IS, also, from its very na- ture, the greatest emissary of success for any city into which it runs its lines. It is not stretching truth to say that study of an indus trial map will show the degree of prosperity en- Joyed by any city to be in direct proportion to the number and strength of the railway com panies that have builded their roads within its limits. This statement is too evident to need any argument in its support.
 As concrete illustration of what railroad ia clltles can do for young town with great nat ural resources surrounding it. we may consider the city of Denver This Rocky Mountain met ropOlls has come to be commercially the great pulsatlng heart of the enormous region of di- verslfied wealth that surrounds it in four direc- tiOns And yet, the history of its rise to emi- hence shows that it had its beginning as a mining camp. Today, it is hard to connect the name of Denver with the term mining camp in any way, however remote. For survey of it's cleanlv, we'll paved streets its handsome public squares. its stately public buildings and its systematized network of electric and steam railways makes it almost impossible to realize that some forty-tw, years ago the first locomotive steamed into a rather squalid settlement nestling at the foot of the Rockies, and that from that settlement has grown the glorious Denver of today. No better living evidence Is available anywhere of the fact that city, no matter how humble or unheralded It's birth may be, can be raised by her peoples spirit of progress to an industrial and civic po sitiOn we'll calculated to excite the envy of older and perhaps more fortunately located municipal sisters.
 But the secret of Denver's success is that if has consistently reached out into the great ter ritory that surrounds it and annexed it by q system of railways. It has extended branches ot It's industries over an area measuring many hundred miles in all directions With com mendable foresight, it has sought to become the great supply center and distributing point for a vast region whose chief industry is mining. The life supporting and mechanical wants of that great industry it has anticipated with the result that ores from hundreds of mines pass through its limits enroute to the consumer. And from Denver as center, the great quantities of machinery necessary in modern mining are fur nshed to several states. And the prosnertv that has come to Denver as the result of aiI these industries has been phenomenal and steadily cumulative
 Now that point of this semi i-historical sketch of Denver is that the position which that citv