The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-01-04

Large Eastern Firm Wanted to Es-
tablIsh Branch Office Here But
Property Owner Asked Four
Times Value of Site.

A factory that wanted to locate in
keokuk has been driven away quite
recently by prohibitory prices, and
two large factories employing to-
gether 1,500 men, will locate in Ham
ilton as a result of Keokuk's method
of waiting till the factories come and
in the meantime advancing the prices
of real estate and rents. 1t is time
for Keokuk to wake up and shake off
its drowsiness, or else it will have
plenty of water but rot wheel to
turn. The reason these two factories
give for moving to Hamilton instead
of Keokuk, though they said they pre-
ferred Keokuk otherwise, was that
Hamilton has better factory SITES
Hamilton is to be congratulated upon
its pluck. If our city had gotten
busy and showed the companies just
as good sites here in addition to bet
ter railroad facilities and offered them
free, or at reasonable prices, it would
have secured them. I am not sure
that Hamilton knows yet that it has
secured these two factories ! am not
at liberty at The present time to
mention their names but | consider
my information quite reliable, and no
less reliable is the information that
/ received from tn same source con-
corning the factory that was anxious
to locate here. The facts briefly told
are as follows:
A large eastern concern employing
several thousand men wanted to es-
tablish branch factor, at Keokuk
to supply from here the west as far
as the Pacific coast. The owner, how
ever, of the desirable factory site
here asked four times the value of
that site. The company was willing
to pay fair price and more. 1t was
however, unable to secure the site
for less than four times its value,
whereupon the matter was dropped
and a site has been secured at st.
Louis at one-third it's value. An of
ficer Of the company is credited with
having said some very nnkind things
about keokuk and of having also re-
marked that now he would not have
the factory located here if he got the
site for nothing.
Some people l'ave expressed to me
the idea that the water power com
pany has thousands of dollars in
readiness for the purpose of buying
factory sites at Keokuk.. This is pure
nonsense. The company cannot favor
keokuk any more than Hamilton or
Warsaw or any other city II Keo-
kuk doesn't work for Keokuk, nobody
else will, and the factories will move
elsewhere. Some years ago Keokuk
relied on its good looks to get the
Santa Fe railroad. BY coming here
the Santa Fee would have shortened
it's distance from the coast by at
least miles. and Keokuk could have
had it, if it had been more active and
less sanguine. The same conditions
prevail now concerning factories.
They are not bound to come to Keo-
kuk. We get none if we don't go
after them. Keokuk, as the news
papers have pointed out, must get
busy and that ut once, to bring fac
tories here by offering a good induce
ment.
A fund ought to be made up and
a good booster employed to boost Keo.
kuk to eastern companies. Davenport
has very recently employed such a
man, paying him salary of $4,000
a year, and Keokuk, with unexcelled
opportunities at it's doors should have
the best booster otainable. The city
of Des Moines has been advertising
in the great eastern magazines and
has been amply repaid Water power
talk without anything to back it is
but waste of breath. What Is need
ed is putting the shoulder to the
wheel, and this must be done by
every citizen. People that hold fac.
tory sites at eXorbitant prices are
traitors to the cause of Greater Keo.
llull and deserve the contempt of the
business visitor in the city Monday.
G. GIGLINGER.