Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1915-11-25
WHEN A BOOST BECOMES A KNOCK.

A boost becomes a knock when it becomes obvious that the
claims made by the boosters" were not founded on facts. In other
words, a boost may be a longrange knock.
We are prompted to these remarks through the reading of an
editorial appeal which recently appeared in the columns of the Grand
junction Colorado Daily News. We reproduce the following para
graphs:
"Not only are our people discouraging strangers who
come here with a view of locating but they re writing letters
to friends and relatives in other sections Of the country
complaining Of the conditions we have to contend with.
Now the result Of this is to nulify almost anything that can
be done in the way of sending out advertising matter. For
instance, John Jones, in Iowa, receives a circular and be-
comes interested to the extent of looking into the opportun-
tiles of this section. He mentions it to his neighbor, Mr..
Smith, who at once says, Oh, don't go there. got a letter
the other day from John Brown of Grand Junction, saying
that times were not good and he wished he could get away
from there That is enough, John Jones at once drops any
idea of coming here,
CHOW the point The News wants to make to its readers
is this: that when you write or talk, detrimental to the
Grand Valley, you are injuring your own interests; you are
depreciatng the value of your own property and you are
doing your share to prevent new money coming in here or
buyers coming in to take over land
The people of Grand Junction and of the Grand Valley, and Of
many other parts Of Colorado and of the great west. have sown the
wind and are now reapng the whirlwind. Their "boosters' of ten
or a dozen years ago we're in reality longrange knockers, and the
country IS paying the penalty.
The Grand Valley, which includes the city of Grand Junction, is
inhabited by a magnificent people, taking them as a whole. If their
section had been utilized all along for the purposes for which the
Almighty designed it, there would have been no occasion for the
sort of appeal that appears in the Grand Junction newspaper, which
one of the enterprising, publicsprited institutions of the Rocky
But the wind7iammers and the boosters got in their work AMI
succeeded in administering about as effective a dose of knocking as
could have been concocted had the prescription been compounded
by the devil himself. 81
And what's the trouble with it, Merely that it has been over
doomed and that a systematic attempt was made to represent it as
capable of producing in abundance and alta profit that for which it is
not adapted. Values became fictitious to al extent that a crash
was inevitable. a.
AS in the case of certain great railroads which have been driven
upon the financial rocks by highfying fnancers, the country sur
rounding Grand Junction, and those regions similarly affected, will
be restored to their equilibrium when this Righteousness is entirely
squeezed out, and not before.
In other words, the oldtime boosters" must either be iuggoA
Or shot; the water must be eliminated from the stock, so to speak;
IAN adequate system of drainage must be provided, and interest
charges must be fixed upon the basis Of the producing capabilities
Iof the sol. #
Grand functions consolation, however, such as it is, or nav be,
is that it is not altogether lonesome in this over-boosting business.
Many progressive and aggressive communities find a boost now and
then coming home to roost as a knock, due to the over-zealousness
of constituencies promoters and boomers. ~ g@"~e4t E
But The Saturday News does not think that the remedy lies in
pulling other people into the community to assist those who are
there i'll getting out. The remedy lies in an acknowledgement of the
truth and in a REIMBURSEMENT of values and in a realignment in keep
ing with the facts.
The Grand Valley is all right if it is used right, and it's all
wrong if it is used wrong, as has been the case with it for the past
fifteen years.