Arizona republican., 1916-01-06
TWENTY YEARS IF OBSERVATION HAVE NUT ALTERED THE FIRST
 IMPRESSION IF MIR. RTLET

Twenty years of observation of Phoenix and Arizona have not altered the impression Mir. A. C. Bartlett gained of this section of the southwest when he first iourneyed here from | Chicago and coupled his interests in | the Illinois city with new associations | i'm Phoenix and the Salt River Valley. Nor has he become less loyal to the steadily developing garden spot be- cause, though it is as much his home and holds just as tender associations as Chicago, his business affairs require | that a greater portion Of his time be spent in the east than here.
 MT. Bartlett is just now paying one of his visits to Phoenix, and when h." speaks of this city as his home, his words ring true.
 "The past, the present and the fut- urc of Arizona. What are your inn pressions regarding these" the sue i cessfuI business man and member of | the firm of Hubbard, Spencer X Bart | lett, was asked yesterday.
 That is a somewhat comprehensive l question, young man." he replied, GOV | erinE. as it does. the entire cXpanse of i the state and all of the time between | the day the Territory was named and 1 tue UiN Ol Iutl1liitill- . 'tl illiN stN Ntil 1 ask an opinion regarding the universe | at large without limiting the party in- | terviewed to any particular period of 1 time or phase of the subject Unless l you have reserved twenty or thirty l pages of Ire Republican and are will l ing to lose one-h half of it's subscribers, | the interview should either close at | this point or be given reasonable limi- | tations; and then you should put your | question to some man who is less liable | to be prejudiced in favor of the com monwealth about which you ask him to talk.
 Tn this section of the country ! am accustomed to being considered as d citizen of Phoenix and Chicago Phoc- nix always coming firsD and mus, naturally be loyal to my home town and the state in which 1t is located. l 'I have been watching Arizona with q personal interest for twenty years. and know something of it's growth and development during that stretch of time. | have my opinion of it's present status as compared with that of two
 decades ago. but am loath to hazard al prophecy. based upon observations
 during the past. of what may be eN- pected to occur in the next score of
 N
 fair | first saw Phoenix. it was
 through vista flanl5cd by -rcasewood and mesquite and there was not much
 to see. Loyal and optimistic citizens
 tried to swell the census of the town
 to 5000 people. but their imaginatious
 had to reach out into the suburbs and | possibly embrace the cemeteries in
 order to approximate that number | Phoenix was then lovely little oasis
 in the midst of an extended desert l Now it is an attractive and substantial | city surrounded by rich and produc- tive farming community. in Uni, | western country we are accustomed {, l seeing mushroom towns suddenly 1 spring out of barren wastes. but th, 1 development of this great valley iron 1 what seemed. to the initiated. to be | sterile plain into eNpanses of alfalf; and grain fields. beautiful orange aut
 olive groves within a space of 2l
 years is phenomenal. All of this ha.
 been without any wild boom or fever
 ish speculation. The past of the Sal 1 River Valley is on record. the prcSen
 is assured, and the future looks bright
 CT than did either the past or presen
 in perspective. You have the sam
 fertile soil on which the pioneers mad
 their start; you have the rcscrvoi
 with it's million of acre feet of watc
 to make that fertile soil produce to tin
 very limit of it's capacity; you have tn
 accumulated experience of the past
 and, above all, you have the energy