Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-02-04

ed iself upon the city an dhas ev
Washington Irving tells us that
Captain Bonneville. who visited
the valley in 1888. described 1t AZ
the most beautiful valley which his
expedition had entered. Bonne-
Vile was our original booster.
Boise has always been . city Of
trees and flowers with q back
ground Of mountains whose ever
changing colors are a delight to
the eye. 1t Is a democratic city.
Its people are not divided upon
lines of great wealth or great
poverty. 1t is a we'll kept city Of
clean streets and walks and neat
ly kept homes. The owners Of
more than a thousand automo-
biles living in tho city may travel
over moro than a hundred miles
Of streets with reasonable COM
fort. More than 90 miles Of water
pipes bring the purest Of water to
quench our thirst and water our
lawns. Hundreds Of miles OF
electric and telephone wires con-
tribute to our comfort in life. We
have q street railway and inter-
urban railway system unexcelled
in any city Of its size. Schools
and churches we have Of tho best.
TRADE NEVER BETTER.
For a time many of our citizens be-
lieved we were not prospecting. They
are Just now beginning to realize that
the trade Of the city was never 81
t.
years past, the wholesale and reta.
liquor trade was an item OF consider
able volume, running into many thous-
ands Of dollars. There was none OF
this trade in 1916, and yet, notwith
standing the elimination of this item
the ordinary wholesale and retail
trade of this city, not including the
automobile trade, was greater by hun
dreds of thousands of dollars than II
ever was before. That the automobile
trade was much greater goes without
saying. So we take 1t as settled that
without any abnormal conditions. not
the abolition OF the liquor
trade and the total failure of the fruit
crop. the business of 1915 was enor-
greater than we have ever
known before.
Frequently We hear talk about the
desirability of payrolls and in almost
all cases we find that the people who
talk about payrolls have no concep-
ion Of those which already exist. For
Instance. we have retail stores with
30 to 100 employees. We have retail
stores in which. during busy holiday
lone up In a single day. The number
n one instance, to be exact. was
1882.
The line of business which perhaps
shows the greatest change In the last
i've years is the picture shows. We
nave grown from very small begin
hing. until at present II is not I'M
usual for $1,000 people to attend the
picture shows in Boise in a single
week. The number will exceed this
Turing unusually busy times.
BEATS FOUR YEARS AGO.
The year 1912 has at some times
,een supposed to be the high water
mark OF Boise's population, trade and
but the figures do not bear
I out, but 1916 is the banner year
Ne may look to our public utilities in
rider to get a fair comparison be-
ween 1912 and 1916. The business OF
he water company Is not affected by
mere transitory conditions but the
Boise Artesian Hot & Cold Water
ompany had more customers In 1915
nd took in more money than it did IN
912, or in any previous year. Janu-
ry l. 1915, the water company had
1888 customers. January first OF this
ear, the water company had 604S
ustomers. OF this increase about 100
( these customers may be accounted
or on account of the extension of the
'ater works to South Boise. The re
however, must be accounted
or on the north side of the river. We !
o find this condition. however. The !
,cations of the customers have
hanged somewhat. Between Third |
nd Eighth streets, there are probably |
ever customers than before, the gain
cling made up in other sections Of the
ity.
POPULATION ESTIMATE.
The question of population is al |