Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-13
Cleveland Looks Ahead
BY Frederic j. Haskin.

ANNcianQ, ohlo, July lV.-SicNeH'fa
y city of municipal foresight. IL believes
IN looking ON the optimistic side OF ME
and seeing things not as they are, but as
they VIII be IN the future
Thus when the recent census hgures
We're published. showing Detroit to pe
leading Cleveland by several hundred
thousand population. Cleveland merely,
shrugged rs dignificd shoulders, o,eared
ts throat significantly, end said: Nat
and see what happens IN the next hVe
years"
This remark is typical of Clevelands S
attitude toward most of Its Shortcomings |
Not that IL has more than other cities, but
u gives one the impression OF just having
discovered them. Everything IN Cieve-
land Is Just IN the process OF beng sur
ycyed or has Just been surveyed, and as IT
VIII be several wears before the recon-
mendations resulting from these surveys
are acted upon, Cleveland naturally looks
o. the future for perfection. In TACT,
many of the citizens OF Cleveland nave
looked in this direction so often that they
have come t. take the future Cleveland
for granted.
For instance. ono Of the things that
Cleveland likes 10 boast about Is Its
famous group plan of public buildings
This group, rs everyone VII tell you,
includes the Union Passenger Ftation, the
City Hall, the Library Building the
Federal Building, the Municipal Audi
torium and the County Building, extend
ing IN neat and orderl y plan from the
fringe Of the business district to the shore
of Lake Erie Well. so much has been
said and written concerning this dazzling
feature Cf the city that few months ago
a city planning expert arrived from Bel
gum for the sole purpose OF inspecting IT.
With some reluctance. n small delegation
from the Chamber of Commerce led the
Belgian gentleman down the street and
showed him the City Hall, the Court
House and the massive steel skeleton of
what is some day 10 be the auditorium.
STILL OK PAPER.
"Rut the library and the station9'
inquired the city planning expert, con-
sultlng an ancient pamphlet on the beau
ties Of Cleveland.
I'VE regret TO say" explained the
delegation. that they are still in the
form of blue print"
Since this incident occurred, the bond
issue for fifteen million dollars which was
90 be raised IN order To build the station
has been rejected by the people OF Cleve
land i'm favor of large number of new
hospital beds, and the group plan appears
10 be farther from completion than ever.
Nevertheless, IL Is accepted as reality
by Cleveland.
OF course, this municipal futurism is
better understood when YOU consider
that Clevcand's slogan is "Teil the World
About Clcvelandr Unfortunately, in
order TO make the world listen, YOU have
20 have something interesting to tell, so
Cleveland cannot be blamed If II turns to
the future and Uses its imagination.
Clevcland's past Is not of the romantic
or lurid variety which the world prefers
20 read about. 1t was quietly and peace
fully founded by a man named Moses
Cleveland who was head surveyor for
the Connecticut Land Company, which
acquired most of northern Ohio at the
price of forty cents an acre. We are told |
that one acre in Cleveland today is worth
$1,000, ,0O0 but we don't know which acre
is referred 10.
The influence Of the early Connecticut
Puritans still predominates in Cleveland |
which continues TO take itself and the |
world very seriously. In the outlying |
farming DISTRICTS moreover, there are |
villages which, to all appearances, might |
have been brought along by the Con- |
necticut Land Company in its journey |
westward. 80 identical are they with those |
90 be found IN Connecticut.
CITY OF DIGNITY.
However, il was the Standard Oil Com |
panv and not Connecticut which made |
cleveland what il is today, although |
neither the Standard Oil Company nor
the people Of Cleveland will admit il.
The officials of the former tell you that it |
was the completion of The Ohio Canal /
connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio |
River as early as 1884 which started |
Cleveland on the road to becoming a |
great Industrial city, but the people of |
Cleveland viii tell you that they had the |
elements of success IN them from the /
very beginning.
BE that as il may, Cleveland today is |
ponderous and dignihed, as BELTS its close |
affiliations with the Rockefeller family, |
and lust a triflc heavy. II does heavy |
things. II builds steel ships along It's lake |
front: il manufactures machinery, and |
assemblies automobile parts. II also leads |
the world in the production Of nuts-of |
the purely industrial variety-bolts. |
wire goods, sCeel forglngs, hardware Job |
printers presses, gray iron castings, |
telescopes. plumbers fixtures and vacuum
swecpcrs. Ii also turns out more womens |
rcadv-made clothing than any other city,
with the exception Of New York.
But Cleveland's greatest pride is its /
success as host 90 lnnumerable conven-
lions As a meeting place. as the Cham
Der OF Commerce so truly says, Cleveland /
size in the country. Nothing pleases |
Cleveland-especially the hotels and |
retailers Of Cleveland-more than to have |
a whole association of hayn akers, or pipe |
manufacturers or confectio lers or lawyers /
or homeopathic physicians descend upon
IL five or six hundred stro lg.
HEAVEN FOR DF -EGATEs
Nowhere is the badg, Of membership /
more admired or respected. Nowhere |
have so many special facilities been as
scInbled as a lure TO the convening public |
We forget what the seatin capacity of |
all the hotel lobbies halls and auditoriums
Is, but it is quite astonishing And it may
be added with all due fairness to Cleve-
land, that it's hotels are exceptionally
aitractive-quite, in fact, the most
attractive feature of the city
Besides which, Cleveland possesses
unique amusement facilities for conven-
ing visitors within easy walking distance
along its principal streets One Of these
is a shooting gallery of the good old
type found at summer resorts, where the
person who hits the bulls eye three times
In succession is rewarded with a pair of
socks OF the thirty-fve cent variety.
Another is a minIture circus held in a
moving picture theatre, which consists of
everything from mournful calliope
blnnd-cx.-notfnU baharr,otb to q nil |