OCR Text |
Show Oil Boom Will Give Salt L !; Many Opportunities, It h Effect of Industry Upon Cities in Texas Related to Show This Gty's Possibilities . TIE following survey of the situation in Salt Lake in connection with the oil boom in Utah has been made by Attorney Franklin Riter and submitted to the board of governor of the Commercial club : ters to provide room for .artf' rm- R antes which the chamber of t'ornmen j ad Invited to the city. Everybody benefited by, the sufisemsh display uf Interest In public welfare. We must make It apparent to th outride oompuriiei which may I.! In Utah that Halt Lak waims tne.o. and that we need them. We will want to make their officers ni employe feel that they are coming to a place where they will be welcomed and .their families will receive tours eom con- sideratlon from every one of us The latchkey must nans; on tbe otmit and our club and business organtnatlort must exert themselves to make th straajrers within our sates tee! that they are with friends. We must watnh the matter of hotels and see that provision is marie for accommodation of the great transient tran-sient population which nervsaariiy follows such a boom. Here asaia w must preveitt exorbitant demands upon the people "lodged for the night. Hotels ar entitled to reasonable con-pensatlnn con-pensatlnn considering the situation they will be called upon to meet, but they are not entitled to make the ". the limit" in fixing their ten Ha. r There exist In our community today several organisations which w"lil In a position to participate actively in the business of furnishing oil v eil supplies. W should glv them our aid and help, In order for them to meet the competition arising In other cltit-a. We must not close our syes to tr fact that the coast cities, have their eyes on Utah and ar walling for the psychological moment to entr this district In actlv competition wrth local lo-cal conoarna, I understand that th railroad rate ar In our favor and we must not lose this advantage througa anv shorts I sh ted neSH on our part. My partner. R. W. Powers, and I have for the past six years inamtel that some day an oil boom wouUi com , to Utah, and now that It Is ncr w feel that our hopes ar going to b realised, and we went Salt Lake to secure the full benefits of such s situation. sit-uation. We want It to be built tm a bigger, finer and better city. hlh, will be ft personification of a true, honest, tolerant aad open heartetl American spirit. There Is opportunity for Rait Tak to double Its population, triple Its business busi-ness and Increase Its commercial atanding In the Western United btatea. If the potential oil boom In truth becomes be-comes a reality, alt Lke la the natural nat-ural financial center for the Inter , mountain basin. This Is a truism, but csn stand repeating. We have been so accustomed to regarding Salt Lake as a necessity to the other sections of th basin that w ar apt to overlook th fart that In this situation which I arising thers Is danger of other towns and localities, near the fields of i production sec aIn g greater benefits of the discovery of oil than Salt Lkr' receives. We must keep Halt tke he1 financial and executive headquarters for all oil operations In th great basin. Ther Is no escaping th fart that should oil be discovered In commercial quantities la any of the potential fields of southern and southeastern Vt-h that there ar several towns whlh will first reap the benefit. I mention Prto. Oree River, Huntington nnd Marysvale. From their location they will naturally become the field headquarter head-quarter of th operating com pan lee. At these points will b located the supply yards and depots. If the fields Justify our optimistic expectatfona. It s but natural that the railroads will esteetd their head ento the toe 4 the fields. As a consequence new towns will oeme Into existence, which will become operating headquartera The fart remains, however, that Halt Take has the opportunity of securing th permanent benefits of th discovery discov-ery of oil. I hav, spent two year In the Texas fields and hav noted the rapid development of such towns as Ranger, Rastlaod, Cisco and Hrecken-ridge, Hrecken-ridge, which were sleeny country towns four years ago. These pieces today ar small but active cities. The Interesting fact concerning the Texss oil boom, however. I the effect upon tallaa and Ft Worth. Both of these eltlea ar situated about the same dis-tsnce dis-tsnce from the north central Texas fields as Salt I-he Is from th potential poten-tial field of T'tah. The cities, however, how-ever, hav received the lasting and permanent benefits of the oil boom In Texas. To my mind, T fall as Is on of the fin cities of America. There ar several things which Halt Tak can do In order to be prepared to meet the situation, which we all hone will arise within the next twelve month. In the first place, W must watch our housing situation. It la bad today, hnt with the Influx of ROOD people It will be Intolerable. When the crowds begin to come we must prevent profiteering of any kind. I realise that the law of supply and demand de-mand Is a constant on. I do not believe be-lieve any teglslstrr- -enactments will glv any help to a situation which arises when ther ar more people requiring re-quiring house to lire In than ther ar houe available. The on sur Influence In-fluence Is public opinion, and if w can create the Impression In Halt Iake that It will be very unhealthy for a man to demand more than reasonable rentals, ws will havs don mui h In the direction ef the housing problem. fteoondly, we must watch the proposition propo-sition of office accommodations. We must be In the position to offer big companies adequate office space. 1 cannot pass by this subject without paying tribute to th manner In which Ft. Worth solved this problem. 1 know of concerns which had bean long established In this city which moved to small and less commodious guar- |