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Show A Constitutional Difference MARION Reedy's Mirror of St. Louis has the following editorial: Hon. Daniel O. Taylor, returned from the West, says that he found the people there glad to do business with St. Louis, but lamentably disinclined dis-inclined to come to 'St. Louis for the purpose of having fun. A delicately-put rap at our "lid" and unquestionably true. The "lid" makes the city a morgue. Ex-Judge Taylor might have said, if he were not one of those who has led the cloistered life of the student, that people who want to do business with a city, like to do it in one in which they can, if so inclined, combine with that busl ness a modicum of fun and festivity. No one 'wants a town so wide open that people will fall in irrevocably, morally and financially, but men are ad thev are, and they are inclined when they fare abrc ' to "see the elephant." This is not to say, and I am sure Judge Taylor would never say it, that a city should regard vice as an asset. It is only a recognition of the fact that men must relax and that they do wish to relax when they leave the routine life of the places where they work and strive. They wish something different from the grind at home, and they do like to spend something, when abroad, upon something other than the replenishment of their storep. There can be no question that our "lid" has diminished the number of transients and that incidental thereto it has been disastrous to the city'sretall trade while diminishing wholesale trade as well. That a live town is a town in which parasites flourish is not wholly true. Caterers to pleasure are not altogether parasites, for pleasure is one of the needs of man and it must be gratified. A city should be a pleasant place to come to for the man who comes not equipped for social activities ac-tivities such as the homes and a few clubs provide. pro-vide. He cannot stay cooped up in an hotel all day Sunday, if he does not go to church and is not invited to dinner in some home, and he cannot can-not be expected to go to bed with the chickens. Ho will not and he does not. He goes to Chicago where he can see something other than big city buildings, that he does not see at home. Judge Taylor has given us a thought it would be profitable profit-able to ponder. A relaxation of restrictions here would bo sound sociology and economics. Why do not the Business Men's League, the Million Club and other civic organizations take up the idea of Judge Taylor and get it into action? The first portion of the above should be of use to the extremists of this city and state who believe be-lieve that the way to make reckless men good 13 by an iron-hasped statute to dam a stream rather than turn its tainted waters aside, where they may clear themselves and give life to arid wastes and slacken the thirst of animals and men. But we do not believe that Mr. Reedy gives tho right Idea of the difference in methods between be-tween St. Louis and, say, Chicago. The differ-once differ-once is constitutional. St. Louis ves a large and flourishing city when Chicago was scarcely a hamlet. St. Louis merchants sold goods to those who came to them and desired to buy. They advertised modestly in the newspapers, but often that was to help the papers rather than themselves. them-selves. All the time one class of them had an , i , . exclusive socle among themselves, into which M no stranger could enter unless ho came with endorsements to which no exceptions could bo 'M taken. That ancient half-exclusiveness still M jngs to St. Louis. It dates back to the old M Palavery days. The old aristocratic families still M give a certain direction to the city. M The men who first went in force to Chicago, , saw at a glance that if anything worth while was fl to be there, it would have to be created, and M they went to work as did the boy who was fran- M tically digging at the hole of the ground hog and gave his reason that it must be that ground- M hog or no meat for breakfast. The first need il was for railroads, so they induced railroad build- jH ers to supply the roads. Then they needed more M goods they offered as security their enterprise jH and their gall. When they sent men out over j the railroads to find men who wanted goods and 'M to sell them the goods or to get them to go into H Chicago and buy at the houses they represented. M When the strangers went to Chicago, they dele- ;H gated men to entertain them. When the great H fire came and left them hopelessly in debt, they jH went to Boston, where they owed the most money,' jH and explained to their creditors that all they iH wanted was more money, lots of it, and then H thpy could pay. And they obtained it, so fire- H pi oof buildings rose where the shacks had stood, 'H and bigger stocks of goods, that they might have 'H more to sell. So they have pushed things. When 'H the first through railroad "was completed, they 'H Bont representatives to San Francisco, who hired ,H small up-stairs rooms, then went out and found :H would-be buyers, took them to their rooms and sold them more goods than could the unconscious H merchant with the big store and big stock down H stairs where he was paying $600 a month in rents H alone. H The pace was set for Chicago three-score years ago and jitihas never slackened since. The habits of St. Louis were set four-score years ago and they still Have their influence. Go to Chi- M cngo and every attention will be extended for a day or two until you are supposed to be on your own feet, then you are dropped and- another stranger is picked up. Go to St. Louis recom- M mended all right, and your business will be ca-e- M fully attended to, and then you are liable to be M surprised by an Invitation to some home where M you will bo welcome "as long as you please to M stay. M As we said, the difference is constitutional. M |