OCR Text |
Show GET YOUR EYE Off YOUR SORE TOE j Stop Knocking Your Town and Your Neighbor Get Busy Pull I Together 0rden's Future is Bright, Says a i Colorado Visitor. i l 1 Editor Standard: 1 am Inspired by, your recent editorials, "Whtre They Do Thluga" and "Ogden Is a Good City" to Inflict jon with a communication. communi-cation. Parenthetically, I have been a subscriber sub-scriber to your paper for, lo! these many years and at present am test-ljg test-ljg its ineriis as an advertising medium. med-ium. 1 am not a stranger in Ogden. I lived hro, "not wisely, but too well," in the boom davs of 18S9 and I have ben a faithful and consistent tax payer pay-er ever since. So, I feel that I have a right to speak as "one of the family." fam-ily." Ogden. like a certain little girl, is very very good, but in some of her ways she Is simply horrid. True. nho has been a victim of untoward circumstances, hut a good spanking won't hurt her. It is not for me to tell 0den pernio per-nio of the ImDortant location of this with Ogden In beauty of location and surroundings. Another point The peoDle of Ogden Og-den are still "fighting ghosts" It Is truo that no nation or community can truly prosper under the domination domina-tion of a single religious faith Church-ridden nations fall behind in the grand march of civilization and progress. This would be just as tru? whether the despotic rule be that of Moslem. Catholic, Mormon or Methodist. Meth-odist. FJut aro Salt Lake and Ogden really traveling under any sc-rlous handicap of this character? There may be Jealousies, aggravations, favoritism, fav-oritism, and some restraint in competition, com-petition, owing to church affiliations, but. why blow these llttlo troubles 1n the face of every visitor? I am not seeking In this article to precipitate any arguments or controversies. I am for peace and protress You commend com-mend a Kansas City for Its public city nor of the beauty of her surroundings, sur-roundings, although I sometimes doubt If they appreciate the commercial commer-cial xalue of the latter. Ogden is a raiely beautiful spot There is no more beautiful site In America than the "Bench" or Nob Hill from Twenty-sixth street to Twenty-second street from Polk street to the Mouutalns. Why Is not this area covered with the beautiful homes of Ogden's cltl-zeus cltl-zeus and of the leisure class from all i over the country? One reason Is that the local street railway peoplo have 1 seen fit to leave that part of the city ; a desolate wilderness of scrub oak. ; Inaccessible to home builders. Just ! suppose the street railway had been extended from 2Gth street across to J 22nd street, sumo years ago, on Fil more avenue. Then Imagine the group of beautiful residences now located ou the Eccles block (so-called) strung out on Fil more or Pierce avenues surrounded b spacious and beautiful grounds! How many others might have been attracted to build beautiful beauti-ful homes upon this favored spot! But there must be other Inducements to bring both home builders and tourists to Ogden. It Is truly surprising to note In the past tew years the Influx from all over the country, of retired and well-to. well-to. do people Into, not only Denver and Colorado Springs, but the smaller small-er cities of Colorado like Fort Col- splrit. Lot me tell you of the pluck and spirit of my home town In Colorado. Colo-rado. About four years ago It was proposed to the business men of our little agricultural town of about t",,ooo people to inaugurate a fourteen days' campaign to raise SSO.-'iOO for a Y. M. C. A. building. Thf Idea seemed I preposterous But we said. "Go ahead we are with jou" At the end of the fourteen days of wonderful organization or-ganization and enthusiasm we found we had total subscriptions of $58,000. There were over 1,300 pledges tho largest $1.000 (eight of thorn) and all the way down to one dollar. The building was erected and has been a splendid investment, not only for the youth cf our city, but for our busl ness men and 'be entire community. Our little city has 12,0U people now. It has been a "dry town' for about flfteeu years. Could you do that trick In Ogden. a city of almost 30,000 people? Why not. The money mon-ey Is here, your banks show that. It is simply a matter of public spirit, morality and co-operation, lsn t it? Ogden peoole seem never to have gotten over the licking of the awful depression following Iho bo-m of twenty years ago Ah, cher up! I find some people here who ure very hopeful. I liud soiuo others who are still in the doleful dumps. They can't tell you anything good about Osden. "The town Is n. good; real estate is loo high; you can buy cheaper cheap-er ucxt year," etc., ad nauseam. Let me toll the people of Ugdcn something: Real estate in OgdeM is cheaper, relatively, than In any other city or town in the United States west of the Mississippi rUcr. Or course, that statement does not apply ap-ply to busted mining camps only the live towns of 10,000 people or better. In my home town of 12,000 popu-latlon, popu-latlon, good rial estate sells at double the valuations In your city of 30,000 people. 1 cannot see why Ogden real estate i not relatively cheap, too cheap. I do not. see how If can get any lower-it lower-it all ought to advance. Ogden has had a very slow, healthy, substantial growth of lat years a growth that does not warrant a reaction for a long time. Other places may have grown too fast; prices may react, but not so in Ogden. What Ogden needs is a good quota of courage, pluck, self-rospect and confidence. Get our eyes off your sor toe. Stop knocking your town and your neljhhor! Get busy! Pull together! Open your hearts an 1 purses! And all will be well with Ogden. "(Signed) ED. H. HALL ; lins and (Jrceiey. 1 ney are aitra?icu , not only by the climate but by other I considerations which go to make a I city a desirable place of residence, : As a rub? the well-to-do bome-, bome-, seeker considers climate, attractive 1 surroundings, a clean, well governed city, good schools and a healthy moral atmosphere in which to bring up the youncer members of the family. Has ' Ogden all of these? Let the people of Ogden answer. Owing to Its loca- tion and to the fact that it Is a "rail-I "rail-I ro:id town" 1 don't consider for one moment that Ogden con b" made "a spotless town." but I do believe moral mor-al conditions may be greatly lmprov-ed lmprov-ed to the great advantage of Ogden. One sees too many poor, unfortun- j ate wrecks on tho streets or this beautiful city. Ogden should not be , "a port for lost men " : People hesitate to locate in a town having a largo vagabond population. No. prohibition Is all right for a town like Greoley. Colo. On the whole. It ! Is a success. But for towns like i Denver. Salt Lake and Ogden it would be an Impractical farce, Tho best I that can be done Is to reduce lntem-I lntem-I perance and vice to a minimum and 1 strictly regulate. I Next to the permanent home build-1 build-1 or, Ogden should join hands witfi Salt Lake, and go after the tourist business. lii iii iL?ti. nil ji-aih -Nd J.us- land people havo fattened and grown oppulent upon the "summer boarder." board-er." Florida. California and a few other sections draw millions annually annual-ly from the tourists. One person in perhaps fifty of tho many thousands en route to California stops over in Salt Lake for twenty-four hours to tec the Temple and Tabernacle. Few, but traveling m-u, get beyond the ! limits of the depot In Ogden. These conditions can 1 changed, but It will be a matter of time, patience and tho i outlay of large sums of money. A j half a million dollars spent at Ogdeu Hot Springs, an equal amount lu Og- den cjinvon, a cog-wheel railroad up Observatory Peak to a magnificent re-! re-! sort, and, quite as Important, the ex-( ex-( pondlture of fifty thousand dollars In advertising these attractions would do the trick. Who will do these things' There is money enough in Ogden and Salt Lake to do them and make , them a success. Probably enough money is snt away from these two cities to Nevada, Idaho and elsewhere, else-where, which, if invested at home, would mean big things for Ogden and h'alt Lake. Hero Is a clipping from a recent paper: Colorado Springs not only gets a big tourist trade, but It gets residents of this financial caliber. And Colorado Springs cunuot compare |