Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

Page 16 text:

14 T1IK MILESTON E. estate boomer. He strives and works for the success of his project. There are two different kinds of booms as applied to cities and towns, namely: A manufacturing boom, which is to encourage and cause the erection of manufacturing enterprises in the city. A real estate boom is gotten up to aid the sale of land and lots in the immediate locality. Manufactures seldom come to a place without inducement of some kind. Foreign capital, ever shy in seeking investments, dares not hazard the undertaking without local aid and the assumption of some responsibility by the resident citizens, not only to help the manufactury about, but also to unite local interests to it. This aid is given as a bonus and consists of the subscription of either money or real estate, or both. To this bonus every citizen is urged to contribute. If he does not he is thought, no matter what his position or financial standing is, to be close and unconcerned about the future welfare of his city. When a manufactory is built, if it proves to be a paying institution, and can be kept in legitimate operation, employing a certain number of men, then the boom is entitled to so much credit. Suppose the enterprise proves to be a bad investment and the manufactory is compelled to shut down because it does not pay expenses; then the bonus is lost, all the foreign capital is lost, and the people who were employed by the institution are left without work and are compelled to seek employment

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Booms. There are many different kinds of booms. Some are harmless and beneficial, while others are radically different. Some of the first class are: A boom of logs used by lumbermen to keep the logs from floating away, and to have them conveniently near the saw-mill; a boom is set up near dangerous places along a river to aid pilots in keeping the channel; ships carry booms to which the bottoms of the sails are fastened. The candidate for office also has a boom. When his chances for election are very slim his boom becomes what is known in politics, as “boomlet, or a small sized boom. But when his chances are very good he has a fine, large, full fledged boom. We Americans are great people for booming. Our tendency is to push things through hurriedly, violently and to do things with a rush, even to the extreme. Having looked to the harmless kind of booms, let us now turn our attention to the other kind. Every town has its boom. Sometime the boom comes when the townsite is first surveyed and platted, or it may come later, but at some time it is sure to appear. With the boom comes a species of business man. known to us as a real

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THE MILESTONE. 15 elsewhere. Business comes to a standstill and a general collapse ensues. The real estate boom is even worse than this. It is generally accompanied by manufactories. People are attracted to the place by the boom, see the unnatural activity which it brings on, believing it to he the true state of activity that exists at all times, are induced to buy real estate and homes. Then the boom bursts, employment gives out, the price of real estate falls away down below its original standard and the people who have invested are compelled to sell at a sacrifice; thus losing money or to hold onto their property with nothing to do. Business comes to a standstill and the people experience what is known as hard times. From this kind of a boom and its burst, it takes a town years to recover; in fact many towns have never recovered. The best example of this is the town of Pithole, Pa. Oil was discovered there and immediately there was a great real estate boom. People flocked there from all parts of the state and bought property. It became a large town; had street cars, free mail delivery, large hotels, fine opera house, city water and, in fact, all the improvements which make up a city of modern times. Then the boom bursted, and today there is not a sign, not a thing, to intimate that once there flourished in that place, a thriving city. Even the railroad has been taken up. We draw our lesson from this, for indeed there is a lesson and it is this: Every boom has its relapse, just as sure as all action is equal to reaction, and we. the people, each individu-