“That is a noble ambition, and the _Tribune_ sees no reason to
find fault with it. But it should not be forgotten that Chicago
will also grow, so that Buffalo may still be a long way behind
when her promise of a million inhabitants will have been
realized. Yet it may be said that the prospects of growth are
set forth only in a mild way by either of the papers named. If
the transference of electrical power be performed as cheaply and
efficiently as is now expected the result may be a speedy
removal thither of much of the manufacturing industry of New
England, a large share of the ‘Yankee notion’ business that now
flourishes in those Eastern States, and no little of the
manufacturing energy that at present exhibits itself in the
smaller cities of New York and New Jersey. Possibly the silk
industry of the latter will be found seeking the propinquity of
the Falls. Troy and Rochester, particularly the latter, are
likely to be injuriously affected, unless it be found that the
power can be transmitted to them with but little loss, and
Cleveland may be a great loser, while even the woolen mills of
Philadelphia may be unable to compete with those of the new
center. In short, the possibilities for paper mills, flour
mills, cotton and woolen manufactories, and a host of other
hives of industry clustering there is limited only by the
quantity of power available from the descending waters, and this
great prosperity will not bring with it the smudge of
coal-burning, which has defiled the buildings and polluted the
atmosphere of other cities that have attempted greatness by
changing to more useful forms the raw products of nature. But it
is hard to see how any or all of this can materially hurt
Chicago, and the people of this city can well afford to wish
those of Buffalo success in their new departure.”
“ANOTHER MANCHESTER.”
In a very able leading editorial, printed in the New York _Tribune_ of
February 7, 1892, the future of Buffalo was glowingly mirrored. Such
utterances from such a source speak volumes, and show the commanding
position to which Buffalo has risen--a position that attracts the
attention of the newspapers of national eminence as well as of the
greatest capitalists of the country. The article referred to is herewith
printed entire:
“Chicago has been so intent upon rivaling New York in population
and commercial importance that it has overlooked the chances of
competition from another city in the Empire State. Buffalo, with
Niagara Falls behind it, is looming up as the chief
manufacturing and shipping center of the interior. In the course
of a few months the practicability of converting the Falls into
a source of power, light, heat and refrigeration is to be
demonstrated. If the company which is now constructing tunnels
and setting a series of turbine-wheels, succeeds in obtaining
120,000 horse-power, every wheel in Buffalo can be turned and
every house lighted and heated at the lowest cost. With this
enormous electrical power transmitted and distributed throughout
the city, coal will no longer be burned and steam engines will
be dispensed with in manufacturing processes. Buffalo, by virtue
of having the cheapest power for turning its wheels, will
inevitably become the manufacturing center of the nation. This
is the forecast made, not only by sanguine electricians, but
also by shrewd, practical business men, who have watched the
remarkable progress of the city during the last decade.
“Even without the successful operation of the tunnel plant at
Niagara, Buffalo since 1880 has increased its population 89 per
cent., its grain receipts 101 per cent., its lumber shipments
125 per cent., its iron receipts 226 per cent., and its coal
business 367 per cent. The commerce of the great lakes has
involved exchanges of wheat and coal. All the coal-carrying
corporations have made Buffalo their shipping point for the West
because the grain-laden fleet is available for return cargoes.
The city is not only the largest grain-receiving and
coal-distributing center in the world, but it is also the
principal lumber port of the country and one of the greatest
live-stock and fish markets. With coal, iron, lumber and salt
available for the founding of new industries, it has increased
its number of manufacturing industries over 200 per cent. during
the last decade. These are substantial results which warrant the
conclusion that the success of the project for converting
Niagara Falls into a source of electric power will raise the
population of Buffalo from 300,000 to 1,000,000 in another
decade. The manufacturing interests of the country will
inevitably center where electric power costing a fraction of
either water or steam power can be supplied together with all
raw materials. With the help of Niagara, Buffalo now seems
destined to gain steadily upon Chicago in the race for
commercial supremacy.
“It has been fortunate for Buffalo that prosperity has not
overwhelmed it suddenly, and that it has had leisure for
preparing for its good fortune. Already it is the handsomest
residence city in America, with broad, heavily-shaded streets
paved with asphalt, with a well-designed series of beautiful
parks, and with public buildings, hotels, libraries and music
halls worthy of a great town. If its wealthy class live in
luxurious palaces incomparably finer than the residences of
Eastern millionaires, its poor and humble artisans are housed in
neat and tasteful cottages. It is a charming city of homes and
domestic comfort, which is gradually being transformed into one
of the busiest hives of American manufacturing industry. It is
at least a pleasant thought that through the transmission of
power now going to waste at Niagara this well-kept and wholesome
town may escape the smudge of coal-burning which has fouled
Chicago and impaired the freshness and beauty of Cleveland. If
by the end of another decade every wheel in it from the trolleys
on the electric railways to the largest iron lathe in its
engineering works be turned by power generated by the turbines
at Niagara, it will be another Manchester, but without smoke and
grime.”