Here are some 115-year-old thoughts by the editorial staff of the Massena Observer. Interesting. Do you still feel kept back by the perverseness of the natives? March 16, 1899 – Massena Observer: When one looks back over the past years and contemplates the change that has come over the village of Massena, he is caused to wonder if it can be true. Over a hundred new buildings have been erected and the town has taken on an air, of a hustling, bustling, busy city. Work has been plentiful and money flowed freely. The T. A. Gillespie Company alone has paid out in wages over $200,000, and another $50,000 for supplies, all in Massena, making a quarter of a million dollars that has been poured in to Massena from a source outside that on which we were dependent before. Then there is the money paid out for carpenters labor by builders and contractors, a large part of which has come from out of town and been spent here. Who has been benefited by this? It has been the grocer, the butcher, the clothing man, the dry goods man, and everybody else who had a business has received benefit. Also the man who owns real estate has been benefited, and his property will bring in the market from two to three times as much as he would have thought of asking two years ago And some of them are not satisfied with an advance of 200 to 300 per cent but want 500 to 600 per cent more than it is worth. - These people are making a mistake, as is pointed out in our article on the towns development, in another column. If property cannot be purchased in the most desirable places at reasonable prices, the location of business will change, and in a short time the high priced property will go begging on the market. I shall take pleasure in referring to this matter in the future and say I told you so, because it is sure to come true. Notwithstanding all this, Massena is a backward, country village, endowed above any by nature, yet kept back, to the present time, by the perverseness of the natives. We have not a single advantage enjoyed by up-to-date villages. It is true, we are to have street lights in the near future. That will be one step toward enlightenment. It is also true that some preliminary work has been done toward a water system and sewerage and the way is paved for the erection of a decent town hall, by the passage of a bill allowing the town to expend $22,000 for the purchase of a site and the erection of a building. I also believe that the street railroad will be constructed from the depot to the power house within a year. The consent of a majority of the property owners on Main Street has been secured and there will be no trouble in securing the consent on the other streets. Under the railroad law the Company must begin the construction of the road within one year, and they now intend to begin as soon as the material can be secured. These things are all in embryo as yet, and may be slow to hatch, but the shell is bound to be broken in the not far distant future. Our people are too slow. They try to be conservative and in so doing they confound conservatism- with shortsightedness There is a vast difference. I believe in being conservative. Nobody should undertake any enterprise without first ascertaining all the details and figuring out very carefully the cost and consequences. If we are to have public improvements let us get at the business man fashion and not be clams. All will agree with me that water and sewerage must be provided at once, but we cannot all agree as to best methods of getting them. Some favor the village ownership of the water system, but a larger number are in favor of giving the franchise to an independent company on a basis that will be fair to the village and fair to the private consumers. The reason for this is that the village will of necessity be heavily taxed for street improvements and sewerage, and will have to bear its share of the new town hall tax. Our taxes now are very light compared with other villages, and indeed they should be so, because we have no advantages. None of us object to paying taxes if we are getting the worth of our money. But living in darkness, riding on poor streets, walking on broken and submerged sidewalks, with small rivers running -down the middle of the street, we ought not to pay much taxes. Another point may well be mentioned here, and it is one I have not heard discussed very much. It is a fact that every owner of real estate on the business streets of this village is paying more for extra insurance than his share of the tax would be to supply the town with water. This I have been told by insurance men of undoubted judgment. Will it be called conservative to put off the construction of a water and sewerage system, or simply short sightedness? There is a field open here for intelligent discussion, and you will hear from me again. THE OBSERVER
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 03:55:30 +0000
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