The Seattle Star Newspaper, December 31, 1919, Page 17

5 i Be Golden Jubilee Number -TheSeattleStar (=~). SEATTLE, WASH., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 81, 1919. TO" Buniversary Seatt BY DANA SLEETH ITIES are like people. There are bad cities, and staid, quiet cities. There! are tourist towns where nobody thinks of building a home; and thereare cities where the residence districts afford the entire life of The place. But of all the cities in the nation, and the writer has become infi-: mately acquainted with most of the Western cities the last twenty years, there is one that combines the commercial and the home-loving, the out-' reaching, ambitious spirit and the contented, self-sufficient, conserva- == 4 tive spirit, too. . Seattle is a wonder. Fifty years ago nothing; today one of the big cities of the world E and growing faster in business, in scope of trade territory, in civic responsibility, and in progressive ideals than ever before. The simple story of Seattle's achievement in the last fifteen years reads like nothing else on-earthi, | unless it be a Bellamy dream. £ A city dropped in a mess of hills; splashed in between barricading lakes, thrown against stern com-' petition from birth, and yet a city that has made her obstacles her bulwarks, and her limitations mere’ stepping stones. . In the old days San Francisco was the one city in the West that was cosmopolitan, that had the | spirit, that had pride and dauntless energy. » ty Today Seattle is doing the big things, looking far ahead; today Seattle is cleaning her own hot first of all American cities, and is making secure to the coming generation its American heritage. Looking out to the Orient; standing on the verge of great things; secure in her position of domi- nance; striving to deal justly with all men, but allowing no man to override the rights of his fellows; today Seattle would seem to come as near embodying the strength and the spirit and the energy, _ Ny , the pioneer West as any American city. : ; The youngest city in the nation and the fastest growing. And yet neither crude, nor reckless, noi hurdy-gurdy. That is a wonderful achievement, and we will do well to not only realize how far we have ~ come, but to look ahead and determine that we will stoutly push right ahead on the long road before” us without faltering or doubting. # eee Some cities prosper because they have a climate; some prosper because they have a few big men of wide visions; some because of fortunate natural situation; some by sheer persistence and nerve; but finally the great American cities are builded because there is within them a civic strength of spirit that takes pride in doing a great work well for the love of the doing. a And that spirit has made Seattle what it is, and while that spirit persists, Seattle will go ahead to increasing responsibilities and opportunities, no matter what may arise. Losing this spirit, this psychic punch, Seattle will drop behind despite its wealth, its civic improve- q ments, its harbors, its population, or its reputation abroad. Towns grow as men grow—from within. View. showing just a portion of Seattle's great waterf ront—in many respects greater than that of New York City. Note the.skyline—the same view at night is acclaimed to be more wonderful than the port city of the