A Rockefeller Tells Seattle It Is Destined to Be the New York of the Pacific

"You people of Seattle will have the New York of the Northwest. Nothing on earth can prevent it. It is bound to come."

The above words were spoken by F. Rockefeller, of Cleveland, O., vice president of the Standard Oil Company, at the Northern hotel last evening. They were in answer to a question as to what Mr. Rockefeller thought of Seattle. He continued:

"This is my first visit to this section, and I must say that I am astonished. I had not conceived of the natural advantages afforded by this place. You have a harbor that is far better than that of New York, and your resources are unparalleled. Take the single item of iron. Here within sixty miles of your town, with easy connection by water, you have mountains of iron, of coal, of lime and all the rude materials that could be asked. You could manufacture sheet iron, and not only supply the entire Pacific coast, but could ship extensively to foreign ports. Why, think of it! Just two blocks down the street I saw a window full of iron and steel materials manufactured in Cleveland. It could as well be made here, and your people reap the benefit.

"This brings up another matter. I mean the development of the Orient. There is China, who as soon as she recovers from the licking Japan has given her, will want to build railroads. Where will she get her railroad iron? You send flour over there now, and might just as well furnish the rails for the great roads that will surely form a network in China.

"It seems to me that there is not a single thing now manufactured East of the Rocky mountains that you need depend for upon the East. You should go ahead and manufacture your own. There is no question that the transcontinental railroads are anxious for conditions to remain as they are with respect to manufacturers, for they will be paid freight until the Northwest begins to manufacture for herself. I am not interested in any road, but am merely saying, as a visitor, what I think. You can make your own goods from your own natural materials, and there is not even a question but what you will do it. Why, you can't help it, even if you try. You will be the New York of the Pacific coast as certainly as you are located here on Puget Sound.

"I am connected with perhaps one of the largest iron plants in the whole country, but I am sincere in saying that if I were fifteen years younger, I would arrange my affairs and locate here. If a man has good business habits, a little capital and some nerve, he could come here and prosper. I think you will have many new and substantial citizens, for the tendency in the East is toward centralization, and business in many ways is overdone. Capital is seeking investment, and this place invites it. I'm told that a railroad deal prevented the citizens from having an iron plant here already. I should think the people would take hold and build a railroad themselves to obtain it.

"You will become a great city, but not in a minute. Seven years ago you had 15,000 people. Now you have—I do not hesitate to predict that the ratio of growth for the future will be fully as large as for the past.

"Today I went over the city, out to the lake, and came back to the top of the ridge where I obtained a good view of the mountains and other scenery. I was very much pleased with it. Then I went down to the bluffs of Elliott bay and took a survey of the proposed improvement. I am of the opinion that Seattle not only wants the south canal and the north canal, but that she cannot afford to do without them. The advantages to be derived from the improvements are too plain to be commented upon."

Mr. Rockefeller here spoke a few words on the growth of the city. He thought there were about thirty-three miles of street car lines here, and was slightly surprised to learn that the trackage exceeded 100 miles. He thinks it the best thing for the people to keep together. The man in the outlying additions gets the advantages of city organization without paying his proportion of taxes, and this throws the burden all the heavier on the resident in town. "You can't make a city of the entire country," he added. "Avoid the boom and the boomer. Look at Kansas City. The place is boomed too much. Right after the boom burst the hard times came on, and Kansas City will require a long time to recover. Yet I think Kansas City is all right. Then there is Wichita. I was down to Wichita when I could have loaded the entire place on a couple of wagons and have carted it away. The boom struck it, and now Wichita has hundreds of vacant houses. It is absolutely dead. Some of these street car men come into a place, and the first thing one knows they have a railroad built out to nowhere. Their next step is to sell out, and their next to go off somewhere else and build another road. They are of no good to the community."

Mr. Rockefeller, on the revival of business, said the conditions were undoubtedly better all over the country than at any time during the past eighteen months. "We have again set the people to work," he said, "and now the problem is to keep them at it. I believe we will succeed."

Mr. Rockefeller was a private in the Fourth Ohio Infantry during the war, and at that time became well acquainted with P. P. Shelby, of this city, who was in the Twenty-third Ohio. He went through the campaign on the Potomac, and then was sent down into the Cumberland under Fighting Joe Hooker. He saw a great deal of hard fighting and now, to use his own homely expression, has "enough to keep out of a war." He is a brother of John D. Rockefeller, whose name is known throughout the length and breadth of the land as the head of the Standard Oil Company. On this trip, which he says has been made entirely for recreation, he is accompanied by V. P. Kline, his attorney and counselor, also a resident of Cleveland.

"I came out here to rest," said Mr. Rockefeller, "and have made this visit simply for pleasure. We came out with James McVaugh and, after spending two days in Seattle, will leave tomorrow (Saturday) for the East over the Great Northern. There is much that I wish to see."

Mr. Rockefeller is scarcely fifty years of age. Of medium height, well-knit figure, and a bearing that indicates a man of iron will. His face is pleasant, his chin of the smooth-shaven order, his eyes are blue or gray and rest quietly on the person to whom he is speaking. His hair is rather short and mixed with gray. There is no question that he is a man of determination in voice, and manner; there is a shade of severity at first, but it becomes softened into a pleasantness as he becomes interested in his subject. He speaks in a low tone and to the point, and is so careful of all things that nothing should be said about himself.