Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-12-16
WHAT DOES 1T MEANT
Will Knoxville Saccumb to Chatta-
nOOga2

NIX. ED1TOR. our oG1COrldI Oh
the 14th inst, headed, Knoxville
Chattanooga" -attfaeted my attan-
ton, so muah so that I could not re-
sist the desire to make some com
ments upon it. OF course endorse
it most heartily and only regret
hat We have not had more o. such
editorials from our city press. The
astounding facts and suggestions
which you SO opportunely unfold
should arrest the serious attention
of every business man in Knox
vile, as well as every tiZen of
East Tennessee, for all East Ten
ne see is profoundly interested in
the matter Knoxville, as you
know, is the comm ercial center, not
only of this division OF the State,
but of Southwestern Virginia, West
ern North Carolina, Northern Geor-
gia, portions of Alabama and West
ern Kentucky, as well.
I had intimations, before your
editorial was incubated, that at
least two of our own citizens had
invested considerable sums of
money in an iron furnace at
Chattanooga. You are the first,
so far as | know, to make
the fact known to the reading pub
lie. which you do in straight
forward, hueiness-like way, in the
total absence of captiousness and
fault-fiuding. You present the case,
as it should he, in the spirit of can
dor and truth, appealing to the
judgment of cur business men and
there resting it. l confess l was
greatly surprised when it was un-
derstood that the gentlemen in
question had made such an invest
ment; that trey bad "gone back
on" Knoxville, much to her damage
and her future prosperity, ard
when every consideration of 10y
ty and devotion to the city seemed
10 demand that they should first
look after her welfare. They have
not, however, chosen this course,
and the unfortunate consequences
which are now likely to follow cam
not be Temedied, at least so far as
their action is concerned. We can
only regret that two such enter
prising sons should have cared so
little for a city that has done so
much for them; had nursed them
into active fnancisl life, and given
the 10 about all they own and
pos SIS. Still, as you thought fully
say, they have the right to put their
mon Y where they please, and go
where they please. Concerning
this, then, shall not further COM
plain.
But what does this step on their
part indicate? What does it mean?
Does it establish the fact that
| Knoxville is not and cannot be re-
garded as a manufacturing point?
And does it further show that Chat
tanO0ga possesses more of the ele-
ments and resources of success ful
| manufacturing than Knoxville?
Weighty questions! Momentous
enquiries! More than Once-yes,
more than a score of times, has the
writer warned this city of the fact
that Chattanooga was making her
culean strides toward supremacy in
the iron business. She has, and is
yet, taxing to her utmost capacity
her energy and enterprise 10 ttain
this end. Her citizens, including
all classes and all pro sessiOns, never
tire in proclaiming her advantages
and her marvellous resources.
With not half the wealth of this
city, and graphing with mud and
swamps and "frog-poads," she has
acquired prestige in the work of
manufacturing not by any means to
be lightly esteemed.
In the meantime, what has Knox
vile been about? What Roadway
has she made, except in building
residences and commanding mer-
camille buildings? Has she let
loose her energies, her enterprise
and her large means and utilized
them in building up and fostering
manufacturing institutions? Has
she? [ trow not. She has been
singularly inactive, if not oblivious
to these matters. She has lost CD.
portunity after opportunity. Her
men of capital, sufficiently able
without foreign aid to do what they
like, have stood aloof from the
loom, the spiadles Iand the forge
hammer, aud that, tor, in the midst
of the grandest opportunities thai
could possibly be bestowed upor
mOrta1s.
If Knoxville is not manufaotur
ing center, it is not because nature
a has denied her the advantages anC
the opportunity of becoming such
, 1t is nottrue that she is not capa
be of reaching a high plane o
4 manufacturing. Why not? Is she
, not in the midst of immense
mineral, coal and timber resources
l. there any lack of them? Auy
deficiency? Has Knoxville takeI
any steps toward utilizing them
By no means, and this is the reason
o why we have no furnaces, no cot
: ton factories, no FORCES, &c.