Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-02-17
BOOMING THE STATE.
TIE BUSINESS CONVENTION IDEA GROW,
ING.
Everybody Approves and Urites in COnsranlshng
West Virginia On the Grand Awaken
iHg-InisrtstDg Ideas About
the Project

POINT PLEASANT, W. VA, Feb. IS.
DR. James B. Tdney::
My DEAR SIR am in receipt of
your favor of q recent date calling my
attention to the action Of your Cham
Der of Commerce." and inviting CORES
pondence with reference to the special ad-
vantnges enjoyed by the different sections
of this State.
The sutject Of the proposed meeting has
been a good deal discussed by our people,
particularly in business circles, and meets
with hearty approval. That Wheeling
should have taken the initiative in this
movement was altogether appropriate, as
her vast manufacturing interests and gen.
eral prosperity afford good illustration Of
what people may accomplish by judic-
ious investment and energetic effort.
In proportion as our natural resources
are developed we may expect correspond
ing increase in our ability to pay taxes,
therefore, those upon whom the burden OF
taxation falls should be the first to aid in
an enterprise Ct this kind. Your Chamber
of Commerce sought to give prominence to
this idea Ey desiring specially the attend
ance of land owners and business men.
West Virginia is still but sparseiy set
tied and, until within the last few years,
large porti.n of the State has bad but
few improvements and no commercial
communication with the outside world,
save such as was afforded by our
navigable streams 10 this progressive
age the navigation Of those rivers has been
improved, railroads have been built, while
other lines have been projected, causing rs
to feel that before long We shall be able to
throw of "that embargo with which ma
ture has ercompassed ard imprisoned our
wealth"
The diversified interests Of the State
make her that much more attractive TO
persons seeking homes, whether as farmers,
manufacturers, miners, lumbeTmen, or bus
iness msn of any other calling. Consider
ing the fertility of her soil, which grows
we'll sll the grains, grapes and vegetables,
besides its splendid adaptability to stock
raising Of every description, the magnitude
of her coal fields, embracing an area Of
16, OOO square miles, her salt and iron, the
quality and variety f her timber, surely
there could be no more inviting field for
industrial enterprises of every kind.
The employment Of capital in this i'm
mediate vicinity in the construction of rail-
roads and magnificent bridges over the
Ohio and Kanawha rivers has had the ef-
feet of stimulating the citizens, of Point
Pleasant to increased efforts in behalf of
their town. More buildings have been
constructed within the past year than in
any previous year of its existence. The
citizens have organized Board Of Trade
and building association, and if such in
strumentalities ran contribute so much to
the growth of town, certainly convep-
,ion of citizens from every portion of the
State ought to re able TO devise ways and
means of attracting the attention Of capi-
ialists to the special advantages Of West
Virginia.
Hoping that your meeting may be pro-
ducuve OF good results, and that may be
able to be with you ON that occasion, ain
Very ualy yours,
y. G. EASTMAN.