Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-12-05
TOO MANY TOWNS.
Do You THINK So


"There are too many booms! It is
impossible that so many new towns
should grow. some must fail ~ The
man who gave utterance to this pro
found remark is we'll known. he is
not hard to tind. Look into any
town in Virginia whore the moss is
growing aud the spiders spread
their webs across the street and you
will see him and hear him too. He
stands upon the corner expounding
the law aud the prophets of indus.
trinl development to all who will
heed him. He has been there fifty
years. He knew all about Chicago
and st. Louis and San Francisco and
he prophesied failure for each and
every one. He was filed with evil
forebodings concerning Birmingham
and Roanoke and Minneapolis and
st. Paul. He moanod when Denver
first came into prominence, groaned
whom he heard of Dallas, held up his
hands in disinay at the Kansas City
boom, and wept when Duluth began
to grow. lie has stood ali his life in
one spot with his eyes shut. He is
deaf to the tumult and toll of the in
dustrial life around him. Seeing
nothing and hearing nothing, he
does nothing but prophosy evil and
woe. He has been knocked out q
score of times, but without fail he
turns up ''fresh and fair for Sunday,
with his mournful forebodings and
sorrowful anticipations perpetually
dropping from his lips. We cannot
stop him. Roanoke would not stop
him, nor Birmingham, nor st. Pnul,
nor Chicago. The world could not
stop him. Fifty years hence he will
be here, looking as wise and as sad
as he does today. The moss will
look little more gray and the cob.
webs cling about him little thicker,
that is all. The croaker is eloquent.
His voice is plainGye and nelan-
choly, but he does not deal in facts.
He learns nothing of tho future by
the history of the past.
You have heard him many times.
Now hear the other side once. What
mon have done, men can do again.
What Massachusetts has done Vir.
gipia can do. The Bay State has
only one advantage over uH. Her
cold east winds have carried tho
croaker to the only place cold enough
and dark enough to make him feel at
home. He is dead and buriod. He
croaks no more. So much for bad
climate. In oil truth and sobernoss,
Massachusetts is superior to Virginia
only in the splendid energy and dar-
ing business courage of her men. II
any one knows of one gift with which
nature has more richly lowered her
than Virginia let him;4,smeV itssrss,s,
Let us compare tie ESS s Iii
IcliinGFs ssha Old d oiaiii iGb is fU Id d
| llsas tates.s Pnradie6f is
the variety gcf Iiisss ozyals
'aii6 generosity of @her shi !, 81 pirs
eill;e la unsurpassed. In harbors
Ind q water power, in timber aud
the variety and wealth of her mineral
deposits, few, if any, States surpass
her. Taken nil in all, the round
world holds no fairer realm. Mas.
sachusetts has an area of 5000
square miles. Virginia has 40,125,
or five times as much territory, capa
bic OF supporting two men where
Massachusetts, supports one.
Now, let us compare the cities and
towns of the two States. Here are
some of the cities of Massachusetts,
with the population Of each. 1t
should be remembered that in some
instances tho figures are several
years old: