The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1890-04-24
An Example worth Following.

show what the people OF town can do
for themselves when they try:
Manchester, N. H., is city of won
tierful growth and the most brilliant
prospects; metropolis of New Hamp
shire and commercial capital of the
State; the trading centre for nearly
100000 people; a city which is prosper
ing and which is bound to prosper; a
city which owns it's superb system of
water works, the rentals from which
more than pay the interest on the city
debt; a city which has more than dou-
bled it's population and valuation within
the last twenty years; a city which is
the home of the largest textile manufac-
turing corporation in the world; a city
whose wage earners are paid more than
100000 every week; a city where it is
the policy of the city government to ex-
empt new enterprises from taxation for
a period of years, and where individuals
stand ready to donate desirable sites for
manufacturing purposes city free from
labor troubles; a city which spent more
than $2,000,000 in building operations in
1889; city populated by busy. thrifty
and progressive people; city of health
and contentment.
The foregoing is worth reading. 1t is
an advertisement put into the leading
New England papers by the Manchester
Board of Trade and signed by its secre-
targ. who saws: The capitalist can find
no more desirable spot for the invest
ment of his money He also invites cor
respondence.
The spirit running through this lad
vertisement' is that which should ami
mate the people of Staunton. Instead
of fault-finding and grumbling at what
Others are trying to do, let all join their
efforts, put their shoulders to the wheel
and push the town to big success.
Manchester nor any other town has any
greater natural advantages than Staun-
ton. There is no locality, North or
/ South, which is surrounded by more in
trinsic wealth; which is SO centrally
located amidst mineral and agricultural
values; which, geographically, is more
favorably situated; whose climate is
more inviting; whose labor is steadier
and cheaper; whose citizens are more
intelligent and public spirited when
aroused to action, or where there are
more inviting conditions for the estab-
lishment of all kinds Of industries related
to wood and iron. Every man should
feel a personal interest in the success of
the scheme inaugurated by the Staun-
ton Development Company for the i'm
provement, enlargement and enrich
ment of the city. Were one~tenth of the
enterprise and public spirit to be mani
tested in Staunton that is shown i'll
Roanoke, it would be but a few years
before we would number $4,000 or 10000
population A prominent characteristic
of the Roanoke people is that every man
feels that he has u work to do to help
every capacity is mortgaged for the ben
eft of the town Grumblers and oh
structionists have nothing to iced upon
They get lonesome and either leave OF
become stirred to action. So the town
progresses. Strangers coming in catch
the contagion, and if they do not LOCATE
there, they leave their money in some
desirable property.
Similar conditions could be worked up
here if those who see the necessity fOI
advancement of the city would unite
and dedicate their energies and minds
to pressing the advantages OF Staunton.
Intrnsically we have more to invite cap
ital and industries than any town in the
South. We have established conditions
of more than common magnitude and
Importance. We have undeveloped min
eral, manufacturing and agricultural
wealth only awaiting the contact OF
money and skill to convert them into
I've values. East and West, North and
South. is ole broad stretch of the most
beautiful farming land, hemmed in by
mountains on either side, ladened with
almost every variety of minerals, that
the eye ever fell upon. The artists
rnIcy oouId asK no Hore picturesque
scene; the capitalists can find no surer
investment for remunerative returns,
for growth and increase; forest and
stream, add their resources to complete
the conditions, which are without a par
allel and all awaiting the application of
capital and enterprise to create volume
vi "Netith tttit4oop tOI epAt SfAI'ii Z
in itself. .-r
Our own people must look at home.
Dra8 their attention from other locali-
j ties, where Blooms" captivate their i'm
pulses. and locate their thoughts and
energies where real values exist, and
! where the foundations of prosperity are
secure and eteadfast. If we but do half
orr duty, Stanton will present even a
more pregnant example than Manches-
ter does, OF what an earnest, determined,
pubIic-spirited people can do for them
selves.
Clifton Forge.
! We cannot better answer an inquiry
ia personal letter from Alexandria as
TO the future of Clifton Forge than by
reproducing senteace from O. recent in