The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1890-11-20
sTAUNToN, VIRGINIA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1890.
TOO MANY BOOMS /!
The Doubling Thomases Think So
s and Say So.
AN ABLE ARGUMENT TO SHOW WHY.

VIRGINIA In THE VERY INFANCY OF HER
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND CAN
FURNISH THE RAW MATERIAL FOR
MANY MORE TowNs-THE TOO MANY
THEORY BUSTED.
III. M. Holiday in Journal Of Commerce.
There are too many booms 1t Is
impossible that SO many new towns
should gov. Some must fall" The
man who gave utterance to this profound
remark is well-known. He is not hard
to find. Look into any town in Virginia
where the moss is growing and the spid-
ers spread their webs across the streets
and you will see him and hear him, too.
He stands upon the corner expounding
the law and the prophets of industrial
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 Cincinnati and he proph-
esied failure for each and every one. He
was filled with evil forebodings concern
ing Birmingham and Roanoke and Min
neapolis and st. Paul. He mourned
when Denver first came into prominence,
groaned when he heard of Dallas, held
up his hands in dismay at the Kansas
City boom and wept when Duluth began
to grow. He has stood all his life in one
spot with his eyes shut. He is deaf to
the tumult and turmoil of industrial life
around him. Seeing nothing and hear
ing nothing, he does nothing but proph
esy evil and woe. He has been knocked
out a 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. Paul, nor Chicago. The world
could not stop him. Fifty years hence
he will still be here, looking as wise and |
as sad as he does today. The moss will
look a little more gray and the cob webs
cling about him little thicker, that is
all. The croaker is eloquent. His voice
is plaintive and melancholy, but he does
not deal in facts. He learns nothing of
the future by the history of the past.
You have heard him many times. Now 7
hear the other side once. What men
have done, men can do again. What
Massachusetts has done, Virginia can do.
The Bay State has only one advantage
over US. Her cold East winds have car
ried the croaker to the only place cold
enough and dark enough to make him
feel at home. He is dead and buried.
He croaks no more. So much for bad
climate. In all soberness and truth, Mas
is superior to Virginia only in
the splendid energy and the daring bust
ness courage of her men. If any man
knows of one gift with which nature has
more richly lowered her than Virginia,
let him name it.
Let us compare the two states. In
climate the Old Dominion is to the Bay
State as Paradise is to Pur gatory. In
the variety of her crops and the gener
osity of her soil, Virginia is unsurpassed;
in harbors and in water power, in timber
and in the variety and wealth of her min
eral deposits, few If any states surpass
her. Taken all in all, the round world
holds no fairer realm. Massachusetts
has an area of 5000 square miles, Vir-
ginia has 40, 1876, or five times as much
territory, capable 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
of each. II should be remem
bered that in some instances the figures
are several years old