Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-09-26
A Visitors View Of Staunton.
ATTENDANT OF MATERIAL PRO-
GRESS EVERYWHERE,

| GRESS EVERYWHERE.
1t is very interesting in these times O
material progress, to read the opinion O
disinteresteu people about that of our owl
city. Especially is it instructive to heal
the impressions of cautious, conservative
visitors like MI. n E. Foard of the edi
torial staff Of the Baltimore Sun, a gentle
man who has had the advantage of extern
Sive travel, who has been persona
observer of the boom in Virginia evel
since it's earliest beginning at Roanoke
for he was in the first passenger car ovel
the Shenandoah Valley Ry. that entered
that city-and who is as familiar with the
iron producing region of Pennsylvania as
he is with the similar region in this State
He was here last Saturday, and We find
in the Sun an interesting letter from him.
from which we make the following ex-
tracts:
Like its neighbor, Lexington, Staunton en-
joys no particular boom either in town lots or
metal production, yet it is going ahead fast.
There are substantial reasons for this Staun-
ton is the market town and banking centre for
a very large and richly productive agricul-
tural region: 1t has large and growing
trade, an Industrious, thrifty and energetic
population. 1t is, therefore, not surprising
that good volume of trade finds its way to
the place. Much of its capital has been en-
barked in the building, the land, and the il
dustrial enterprises of number of the new
towns which have lately sprung. up: These
investments are rather obstacles for the pres
ent to home progress, for Staunton really
needs capital to keep it fully abreast with
current needs, particularly house-building
IL 1WpI limo hOuSpS a much iOS1amap
and not to be had. This is accounted for by
the fact that several manufacturing indus
tries have lately brought many Northern FAM
lilies to live here. A shoe factory and fur
niture factory have added nearly, if not quite
a hundred families to the white population Of
the town. Building is going on SO extensive
ly that bricklayers, carpenters and other
workmen are scarce. Many people connected
The style, size and other features of the new
business structures are great Improvement
over the old stores and warehouses.
As a rule Staunton merchants carry large
stocks, which are attractively displayed. Not
even stranger could go through the town
without being impressed with the idea that it
is a substantial business place. That, how
ever, has been its well-known characteristic
for many years, though it has never in all its
history enjoyed an era of prosperity and bust
ness promise like the present. The industri-
al progress which the town has made in the
past two years is greater than in any ten years
before, and it looks like it will hold what
has been gained and go on to improve. With
new development all around, it can hardly
fail to get good share or to cease to be the
distributive centre it is, though no one can
forsee all the changes that the present won
derful development in Virginia Will nlti-
mately bring about, or to what extent, indeed
they will affect interests as remote from them
as Baltimore, for instance.
There are those here who expect that at no
very remote period the mineral region of Vir-
gnia, especially the great Valley region, will
TEEN with industries and an industrial popula-
ton like Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley
Indeed. the course of the Pennsylvania iron
and coal operators and manufacturers in CON-
ing here so numerOuSly with capital and in
proved outfit to set up furnaces and put in
dustrial works into operations encourages
such an expectation, and above all goes a
great way to help the realization. The North
ern people, workmen and their families who
come here to live, find hearty and generous
welcome, good schools for their children, a
delightful climate, cheap, fresh and plenti-
full food, and conditions superior i'll many re-
Spects to what they have been accustomed.
They have their separate dwelling houses and
are not huddled around the mill, but scatter
ed among the older resident population and
absorbed readily and naturally.
There are as good reasons why Staunton
should be a manufacturing as money and
trading centre. Indeed. it is difficult to see
how it can keep from going into manufactur-
pose of all the development going on in Vir
ginia. For years some of the largest tanneries,
most of them owned in Baltimore, have been
located close to the forests on these mountain
sides, where bark is obtained. What is more
natural than to manufacture the leather close
to the source of supply, OF to establish furni-
ture factories where the most suitable wood
may be obtained, OF to start furnaces, rolling
mills and other iron industries where the ore
and coal are found? 1t is all these resources,
intelligently developed and utilized, that
cannot fail to insure the future OF the people
who possess them. OF course there IS great
deal of incidental speculation-gamb in
fact-but that does not disturb the even tenor
OF the steady, onward march OF industry any
more than the wild eXcitements of California
gold-dust gambling interfered with the crea-
ton of the Pacific coast States, now among
the richest and most prosperous in the Union
To the speculative feature, however, limit
is always reached exiting will forbid or
at least interfere with legitimate enterprises.
There is danger of this in some localities.