The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-01-08
Double Knoxville and you will have
'rny. increaee Memphis iwo-fold and

Troy: increase Memphis two-iold and
give it a suburb as large as Jackson,
and you will have city of the size of
Rochester gather together the people
of Nashville and Chattanooga and null
tiply them by two, and it will still re-
quire $4,000 to make city as large
as Buffalo build in Tennessee ten
cities OF Nashville's size ten as large
as Memphis, ten like Knoxville and
ten with Chatanooga's numbers and
there will vet lie room in the State for
| ten cities Of 10000 Inhabitants each
without making as large population
as there is in the State of New York
| outside Of Brooklyp and New York city.
There is something 10 think of before
deciding that Tennessee has reached
her limit of growth.
Alabama has enjoyed exceptional
prosperity during the last ten years
and her mineral resources have I'M
dergone an extraordinary development.
Her population has increased more
than the population OF any other South
ern State except Georgia and Texas,
but the State is still very sparsely set
tied. Upon 5o,722 square miles there
are I,5o8,o73 inhabitants, orabout 20
to the mile. Massachusetts,, Connect
icut and Rhole Island have an aggre-
gate area of trie more than one
fourth of Alabama's but their total
population is 3,324,6I1, or more than
double what Alabama has. In the
three New England States mentioned
there are about 239 inhabitants to
each square mile, while in Alabama
there are about one-eighth as many.
What is it that enables New England
to support population so much more
dense than that of the South 1t is not
any phenomenal fertility and pro-
ductiveness OF the New England soil
for rocks are the chief crop of that re-
gion, and abandoned farms in New
Hampshire, Vermont and Massachu-
sets can be bought for song nova
| days. 1t is upon the manufacturing
industries that the great population of
| Massachusetts,, Rhode Island and Con-
necticut exists, and but an inhnitesimal
part of the raw material Of these indus
| tries is native to the soil of New Eng
land. The great cotton mills OF Lowell
Manchester, Fall River and other New
England towns have to look to the
South for their raw material, and the
iron from Alabama feeds many New
England shops. And why should not
Alabama supl ort within her own Dor
der, and upon her own cotton, iron
and lumber,scities equal to those that
she maintains in distant New England
The rugged soil of Massachusetts, bears
Sc cities of upwards of 10000 each,
while Alabama has hardly a dozen
towns of more than 5000 population.
If Alabama were accorded the ability
to support as dense population as there
is in Massachusetts,, Connecticut and
Rhode Island, to whose industries she
supplies raw materials, there would be
over IL 100000 people instead of l.
5o8,o73 within her borders. Even to
bring the population OF Alabama 10 the
present numbers of Massa Chusetts
would require ten more Birminghams,
twenty new Admissions, four additional
Mobiles and some fifteen new towns
of 5000 inhabitants each. And cannot
the great State of Alabama support as
many people as Massachusetts, does
upon about one-seventh as great an
area
Georgia has shown marked growth
in population and commercial activity
during the past ten years. The in
crease in population has been 2o2, 1856,
making the present figures 1884 $3.50.
With an area of $1,000 square miels,
this would give about 81 to the mile il
the population were evenly distributed
over the State. The growth of Georgia
has been in every respect steady and
healthful, and there are no evidences
of imitation or evanescent booming to
be found. The extensive railroad sys.
TEN of Georgia and the great CONNER
cial importance of that State naturally
suggests Illinois for comparison. H.
linois has a population of $685. sc
upon an area of 55,424 square miles,
an average of 68.91 per mile. Upon
this basis Of density Georgia should
have population of nearly 1000, 900.
So far as neutral resources are concern
ed there is no comparison between the
possibilities Of the two States, for while
Illinois yields little but agricultural pro-
ducts, Georgia has boundless mineral
resources with which to supplement
her plantations and forests: The man
ufacturing industries that give such
solidity to Chicago, Springfield, Joliet,
Rockford, Peoria and score of other
prosperous cities are dependent almost
entirely upon the resources Of other
States. Georgia has within her own
borders all that is required to sustain
industries like those of Illinois. The
population of Augusta, Savannah, Ma
con. Atlanta and Columbus might be
doubled or trebled, and yet leave them
modest cities as compared with the
possibilities of their situations, and
two score more cities like them might
be built without presuming upon the
resources of the State
1t would be but a multiplication of
words to apply this reasoning to all
the Southern States, for the absurdity
of the alleged over-booming of the
South seems too apparent upon the
slightest examination to call for extend
ed argument. Great as has been the
progress and development ofthe South,
the increase in population during the
last ten years bears about the same re-
lation to the possibilities of that region
that the arrival of few hotel guests
bears to the population of New York