Huntsville gazette., 1891-01-17

TIE He S0BIBB..
Its Mineral Deposits Tend to
Place the IndustrlalsSouth
Far in Advance Of It's Present
Grand Prestige.

Civil Engineer Carachristi, in. an Inter.
view, Gives a Glowing Account Of Its
! Future peveiopment--A New Era III IT.
< Commercial and Manufacturing History
= That VIII Multiply Expectations.
WASHINGTON, Jan. l6-The Washing
ton Post prints quite lengthy interview.
csv;, Engineer Carlo f. z. Carachristi,
who ba been devoting much time and
attention to the mineral deposits OF the
sontb and after lengthy description of
the coal and von beds Of Virginia, speaks
Of GREAT davalo 7ment in the south. and
says:
s.Aside from the advancing evolution
that has been in cour sc Of progress for a
period of ten or fiji teen years in the
south, the basic process Nor making steel
will, where it is Thorough 7y understood
and appreciated by Ameri san manufac-
turers, tend to place the ind, tstrlal south
far in advance Of its present ? vestige.
''The day is rapidly coming when steel
will take the place of iron in many other
industries than at present, and when IRON
will be, to very great extent, discarded
as material for the construction OF
bridges and other structures having a
great demand on the tensile strength OF
the metal employed. We have already
seen it disappear in It's application to
rails, as well as in the construction of
ships, boilers and other engineering
structures, When the south develope5
| the capabilities of its steel industry,
! whether by opening up the BesSemer
ores of the Carolinas, or by the basic or
/ other processes that are yearly coming
before metalurgists for examination,
then it will inaugurate new era in its
commercial and manufacturing history
! that will multiply even the most san.
guine expectations of the present.
/ '.The kaoline and other clays of Vir-
ginia and North Carolina are in many
| instances very rich in aluminium, ana
! Just as soon as a cheap process for the
reduction of this metal shall have been
discovered, new industry will take
form in this direction that will material
4 ly aid the south in the future. Owing
| to the cost of this metal at present, we
\ are debarred from its use in many Of the
mechanical arts where its application
would be Of great service. Take, for ex-
ample, ship building; if aluminum could
/ be manufactured at price but slightly
greater than steel, it would take its place
from the fact of its non-corrosive quail
ties and its weight being only one third
of steel. So in many o,her industries
and trades.
''There is one compliment paid the
l,T., =
Z full, and that is the many commendable
expressions by the members of the Brit
ish Iron and Steel Institute on the min
erals of that section. These expressions
were not made by these gentlemen
merely for effect, but they have been en-
larged and repeated si4ce their arrival
in England.
''The inevitable result of this unre-
strained show of interest will result in
large investments being made by Eng
lish capitalists at an early day, and
while feeling of dread and apprehen-
sion existed in Londons financial circles
for several weeks, owing to the depres-
sion Of South and Central American Sc
curities, the tendency of this depression,
added to the visit of the Iron and Steel
! institute, will be to divert investment
from the lower section Of our continent,
and in the same proportion bring capital
to the southern and other sections of the
country, where securities have always
/ (omitting Virginia bonds) paid fair divi-
dends.
NO the financial crisis has made no
/ impression on southern industries as yet,
and is not likely to affect that section,
except when companies have been formed
with more capital than was necessary,
and fabulous prices have been paid for
property. In those cases. dividends
could not be paid under any financial
condition, and a sure doom that awaited
such enterprises will be luckily fastened
| say luckily, because the sooner such
companies come to an end the less the
loss What do | base my assertion that
the southern boom will continue on?
Simply because l know, personally, Of
more new enterprises that are only
awaiting for the financial scare to pass
away and the weather to open, than ever
before in the history of the SOUTH"