Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-06-30
Virginia as Il Home.


ernors held in Richmond in April it was
agreed that each Governor present
should prepare 2 paper on the resources,
advantages and needs Of bis State, and
that these papers should be published
in book to be distributed at the CO.
umbian Exposition. Col. John Bell
Bigger, secretary of the convention,
was entrusted with the work of getting
out the hook. Already he has received
the contributions of several of the
southern Governors, and Gov. Mckin-
ney's paper on Virginia, which is near
ly completed, will be placed in his
hands in few days. Gov, Mckinney's
PIPER wastes no space in Introductory
remarks. After giving a general de-
scription OF the advantages of Virginia
in respect of soil, climate, &C., it takes
up the subject of the States mineral
wealth.
For twenty years, /" it says, mineral
ogists have predicted that the time
would come when Virginia would be
ahead of all other States in the quality
md quantity of its mineral products.
These predictions have been verified,
aud immense deposits of minerals, rich
er than any other State can show, and
great coal fields for making coke, high
cr in fixed carbon and more valuable
for smelling purposes than any others,
have been discovered. The num-
Der of prospectors and explorers for
minerals is greater than ever before III
the State, and more analyses and prac-
tical tests of minerals have been made,
all with fine results"
An enumeration Of the minerals fol-
lows, together with descriptions oftheir
location, and then the paIer takes up
manufactures.
At this point the Governor says:
"The number of furnaces for smelt-
ing the various ores is phenomenal, and
as much as S50,0O0,0 has been invest
ed. mainly brought in from outside the
State. Railroads are being projected
and built into sections where the rich
ness and proximity of the different ores
and an abundance of fuel promises the
cheapest product. Works for
the manufacture of metals are begiu-
ming to follow the track of these fur
naces, and towns like Roanoke, Buena
V.sta, Pulaski City, Radford and others
demonstrate the advantage of such
manufactures by their extraordinary
life and growth"
The paper touches briefly but COM
prehensively upon the mineral springs
of Virginia, gives list of the woods
used in mechanic arts to be found in
the State, presents some figures regard
ing the value of the lumber trade to
our people, and by quotations from the
last report Of the commissioner OF agrl-
culture makes a splendid exhibit re-
garding the agricultural and trucking
Interests Of the Commonwealth.
"There are,' says the paper, "manu-
factories, mills, shops and stores in
every county, mainly in the cities,
towns and villages, and they are fast
embracing the utilization of every pro-
duct the State used from canneries to
dairies. furnaces and cottonmills.
The Governor sets forth Nirginia's
transportation facilities by land and wa
ter, ,touchesupon our unsurpassed adyan-
taces for the cultivation of the oyster,
refers to our educational progress and
the continuous developement of our
public-school system. and speaks forci-
oily of the reverence of our people for
religion.
In concluding his paper the Govern
or says:
Virginia, like most of the old slave
holding States, languishes under bur-
den growing out of the ownership OF
large tracts of land by persons who
have neither labor nor capital
sufficient to cultivate them.
Too remedy this at least 10000, 900 acres
OF land-not including homesteadS-
ought to be sold QS.000,000 would be
better to immigrants who are able to
purchase and would stock and cult
vate the land after having bought it.
Virginia wants men who want homes
for themselves and families; it needs
population, it requires good men
steady, industrious, law-abiding men,
with their families. Thousands Of
acres of broad, fertile, unoccupied land
await the coming of such class of set,
| tiers.
"a good class of immigrants would
introduce small industries into the vii
lages and thickly settled portions of the
State. These industries should be suit.
ed to the families of men of small
means, who find it necessary to have
their children, if not wives, earn some,
thing away from home. Virginia can,
not afford to exchange her population
for that of any other land or country
With capital there could not be found
anywhere better farmers, orchardists
and truckers than the present popula
ton, nor better miners and manufac
turers than she already has, but with
out out Complaint or mourning for the
cause her agriculturists and planters
find themselves with large tracts o
valuable land which they cannot uti
lize. ."-Richmond Dispatch.