The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-12-12
AN ENTHUSIASTIC GOVERNOR.
he Evidently Believes in the Natural Adj
Santages of His Own State.

These words were spoken of Alabama
by her enthusiastic governor, Joseph +.
Johnston, in his recent inaugural adj
dress, and one not living there, is tempt
ed to believe it all when that one fol-
lowsGov.J Johnston as he enumerates the
and capabilities of his state:
With an area of but little more than
$4,000 square miles," says Mr.. john
ston, there is no territory of like size
in the known world so prolific in the
variety of its ~resources; were a wall
erected around our state, cutting off
all access, we could produce within u
borders everything necessary for the
comfort or convenience of man. Great
veins of iron ore and seams of coal put
at our command almost boundless re-
sources in fuel, iron and steel. Spleen
did forests of yellow pine here stand
readyto build homes for millions of peo-
pie. Building stone and marble, fire
clay, kaolin ard lime exist in great
abundance; walnut, maple, oak, cher
ry, ash and other hard woods. await the
hand of man for manufacture or the
adornment of our homes.
I'm the production of pig iron We
take rank rs the fourth state in the
union; in iron ore, third; in coal we
stand fifth; in the production of cot
ton. fourth, and in its manufacture,
fourth.
"ln lumber we are near the mead of the
list.
1T would be unjust should l fail to
include in u minerals copper, lead,
graphite, mari and gold; indeed the
only mineral that we seem to be with
cut and to want most is silver.
Leaving forest and mine and coming
to u fields we find that they produce
generously cotton, corn, wheat, rye,
oats, tobacco, rice and the grasses, and
here is the home of the pear, the peach,
the grape and all small fruits. Vege-
tables are grown with great success,
and this industry is steadily develop
ing. Our splendid rivers, the Alabama,
Cossa. Tallapoosa, Warrior, Cahaba.
Bigbee and The Tennessee are the liquid
arteries of the commonwealth, fed by
innumerable creeks. all fruitful in pow
er to convert our raw products into
articles of merchandise.
Over 1000 miles of railroads ira
verse our state from north to south. and
east to west, furnishing quick transpor-
tation to market for our products.
when we come TO u climate we
find that the Givcr of all good things
has not stayed His hand, and that He
has blessed us with opportunity to Ia
bor 12 months in the year without det-
riment TO health or comfort. Indeed,
we can scarcely appreciate the bless
ings we enjoy in this respect when
compared with less favored regions, for
even now we are seemingly unconscious
that roses are blooming in u gardens.
and the fragrant air is sweet with their
perfume.
THE Piedmont region of II state
shows that its average thermometer IN
summer and winter corresponds almost
txactlywitht that of Berlin and Hamburg,
whilst Mobile and the lower part of the
state correspond largely with the eli
mate of Frankfort-on-the-Main, and
Carlsruhe. The average temperature
for the whole state shows about 10 de-
grces Fahrenheit for January. IS for
july and GO degrees for April and DC
tober.
"Ourstreams abound in fish. our woods
are fragrant with flowers, and our
beautiful seaport supplies an
of fish and oysters for all our people.
Nowhere in all the republic can more
prolific response be had from the SOIL
TO the intelligent cultivation OF man.
Nowhere car purer wafer. a mere genlai
climate or SUMMER skies be found TO
bless c~ontented homes.
These are our opportunities, these
the substantial groundwork upon winch
n great commonwealth can be erected.
OF course all of this was not said with
out a direct object, and continuing he
pointed the way in which his dream oil
n great commonwealth could be re-
allied. This for citizens of the state
both actual and prospective. We wonder
If the same, or similar, wise things
might rot be said of many another
state, highly favored by natural re-
sources and dormant wealth, OF u
great union.
This IS the age OF iuuuS'l"i w
velopment. and to that task the iegIsla-
tor and citizen should bend their ener-
gies and weary not in we'll doing. When
we consider that we are now cultivating
and utilizing less than one-third OF
these resources. and that the other two
thirds produce taxes only. it behooves
us to invite to our borders and give gen.
erous welcome to men and money to aid
in awakening these dormant re-
sources.
"Our pig iron should be melted and
our cotton spun and woven at home,
thus giving greater employment to Ia
Dor and establishing home markets for
our agricultural products.
1.-THE smoke of our factories should
be found rising in every county. T
our furnaces. like pillars of fire. should
light the night.
1.-THE production of grasses and the
raising of cattle should be stimulated
until we become one of the great beef
raising states of the union.
There seems to be no good reason
whit our productive lands should not
become a great center for the manu-
facture Of beet sugar, and by its eX-