Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-02
MIR. J. c. STANTON.

The builder of the Alabama Great Southern road was a power in the state in the seventies. Birmingham owes much to that road and is therefore interested in the history of it's builder The Chat tanooga Times says:
 "Col. J. c. Stanton is in the city. He is not exactly on his native heath, but he is on a heath where he finds a good many notable landmarks of his own ere alton. The Alabama Great Southern road, the Stanton house, these are two or the larger visible ones; but the most val uable of them all was and Is the deVel- opment of the industries in the Chatta- nooga district that came from Stantons work as a pioneer. His road was the cause of the first substantial start the city made after the war It was the fa- ther and mother of Birmingham. It did more to put the iron trade of the south on solid basis than any one thing else. And Stanton got less out of all he did than anybody who got anything. He had faith in his undertakings; he induced the public to have faith, but the public left him to hold the bag on the first pinch. It had been better for the south had many Stantons come to her in her day of greatest need. Colonel Stanton is a welcome visitor to Chattanooga"
 In an interview MT. Stanton said:
 'I came to Chattanooga for the first
 time during the latter part of the year 1868, when it had population of COCO or 70oO people. At this time the sole man ufacturing establishment of the city was the old rolling mill across the hill. l be- lieVe at the time l came here 1t was idle,
 but later resumed operations to reroll some old railroad iron. The business was done principally in the old government
 warehouses, as there were but very
 few substantial buildings in Chatta-
 nooga.
 'The only hotel or boarding house of
 any consequence was the old Burns
 house, which was owned and operated
 by the Foust Bros, and it was in this
 old house that I first slept in Chatta-
 nooga. At this time the First National
 bank, which I see is now in a handsome
 brown stone front, was in a small stone
 building, located, l think, pretty near
 the same spot it used to be. I find some
 difficulty, however, in locating myself so
 very marked and extensive have been the
 improvements made since I was here"
 Speaking of the railroads running into
 Chattanooga now Colonel Stanton said:
 Your present roads running into this
 city are not worth accent to you or your
 city, They are. only using Chattanooga
 as way station. have watched Chat tanooga and see that they are all work ing for other cities and not Chattanooga
 l have always taken an interest in Chat tanooga and caH myself a Chattanooga
 man, although I left here fifteen years
 ago. and this is my first trip to the city
 since my departure. Some of the people
 here do not believe in mo, but I would
 not say word against Chattanooga,
 and no one ca1 say that I ever did. In
 my opinion Chattanooga is destined to
 be big city and she cannot be kept
 back
 "I have been told of late by good iron
 men that iron can be made in Chattanoo-
 in IlF For. 1Ae.r. any other place in the world. With these facts in view Chattanooga cannot be kept back"
 MT. Stanton is a builder of railroads, and has not been idle since he left Ala
 bama, but has constructed several great lines out west. Of his present business he said:
 Well am working very hard at pres ent for the west, but it is dead. My sym dicate is now building a railroad from Portland to Astoria, Ore, which will cost about $S0O0000. The line will be about | no miles long.
 "The west is dead card: there is no life there All of the capitalists now say that their money will not go west again and that the next boom from the east will come south. I honestly think this, and do not say 1t because I think it will please the people of this section, as that Is nothing to me. The south is the place,
 and more money will be spent on it be- fore long than has ever come this way be- fore. Just how far off the time is, of course I cannot say; but I am free to confess that there is much in store for | this section. and Chattanooga will get her share of it."
 MT. Stanton has reason to entertain | no very friendly recollections of the | south, and hence his opinion as to the prospective investment of capital in this region is of peculiar interest. He is a | shrewd, far-sighted man, and his present l visit to the south no doubt indicates that
 railroad builders are looking in this di- | rection with lively solicitude. The ca | reer of MT. Stanton in Alabama would | make an interesting page in our local l history. The indorsement by the state l of his railroad bonds came very near plunging Alabama into bankruptcy. The payment of the defaulted interest broke | the back of the administration of Gov ernor Lindsey. The popular indignation | at the indorsement business, although | the Lindsay administration had nothing | to do with the making of the law, was | largely instrumental in bringing about | the defeat of the democratic state ticket l of 1872. The gallant Herndon of Mobile.
 our nominee for governor, went down in | defeat The causes of democratic defeat | at that time were various. The fact that l Herndon was an "unrepentant rebel" | who had signed the ordinance of seces-
 sion, was used against him, although his competitor, the republican candidate, | David F. Lewis, had signed the same or | dinance with the same pen. But Lewis was parading as a reconstructed reb- el." It was also urged that Herndon was on the same ticket with Horace 1 Greeley, and he was compelled to bear l all the sins of that distinguished aboli-
 tionist and protectionist. But the main cause of his defeat was MT. Stanton,
 who used his railroad and all its oppor- l tunites and convenences to transport negro voters to the polls. That was the | charge against him at the time and it
 was meyer denied. He wanted Lewis elected, and he wanted more bonds in- dorsed. He got both, and he left legacy
 behind him of chancery foreclosures and