The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-11-26

i
tel in Asheville was crowded and the
boarding houses had more than they
wanted Now nothing pays city Sc
| well as to be crowded with visitors
| Did you ever notice how much more lib
eral a man is with his money abroad
| than at home? / have seen men who
would walk at home TO save street ear
| Fare readily and freely pay carriage hire
! TO go to a hotel while travelling in pref
erence to riding on the street car. Even
the most economical men who come here
spend money and it goes in all channels
OF trade and adds to the general pros
perity 1t is q better source OF in
come, more profit in it, than most lines
| of manufacturing.
Asheville does well to advertise itself.
That is all that is needed. If the peo-
pie of New England, for instance. knew
about Asheville's climate and how it
restores health and vigor. they would
come in hundreds. The trouble is, how
to let them know. Walter Page once
asked me: How can we teach the
people of darkest Boston the truth about
the South? Many of them read Greek
and Latin, know all about South Afri-
ca and can tell you more about the to-
Biography Of the Philippine Islands than
the latest Biographies give you, and yet
they are as ignorant as babes about the
Southern section. How are we ever
going to reach them?" Ashevile is am
swering that question better than any
Southern city or town, and if it could
get the residents of darkest Boston"
to know the real truth, real estate would
be so high the natives of Buncombe
would sell out and move over into the
adjoining counties, and live ON the in
terest of their money. That's what
would happen. When the National
Park is established, the visitors will
come not only from the North, but from
all quarters of the globe. The estab-
lishment of the National Park will be
one way to reach the lesson. Vanderbilt's
place has been worth more so far than
anything else.
Asheville is coming to he one Of the
first educational centres of the country,
and it is only a question of time when
its schools and colleges will be as fa-
nous as its climate The public schools
are unexcelled anywhere and it has
a score of small select schools that do
Stitutions of learning are Bingham
School, the Normal and Collegiate Insti-
tute and Asheville Female College. The
removal Of Bingham School to Asheyi!le
has given it wider fame and greater
usefulness than at any time in its hon
orable history of an hundred years. 1t
has a full attendance. made up of the
brightest boys in the South. and is thor
oHgh and efficient. A distinguished
Presbyterian minister told me few
days ago that the best teacher he ever
had was an old fellow who kept him
three days on one proposition, and never
let him have another lesson until he
mastered that Maj. Bingham would
rejoice in such teacher, for he has
the old-fashion notion that it is better
for a boy to master one lesson than to
skip over a whole book
The delegates to the National Park
Convention paid n short visit to the
Normal and Collegiate Institute. fa-
nous institution that il doing n great
work under the control of Rev TNhos
Lawrence, ID. ID. 1t is owned by the
Beard of Home Missions of the Presby-
terian church and since its opening in
1893 it has grown until its enrolment
now reaches nearly three hundred am
bilious young women. III is model
school managed by Il model man. and
| heard compensation of the school and
DIR. Lawrence on all hands.
The Asheville Female College is one
of Asheyille's jewels and is continuing
the noble work 50 long conducted by Rev.
James Atkins, one of the biggest men
u l,a.
ulty embraces men of rare scholarship,
and the work of the college ranks with
the best
The two things that Asheyille shows
most appreciation of are it's visitors and
its schools. Given plenty Of people with
means to spend and good schools, and
the result IL a rich and cultivated
city. / have touched upon
the school and the visitor in this letter
because they give Asheyille much Of its
wealth. fame and culture, and because
Asheyille banks" on them.
Asheville some ten years ago bid fair
to be great tobacco town and several
large and fiourishing factories were
building up good business. / drove
out yesterday morning with one of the
city's leading business men and when
we PASSED by a. large brick building.
now occupied by a patent medicine
house. he said: There's one of the
victims of the cigarette trust. A cigar
cite factory located there was doing
finely and had excellent prospects of
growing into big success. The trust
drove it to the wall" Since the trust
sent the price of tobacco down to the
| cost of cultivation. some of the ware
houses have closed At present Ashe-
| ville's tobacco interests are dead, and
| you will find no business men anywhere
more opposed to trusts than here. They
| have learned from object lessons and
| the lesson has been burned into them
so that they cannot forget it. Speaking
Of trusts Maj. II. u. McKissick man
| ager of the Battery Park Hotel, is
| Vice President of the Antitrust League
| for North Carolina, and is one of the
strongest opponents of these OUTLAWS
of commerce | have found anywhere.
| He Is not alone among the hotel pro
prietors and managers in America. They
have better opportunity to judge
of the i'll effects of trusts than most men.
! Since trusts have grown so rapidly, they