The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-11-26
BOOM EFFECT DESTROYED
QUEEN CITY OF THE WEST
GROWING UPON SOLID
FOUNDATIONS.
rs GREAT EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
If the World Knew Half of Asheyile's At
fractions, Thousands Would Visit
ltNhsre Now There Are
Hundreds.
Hundreds.

ilUHuiCuSs
Asheville, ~. c., Nov 25.-(Editorial
correspondence Until | came here
as a delegate from the Raleigh Cham
Der of Commerce to the National Park
Convention / had not been to Asheyille
since 1896. Three years in the life &c q
growing city like this is a long time,
for it grows steadily and surely toward
the foremost summer and winter resort
in america. Some years ago Ashc.
vile had the misfortune to have boom.
Prices of land went up almost high as
Mt. Mitchell and men made money
land lost it. too, as fast as real estate
was transferred. 1t was a day of big
speculation, and when the 1898 panic
Il do not stop to give the cause of thar
panic-though / conld-for this is NOT
Il political letter. came there was trouble
in Asheville as everywhere else. For a
time Asheville had hard times sure
enough. net any harder than other
towns--but after the flush times they
seemed 30. The Asheville folks felt
like the hackneyed conundrum: why
single MANI" to which the catch an
swer is He does not. but it seems
longer" Asheville suffered no worse
than Slowtown, but it seemed worse be-
cause. fguratively speaking. all of a
Sudden it had to quit drinking cham.
payne and come down to lincolnshire
likker'' or it had TO quit sky scraping
and hit the earth. Following in the
wake of the drop in the fancy prices
Of real estate, for year or two the
number of visitors was smaller than
usual, and that also made Ashevilie
feel blue. But the folks here, unlike
Floridians. have more resources upon
which to live Than yankees in winter
and potatoes in summer and so they
had perfect faith that the setback was
temporary. And so it proved. for Ashe-
vile is today one of the most progress
sive and prosperous cities in the South.
In the boom days, too much water had
been injected into the price of land
Some people here think that the fancy
prices that prevailed during the boom
tended to retard the growth OF the
place. and to make people of moderate
means seek locations where they could
buy homes cheaper. BE that as it may.
Asheyille today looks like it had never
known a boom or a panic and has an
mir of thrift. expansion, solidity and
beauty that makes it easily the first
mountain city in the South As | walk.
ed along the business streets with a
rich New York capitalist who is fa-
miliar with all the North Carolina and
Virginia towns and cities. he said
Il do not know any city of its size
or twice its size that has such an air
Of a city as the business section OF
Asheyille." As he said this he pointed
to the crowds on the street-it was IN
ordinary day and it looked like cour,
week in many places-and i was inn
pressed by the change that has come
about here in business and business
methods. When l first visited Ashe
vile, it was then a large town, but
had the sloW-naoying ways of a county
court house town, lawyers had time
to sit about and swap stories. and bust
ness men sat in front OF their stores
after dinner and smoked their pipes
there was an easy-going air about the
town and people that made ii a delight.
full town to visit. 1t is still that. hr,
no longer do the professional and bust.
ness men take their afternoon smoke
in the easy time-destroying fashion tha,
betokened the leisurely habits of the
olden time. Business is business
here. Large metropolitan brick stores
have taken the place of small wooder
ones. and there is a push and go her,
that tells Enthusiastically of a town thai
has been converted into a small city
and small city that is steadily grow
ing into large one
More houses are being built in Ashe
vile today" said leading citizen thi,
morning than at any time in Asheville',
history. The growth here is solid
steady, substantial" Every day comes
new citizen. Most of then
come first for health o
pleasure. find both. and fall il
love with the place that has givel
them new life or new love of life, ans
decide to stay. / was told today tina
about one-third Of the population wa.
Of Northern birth. They are as A rul,
the best of Tar Heels after they bull,
home here and are the States hes
immigration agents. A man of tn,
right mould always wants his bes
friend to read a book that has charm
ed him. A man who makes himself
satisfied until he has induced old neigh
bors to enjoy with him the new life III
has found. There is not a Northern
settler here who is not 50 well pleased
that he wants his friends to come, anC
they are coming year by year in large
and ever-increasing numbers, some onl,
to spend the winter and many buyinl
lot either to build now or later. Lane
L.
brings what would be regarded as a higl
price in most cities of its size. / hears
Of some recent sales that sounded al
steep as the hills upon which peopl
build houses here. But the price j
reasonable and is attracting home-seek
efs.
The past year, particularly the pas
SUMMER was record breaker IN tn
number of visitors who sought TO fin
cool place to escape the heat Of tn