The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-10-31
people In the richest and most prom.
Using portion Of the republic.

people In the richest and most prom
Using portion Of the republic.
As I nave already said, Mr.. Prest-
dent. God In His wisdom and His
goodness, planted in the southland Of
our wonderful country vast beds Of
natural wealth. and 1t seems to me
that he intended US to utilize these re.
sources on the spots where he left
them. and not allow them to be ship
ped away to other and. often remote
sections, to be worked up into finished
products for consumption by our south
ern people. may be wrong In this
conclusion. my fellow citizens, but ney-
ertheless have ben sticking to this
idea, and talking It. and arguing It, and
urging 1t for more than a quarter Of a
century; and as haven't much longer
to live ia the world. propose to Keep
on talking 1t TIL die.
The larger portion Of all the southern
states, my hearers, is wonderfully en-
dowed with what Is commonly called
natural resources" In addition to
this, the climate is mid and equable,
the soil Is rich, the scenery Is unsur-
passed, the great waterways otter
cheap transportation, and the people
are open.hearted, kind and generous to
a fault. In all the southland there Is
no record OF one asking bread and be.
ing given stone. or asking a fish and
being handed a serpent. Our southern
we'll known fact that they Will in an
emergency divide their last loaf Of
bread with brother In need. This
well known peculiarly. think, Is
to their credit as people. A tender.
hearted, sympathetic man Is worthy to
be classed as the salt Of the earth,
There Is a large amount Of this sort Of
salt In the warp and the wool and fill
tered into the blood OF nearly all OF our
southern people. and It will stand great
" to their credit until the cycles cease
to roll.
Pardon me. my fellow citizens, for
bringing to your attention some OF the
prominent resources of my own state;
and when speak Of West Virginia my
remarks may be applied ina measure
to perhaps a half-doEen other southern
states, almost, II not equal, IN wealth
with my own state OF West Virginia.
While West Virginia Is fairly good
agricultural state. her great wealth lies
mainly in coal, oil. gas and timber.
In coal, our increase for the fiscal
year ending June 80, 1899. over the pre-
ceding year. was 1,404,752 tons. Our
output for this year Is lT,4l5,OO" long
tons OF 2.2iO pounds to the ton. AT this
ratio OF Increase, we Will reach the
10000, 900 line inside of three years.
In coke production, we are second to
Pennsylvania. Our output for the pres
ent fiscal year was 100000 tons-an In
crease OF over n quarter OF a million
tons over last year. Many new coke
hnfnU ONnufrNfNkoH md
II Is hard to tell what position the
state will hold as coke producer FIVE
years hence.
In both coal and coke, as well as in
oil and gas, West VirRinia's develop.
ment has been almost phenomenal.
Az 10 oil and gus. my fellow cltlzensI
my state Is unQuestiOnably the eter-
mai center. We rarely bore deep hole
in the earth that we do not find one or
the other Of these now invaluable pro-
ducTs. The first oil we'll was drilled
in what is now the state of West Vlr-
glnin in 1853, and good flow OF oil was
discovered. Since then thousands and
even tens Of thousands Of wells have
been drilled, from which have been ta-
ken not fewer than S0,000OOO barrels OF
the oieaEinous fluid. Our output OF oil
now Averages from sixteen to twenty
million barrels every year.
In 1891 Pennsylvania produced over
thirteen times as mitch oil as did West
Virginia. In 1899 we outran our neigh
Dor in the oil race, and we are now In
the lead 10 stay. Since 1891 the produce
lion in Pennsylvania has decreased over
fifty per cent, and In the same period
West Virginia has increased n little
above five hundred five per cent.
Therefore, as productions decrease in
adjoining oil states. the natural course
OF oil seeking capital will be to extend
The Dresent boundaries OF the oil pools
OF West Virginia, Having apparently
unlimited oil territory, our West Vir-
glnta people must hereafter furnish the
greater portion OF this essential article
Tor many years to come
As 10 timber. Mr.. Chairman, l need
only say that n large portion OF our
West Virginia hills are covered with all
that VIC have In the rigighborhodd OF
eight million acres Of virgin forests.
Not forests OF the puny sort. but for
estS of trees so tall that one
has to lie fat on his back to see the
tops Of some OF the tallest Of them.
When o squirrel gets on the tOpmost
branches Of the very highest of some
Of our great trees, he does not look
much bigger than one Of your healthy,
well developed. douhlc-dccker female
Alabama mosquitoes Some OF you
may think that / am dealing In hyper
bole, but l tell you, my friends there
il more truth than poetry IN these off,
handed statements. II you prefer not
to accept my statements, come up to
see West Virginia, and see for your
selves. One thing you can always
bnnk on--a West Vlrginian won't lie
he'Il steal frst and then kill you II
you catch him Mt It.
But almost forgot to say few
words about West Virginia gas 1
don't mean the kind Of gas that some
OF you evidently IRE thinking about.
mean the gas that God mnde--the kind
you get out Of the bowels Of the earth,
and not the sort that evolves or eVO-
IutGE out OF the bowels OF political
wind -baRB. do not mean wind-inm-
mcr men. some of whom you have down
here In AlabnmR-that class Hre prNc-
tlcaIIy ''hnB-been' In WeRt Virginia.
That race" with IT'S Is substantially
extinct. Like the buffalo md the mas
todon. and the rnzor-bnck hog, they are
gone. and wR are happy that II Is so.
While we nrb boomers In n sense we
don't blow" simply because we don't
have TO. The fact In, my friends, IL
keeps It's busy to tell the truth, and we
therefore huvn no tiHnc ia do tho other
thing. tell you the unVnrnlshed
truth, my hearers, when / declare that
we IRE aH busy as nnilerH trying to get,
IN Ua0Hn d tfaE