The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-01-20
Especial to News and Observer)


on the sale of the Seaboard Air Line in
Guiding an interview with Mr.. John
Shelton Williams in regard to the future
of that system. The Manufacturers
Record says:
''The transfer of the control of the
Seaboard Air Line system to syndicate
organized by Messrs.. Middendorf. Oliver
Il CO., Baltimore, and John S. Williams
q Sons, Richmond, is IN some respects
the most important event in the railroad
history of the South since the rcorgani-
cation of the old Richmond Terminal
properties into the Southern Railway
Company. The Seaboard, with its 1000
miles of railroads and its line of steam
boats from Baltimore to Old Point, Nor
folk and Portsmouth, has been n read
ing factor in Southern upbuilding, and
its future is matter of profound interest
to the whole central South. Under The
management of President Hoffman and
vice-P President st. John, it has been an
aggressive worker for the South; it
has aided in developing the whole coun-
try tributary to its lines it has encour-
aged the growth of manufactures, the
diversification of agriculture, the i'm
provement of the villages and towns
along its line, and it has materially aided
in attracting the attention of capitalists
and settlers to this section. Its past
has been one Of great credit to its mana.
gers and of vast benefit to the South.
That the new owners will follow along
the same line and still further broaden
its work may be accepted without Ques-
ton, for the men who are interested in
the purchase of this sysrem are among
the very foremost leaders in the develop
ment of the South. Their record, cover
ing the investment of millions of dol
lars in the South and the management
of many great undertakings that have
redounded to Southern prosperity, is on
evidence of what they will do with
the Seaboard
In an interview with the Manufactur-
ers' Record, Mr.. John Shelton Williams,
president of the Georgia & Alabama
Railroad and also president of the Rich
mond Trust & Safe Deposit Co., who, it
is believed will be the new president of
the Seaboard Air Line system, said:
THE men interested in this purchase
recognize, first. the remarkable combi-
nation of wealth and traffic-creating re-
Norfolk and Portsmouth 1.-THE Atlantic
terminus of the line) to Atlanta, and, rec
ondly, the inherent strength of the Sea-
board system and its great possibilities.
Reaching from Norfolk to Atlanta in all
most an air line, the Seaboard system
runs through the very heart and center
of what has been called the future situs
of cotton manufacturing of the world
- p ,chl iroS eli nfolif frotf
Wilmington, on the coast. to the mount
aims at Rutherfordton, and with its many
connections, it covers almost this entire
territory. The cotton mills Immediately
on the line Of this road represent an in
vestment of probably more than So .000,-
600. and operate over 800 600 spindles,
while mills that can be reached by the
connections of this system would add
easily another half a million spindles to
the textile interests already, in whole or
part, tributary to the Seaboard. These
mills have been notedly successful dem
onstrating in every way the advantages
of this territory for this industry. With
the steady development of the practically
unlimited water-powers along this line,
and the rapid expansion of cotton manu-
facture, as yet practically in its infancy
Is
reasonable to predict that no other equal
railroad mileage will in the future be
able to show a greater cotton indus
try.
drawing line from Lynchburg, Va.
southwest ward along the foothills of the
Blue Ridge mountains stretching past
Rutherfordton, Charlotte and Rome, Ca.
to Gadsden, thence enthusiastically
o,,,x1 ME-, l., A Ia ~ o..
thence northward on a straight line from
Albany to Norfolk and back to the start
ing point at Lynchburg. we have marked
ont the future situs of the cotton mean
featuring of the South, and that means
so far as human foresight can predict
the future situs of cotton manufacturing
of the world. This territory is. roughly
speaking, about 500 miles long by 100
to $50 miles wide. and covers an area of
from $4,000 to 10000 square miles. 1t
has advantages for cotton manufacturing
unequaled by any other country of the
world, and through the very center of
this territory runs the Seaboard and its
branch lines, as shown by the accom-
panying map. Briefly, some of these ad-
vantages may be enumerated:
10 Elevation above sea level.
lzt anu tHcdp NdtcT
power and coal.
49, An abundant supply of native
American operatives.
~ Low labor cost, because of low
cost of living.
go Unsurpassed healthfulness.
90 Cotton supply Immediately at
hand.
90 Cheap and abundant transporta-
ton to the markets of the world.
This favored belt of country is main
ly what is known rs the Piedmont slope.
At its southeastern boundary it has run
ming at the foot of the falls of the rivers
an elevation of about $50 to 500 feet
above sea level, and along a line run
ming through its center from northeast
to southwest an average of 700 to 800
feet elevation. while nearer to the foot
hills of the mountains it rises to from
1000 to 1000 feet above the sea. Near
ly al of the area of this belt is of primi-
tive or volcanic formation, with gneiss
and granite ranges, from which come
the best of building and foundation stone,
which is nearly everywhere in this terri
tory to be had in abundance and at but
little cost other than that of quarrying.
This belt Of country is moderately
1,,Io hili,