The age-herald., 1900-03-02
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
 AND ELSEWHERE

! AIOnris. He was met here at noon by Hon. Joseph J. Willett, who had also been spend- ing the Mardd Gras time dn New Orleans. and who returned by the Louisville and l Nashville tine by way of Mobile and Mout- l gomery It was rumored that the two distinguished young democrats intended to confer together regarding national politics. i Mir. Walker told a party of friends that there were but two men who interested the reporters and the crowds at Mardi l Gras-"Judge Wdledt and the Chinese mdn- ister Their hourly movements were 1 chronacled by the local newspapers, and reporters lay in wait for them constantly" l Mir. WSllett declared that MT. Waiker put the reporters after him, and then the fun between tine two began. There is perhaps no better known newspaper worker in this country than Harry Walker. Certainly l there is none more capable, more genial l or more companionable. He was born tin | St. Louis considerably more than twenty one years ago, and spent several years of | his childhood in Dublin. He still retains | a touch of the brogue of 'dear dirty Dub- 1in,' as the Dubliners fondly refer to their cherished city of the Ldffey By direct ex- traction he Is Irish, and he is gifted with | the ready Wit and lightness of heart so | characteristic of that most lovable Of Qeo- | pies. Flowers blossom plentifuhy along his way, and never flower that he does | not deserve.
 l We are going to begin as soon as pos | sibe the construction of our big cotton factory" said former Congressman Will liam A. Handley of Roanoke. I've shaal | expend $20O,00O in the erection of a 1OO00- 1 spindle factory. lit was remarkable the ], ease with which we raised a s1OO,000 of l local capital in our own small town. With l out any previous discussion of the enter l prise, two or three of us started out at l 10 o'clock in, the morning. and before we | went ito our midday dinner we had raised s6O,OOO. It was our purpose to raise $75,- | 900, but we got $60,OeO so easily that we de- | termlned to make it $1OO,O0O, which We se- | cured with the greatest ease. We have about acquired 200 acres of land inside the | corporate limits of the town as a site for the mill. With this and our $1OO,0OO of local | capital we have the basis for a credit Of | $l00.0oO additional at a low rate of interest Thus we shall build a factory of 10000 | spindes. We shall make all of our own brack, as on our property we have an | enormous quantity of the best potter's clay an Alabama What we are doing so easily | aemonstrates what any of our Alabana towns can do by proper and wen directed effortv'
 l "I am convinced that the cotton factory | is the solution of the problem of cotton l planting" Colonel Handley proceeded to say. "If we will but built factories here at l home we can ourselves fix the price of cot ton. Recently I made tour of observa- tion and in vestigation through Georgia and the Carolinas, and I was amazed at what l saw and heard respecting cotton manufac- turing. There is a factory at Dahlonega that paid last year a profit of something like 90 per cent. Forty per cent. is com- mon enough with Georgia factories In the carolinas factories are being built out in the fields close to the railways. I saw many such. In one county in North Car olina there are twenty-five cotton factories. and all of them making money. We ex- pect great things from our factory at Roanoke. It will give profitable employ ment to several hundred persons, chiefly women and children who are not now earning anything to speak of. All the money paid out by the company will be spent there at home, and it will make great difference to the town. Roanoke is now the best town in Alabama, Birming- ham alone excepted. It is one of the best country market towns in the south, and has one of the largest and best schools. We have S250o0 school house. Wagon trade comes from forty miles distant, and our merchants are prosperous. The Messrs. Schuesller who subscribed $25,00O to the cotton factory, do a business of s1OO,OOO to S200,000 year. The subscribers to the fac tory have done me the honor to name the factory the Handley Manufacturing com pany."
 Things are booming at Bessemer,'' said City Clerk Edgar A. Mitchell 1.-The rolling mill has begun operations after being idle for ten years. and will be run to it's full capacity, giving employment to TOO men. This itself will add fully 2,5Oo to the popula- ton. I believe that what might be properly called Bessemer now has a population of 15,000. There is a great demand for dwell ing houses, and great number of such houses are being built Never before in it's history was Bessemer so prosperous as now. The people are jubilant."
 "Pror to the civil war Richmond as a | IHedleT tOWH fdnkeu WICn =BOStOn, New York and Baltimore, and early in the cen- tury it was far in the lead" said w. Allen Jenkins, business manager of the Packard Opera company, at the Arlington last night. "It was in Richmond that Junius Brutus Booth opened his engagement in the United States. In the stock company in that city, just before the war, the names of Edwin Booth, Wilkes Booth, Joe Jeffer- 1 son and many other celebrities appeared But after the stock company days Rich mond lost its stage prestige and dropped to the rank of other cities of its size In the past few years. however while it does not maintain stock company, it has got to be a theatrical mart of no mean i'm portance. have met recently many form CT residents of that city who are now en- gagged in the amusement business On Sat urday last there were no less than five