The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-09
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
BY THE MANUFAcTU-
 RERS RECORD.
Rapid Development of oil Industry in Texas and Improvements in the Iron Business in
 Alabama.

Baltimore, March 8.-(6pecfai. l-Some suggestive features of the industriai oe- vciopment of the South are illustrated m reports ilA this weeks issue of the Manu. facturers' Record, which show the rapau development of the oil interests of Texas, and of the transportation facilities needed in connection with marketing Texas oil, and the great improvements of the last few years in the Iron business which have put the iron and steel in- terests of the South on sound sup. stantial basis, promising to enable that section to develop this industry on a scale commensurate with the natural resources of the South for iron produc- ton. The demand for transportation facilities to handle the vast output or Texas oil has been far greater than the supply. .., .n- panies have been increasing tne numDeI of tank cars as rapidly as they couio pc construoted for the marketing of oil by rail. and now the water transportation end is being handled with visor wnicn assures the fullest development Of this branch of the trade. Twelve steam ships. the cost of which will aggregate s5. oo0. GOO or S. 0O0,0 900 have been contracteu for in England to be built exclusively TOT the oil trade between Texas and European ports: while an English transportation company now handling Texas oil has in- creased it's capital by Sb.0oo'ooo Tn oroer to build more ships for this trade; two oF three tank stamers, the only ones avaiIa- ble ufder the American nag anu, thete- fore, the only ones which can oo coas.- wise business, have been chartered TOT tho trade between Texas and Atlantic norts, the Standard oil Company. which has only three tank steamers unoer foreign flags, already has under contract at American ship yards several steam ships to cost an average of about nalI 2 r,;liion dollars for the Texas trade, and if is understood Is now inviting bios Tor a number of additional steamers wnicn will cost probably eight or nine nshoreo thousand dollars each
 These facts indicate something or the magnitude of the development whicn is already under way In providing facilities necessary to handle the unprecented oil outnut of Texas Just little more than a year ago the first gusher was brought in at Beumoht, but 1t was not untu midsummer that tho world at large was quite ready to accept the permanency oi such a wonderful oil strike. Notwith- standing the disadvantages under which the development of this new situation labored the results which have aiready been accomplished have probably never been surpassed in the history Of any development in this or in any other coun- try. In Kentucky and Tennessee there Is also great activity in oil matters. witn the promise that the Pennsylvania ana West Virginia oil territory will be found to extend into these States; while In Alabama a number of wells are peins hored. and the indications in the northern mart of the State as well as in the south ern promises the possibility Of some great oil strikes. The influence Of the dis- coveries of oil upon the material interests of the South can scarcely be fuiiy appre- ciated at present,
 The Manufacturers Record says that the oil and natural gas interests Of the South may equal in importance the cot ton crop itself, or at least be as strong a factor as cotton In the advancement of the industrial growth of this section. is not altogether improbable"
 Turning to iron. the consumption or which is now running at about the rate of Is, 100000 tons year, an amount tnat is almost staggering to contemplate. atten- ,ion Is called to the great changes which Saye been brought about during the last few years in the South's iron business. In the light of the growing power of iron and steel, 1t is of more than sectional in- terest that the South has passed the speculative period in this industry. and is