The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-23

Works Of Monroe county, more celebrated
than those Of Carter. with iron equal in
quality and much greater in quantity, have
been idle for years. producing nothing
BLAST FURNACES.
II is a far more pleasing pi-ture that Is
now presented. There are at present fifteen
or twenty blast furnaces in operation in
East Tennessee. having n total capacity o'
from 200 to l. 400 tons Of riZ iron daily. or
about SIS per cent. Of the entire output of all
of the 81 ate of Tennessee. ANA, as for the
coal, in 1900 there were 3 ,sOi 0is tons OF coal
" iped and i9i i3S tons OF coke produced.
This is doing fairly we'll and is vakins-up,
but only a flea bi'eto the possibilities, ana
20 possibilities that, very much sooner per-
haps than the country at large realizes, viii
| he made actualities,
Ia F'LLETTE.
The most interesting recent development
| of the iron industry in the country lmne-
| diatelv tributary TO Knoxville is the opening
| up Of the new iron u mace al La toHette'
| only about fifty miles from here, in Pow Ill :
Valley at the foot Of the Cumberland NJ UNI
| tains This is generally conceded 20 be
! the largest and most complete furnace now
| in operation in the South, having
| capacity Cf 40 or more tons OF iron DAY
But the ma Of this industry is the magic
growth of the town that has sprung up
| around il.
| Two wears ago La Toilette was an obscure
| little hamlet Of barely $50 inhabitants. A
| recent school census shows that II no" mas
| n population of over S.OOo-a city, II YOU
please, and an ambitious, thriving pushing
| CITY al that with two fine public school
| buildings already up and in U.s., and two
| more in course Of construction, -FOUR
| church, up and two more building; twenlN
general stores; prosperous BANK; an eirc-
trio lighting plant; finely paved streets
three or four wocd.wc rking plants ana
more coming,
| II Is going to be the county seat Of Camp
bell county one of these davs. With Tine
| court house and other public buildings to
| match, and Campbell county has risen 10
the situation by issuing 100000 worth or
| county bonds, With the proceeds OF which
will be built as fine system Of macadamized
| roads-all radiatine from La foliet'e-as
| any in the State. This reads like chap
| ter out of the history of some OF the mining
communities in the far West. and 1t Is IKE
| some of the stories of marvellous growth
| Of towns out that way, with the aduitionai
feature that La Toilette has come TO stay,
| Its growth l. but symbol OF what the
growth OF Knoxville on a larger scale will
be when the wonderful resources OF this
| croat East Tennessee county once get under
full headway of development, For al such
places as La Toilette Knoxville Is and ever
will be the commercial centre and metropo-
lis Irrespective of her own vigorous
| erort, their growth will be her growth and
the development of their wealth a CORE
| sponding Increase In the wealth OF Knox
Vile.
RACE FOR FIRST PLACE.
Memphis and Nashville are both forring
ahead NJ n fine paon. with Memphis leading
| Nashville IN population by upward Of 90
coo Memphi had 10? $50 in 1900; compared
| with Nashville's so.s6i But let both Mem
| phis and Nashville look to their laurels.
There is n new Richmond in the field
the Richmond Of East Tennessee, a. solid
on her financial FINS "a the Richmond OF
| old virginia,
The Industrial percentages - the last
census decade show thai NnoNr,lIl l. creep
ing up on her two remaining rivals Tor SUI
yrcmacy in tn State, at pace which
will not give them anv srarc time to
devote 10 the cont 'npl ton Of their ov n
glories If they want 10 keep up IN the van
of the procession theed 81 their lively
competitor in the east In the actual num-
her Of new establishments Knoxville
percentage was below that Of Chattanooga
as well AZ those of Nashville and Memphis
But il Is no, So nnch the number OF ne"
establishments NJ what those establish
ments represent that counts, and in this
Knoxville Is ahead Of all her competitors
In the amount Of new capital invested
for Instance, Chottanooga's increase was
3oror cont : that ~ Memphis, 1875 per cent 4
Na.hvil'c, s?.s PER cent, while that OF
Knoxville was 80l per cent, or 1874 per
cent more than all the three other cities
combined.
Now, take the matter of increase Of
wage earners IN the ten wears between lS0l
and 1900. Chittanooea's increase was 90
per cent :that of Nashville 1874 p cent that
OF Memphis SO 3 per cent. while that of Knox
Vile was III per cent. So here We again
have Knoxvillc's increase greater by a
fraction of per cent. than that OF the
other three cities combined
In the smount Of wages paid Chatta-