The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-12-05
PROGRESS MADE
BY new u v OIL 0 Fans n
Gratifying Reports from Lower
Mississippi Trade Center.
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES.
Bank CIearings Show Good Increase.
The Oil business OF the Beaumont
Field is Becoming Substantial
and Permanent Industry.
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES.
Especial Dispatch to The Times.>


Especial Dispatch to The Times.)
BAL1Il.1OnE, December certain
cities and towns OF the South suggest
IN their mention the rise OF certain de-
Unite Industries during the past few
years. Richmond mas its locomotive
works, Newport News It's shipUuildlng.
High Point its furniture, Charlotte and
Columbia their cotton mills, Mt Pleas i
ant it's phosphate, Birmingham its iron
and steel, Beaumont its oil. Memphis
its woodworking esta Adjustments and so
on through the list In all OF these
communities is reflected the prosperity
OF the South, but in none OF them per-
haps is the evidence stronger than at
New Orleans. Special correspondence
from that city in this week S issue OF
the Manufacturers Record says:
I'm commerce, in finance, in manutac-
ture, in rice and oil. in lumber. In rail-
road building and In municipal develop
ment the progress is truly striking. and
in the promise for still further advance
ment the conditions Of to-day hold out
opportunities Of the most attractive sort.
Indeed. it would almost appear as II
New Orleans and this whole region
were only just getting in good working
form; that what has been done were
largely of a preliminary character, and
that what is still to be done will far
surpass everything heretofore accom-
plished.
For Instance. 1t is great achieve
ment that New Orleans has by almost
unanimous consent agreed to bond itself
for a most comprehensive system OF
sewerage and drainage. and under the
operations Of the new sanitary laws the
city has become one OF the healthiest
in the country. The commerce of the
TON
amounts for the year to sos. ooo 600. an
i-crease over last year Of $4,000 GOO.
The bank clearings for the year were
$4,000 600 an increase of 1000 0oo IT
Is stated that in new industries and IN
the improvement OF those ALREADY es-
tah1ished about s1.c6a.61o have been IN
vested since the BEGINNING Of this year
All the old houses in the business cen
ter Of the city some OF which had Peen
vacant TOR years. and now occupied. AND
the demand is now greater than the
supply.
RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION.
"New Orleans is getting the benefit Of
the new constitutional provision that all
railroads r,;lt IN Louisiana before jan
uary 1, 1904, shall be exempt from taxa
ton for ten years this provision hav-
'-e greatly stimulated the construction
Of all lines contemplating extensions In
Louisiana and into Now Orleans.
"ora Of the directions in which the
industries and commerce OF New Or
leans is expanding very noffceah'v is
IN that OF handling and marketing the
rice OF Louisiana and Texas. Develop
n1ents OF the past fifteen years have
wholly transformed tire prairie sections
of Southwestern Louisiana and South
eastern Texas. Where a few years ago
there was sparse population and
lands were selling for as little as
twenty-five cents an acre, there are now
5000 persons. largely from the North
west engaged in rice farming and az
cessory pursuits. and lands sell as high
as SIS to 500 an acre.
'"The lumber trade has long been an
important branch Of the business OF
New Orleans which is the center or
large timber section. but the develop
ments in certain lines have been re-
markable within the past few years
Especially is this true Of cypress; nearly
all the big cypress properties of Louis
lana have been bought up for develop
ment, and prices have gone soaring.
Lands that could have been bought
few years ago at g and So an acre are
now selling at from $50 to $50 So great
is the demand for timber land that at
one hotel at New Orleans last week
there were at Clnner Twelve llilloel ieilo
buyers from the Northwest All kinds
OF timber are in great demand now.
THE OIL INDUSTRY.
"From the Beaumont oil fields come
reports OF a growing Substantially OF
the oil Industry. It is declared that
the froth of the oil business having
blown off the real development OF the
business is just getting under way
Beaumont has become a solid city. es-
tirated to have oco people. Millions
of dollars have been invested in refine
ries. pipe lines. etc. One refinery has
been erected at a cost of s5,oU'.ooo ana
another. probably costing nearly as
r,uch. has been built at Port Arthur.
| There has been great difficulty IN get
ting ships for the coastwise trade IN
oil. only twelve or fifteen ships having
been avalia BILE up to this time.
..whie t:,a oil has an asphaltum base.
! it has been demonstrated that it IS
refining proposition, and there is an In
creasing demand at steadily increasing
| prices The best authorities are salts
Vast Virginia oil taking into consider
alton the cost OF delivery at the con-
Stunning markets Of the wo~1d. The
| e,ehar Teo t,1ra having been eliminated
ris pr-orire plants are being installed.
| TIE field is widening out. and besides
the wells at Sour Lake includes OTHER
| areas of Texas and Louisiana. Those
| ia ~,l,lar with the situation declare as
| entirely sensible tho prediction that
| tre-a will corcent~a ta on the Cult one
81 the biggest oil businesses Of the
world"
I