The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-13
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
EFFECTS OF CONSOLIDATION OF
RAILWAY LINES.
Some Interesting Figures Taken
from the Reports Of Companies.
The Textile Industry is
Constantly Expanding.

Baltimore, Sept 12.-(Speclal. EFFECTS
of the consolidation of railroad lines In
the South into strong systems operated
on strictly business basis upon the in
dustrial growth of the South may hardly
be over-estimated. This fact Is empha-
sized by a summary In this weeks issue
Of the Manufacturers Record of facts
CLEANED from recent annual reports OF
two or three railway companies.
The report of the Southern Railway
shows that during the year there were
located on or near the company's lines
Industrial plants representing value of
s112, AL, $50 and that $50 plants completed
and put in operation represented an in
vestment of $S9070,959. Forty two new
textile plants went into operation and
there were additions of 36S,S40 spindles
and 1851 looms to old plants, while at
the close of the fiscal year there were
II new mills under construction, which
will operate $4,000 spindles and 1900
looms. Similar progress Is reported
along the lines of the Central of Georgia
Railway. its annual report showing that
299 industries representing IL dinerent
kinds of manufactures were located In
its territory during the year, with
capitalization of $2,S96,35o and with 4,soz
employees.
nois Central Railroad shows that out OF
,,S industries established during the year
along it's system, 21S or more than Of per
cent were South of the Ohio River. That
agriculture has advanced with the growth
of manufactures apears in such TACT as
that during the year 5S farmers from
the North and West purchased lH,Zoo
acres of farm lands in the territory of the
Southern Railway representing an invest
ment of s., O10, co., while there was phe-
nomenal increase in the acreage devoted
to cantaloupes, watermelons and straw
berries along the Central of Georgia Rail-
way with 1,134,779 peach trees planted.
These figures for onlypa portion. OF the
South are valuable as indicating the pro-
gress general throughout, that part of the
country, and the reports of trunk lines
entering Texas. Oklahoma, the Indian
Territory, Missouri Arkansas and Louis
lana, and combining their operations prin-
cipafly to the trans Mississippi section
will be found to present equally impor-
tant and impressive revelations OF the
development of a great division OF the
country. the natural resources OF whlch
for agriculture and manufactures nave
only begun to be understood by the great
majority of people within comparatively
recent years.
In such a long settled State as Mary
land, mineral riches OF one KIND ana
another have by no means reached their
full development. DR.. p. r. Chler points
out in the Manufacturers Record the
States rich endowment in grantees and
gneisses, important for architectural pur-
poses, traces the gradually extended use
of some of them, and suggests that 1t
seems necessary to attract the attention
of the people to an almost endless variety
of colors and patterns which these rocks
afford for producing varied and beautiful
architecture.
So, too, in South Carolina arrangements
have been made to develop magnetic iron
ore property near Blacksburg. Before
the war these ores were EXTENSIVELY usd
in local iron works, but the shlftlng OF
methods and the drift toward greater
sources of supply brought idleness to the
mines. And so the story goes all along
the hne.
In the meantime the textile industry
which may be regarded as a pioneer in
the South as it was elsewhere. continues
it's mangnificent record. shown by the
following figures. In 1890 of the total
crop of 1911, 1892 bales, the South manu-
featured 546.S94 bales, or a little more
than percent. In 1901 of the total crop
of 1O,3S3,422 bales, the South manufactur-
ed 1,620,931 bales, little more than Is
per cent. and in the year ended August
31st last of the total crop of 1O.6SO,6S
bales, the South manufactured 1894
bales, or more than Is per cent In 1890,
Northern mills manufactured something
more than "a per cent of the total crop,
and in 1902 about 10 per cent
In twelve years the quantity of cotton
taken by the Northern cotton mills has
decreased from 1857 per cent to 81 Al per
cent of the total taken by American mills,
and the quantity taken by Southern mills
has increased from 1913 per cent to 1883
per cent of the total takings.