Hattiesburg daily progress. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 18??-1909, 1903-01-27
F. B. MerriIl'S Views on
Southern Development
THE GULF STATES PROGRESS
Will Astonish the World Within the
Present Decade.
HAS NEW RAILROAD, NJ, J. & K. {.
Now Has Five Hundred Miles Com
pleted and Operating.

New Orleans States.
One Of the men who during the
past few years has become the most
widely known Of any in the south as
a developer of all sorts of resources,
the builder Of railroads and the foun-
der of trust companies, is Col. +. b.
Merrill of Mobile, Ala, who Is III the
city today on business, registered at
the St. Charles hotel.
A native Of New Hampshire, a
giant in physical as well as mental
stature, he was introduced into the
gulf section Of the south within the
past six years something like $40, O,OOO,-
600 English and New York capital.
Mr.. Merrill makes most big men
look small when standing up beside
them. President Stuyevsant Fish is
large man, fully six feet tall, yet
when Mr.. Merrill stood by him this
morning in the lobby of the st.
Charles hotel, Mr.. Fish in size was as
a school boy compared with full
grown adult.
Col. Merrill is president Of more
fourishing corporations than any
other man who has been in the south
only the same length Of. time he has,
and here a lifetime. He is president
of the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas
City railroad, which line is built and
in operation from Mobile to Hattels-
burg. This same road has under
construction 100 miles south Of
Beaumont, Miss. Beginning i'll April
it will construct a line from Decatur
to Pontotoc, at which point connec-
tions will be made with the Gulf and
Chicago railroad, which extends to
Middleton, Tenn, making n COM
plete line 500 miles long.
In Mobile this company is spend
ing several hundred thousand dollars
on harbor improvements, which will
give every convenience i'll the way OF
terminals. the best that can be found
anywhere outside of New Orleans.
The road boasts of as fine shops as
any in the United States, where it
builds its own equipment and is now
turning out from five to seven new
freight cars every day
So much for the railroad building
Aplonel Merrill is now doing.
Besides the work and it is only a
Small part of that which he Is doing,
: he is engaged i'll numerous other en-
terprises. He is the president of the
Central Trust Company of Mobile,
with a capital stock of $3.50, 900 and a
surplus of $62, 900, and although 1t has
only been in operation for two weeks
has deposits of 5000, 900.
He is the president of the Rose
Lumber Company of Merrill, Miss,
which has a capital stock of $3.50, 600.
This concern is manufacturing lumber
and turpcntine in large quantities and
is situated on the railroad which is
under his fatherly care.
He is also president of the Alabama
Secureties Company which has capi
tai stock of $3.50, 900. This is con-
Germ organized for the purpose OF
handling industrial enterprises in
the south and has perhaps been more
successful in that line than any other
similar company ever organized for
that purpose.
II have seen great deal of the
world,'' said Colonel Merrill at the
ST. Charles hotel this morning, land
while I formerly thought that the
hest place for investments was IN
Central America, l am now convinced
that the gulf states of this union pre-
sent more and better opportunities
for making money than any other sec
fion Of the whole world of similar or
even of twice the area.
..There is scarcely a line of in
dustrv that is developing to anything
lilo the extent of which 1T is capable
of development. The gulf states are
ooino TO have more railroads than any
other part of the country OF the same
oroa The gulf ports are going to
handle the greater bulk of the COM
marce of the entire United States.
The gulf states are going to become
the manufacturing center OF the uni
verse and it will not be many years
after the isthmian canal is completed
nntil the gulf states will be the COM
mercial center.
s.There is no doubt of the fact that
.hasa states are especially blessed
n;tb all sorts of natural resources and
tbese will be turned to the greatest
account hy manufacturers from every
share before many more years pass
Nv The building of the isthmlan
asnal is now assured and 1t Will be
,saapn at an early date. While every
lotion of this country is prosperous
the prosperity of the south WIZ De
greater than that of any other section