The sun., 1903-02-22

in Mobile, a. Is also the development OF
various kinds Of finished product. iron ano
steel manufacture. With cheap coal IN
inexhaustible supplies brought down mere
by water and the iron right al ngside the
coal there is no reason on earth why there
! should not be a business here In that and
hard wood manufactu ure alone to support a
population half as large az Mobile already
has, and that is something like $1,000,
| MOBILES QUICK SPREAD.
| Speaking Of Mobiles growth in popula-
tom which by the time the next census
is taken il going to transform the place
into a city Of $1,000 or 10000 inhabitants
the fact Is brought home to the stranger
most impressive!y by a walk and for the
two miles which Government street extends.
taking the court house as the starting
point, and there noting the great tracts OF
land which within five or six years have been
covered with the best type OF modern resi-
dences. The growth Of the city IL mainly
westward from the river and with This
beautiful thoroughfare OF Government
street rs the backbone.
The city limits were pessed long ago
and thus Mobile comes into that large
group OF Southern cities which have so
| far otitRrown the baby clothes OF their cor
porate limits that the old lines OF demarca-
| ton are lost somewhere in the heart OF the
| CITY itself and the census fgures-con-
fined, Of course. to the corporate limits
| absurdly out Of touch with the actual TACT
OF population.
1t is not only in noting the recent rapid
spread of the actual physical growth OF
| the town, as illustrated along the route OF
| Government street that the stranger can
see with his own eyes the remarkable prog
| rcss the place is making. He can see 1t
! right in the heart Of the city in the building
| that Is going on and in the character OF the
| structures that are going up
1t is a striking illustration of the trans
| formation that is going on all through the
| South that Mobile presents. Here are
| modern stone-front steel-frame buildings
verging on the skyscraper order; great
| department stores and a stately Masonic
| Temple; these crowding and elbowing
| aside the little old-fashioned business
| houses with their balconies extending out
over the sidewalks They are going the
way Of all things Of the past in the South.
these old landmarks Of ante-bellum South
ern business architecture. IL is on with
the old and on with the new in Dixie with
a veng aance.
Here in Mobile the old narrow streets
will remain and their old names will re-
main. names suggestive Of the city's Span
ish-French history: Royal street st. Francis
street, Dauphin street. Conception street,
Cont street and what not-these all VIII
remain, il IL please Heaven to spare the city
the affection Of board OF revision Of street
nomenclature But all those architectural
hints OF oden times which still! remain
here and there are doomed The build
inRs will be skyscrapers and the streets will
be cahons: that's the destiny ahead. as
plainly written as il Is that Mobile is TO be
big city Of the South
HrALTHPrIL GROWTH.
Over n million dollars was spent in build
ing in Mobile last year and thai represents
but a small part Of the improvements that
were made and put under way. Among the
most important Of these were in the matter
81 sewers and pavemcnts
Among the things no, romantic inherited
perhaps from Spanish days. were Span III
ideas in drainage. at least an Americanized
application OF Spanish methods In this i'm
portant matter. The Spanish idea OF
drainage and municipal sanitation. a.
applied at least in the cities OF the Western
hemisphere, IL not to have anv drainage,
and that the street is the proper dumping
ground for filth and decaying animal and
vegetable matter of all kinds.
Now Mobile In even her most neclectful
days. in these respects never approached
prac, ices of that kind. But Mobile did not
have sewera, did not have paved streets
and did have surface drainage through
deep chasms along the sidewalks that often
were clogged and did not drain But all this
was unhea,;hf a. certain as il was that it
was unsightful. II was the one blemish
on an otherwise remarkably beautiful
city.
But all that is gone or going. The sum
of S75O.COO has been spent in sewers and the
streets soon will be paved with trim asphalt
with the catch basins a, the corners a. they
should no ard Mobile will present tidness
ot appearance when all this is done that she
never had before in all her hi-;ory-Span-
ish, French, English or American.
!, was the one thing wanted To make
Nulil,. one OF thc peasant.st places Of resi-
tence IN all the South. And here il may
be mentioned AZ illustrative of Mobiles
financial soiidity that when these 3,5),OCO
bonds for the sewer improvements were
foa,cd they were quickly snapped up a,
lOa and twice the amount would have b-en
| welcomed 10y investors.
There has not been business failure
here TO exceed 5000 in twenty five years.
II is one Of the steady growing towns,
Mobile, given 10 solid conservative ways
of doing business and with no encourage
ment for boomers or the spreaders Of the
fever of speculation.
|. IL like Montgomery in this respect
| and like Macon and Augusta and savannah
several other Southern cities that are right
up al the front OF the procession Of legici-
mate progress. but have no ambition TO
enter the lists with the spurt sprintcrr
The growth of the city now is steady, strong
and sure, and although the indications are
that the next Ave years will sce a rapid
increase in the pace Of growth. 1t IL certain
To continue growth that is healthful and
that supplies bone and muscle as IL goes
| along
There is steady increase to Mobiles
population from people who come here
merely TO look about them. become in