The sun., 1903-02-22
Mobiles Commerce Large
and Bound to- Grow.
PANAMA CANAL Will AID Her.
Remarkable Rise Of the City in
g. - a Few Ye,rs.


the Ctt, which Are Fast Bcins Ctiiizet
--Foreign Trade Statistics--A Centre
fer Tropical Fruit Exports Z
Great Cotton Export PoInt-The city,
Buildings Deing Trsnsf Attrac.
tions Of Mobile rs Place Of Residence.
MOBILE. Ala, Feb 20-The amount OF
steam which Mobile has got up in what
Artemas Wa would call .her venerable
bilers- and the swiftly accelerating pace at
which that steam il driving the old city on
the Gulf ahead ara revelations to those who
come here for the first time filled with
preconceived notions as TO what the place
10 like.
The entire South, for that matter is n
destroyer OF preconceived notions. 1t is
even more than that. 1t is ruthless
destroyer Of the concet Of worthy people
who do not mean 10 be concei'cd but
were hero ten or a dozen years ago, Jaw
the South then and think they know what
II 10 now.
Those who are here now and may
come back ten or q dozen years hence be-
Loving they know things will have their
illusions shattered in the same way II
will be even more bewildering. In con-
trast Of the South to-day with the South
Of ten years hence, there is the contrast OF
the South OF to-day with the South OF a
decade ago. Tho rush of change Is Of the
headlong variety
And nowhere will the change be more
remarkable than right here in Mobile
Mobile was fully wakened up not more
than six or seven years ago. The strides
the city has made since the era OF pros
perity set in in lse8-97, are as striking in
their way as anything that the South can
show.
Mobiles trance in bygone years was par
ticularly profound Stretched out p.ace-
fully along the north waters OF the bay
she had slept on and on, apparently with
all the industrial din in the iron and
coal mountains a few miles to the north
and over in hustling Georgia coming to
her as a soothing murmur in her slurnber
The preconceived notions about Mobile
we're not wholly without warrant. Her
'bilers" were venerable Her history. like
that OF st. Augustine, Florida. goes back
into the romantic haze Of French and
Spanish days. English, French, Spanish.
American. and not forgetting Confederate.
flags have flown over her
Perhaps there was something in the soft
music of the city's very name which helped
on the fancy. but somehow Mobile more
than any other Southern city has always
been suggestive Of all that was lang,iid and
larEiorous in the Soutl,-of magnolias and
wide-spreadng live oaks and trailing fes-
toons OF Spanish moss And then there
was that chap in Mrs. Evans's book. the
sombre person who sneered a good deal:
could give Mrs Gunmidge points on chronic
low spirits who had dark musings. carried
a hip pocket edition Of Dantes Inferno
and showed other symptoms Of disordered
liver--he. too. this Mr., 81, Elmo. was as
ISOLATED with Mobile. for he was born here
az were so many other characters Of the
gifted writer's repertory Of fiction.
ST. Elmo had great vogue at one time
and contributed his own share toward
throwing a romantic atmosphere about
Mobile in the minds Of the girls boarding
school population Of the day.
THE AWAKENED CITY
However much that glamour of the
past may have faded. its impression still
fingers in general way. You are not pre-
pared to find Mobile with a move on her
that makes YOU think OF q sling CITY in
the mess pork belt Of the vociferous West;
to find her throwing out railroads. tapping
great reservoirs OF wealth; to find her a
great coal and iron trade centre; TO hear
Of her cotton mills and lumber mills and
manufactures of all kinds and more coming;
TO have the fact brought irresstibly home
to you that here j. to be- a great bust ling
seaport and industrial centre and one that
llns already developed unmi-t akablc symp-
toms OF being right on the verge of the
sky-scraper era Of development
Yet that H. the cold fact Mobile is to be
a big city All the conditions ara here
save one, the deepening of the channel to
the lower bay. and that is an event Of the
near future.
BY the time the Panama Canal il built
Mobile will already be one of the most
important seaports of the American coast
and all ready and equipped 10 handle the
enormous trade that surely will come to
her when once that grea, foodgate OF
commerce bet ween the Atlantic and Pa
cific is thrown open and the Gul! OF Mexico
II transformed into another vast Mediter-
ranean swarmng with shipping from all
hooks and corners OF the world
This is no dream Of the people here
Tho dreaming days Of Mobile are over
She is wide awake and alort and filed at
last with that same amazing electricity OF
70 and progress with which the entire
atmosphere OF the South is charged. Right
at this present moment the city is growing
IN population, growing in wealth. stretching
far out beyond the corporate limit. and
transforming acres Of what five years ago
was vacant land into beautiful streets lined
with fine residences. and above all trans
forming the old central portions Of the
town in all that Is best and most substant ial
IN modern building and municipal improve
mont.
II would be well for one thoroughly i'm
basd with old, preconceived notions OF the
acuth 10 begin a tour Of inspection at Mo
hlo. His theories would come tumblinR
about his ears his shock of disllusionment
would be a rude one. and yet it would he A
good introduction to the surprises still in
siVre for him.
GROWING kSPoRTs AND IMPORTS.
IL has been said that the recent growth
Of Mobile dates back only six or seven
years. and that approximately is the fact,
although 1t ia only fair TO say that lust
,srior so thu finn r<;al tro,,l,lo. - ,ooo H.