The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-26
PROGRESSIVE OMAHA
SOMETHING OF THE NEBRASKA
 METROPOLIS.
Citizens Say Injustice Was Done the Town by the Census Re- port-Meeting of the
 Editors.

Omaha, Neb.. July 23.-(Editorial Cor
 respondence.)- .)-The National Editorial As-
 sociation recently met in this. city and
 continued its session for three days. This II is a body composed of delegates from the different Press Associations of the H United States and when the full number H of representatives attend 1t is a gathering H of between 800 and 600. Uusually there are as many ladies, so that the meeting
 is notable one, sure to attract atter- H ton.
 The citizens of Omaha planned for mak- II ing 1t a notable occasion. and many en- tertainments were provided. The hot II wave, however, struck the city just at the time the Association did. and there was
 a very general willing. To many the in- H tensity of the heat was almost unbear- III able and detracted greatly from the pleas ure of the meeting. It was the first hot II wave of the season, as the week before
 the meeting the temperature was unsea- HI sonably low.
 The reception of the delegates was cor
 dial. It was a great pleasure to hear Dr. George l.. Miller, who presided at ths meeting of welcome. Omaha and all the country west of here owe much to this
 pioneer citizen. He came in the fifties, H when there was scarcely a white citizen or habitation where now stands this
 beautiful city of 150000 people. He was almost the first newspaper man here, as he esta blished in 1865. immediately after
 the close of hostilities between the North and South, The Omaha Herald, and soon
 gave it a national reputation. As it was intensely Democratic and the war feeling
 still prevailed, 1t can be readily ina gined III that he had a warm time of 1t. When II peace was declared, he demanded peace
 and a cessation of hostilities If his
 views, and those who felt like him, could have prevailed, the South would have -f struction era, and the Republican Party the disgrace of legislation which led to such terrible results in a dozen States. Dr. Miller was a friend of Horatio Sey- mour and Samuel J. Tilden and adheres still to the principles advocated by those great statesmen. It was pleasant to hear him talk of Senator Clay, Mr. Pugh, Judge Clopton and other famous Ala bamians in the long ago, who were his personal friends.
 Omaha Is he eastern terminus of ths Union Pacific Railroad and from this point began the construction of the great trans-continental system, by means
 of which the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are bound together. This gave an im- petus to Omaha, and 1t has never gone backwards. It Is the commercial point for a vast agricultural country. The
 lands in all the region tributary to this place are immensely fertile and the far
 
 matter of wealth. It Is stimated that the
 banks of Nebraska have over $100 900 on deposit and that the greater part of 1t belongs to farmers. One has but to look out of the car windows and see the beautiful farms and comfortable homes
 to come to the conclusion that 1t Is a yer
 itable paradise for the tillers of the soil. II It Is hard to realize that the greatest howlers about calamity have been citi-
 zens of the prosperous States of Kansas
 and Nebraska They have less occasion
 now to complain of hard times than most citizens of the United States.
 Il The gentlemen of Nebraska who ad- | dressed the Editorial Association brought | prominently to the front the fact that
 the per centage of illiterates in the State
 was about the lowest of the whole
 forty-five. That is something to be proud of and shows that the splendid school fund has been ably and judiciously
 handled. There are many fine school
 buildings in this city-in fact they are
 among the finest buildings here. The
 State University ranks high and it's grad
 uates receive diplomas only after having
 mastered very strenuous curriculum. II Omaha impresses one as a city which does a great amount of business over
 large territory. There are a great many 1 blocks of spacious business houses and offices, and they are to be found on a dozen different streets. Countless thousands of people pass through its magnificent rail- road stations and 1t Is difficult to go from any point in the East or Middle West | without passing through Omaha.
 l It can be called strictly a commercial city, although there are many extensive manufacturing establishments One of
 the greatest institutions in Omaha is the | Smelling Works where the rich silver
 and gold ores of the West are reduced. Many millions of dollars worth of gold
 and silver are turned out from 1t every year. Trains of gold and silver ore come here just as trains of coal and iron ore are transported in other localities. Of l course they are not handled as carelessly ! Omaha received a bad deal In the oper- ations of the census of 1900. For some reason not generally known there was a padding of the lists in 1S90 and dur
 ing the whole decade the city received credit for much larger population than
 1t was entitled to. By the reports of the | late census the population was shown
 to be less than it was made to have ten | years ago. Of course this was a severe shock to the citizens, but when the true facts were made known, there were no
 bad results. The city had not fallen
 back. On the contrary it is claimed here
 that there was a decided increase in pop
 ulation, in corporate capital in manufac-
 turing enterprises and in business gen.
 erally. It will take years, however. to re-
 move the impression of falling back, and
 1t should teach all places in the United
 States the folly of trying to fudge in the
 matter of population. Uncle Sam Is sure
 to find it out sooner or later.
 South Omaha is really a part of Omaha. The most observant eye cannot detect | where the later ends or the former be- gins. still they sport separate govern
 ments. Its population at the last census
 was 26,O0O and is composed largely of peo- pie interested in the great packing estab- lishments. Less than twenty years ago there was no South Omaha, but about
 that time some of the great packers de-
 termined to put up some of their model plants here and the business has grown
 until now it has vast proportions. There 1 are five of these plants, viz: Armour, Cudahy, Swift & Co.,. The Hammond Co.,,
 and the Omaha. Their aggregate slaugh-
 tering capacity per day is 15.OOO cattle,
 5000 hogs and 10000 sheep. Employment
 is given to 1000 men and the products
 are shipped to every quarter of the globe.
 Omaha is fully abreast of the times in
 every particular, and her progressive cit iZens nredict for If continued avnansion