The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-31
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
INCREASE IN WEALTH OF THIS
 SECTION.
Census of 1900 Will Show That the South Possessed $14, 100000 900 Worth of Property
 That Year.

Baltimore, July 30.-(Special.)-In this weeks issue the Manufacturers Record presents figures of assessed valuation of property for each of the Southern States in 1860, 1880, 1S90 1900 and 1902 as the basis for an estimate that the complete figures of the census of 1900 will show the South possessed in that year of more than $14, 100000. worth of property of all kinds, only about $2, ,0O0, GOO 600 less than that possessed by the whole country in 1860. These preliminary figures obtained from official sources enable one to trace the growth of material wealth in the South during the past twenty years. The Manufacturers' Record says:
 These figures show an increase be- tween 1860 and 1880 in assessed valuation averaging about $26,O0O,0OO a year, the actual increase, of course, having been largely made with the Tightening of the reconstruction burden. Between 1880 and 1890 the assessed valuation increased from 8 051, ,175 0os to s4.65s, ,514S3 or $ sos 339 1885, an average of $160, 900, 900 year. In the next ten years the increase was to S5.- 457, ,55S. .OS1, or but $79S, ,OSs, ,1ss, an average of less than $S0,0O0.000 a year. But dur ing the newt two years between 1900 and 1902 there was an advance to S, ,916, ,960, ,712, or $459, ,407, ,6S1, more than half the advance between S910 and 1900 The total advance between 1880 and 1902 was g, ,S65, ,7S5, ,614, or nearly 94 per cent.
 Material betterment of the South thus indicated is more clearly shown in com pairing the true valuation of property in the South with that of property in tine rest of the country. The increase in true valuation between 1860 and 1880 was from $, ,2S6,214.10S to $7,5O5. .O0O or $121S 7S5, ,S92, equal to only 19 per cent in the South while in the rest of the country it was from $9,S73. .4Ol, ,960 to $36, 6,137 GOO 900 or $26- 263,59S, ,040, equal to 266 per cent. During the next ten years, with the wonderful industrial agricultural and railroad ex- pansion in the South, the rates of in- | crease in the South and in the rest of the country became about the same. Be- | tween 1880 and 1890 the true valuation in- creased from $7,050, 100000 to $11, 1,15O.- 6S2.3O4, or $3,645532,SO. equal to AS per cent. in the South. and in the rest of the country the increase was from $36 = 1S7, 600 to $53, SS6, 55S,S93, equal to N7,- 749, ,55S, ,S93, or 49 per cent.
 If there was the same rate of increase between 1890 and 1900 as between 1880 and 1890 the true valuation of property in the South for 1900 would be $16, ,7s7, ,s1O If the | actual increase was the same the true valuation would be $14. .796. .O64 sos. If the same proportion of assessed valuation to ! true valuation obtained in 1900 as in 1890 the true valuation for 1900 would be $l3- l 3ll, ,1O4,964. The total in 1900 of farm val ues, $3,95l .6S1. .6S2, of capital in manufac- turing. $1,153, ,S6S, of railroads, g, ,734,- SSSOOOO was H.SS9522.OOO. That sum is S6 per cent. greater than the sum of the values of those three leading classes of property in 1890. If that percentage ob- tained for the increase in the value of all the property of the South during the ten years the true valuation for 1900 would be $15. .164. .723, ,9S3
 | An interesting sidelight coincident, partly explanation. upon the importance of cotton in Southern economy appears in consideration of the range of cotton prices at New York in connection with the changes in assessed valuations of property in the South. Between 1880 and 1890 when the price of cotton averaged more than ten cents a pound falling be- low that price in one year only, the | assessed valuation of property in the South increased more than $1, sos OO0, ,0O0 or | on an average of more than $160, 900 900 a year. In 1891 there was a sudden decline in the price of cotton and it continued to fall until the average price was only six | cents in lS9S-1S99 Between 1890 and 1900 | the assessed valuation increased some- thing more than $79S,O 900 or less than an average of $S0OOO,OOO a year. In 1900 | there was a fair advance in the price of cotton which has since been increased and between 1900 and 1902 assessed valua- tion in the South has increased about $46O 100000, or an average of $230 000, 900 a year"
 Another contributor to Southern wealth is iron. Comparing the production of pig iron in the South for the first half of 1902 and 1903 an increase of 100000 tons is l shown. more than one-fourth of the total | increase in the United States