The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-22
OPPORTUNITIES MANY
EVERY CHANGE FOR THE IN-
 DUSTRIoUS MAN. @
The South as Yet is Practically Un- developed and Fortunes Await Those Who Seek Them
 With Intelligence,

M V. Richards in Southern Field for Jan
 uary. '
 The world is plentifully supplied with pessimists who prefer to see in the in dustrial evolution of the time a steady ana progressive contraction in the field or opportunity open to young men, The young man himself is prone to lamenta- tlons because he is unable to see before him such opportunities as were open years ago to his father and his grand father for making careers and building fortunes. The circumstance that the father and grandfather in question pretty generally failed to take advantage of the opportunities which were open to them and that the value of such opportunities then-as they have been ever since were left to the discerning few for de- monstration. ought to have a certain edu- cational value to the young man who is just starting in life He should give him. self little self-examinatlon.
 There is no dearth of opportunities in this country for young men. They are more plentiful and more easily avaiIed of than at any time in the history of this country. The place for their develop ment has simply shifted to new fields. While 1t Is no longer possible to trade a pair of boots for the site of the city of Chicago, nor buy up square miles of min eral and timber lands in the North for a song, a few generations hence stories of fabulous wealth, based upon modest in- vestments in the great undeveloped South, will sound as apocryphal as many of those relating to the amazing develop ment of other sections in years past, which are nevertheless true.
 A technical journal a few years ago published a statement relating to a val uable undeveloped mineral section in a Southern State, portraying very glowing ly, and at the same time very truth fully. wonderful resource with all the essential accessories convenient and avail able for manufacturing a great staple product cheaper than 1t could be made in any other part of the world. The article was reproduced in other jour nals and excited a passive interest in the minds of perhaps a million readers. A leading fnancier. much given to epigram, once remarked: Some men may be coax ed into a good thing: the others have to be driven" It was several years later. and not until after the great find had been trumpeted around the world sev- eral times that a man susceptible of be- ing coaxed into becoming the pioneer of tremendously good thing. came for ward and developed 1t. Of course thou sands followed, and a great industrial center was ushered into existence.
 Several years ago a geologist stepped off train at a way station down in Ala bama and clipped off a piece of the out cropping rock in a railroad cut. After he had examined it and announced to the world the discovery of q geological for nation constituently identical with that at Dover, which had for hundreds of years been yielding the worlds supply of Portland cement. did investors fall over each other in the race to develop it? No; 1t literally went begging for years; for, while it had been made the subject of one or more learned essays. which had been duly embalmed in official publica- tions by the State. who wanted to invest in lot of wild land that wouldn't yield decent support for a Harlem goat? More over, what assurance was there that the real commercial value of the discovery had not been obscured by the enthusiasm of the discoverer? In the course of time the Southern Railway came into exist ence and with it was inaugurated the policy of rational promotion. The cement rock of Alabama took it's turn with other dormant interests requiring attention; English capitalists were interested in the long neglected discovery; and finally. there was erected. near the spot where the geologist clipped off the rock years before, a Portland cement plant costing million dollars. What are the potential ities of this great resource of the State of Alabama? The other day. in the Sem ate Chamber at Washington, it's geo graphical situation and commercial out look were discussed with reference to the construction of the Isthmian canal, and Senator Allison, of Iowa. declared that in this respect 1t is of the utmost im- portance to all the people of the United States.
 A sportsman was going through a strip of woodland down in North Carolina,