The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-01-02
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1901
General Prosperity.

Nj. J. ,. Morgan, who rarely speaks
no the public, has rscenlr broken his
X silence, and expressed hopeful view
# O. the business situation. He denies that
a the wealth Of the United States is now In
tic hands OF q few men. The TACT
Is" says he. ''that the wealth OF the
\ country Is less punched than at any
4 fine In its history. mean that wealth
X AZ more equally distributed over sections
Of the country and among the people
& 4han aver before. The West now mas
money and few mortgages compared Win
former years; the South has never been
,n such a healthy financial condition..
Mr.. Morgan is right. During our period
" ar prosperity, the rich have grown richer,
\ but those in moderate circumstances nave
E grown richer also, and in the recent DIS
,urbances in Wall Street. 1t was the
i4i rich who suffered. We have an enorin-
5 o,Is wealth and 1t is more generally dis
drimted than ever before IN our history.
Tho has sis of our wealth Is agriculture,
and farmers throughout the length ana
breadth of the land are In better cohdl-
5 ticn than they have been since the war.
Ther, are more small capitalists to-day
9 than ever, and the people generally are
.gin good financial condition. This is de-
mons.ratcd sc far as Virginia Is concern
ed in the reports which we printed In yes
ttriay's paper from all sections OF the
state. There was hut one expression IN
Z tff letters Of our scorrespondents-an& en-
,,-e,ss;on OF general prosperity in county
tcNn and city.
7--trhe same thing is true of the South
q, large. as was abundantly shown In
TIE spiandii and wonderful exhibit made
,n tie circular OF Messrs, John l.. VII
6 inns 6. Son. which was also reproduced
& IN our Issue of yesterday. In this exhibit
IL was shown that the production OF pig
IRON IT the South increased from l,1clem
+ tons in 1880 to $4,000 tors in 1908, this
being within 200 0CO tons of the production
OF the entire. country in 1880, and nine
times as great as the South's production
S in that year.
In 1850 tile production of hituminous
coal in the United States was 42Go,cW
tons and the production in the South o.
O'0,oGO tons: in 1903 the South produced
GO .oQp tons. or nearly SO per cent. more
Than the total production i'll the United
States in 1880. But more wonderful than
this is the cotton exhibit In 1850 the
South had i,tStsted.in cotton mills ST.
100000 (6G7,oOo 'spindles); in 1880. sGQ,0oo,-
O)0 u,7Oo,0cO spindlcs); in 1900, $ll2, 0oo,-
uU, and at the present time, $4,000 COO
IS TO soc. 600 (about 100000 spindles).
The relative growth of this industry
In the South, as compared with New
\ England is shown in tho fact that in 1897
the consumption Of cotton in Northern
mills was 100000 bales, and in Southern
\ mills, Cs6,ooO bales while for the crol
HI year Of 1903 the consumption In Northern
mills was !, 967 900 bales, and in Southern
q MILLS, 1850 900 bales. Thus, while the con.
h sumption of cotton was practically sta
& tionary in the country outside of Tho
ii South It has more than trebled in thu
4 last ten years in the South.
l3 K. The circular also shows an enormous in
n crease In the cotton seed oil industry
4 The lumber industry and IN thc bank
q Ing interests. and more wonderful thar
Il all, 1t is stated that tho agricultural pro
& ducts OF the South In 1903 aggregated
billion and a half dollars against les
than half that sum IN 1880. and the !pro
duets of our factories and mills asgre
gated one and three-quarter billion dol
lars. against less than half a billion !
1850.
These flures are more eloquent tina
words. and are Il sure promise of tn
souths continuous growth and prosper
ity.
ll.l..El