The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-31
MAYOR REVIEWS
THE DYING YEAR
BEST IN cITrs HISTORY
GIVES BROAD SURVEY TO BE IN
CORPoRATED IN MESSAGE.

sEvery Reason to be Thankful for
the Past and Hopeful for the
Future" He says-RrOgress Has
Been Made in Every Line of Bust
ness and the Outlook is for StiIi
Further DeveIOpment-MayO My
ers very Optimistic.
AS usual, Mayor Myers will begin
his report for 1904 with a brief review
of the business conditions in Savannah
during the year under consideration,
not going into details, but taking a
broad survey of the general status of
affairs.
He will take very optimistic view
of the past and the future, saying in
part:
Looking backward, Savannah has
every reason to be thankful; looking
forward, Savannah has every reason
to be hopeful. The last year has
equaled our most sanguine expecta-
tons; the coming year promises to eN-
coed them.
mo city Of its size presents palmer
evidence of healthful growth, of strong.
sturdy development in all the channels
that unite in making a robust, pro
gressive community, energetic. am
bilious and with a sound foundation on
which to build for the future.
1.-The man who pins his destiny with
that Of this city attaches himself to
city whose progress is assured beyond
checking. in whose prosperity every
man Of energy determination and
honesty can share, city where high
principle has never yet been found in
compatible with the greatest business
success, where beauty and utility go
hand in hand and the future is con-
sidered as well as the present.
Progress In Every Line.
THE year through which we have
Just passed is q continuous record OF
growth of a most satisfactory charac-
ter. Not a single line of business but
appears to have been blessed with
twelve months of remunerative trade.
Our merchants of all classes have been
diligent, alert to seize new opportuni-
ties for expansion, and the close of 1904
found them no only holding the ter
ritory with which they began the year,
but with additional tributaries estab
lished that will further accelerate our
growth.
"Our transportation lines. to which
Savannah owes so much, have been
prosperous and have been most potent
factors in strengthening our position as
a center of commercial activity. Our
business interests, while ever watch
full for the protection of Savannah
from discriminative rates of freight
which would tend to minimize the
great natural advantages we possess,
have been free from those destructive
prejudices and antagonisms which
seem to seek the injury of these cor
porations
Best Port in south.
There has been, l am free to say,
no tendency here, commercially or
officially, to harass corporations that
are playing such an important part in
the development of the city and state,
corporations whose interests are so in
termingled with Savannah's that our
prosperity is largely mutual and inter-
dependent.
The lines already having extensive
interests here have further improv-
ed their facilities at this port, main
tanning Savannah's supremacy as the
port of greatest accommodations south
of Baltimore on the Atlantic coast
Greater quantities of freight have been
handled here during the last year than
in any previous year. the territory
from which it was drawn was broader
than ever before, and we have every
3 reason to look for a further extension
of the circle of our commercial influence
during 1905.
1--WE Are n United People,"
The inner zone from which we
naturally draw the bulk of our bust
ness is fast advancing in population
and wealth. the area OF cultivated
land rapidly increases, villages and
towns are filling up with people whose
circumstances have considerably inn
proved in the last few years, and Sa-
vannah, with the most cordial relations
existing between it and them all, re-
ceives its full share of the prosperity
that is the basis of their gratifying
growth.
We enter on the new year united
people, devoted to our city and all OF
its interests, eager to promote and pro-
tect them. With such a spirit no bar
Iiers can arise that cannot be over
come, no obstacles present themselves
that cannot be surmounted. A feeling
OF supreme confidence in the continued
prosperity of Savannah is undoubted.
ly justified by all existing conditions
as well as by past experience"