The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-06-19
IRICHMONDEIS..
DOING MUCH
Recapitulation Of Facts iii A,,-s
swer to Question, "Wllat 1s
Richmond Doing?
SHE is RIGHT UP in. FRONT. % N!
And Yet lis Hard to Convince
the Many Able Doubt
ing Thomases.

the Many Able Doubt III
ing Thot11ases.
What is Richmond dotng7 For two tS8
months past The Tines-D Dispatch tax
kept special reportorial artist busy
looking around town to find correct all.
sWers to this question. " & 4. "a 81 ssis ssSs n
a great many people in Richmond, who
have never taken the trouble to ascer-
tain what .a Is Is really gong on II their
community. have been In the habit or
croaking and growing to q certain ex-
tent, and In a general way working up
a notion that Richmond Is not keeping
up in the march OF progress. From sun-
day to Sunday, The Times Dispatch has
been presenting facts and figures In res
gard to various lines OF trade which
irefute this idea / 4 Is tho purpose @ of *
this paper to continue these articles as
long as there Is material / to work up on. ~
But every now and then Inst may he q
we'll to pause and ecapitulate, lest we III
forget. Il 81 i5s
Doubling Thornases.
It may be remarked Just here that tile
facts and figures already brought out have
been astonishing to at least hall OF tile "
population of this progressive u city. and
the fact has been demonstrated that 4one- Al
half Of the city, at least, does not know
what the other half Is doing. So great
has been the surprise Of some people at IN
the facts and figures that have been
shown In this column that they have fc-
Iltunlly questioned their reliability. and,
therefore. It may be " ell enough In this
connect ton. to say that we obtain these
facts from most reliab Bile sources, indeed. "a
they come from head dquarters. They are
taken directly from the books of the
business houses and Of the3a9railroatlgs IL
offices. and II there were any question as
| to their accuracy. they could be easily
checked up or any inaccuracy pointed
out. 5 is S4s
For instance: In one ofilthe first Of fs
these articles. It was stated that thaSs
banking facilities Of Richmond were sli-
per,or to those OF any southern city, I'll
and the amount Of clearances annually I'd
was large than hat OF any southern
city, and, wonderful tor relate. there were
\ supposed well informed II men " in, 4, II ich- d
5mond, who # though these things could
not be possible. II hey. couldn't say. \
but they Just " thought Il hey were not
possible. The sonl reply to hat Is {: Look
at the figures yourself. In another article
IT. was stated that edmond oh. .ps mora
meat !. provisions and othera king house Il
stocks than any two sou horn cities com
5bned, and that the shipments for one Y
10 tl1G,VUu.UtU&
1000 car loa ds, being 5000 900 wort h 9of "
this class of goods These figures were aI
questioned, but the books of the rail-
road companies show them to be an IVA
underestimate IL they vary at all from
the actual figures.
Live and Learn.
In later articles 1t was shown thoG the
wholesale grocery business of Richmond
was larger than that OF any southern
city, and although the causes for 1t were
made as plain as facts and figures could b
make them. this was also questioned. i
But 1t is a fact that no two cities south 2S
of the Mason and Dixon line ships as i
many tons Of groceries us this Richmond
market There was also grea. surprise &
when 1t was shown that Richmond stands
fifth In the United States In the list o4 l
wholesale shoe markets, and that 1t Jobs M
more shoes than any market south OF
Philadelphia, not excepting Baltimore. IT
may he remarked In parenthesis, that II
the figures Of this year show that UP Xxi
to June 1st she has handled more hoots593
and shoes than Phladelphia for the 4s
sane length OF time, and Indications now S3
arc that at the end of this year Rich
mond will stand fourth in tho list.
was also shown that as a dry goods MARI
ket wholesale hat market and as a VA Z
wholesale drug market 1T is second to no S
city OF It's SIZE In the country, and leads #
all southern cities, 1t has been shown Il
why these things are true. and in a NUT,
shell the situation is explained by the Sl5
fact that Richmond is the natural dis s3
tr buting point for the South and South
east, enjoying transportation facilities &Eg
that no competing southern market can a
enjoy and having banking facilities Sill
perior to any southern city, 8.s
These articles are Just beginning now 4
to deal in manufacturing statistics. and h
before we get through with them 5We
think we will be able to show from facts VI
that cannot he controverted, that as Y g}S
manufacturing center, Richmond Is the ii
gate city of the South. as We'll as In X
Il mercantile sense, for here the manlfaci cif8R
turer enjoys all OF the superior railway &
and banking facilities that the merchant
can enjoy, and Ii the merchant can
distribute goods throughont me sontn
from Richmond to better advantage than M
from any other point In the South, IT. @
stands ia reason that the manufacturer n
can do equally rs we'll.
These conditions are necessarily attrac- s
tive to the smaller manufacturers and TO
small Industries, Richmond Is getting x
to be headquarters for such industr es, /, Il ii
the Importance Of which cannot be oyer- "a
estimated Tho whole universe Is made
lin of units and some of the richest
cities In the world are those that are l
made so by what are called the smaller iB
industries,
dustries has found space on the man
than Richmond, Here they enjoy all OF
the transportation facilities, all OF the
bank pg facilities, and all the advantages
of water power, electric power and laborssfs
undsturbed by strike troubles that large
establishments could enjoy. and here, too. Va
they have a larger field TO operate In
than they could hope to find at any II
other southern center. The men With Y
the capital the genius and the industry *
to engage in these smaller industries are
finding this out. and they are looking TO @
Richmond Within the present year sew i
eral hava been established and lines II,
OF business are being engaged In In this
good old town that The majority Of its rs