The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-26
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
MANY NEW FINANCIAL INsTI.
 TUTIoNs FORMED.
Reflection of the Prosperity of This Section, Which Has Been Given Impetus by High Price
 of Cotton.

Baltimore. March 25.--(spscial. )-During the past month The Manufacturers Record has announced the formation of eighty-seven financial institutions. either and Southwest. Of this number thirty one are national banks. the remaining nfty-six have State incorporation. ID Texas alone sixteen were organized four teen of them being national banks. In Georgia there were ten and in Tennessee seven, none national. and in Missouri there were eight and Kentucky six. organized, half the number in each State being national. Most of these new banks are institutions of small capital, designed to meet the demand for bank ing facilities resulting from the rapid [ development of the country.
 They reflect the prosperity of the South, which has been given such an for cotton, and the confidence of local capital in the future. This, confidence, by no means confined to local capital, is especially manifest in West Virginia. where it takes the form of investment, not only in banking. but in mining and industrial undertakings. Commenting upon this situation, Thomas P. Grasty writes in this weeks Manufacturers Record as follows:
 ''Far-seeing investors seem to consider this State as good place in which to salt down idle money They feel 1t will be safe, will not mysteriously get away. and will bring fair returns There are various reasons for this feeling of con- fidence. There is coal almost every where. There are oil and natural gas. When the utilization of these resources shall have created a number of new ifl- dustrial centres there will be many small fortunes made by thrifty farmers and cattle-breeders and orchard growers who will produce the food supply for the workers fin the mines and the factories There Is more Kentucky blue grass in West Virginia than in Kentucky. When the timber is cut this king of pasture grasses spring up spontaneously
 That West Virginia enterprises are SC favorahly regarded by capitalists and that West Virginia coal and timber lands are in such demand is not, however solely due either to material conditions or to the. States singularly fortunate location with reference to the great centres of industry It Is due, largely. to the fact that public sentiment Is friendly to capital. The railroad is looked upon as the peoples ally, and the factory Is regarded as a blessing.
 Thousands of new people have come into the State during the past ten years and are cordially welcomed just as out side capital is welcomed. The banking capital of some of the towns and cities Is. perhaps, larger in proportion to popu- lation than anywhere in the United States outside certain noted wealth centres in New England.
 Ine coal Lra0e or the State has made the greatest progress ever witnessed in the industrial history of this or any other country. Its output is now nearly two thirds as much bltuminous coal as the entire United States produced in 1880, there having been mined last year 25,- O00.00o tons. The collieries of the Fair mont district with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a very active ally, have dur ing the past year proven an object lesson as to the value of strong central organization. The same may be said of the operations in the Pocahontas field where intelligent organization with the cooperation of the Norfolk and Western Railway has accomplished very gratifying results. Of course the consumption of coal will continue to increase as the country develops, but increasing compe- tition will go hand in hand with increas- Ing demand. There are various new fields soon to be opened up, such as those In the regions for which the Coal and Coke Railroad will provide an outlet, both on the Kanawha at Charleston, its South ern terminus, and over the Gould lines to Pittsburg and Baltimore. The Pike County, Kentucky field with its superb Elkhorn coking coal will soon be reached by the Big Sandy extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio"
 Pisos Cure for Consumption prevents grin and pneumonia. At druggists. 25c per bottle