The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-11

THE COMING SECTION OF ALABAMA
 The statement published in Wednes- days Advertiser showing the increase in property values in Covington Coun- ty was no doubt surprise to many but 1t would not have been If they had kept up with Southeast Alabama. A County which has no large city in 1t. which has no mines to be devel- oped and no large manufacturing en- terprises-for such County to in- crease in property valuation over half million dollars in one year. and to nearly double it's tax values in five years. is something to be proud of. but not surprising to those who have kept an eye on the development of the wire-grass region.
 If any one not fully acquainted with all the facts should be asked what section of the State was showing most solid and satisfactory progress on the road to material prosperity he would never think of Southeast Alabama, and there is just where he would lose. It has been too much the. habit to look on that section of the State as unim- portant and unprogressive. but on va- rious occasions men from other parts of the State have gone down there and had their eyes opened. As long ago as 1878. during his second campaign. Governor Houston visited those coun- ties and on his return expressed great surprise at what was then being done and at the wonderful possibilities of the future. Like many others he had thought of that country only as a re- zion of pine barrens. turpentine gath erers and poor whites.
 Governor Houston found far better region than he expected to see. but progress had but just made a begin ming then. It is only within the last few years that the advance has been such as to challenge the attention and admiration of the rest of the State. and to enable discerning people to form some estimate of what the future may hold in store for that section and the people.
 The truth is that in several respects Southeast Alabama Is the best part of the State. It Is true that there are no rich mines there to attract capital, and 1t Is also true that there now appears to be no reason why large cities should rise and flourish there. but mines and big cities are not always essential to country's prosperity. There arc yet millions of feet of pine timber down there which ought to be util- ized. and much of which ought to be manufactured near the place of growth. but it is not the pine timber and its products that form the chief attrac. tions of that section. It is something that will remain to sustain a contented and prosperous people long after the last pine has fallen.
 It is just becoming known that a large portion of Southeast Alabama Is really an ideal farming country. Most of 1t has a soil easily cultivated and which responds liberally to good farming and fertilization, and the great advantages are that almost any thing that grows in a temperate lati- tude Is at home down there. It can never compete with some other re- gions as a wheat country nor can 1t equal the rich black lands of this and other States in cotton production, but these are almost or quite the sole ex- captions. For corn and all the small grains except wheat. for all kinds of vegetables and nearly all varieties of fruits. for hay and potatoes and other food products. and for sugar-cane, that region is so well adapted that the real wonder is that 1t has been so long ig- nored by the rest of the world.
 We are without a shadow of doubt that all the region of Alabama which the wire-grass country will soon be looked on as the most desirable sec tion of the State for the farmer and the fruit-grower. and that 1t will be- come the home of the most prosperous and contented people of Alabama. There is hardly anything that Is need- ed for man or beast that cannot be grown or made there. Add to all these a healthy and temperate climate and no one need wonder at the fast and increasing progress of that region. or be surprised that its many advan- tages are being found out and appre- ciated.