The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-11

| laid, the building being on the site of
| the splendid new City Hall whose cor
ner stone is 10 be laid with appropriate
ceremonies to-day. The old Exchange.
the demolition of which has been
so sincerely regretted, was con-
temporary with much of the most
thrilling of the country's his
tory. It served its good Of
fees through wars and pestilence, and
! peace and prosperity. 1t witnessed
scenes of gaiety. of riot and of sor-
row. 1t sheltered Presidents and adj
mirals and hosts of other notables, who
were the city's guests. Its halls have
scintilated of beauty and chivalry and
been made vibrant with the merry
peals of laughter of those among the
states fairest daughters and most chiv-
alrous sons; and they have also
echoed the impassioned eloquence of
! patriots WILLING to lay their lives upon
| the altar of their country for the
| preservation of its best traditions.
| The very atmosphere of the old Ex-
| change was redolent of historic scenes
| and dearly loved memories. Will the
new City Hall look down on so much
! history making, and witness relatively
so much growth and expansion and
broadening of municipal, national and
social life during the period that will
| intervene before a successor comes
along to take its place?
When the old City Exchange was
| IL % 80
vannah was a struggling little COM
munity of probably less than 5000
souls. The first official census of he
city, taken in 1909, showed that at
that time there were within the cor
porate limits a total of 5,342 persons
of all colors OF that number l 1855
were white males. That was five years
less than a century ago. Now the
population is between $4,000 and so 900
with the PROBABILITIES that it will reach
the 100 900 mark before the end of the
first decade of the new century. The
first city budget, that of 1790-just a
little in advance of the building of the
Exchange-provided for the raising of
revenue of $3.50, and the assessed
value of the property in the city
was about $571,000 How small these
figures seem in comparison with the
figures of the present day, when the
tax returns approximate $400O00OO and
the receipts and expenditures ST.
10000 a year!
At the beginning of the last cen
CT viz
sidewalks worthy of the name, no
street lights, no waterworks. The city
derived it's water supply from wells,
chiefly sunk in the public squares.
Garbage and other waste was carted
to the commons. There was no po-
lice system. Public conveyances were
practically unknown. Flogging at the
post was the common punishment for
petty crime. Contagious diseases, such
as smallpox, were of common occur
renee. How all of that has been
changed! From the dome of the new
City Hall the observer will be able
to look down upon a thriving, busting,
prosperous modern city. supplied with
whatever goes to make for municipal
convenience and comfort. as well as
upon a river and harbor that, former
ly shallow and torturous, are now bear
ing upon their bosoms daily tens of
thousands of tons of steam and sail
tonnage destined for various quarters
of the globe. And while growing in
commercial Importance. size, popula-
ton, health and wealth. Savannah has
grown in beauty. In his wisdom its
founder provided for broad streets
and frequent squares. These made the
basis for bodybuilding that has been
improved upon in latter years, until
it can be said without fear of sue
cessful contradiction that there is no
more fair-favored city in the country
than this.
The great growth OF Savannah. as
is very we'll known, has been during
the past thirty years. beginning ac-
lively with the revival of the South
from the evil consequences of the Con-
federate war. But for the purposes
of this article 1t may be credited as
a whole to the century Of the old
City Exchange. Should our next CEN
fury of municipal life deal as kindly
with us. in proportion, as the last,
those who succeed the living genera
| tions will have a truly magnificent Sa-
vannah upon which to exploit their
confidence and lavish their affections.