The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-04-06

y = : %
year. says our contemporary, the assess
cd value of property of the thirteen
strictly Southern States was In round
numbers $3.50 ooo,ooc, and the real val'ie
s6.24o,6oo0Oo, the assessed value heins
eig,ty-twn per cent. OF the real value,
including slaves. But in 1890. according
to the Manufacturers Record tho as
sessei value was only forty-onc per cent.
or the true value, and IL this proportion
is maintained to-day the true value OF all
southern, property would he something
like fifteen and one half billion dollars.
Indeed, our Baltimore contemporary
makes the bold statement that the true
value Of the property IN the
South to-day is almost as great as the
true value Of property In the whole coun-
try in 1850 and that the per capita value
is considerably greater, being for the
whole country III 1850 s514, aid for the
South in 1904 more tiun 5000.
The figures are printed in detail else
where and need not be repeated here,
although few significant comparisons
may be made. In 1860 the bank deposits
3 Of the whole country we're s25a, so0000 in
the South alone In 1904 they amounted to
s745,ooooo0. The pig-iron production in the
whole country in 1860 was saA.474 tons; in,
the South alone In 1904, 1t was 2, 1913
tons. The cotton spindles in the whole
country in 1850 were sos, 7as; in the South
Q he, n
Of exports In the whole country In 1860
was 1898, $4,000; In the South alone IN
1850. 1t was 1858, 900.
! In twenty years from 1880 to 1900, south-
crn farm values increased sevcnty-two
per cent; capital invested in southern
manufacturing increased 34s per cent;
the value Of manufactured products In
creased go per cent; the value OF mineral
products increased 547 per cent: in 1svO
southern cotton mills consumed more
than six times the number Of bales Of
cotton consumed in 1880 the production
of pig-iron was nearly seven times as
great and the production Of coal more
than five times as great as in 1ss0; rail-
road ,mllea go moro than doubled IN twen-
ty years, and tho value of exports from
southern ports Increased more than
scventy-seven per cent. while the ASSESS
ed value OF property increased moro than
seventy-eight per cent l
We have no idea that Professor Hart
desires to do the South an injustice. His
articles are written In a spirit of fairness,
but tits perfectly clear even from the
few figures which we have cited above
that he is way off the mark. We are
glad however, that his articles have ap-
pcared, for they furnish this paper and
the Manufacturers Record and other
southern newspapers the opportunity to
advertise and emphasize the fact that
the South hos made greater progress In
many respects at least than any other.
section. and Is to-daythe most promising
and inviting of all sections of tho Union.
1g1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Expansion and the Square Deal.
In less than three weeks the forces at
work for Greater Richmond have not only.
| shown the citizens the urgent needs Of
this city, but the means for. obtaining
those objects
IT was not difficult to convince the pub
| lie that the sitting congestion Of Rich
mond's dwellings were not only danger
Gus to health, destructive Of comfort, but
absolutely Unnecessary. Not evenathc
most intractables opponent of broad
| gagged extension has been heard to OBJ
icct to an increase or our city limits,
but many, while loudly proclaiming their
belief in expansion as a principle, damn
with faint praise or opcn and merciless
criticism the practice Of that expan-
sion which will give relief where 1t is
the mostsneeded. The mort" - so-caled
| conservatism. the strength Of sloth and
the power OF custom are all arrayed
against liberal policy, and far-seeIng
scheme of city growth.
If very many wise people had always
been hcarkencd to-" in the words of Lord
John Russell tho great Liberal, I'VE
would still be eating acorns and wear
| ing skins.
| s. Richmond has sojournd long enough in
the woods; ana long enough eaten the
bitter bread OF acorns. becausehit was
! easier to do as our fathers did than 10
move out to the larger and fuller life
that always awaits the progressive and
vigorous individual city, State or nation.
or the opportunity and advantage Of
liberal expansion there Is also no reason
able or valid doubt; what opposition there
is comes from timidity pnrading as pa
triotism or narrowncss miscalling itself
conservatism. The timid say that TO OK
tend the city limits, as proposed by tho
subcommittee, Will expose the city to the
risk Of losing the Locomotive Works,
the Chesapeake and Ohio shops and the
Cedar Works. The answer is that the
danger is rather conjured up by n dis
ordered imagining than caused by q Just
{ appreciation OF existing conditions. Those