The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-23
MONTGOMERY ALMOST TRANS
 FORMED IN FIFTEEN YEARS.
Builds Up Thriving Trade-AIabama Capital h Commercial Center of One of Richest Sections
 Of South.
William E. Curtiss Montgomery Special fo Cshioaara naoo=A IIaEald

William E. Curtis's Montgomery Special to Chicago Record-Herald.
 Montgomery Is growing in popuia- tion. accommodating wealth, increasing its commerce, establishing new lines or trade and enlarging old ones. manufac- turing industries are being established and the future is full of promise The growth is not rapid. but healthy. It IS a conservative town. There has been no boom and very little land specula- ton, but a steady improvement upon solid foundations. The population or Montgomery by the census of 1900 was 30,34S. and 1t is probably 35,o00. and perhaps S6.o0o now. The city is cer- tainly growing at a rate of more than thousand . year.
 Montgomery has been one of the so- cial and political centers in the South for half century, and the residence streets are lined with fine old mansions, which were built and occupied by the rich planters of the black belt before the war. Scattered among them now adays are many modern structures; smart, up~to-date homes, showing evil dences of taste and luxury. but the greatest improvement may be seen in the business section, which is built up with fine. spacious buildings The streets are well paved and are kept in order, and during business hours there is more activity than you can see in any other town in the State except Bir- mingham. On the outskirts of the city. where were recently fine groves of pines, handsome villas are being erect ed and bungalows of the East India style, which are suitable to this cli- mate,
 No city. North or South, has changed more since the war than Montgomery. It has been practically transformed within the last fifteen years. Almost the only thing that has not altered Is the imposing old Statehouse, where, forty-four years ago, Jefferson Davis stood upon the portico-the exact spot is marked with a brass star-and took an oath before high heaven that he would enforce the constitution of the Confederate States of America. Will liam Mckinley stood upon the same portico thirty-seven years later and made a speech which stirred the hearts of the South and made him millions of friends.
 The White House." a modest two- story, frame structure, in which Jeffer- son Davis lived during the first part of the war and until the headquarters of the Confederacy were removed to Rich mond, cannot answer that description any longer. It needs a coat of paint very badly and Is in an advanced state of dilapidation. The Daughters of the Confectionery have been talking of pur- chasing the property and making an historical museum of 1t, like that at Richmond. But as Mfr Davis never owned the house. and lived there only two or three months, some of them think 1t Is hardly worth while to do the ancient place honor.
 Nowhere in the South has been dem- onstrated more forcibly the advantage of following commerce in preference to politics and the professions. If the time that has been already wasted in politics in Montgomery had been de- voted to trade the city would be much wealthier and much more prosperous. But am told that few young men are adopting politics as a profession now adays, and that many are going into business, notwithstanding the ancient prejudice of the landed aristocracy against trade. In the old days when cotton was king. every gentleman must
 be either planter or a politician, or practice one of the so-called learned professions. It was considered dishon- orable for man to accept money from neighbor or even a stranger in ex- change for merchandise; but that pre- judice is gradually dying out. It still
 exists among old-fashioned people, but public sentiment does not condemn any
 man for making an honest living in any way he chooses.
 It Is true that few representatives of
 the ante-bellum plantation aristocracy are in the retail trade. Few of the re- tall merchants are Southern men. But
 nowadays you can find members of the
 oldest and proudest families in the banks, the counting houses, the whole sale establishments, the offices of rail- ways, mining companies, manufacto- ries and other business establishments where they are showing great ability
 In the management of affairs. There IS a sufficient representation of the arlstocracy in business circles to dem- onstrate that a change of sentiment
 has occurred, and those representatives
 have been sufficiently successful to
 prove that Southern gentleman may
 adapt himself to commerce.. I have
 been told that the clubs in Southern
 cities have been largely responsible for
 this change of sentiment. They have wiped out the lines that once divided
 the planter from the tradesman and other classes, and by contact the form CT has learned to estimate his fellow
 men for their characters and not for | their occupations. But this Is a deli SdlS SuOJSSl you VIII not OIIen l find two men who think alike about 1t. Because of its location, Montgomery Is d natural trade center, and its bus mess community has taken full advan- tage of that fact It is one of the largest cotton markets in the South, | and claims to be the most, important distributing point south of Louisville | and Memphis. excepting New Orleans. | Mobile and Birmingham will doubtless dispute that pretension, and we will | let them fight 1t out between them. | What Is known as the black belt, Q | strip of soil marvelously rich and about | fifty miles wide, runs from the Appa- | lachian Mountains in Georgia to the
 Mississippi river and produces great
 crops of cotton, corn, vegetables and,
 indeed. everything in the botanical
 Kingdom. Montgomery lies upon its
 borders and receives from 150,000 to | 175.000 bales of cotton from 1t every year. Most of the plantations for | radius of 100 miles are supplied with stores from Montgomery markets. and | most of the money received for that | cotton is expended here, although too | many planters of the black. belt are
 nonresidents and spend the proceeds from their crops in New York and | Paris.
 Large numbers of Northern
 farmers and foreign immigrants
 are coming into this section
 to grow garden truck, because
 1t is so profitable. The demand is cer- k.sy thA 1or md c