The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-29

SlQG 0k kNCW OTItdHS-du average or about 50,000 daily, while The Memphis Commercial-Appeal comes second and sells more than 50.000 of It's Sunday ]. edition. But I fear the brethren will not agree upon these or any other figures The Birmingham Age-Herald and Post. The Atlanta Constitution, The Montgomery Advertiser, The Mo- bile Register, the Charlotte Observer, The Charleston News and Courier. The Savannah News. The Memphis News-Scimitar and other papers that might mention are all well edited, prosperous and much more influential than papers of similar circulation in the North. People take printed matter more seriously down here than they do in the Northern States. Perhaps that Is because the newspapers as a rule are more accurate. careful and conserva- tive.
 Manufacturing industries are begin ming to find their way to Montgomery, and about $2.500.000 has already been invested in such enterprises-nearly all of 1t local capital. There are two cot ton mills, three cotton-seed oil mills, one cordage factory, eleven wood work ing plants, four foundries, one fertfY- izer factory and various other smaller establishments growing in importance and prosperity. There should be more cotton mills in this section, however. The people seem to be blind to their own interests. They are organizing associations and sending agents around the country to induce the farmers to plant less cotton when, to a disinterest- ed observer, 1t would seem much wiser and more sensible to keep on planting cotton, and to build factories to work up the raw material and employ the women and girls about the State who can find nothing to do. Nearly every yard of cotton cloth used in this sec tion is brought from the North. Con- sumers pay the freight both ways and three or four profits to the manufac- turer, the middlemen and the mer- chants; notwithstanding the fact that manufacturing can be done cheaper here than anywhere else in the coun- try. There is plenty of unemployed la | bor. cheap fuel and all kinds of ma- teria1.
 Nor do these remarks apply to cot ton alone. If the people of Alabama
 were wise and prudent students of po- litical economy they would manufac- ture their iron and their furniture also. Nearly half the cargoes sent out of this State in the form of raw mate- rial-cdtton, iron, lumber particularly, ought to be worked up on the ground. There is large variety of hard woods hickory. oak. ash. gum and cypress, as well as yellow pine. which are not
 only good for cabinet making and house finishing. but for wagons, car- riages. tool handles and other pur- poses for which such woods are used elsewhere.
 For several years far-sighted, prac- tical men have been talking of a | scheme to furnish the city of Mont gomery with enough electric energy to light its streets and houses. run its | street car lines and furnish power for all the manufactories that are likely to be established here for the next generation. This power can be ob-
 tained from the Tailapoosa river. thir- ty miles away, which now furnishes about 5000 horse power. but can fur nish as much more as may be needed at a nominal cost. And only tho cart- tai and enterprise are needed.
 Alabama stands among the list of the older States. Few people realize that 1t Is only partially settled. Out
 of a total of 32,000.000 acres less than
 100000 are unsusceptible of cultiva- tion. but less than 9.000.000 are now
 productive. This leaves nearly three- fourths of the entire area practically
 untouched and 21.000.000 acres--in- cluding some of the richest soil in the worlds going to waste. The State | government is doing nothing to bring | in immigrants and develop it's re-
 sources. Everything is left to the rail- | roads, which have done a great deal
 to increase the population. introduce factories, develop the mineral and tim- Der resources and establish hard-work- ing. honest citizens upon the vacant soil. The lauk of enterprise on the part of the Legislature and the State government Is painfully apparent. There is no immigration bureau, not even an agent to give information to would-be home-seekers and those who are searching for lands. A small sum
 of money spent annually in advertising
 would bring profitable returns to the State, and if an authorized agent were
 placed at Ellis Island to give reliable information to ,immfgrants 1t would be easy to. attract thousands of settfersi in this direction. FelsS.ss A. s% ~
 There used to be prejudice against
 foreigners in Alabama and other parts
 of the South. As a consequence, there are less than 15.000 people of foreign birth in Alabama today. But that pre- judice, with many others, has expired, and the thrifty. industrious. orderly families of Italians. Hungarians, Ger mans and Swedes. which the railway companies have brought in have dem onstrated that many valuable citizens can be obtained from that source.
 William E. Curtis.