The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-11
PROSPERITY REVIEWED
STEADY PROGRESS OF THE IRON
 AND STEEL INTERESTS.
Tread of Capital in ThIs Direction for Investmenf in Enlargement of CRpacity---New Ore
 TNrrftoraes.

Baltimore. Feb. 10.-(SpeciaI. )--Re-
 viewing the great prosperity prevail ing throughout the iron and steel inc
 terests of the country, The Manufac.
 turers' Record points out how this Is
 reflected in every part of the South in the development of coal and iron prop
 critics and in the trend of capital south
 ward for investment in the enlarge
 ment of pig iron producing capacity,
 as well as in the building of enter
 prises to turn the iron into the fn-
 ished product and in the opening of new coal territory. Extensions of rail-
 roads through Greenbrier County, West
 Virginia, are reported to have opened
 up very great ore territory which will
 be developed on a large scale by a company recently organized to build in
 that section a 200-ton furnace, while
 the same company proposes to build. a
 100-ton furnace at or near Lynchburg
 for utilizing the high-grade ores of Pittsburg County, Virginia. New York
 and Western capitalists have also pur-
 chased large iron property in Vir-
 ginia idle for some years, on which
 it is proposed to make large expendi-
 lures looking to putting 1t into active
 operation again. In other parts of Vir-
 ginia' and West Virginia, as we'll as In
 Tennessee a number of iron and coal
 enterprises are reported, while Ala
 bama continues to attract great atten-
 tion. The recent purchase of the con-
 trolling interest in the Alabama Con-
 solidated Coal and Iron Company by the
 International Power Company of New
 York and Boissevain Company. bank
 CTS Of New York and Amsterdam, will
 still further tend to develop activity in
 the iron and steel interests of that
 State. The International Power Com
 pany controls number of large en-
 gine-building works and other manu- featuring enterprises of New England, including the George H. Harris Corliss Engine Works of Providence, the Green -Wheelock ngine Works of Wor- cester, the Amoskeag Fire Engine Works of, Manchester, N. H., the i'm mense ordnanee plant at Bridgeport, and at the same time holds the largest block of stock in the American Locomo- tive Company, which was organized by the International Power Company Whatever may be the final outcome of the purchase of the Alabama Consoli- dated, in which. however, there will be no change of management, it is quite certain that sooner or later a number of the big machinery enter prises of New England will be moved to the South in order to get nearer to the source of raw material. This Is but another illustration of the south ward trend of industrial development New England, buying it's pig iron in the South. and turning 1t into engines and other finished products, ships it back to the South with double freight added. Now that the question of basic steel making on a large and profitable scale has become an established fact, that State will become the radiating point for great industrial interests which will make Alabama as import ant to all the business interests of the whole South as the vast iron and steel interests of Pennsylvania have been to the Middle and New England States. Tn this connection 1t is interesting to quote a prediction made some years ago editor of Philadelphia, who after an of the iron interests of Alabama, wrote as follows:
 Tt is idle for Pennsylvania and other great iron and coal producing States to close their eyes to the fact that we have reached the beginning of a great revolution in these products. No leg lslation, no public policy, no sentiment, can halt such a revolution when the im- laws of trade command 1t, and the sudden tread of the horde from the ANOi IT AOADcto upOh ancient EtOInG did not more certainly threaten the majesty of the mistress of the world than does the tread of the iron and coal diggers of Alabama threaten the majesty of the iron and coal fields of the North. . These lessons come upon us as plain as the monday sun, and 1t Is midsummer madness not to read them understandingly. We can not war with destiny; we can not efface the benehcent gifts of Him who leads the waters to the seas and sends them back in the dews and rains of Heaven. Alabama has been gifted far beyond even our boasted empire of Pennsyl- vania, and the time is at hand when a large portion of the great iron and ,oal products of the country which en- ter upon competing centres will be SUD- piled cheaper from Alabama than from any State in the North
 What Is true of Alabama in iron. and steel Is equally as true of other parts of the South in other resources as com pared with the North, and every profit able enterprise started in any Southern State aids to the progress of the whole South.