Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-21
CITY OF MONTGOMERY
Steady Growth of a Rich and
Conservative Place.
POST BELLUM CHANGES
PRACTICAL TRANSPORTATION IN
THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS.
On the Border of the Black Belt-Nat-
ural Trade Center-What the Rail
ways Have Done for the State.
By VIM. E. CURTIS.

By VIM E. CURTIS
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record-Herald.
MONTGOMERY, Ala, March 1S. 1905.
Montgomery is growing in population,
accommodating wealth, increasing it's COM
merce, establishing new lines of trade
and enlarging old ones, manufacturing in
dustries are being established, and the
future is full of promise. The growth is
not rapid, but healthy. 1t is a conserva-
tive town. There has been no boom and
very little land speculation. but a steady
Improvement upon solid foundations.
The population of Montgomery by the
census of 1900 was 30,346, and it is prob
ably $4,000, and, perhaps, $4,000 now.
The city is certainly growing at a rate
of more than a thousand year.
Montgomery has been one of the So
cial and political centers in the south
for half a 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 ac-
tivity than you can see in any other town in
the state except Birmingham. On the
outskirts of the city, where were recent
ly fine groves of pine, handsome villas
are being erected, and bungalows of the
East India style, which are suitable to
this climate.
No city, north or south, has changed
more since the war than Montgomery 1t
has been practically transformed within
the last fifteen years. Almost the only
thing that has not altered is the impos-
ing old state house, where, forty-four years
ago, Jefferson Davis stood upon the por-
tco-the exact spot is marked with
brass star-and took an oath before high
heaven that he would enforce the con-
Stitution of the confederate states of Amer
lea. William 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.
First Confederate White House.
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. 1t needs a coat of paint very
badly and is in an advanced state of
dilapidation. The Daughters of the Con-
federacy have been talking of purchasing
the property and making an historical
museum of it, like that at Richmond.
But, as Mr.. 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 demon
strated more forcibly the advantage of fol-
lowing commerce in preference to politics
and the professions. If the time that has
been already wasted in politics In Mont
gCmery had been devoted to trade the city
would be much weather. and much more
prosperous. But / am told that few young
men are adopting politics as a profession
nowadays, and that many are going into
business. Notwithstanding the ancient preju-
dice of the landed aristocracy against trade.
In the old days when cotton was king every
gentleman must be either a planter or a
politician, or practice one of the so-called
learned professions. 1t was considered dis
honorable for a man to accept money from
ne1ghbor or even stranger in exchange
for merchandise; but that prejudice is
gradually dying out. 1t still exists among
old-fashioned people, but public sentiment
does not condemn any man for making an
honest living in any way he chooses
1t is true that few representatives of the
ante-bellum plantation aristocracy are in
the retail trade. Few of the retail mer-
chants are southern men. But nowadays
you can find members of the Oldest and
proudest families in the banks the count
ing houses, the wholesale establishments.
the oinceS OF railways, mining companies,
manufactures and ether business esta blish-
ments, where they are showing great abil-
1ty in the management of affairs. There is
sufficient representation of the aristoc-
racy in business circles to demonstrate that
a change of sentiment has occurred, and
those representatives have been sufficiently
successful to prove that southern gentle
man may adapt himself to commerce. 1
nave 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 former has learned to estimate
his fellowmen for their characters and not
for their occupations. But this is a deli
cate subject and you will not often find two
men who think alike about it.
Natural Trade Center.
Because of its location, Montgomery is a
natural trade center, and its business COM
munity has taken full advantage of that
fact 1t is one of the largest cotton mar
kets 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 pretenson, and we
will let them fight it out between them.
What is known as the black belt a strip
of soil maryelously rich and about fifty
miles wide. runs from the Appalachian