The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-07
For Asthma use CfiE- NEVIS ExPECTORANT.
tu-thu-sat
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
REMARKABLE ADVANCE IN MATE
 RIAL, WEALTH SHOWN. e..
CoWparlsan of Assessed valuation oi ProRerty in Recent Years--In- crease in Diversified Agricul- ture--Hevfew by Manu-
 lmcfurexes Record.

Baltimore, Md. Jan. 6 6.-tSpeciaL)- The Manufacturers Record presents this week the approximate figures of the assessed valuation of the property in all the Southern States at the be- ginning of 1905, publishing a table showing by States total assessed val- uation of s4.510,925,237 in 1890. of s5,- zS6,594,o44 in 1900 and of $6,196, ,697,S1 In 1904. Commenting upon these fig- ures The Manufacturers' Record says:
 These figures, subject in part to re- vision--and, 1t is believed in the case of two or three States, several million dollars below what will be shown by the final returns on assessed values Indicate the remarkable advance in material wealth in the South between 1900 and 1904. During that period. as shown by these figures, there was @. gain of more than $s30, ,000, ,00O, or at an average rate of s230.0o0,000 a year. The magnitude of this increase is strlkingly illustrated when compared with the progress in the decade be- tween 1890 and 1900. when the total in- crease in assessed valuation was $755,- 100000. or at the rate of SIS, ,000, 900 a year. It was during that decade that the price of cotton fell to It's lowest point since the war, but during the last four years there was steady ad- vance to the exaggerated speculative value of the early part of last year. It may not be possible to connect with exactness the increase in the price of cotton and the enhancement in the assessed values of property in the South. but that higher prices do have material bearing upon the prosper tty of the South, and thus upon the enhanced value of property, goes with out question.
 Tn studying this question, however. It should be borne in mind that during the last few years the increase in di- yersified agriculture in the South has been almost as marked as the increase In the value of cotton, and added to this is the really wonderful industrial nevelapment. The remarkable change from the low price of cotton of six or seven years ago is hardly more strik- Ing than is the Increase In the produe- lion of grain, fruits. vegetables and other farm products. The total in- crease in the assessed value of prop erty in the South in the twenty year period from 1880 to 1900 was $2,31e,- 100000; CT, in other words, in the last Tour years the gain in the taxable value in the South has been 40 per cent as great as the total gain of the preceding twenty years.
 As in other portions of the country, It is difficult to state with exactness what part of the real value of prop erty in the South is represented in the assessed valuation. But the figures which have been given indicating the total assessed valuation furnish a fair basis of comparison to show the re- markable progress of the South. It is believed that with population several million less than the total population of the whole country in 1880, the real nf hn fz dollars greater than the total wealth of the country forty-five years ago."
 Bearing on the increase in the as- sessed value of property, The Manu- sacturers' Record gives in detail sta- .istics showing the great development of diversified farming in the South. which in connection with industrial development has been a potent factor In the enrichment of that section, and says;
 By reason of the short crop and high prices of cotton in 1903 and the large crop and lower prices in 1904 the worlds attention has been so closely centered upon cotton that the remarkable development in. diversi- fled agriculture throughout the South. now one of the most marked features of Southern farming operations, has been to a considerable extent over looked. In 1903 the South produced such an exceptionally large grain crop that 1t was hardly to be expected that there would be further increase in 1904, although there is practically no limit to the South's capabilities in the development of diversified farming.
 In 1903 the production of corn show ed an increase of 13s,00o,00O bushels over 1902. In 1904 there was a further gain, resulting in an increase of nearly 22.000,000 bushels over 1903. The aggregate production of corn in the South for the last two years was 1900, ,000. .0o0 bushels, against 300, 900, 600 bushels for the two preceding years. an increase in two years of nearly 40O,- 100000 bushels. The total value of the corn crop of the last two years was $72O. .000, 900, against $566 ,000, ,0O0 for the two preceding years, or a difference in favor of the last two years of $154, ,00O.- poo, which was added to the wealth of the South by the increase in corn alone. There was no material diff ference in the wheat production, but the higher prices of wheat in 1904 made a difference of nearly $15,000, 900 to the South as compared with the wheat crop of 1903 and a difference of $s1,00O,000 as compared with the wheat crop of 1909. The total value of corn, wheat, oats, Irish potatoes, rye and hay produced in the South last year was $542.o0o.0o0, a gain of $36.0OO, 900 compared with 1908 and of Sl4O,000,- 900 compared with 1902. Outside of these crops and of cotton, the value of other farm products. including rice, sugar tobacco, sweet potatoes, vege- fahiae and 0f 1iuasfocIy ,,rodUo&u