The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-22
HE BELIEVES IN THE SOUTH Head of Western Union in Montgomery. TALKS OF ITS PROGRESS J.c. Barclay of New York Friend
 of This Section. AssIstant General Manager of Telegraph Company With Party of oficials
 is On Tour of In- spection.


 J. c. Barclay of New York, Assistant General Manager of the Western Union ably in an easy chair of his luxuriously furnished private car Morse" as he talked with an Advertiser man, who had been introdueed ny managHr maetg z; office There could be no mistake as to the sincerity of the man. MT. Bar clay is enthusiastic over the future or this southern country. Ine hiSm & on, spent yesterday in Montgomery. and the nasty weather ne was shown about the city. and left for good impression of Alabama's Capital
 Mir Barclay was accompanied by c. H. Bristol of New York, General Su- of Construction; J. Levin of Atlanta, General Superintendent of the Southern Division; c. W. Lloyd of Atlanta, Superintendent. of the Second Division; and W. 4. Nieii of Atlanta, .Ss Southern Division, all officials of the company. The party reached Montgomery yesterday morning from a saHa M EPog sPeRS ies eft Hay st ngs q O the metropolis of Florida. MT. Lloyd will spent today in Montgomery and will leave this evening for Atlanta.
 Visited Points of Interest.
 While nere the western Onloh oHt- cials were shown attention by Man ager c. A. Fonville and Chief Operator R. T. Bishop of the local office. They visited the State Capitol and other points of interest, but Mir, Barclay spent the greater part of the day in his car, which was placed just outside the car shed of the union railway station.
 It is fine thing to be at the head of one of the greatest corporations of the world; as popularly viewed, 1t is the zenith of success to ride around the country in a palatial car with ser wants at your call and it is admirable to have riches and position: But great CT than all of these is the ability to grasp the details of a gigantic corpor- ation; to cordially sympathi5e with 100, ,000 workingmen under one's control and at the same time to have gained at leisure moments vast fund of infor- nation on all subjects, information that equips 8 man to go out in the world and hold his own with every character and condition of man. Of such is this young executive officer of the Western Union Telegraph Company.
 Not yet past the meridian of life, Mr: Barclay is a self-made man, man of the widest information and in the clos est touch with the 25,000 offices of his began his business career with the Western Union Telegraph Company thirty-eight years ago In Chicago. Now he is practically the chief officer of the
 
 to Col. R. c. Clowry,. President and General Manager, who is q very old man. He has merry brown eye ana rotund. jolly face that glows when he becomes enthusiastic on his subject. And he was enthusiastic as he talked of the South and it's possibilities.
 Friend of the South.
 Tn New York he said. they call me say that I am a loyal admirer of the whole South. I realized several years ago that the South was to be developed and I rather like the idea of 1t being developed by Southern men. You Southerners have a way about you that I like Why, Southern men have made their way in New York ahead of all others It is a common saying up there that in tact, in policy. and in honest our people if sections are to be taken into account.
 Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, Fort Worth. Dallas, Houston, Galveston. New Orleans, Birmingham and Mont gomery on this trip. It has been three years since l was in the South .and although I expected to see much pro- gress, 1t was altogether beyond my ex-
 MT. Barclay spoke in detail of the progress shown by the various cities enumerated. dwelling at some length on the great sea wall at Galveston, and tAG dSbOAAoAAAS IVY SAS SN'-~-~ ~~''
 I may say" he continued. "that Montgomery has kept pace with these other cities. was surprised to find so many new buildings here and so many evidences of prosperity on every hand. But Montgomery is fin the heart of the cotton belt and your people have, within the year. shown that they are capable of controlling the market Tor the great product.
 JAS I have been deeply interested In the development of the South, have watched reports of our business from this section which in in itself fairly good indication of what is being done. may tell you that our Southern busi- ness has increased 100 per cent In a years time. It has grown so rapidly Tn enlarging our facilities in the South: Right now we are arranging to build three trunk lines of copper wires 10 bet- ter handle our Southern business.
 Million Miles of Wire.
 This brought out some questions as to the number of wires controlled by the Western Union. MT. Barclay said his company is now operating 100000 miles of wires in this country, exclu- sive of its cable lines and wires oper- ated by It's auxiliary companies.
 Mir. aBrclay could not get away from great prosperity which he believes is to come to the South. He spoke of the Panama canal. and of the immense trdue or CuDat the COltoH iiiAA AnuuSNhy and the better prices that must be paid
 'eThe bushes with Cuba alone" said Mir Barclay, "is sufficient to give the South a commercial impetus, but the Panama canal is going to make the South the dominating Influence In com mercial affairs. l doubt If the south ern people realize the immense advan- tage coming to them from the new cor ditions in Cuba. We feel 1t In our bu- siness The Western Union operates cable lines to Havana direct from New York and the business has grown to such an extent that the force of men employed fin Havana has been increased
 'The people of New York, the men of affairs, men who have money to in- vest, are watching the South. It of- fers more than the West ever offered. They believe that the South Is going 10 be the greatest section of this country"
 sympahy For Telegrnphers.
 Then Mir Barclay talked Of oppor- tunities in the telegraph business. of his employees and of their chances to succeed.
 "Our company" he said, offers more to young bows than any other corpora ton. We take them as messengers and give them the opportunity to learn the business Telcgraphing is not by any means a moan profession Some Of the wealthiest men in this country are telegraph operators You remember that Andrew Carnegie is an operator. Thomas Edison is another. and nearly every railroad president in thls country ia a teleerapher | sat at banquet tabIe in New York several months ago with some 200 telegraph operators.