The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-16
IS. A. Ashe in The Financier.)

vas region from the Alleghanies to the
Rio Grande had to be brought under
cultivation and while this great work
was in progress throughout the entire
south agriculture was the chief end of
man. Now, happily, it has been rea3-
onably accomplished, at least ore
fourth of the forests from the Ohio 10
Mexico being subdued by North Caro-
liuians and their descendants.
The process of settlement being fin
ished, the tide of immigration from
the South Atlantic states has ceased,
and manufacturing a begun in these
Older communities. The shaking up Of
the young me- during The war broke
them loose from Old cus'D.us. and
Wien the cevastatiOns of the war Pc
rlod were overcome and the still
greater evils of reconstruction founded
in partisan hatred, had been outlived,
capital began to be accumulated,
and Investments We're sought in new
enterprises, which were fostered by
the rapid extension of railroad lines,
furnishing facilities for distribution.
The conditions led invitably 20
manufacturing and North Carolinians
pushed forward with alacrity in this
new departure. 1t is to be observed
that North Carolina had a large white
population ready and we'll fitted to pe-
come mill help. The transformation
Of our agricultural laborers into skill
full operators was easy, for the white
people Of this region are of superior
mental, moral anu physical excellence.
For hundred and twenty-five years
there had been no accession from
ahead to the population of North
Carolina. Virtually every man, woman
and child was descended from those
Who first cleared the forests in colon
ial days in his immediate vicinity,
many still residing in the homes built
by their ancestors. AS soldiers of Lee
and Jackson they gave the world as
surance of their intelligence, activity
and energy; and in their homes they
are sober, industrious, s~elf-respecting
citizens, easily trained to master the
details of any employment. And so the
FIRST attempts at manufacturing proved
successful; sc r~emuerative, indeed,
that factory begat factory with maTve-
lOuS rapidity. Tobacco early engaged
attention, and Durham and Winston
became great seats of tobacco manu-
featuring. Then cotton factories be-
gan. Starting in 1875 with 81 cotton
mills, in 1903 North Carolina had 236.
She increased her spindles from $4,000
to 1900, 600, and her looms from a.
900 to $4,000. In % years she multi
piled her cotton industry 33 times.
She now possesses some of the largest
and most successful cotton mills in the
world. She spins as much cotton as
she produces
AS notable as has been this develop
ment, it is only Il type of the general
progress. Durham remains foremost
in all the world for the production Of
smoking tobaccof High Point is sur
passed in its manufacture Of furniture
only by one city in the United States.
Oil mills, fertilizer factories and other
such industries abound.
Formerly towns throughout the
state fOstered manufacturing enter
prises to give employment to unem-
plOyed people; now the problem is to
C help for the factories that arise
as if by magic in every community
within our borders. The progress Of
manufacturing has indeed been I'M
mense and highly profitable. A meas
ure of it is roughly furnished by the
growth of the banking interests.
1t was not until 1874 that Iree bank
ing was allowed under the National
bank act, and before that date there
We're in North Carolina only a half
dozen banks with but two million dol
lars of resources, and interest a run
from "a to Is per cent. During the
next decade material progress was
made; and by 1900 there were 103
banks with assets aggregat1ng $685.
GIT 900. The rushing tide of progress
was then moving with unceasing mo-
mentum. In 1905 there are 80 banks
with assets amounting to $59,8 1861, 900,
II five years the deposits, which rep
resent the earnings of the people,
chiefly i'll manufacturing have doubled.
Ten years ago enterprise was ham
mered for the want Of means; now by
leaps and bounds the movement pro-
ceedS in its great development.
In most Of the old states railroad
building has ceased. Here it continues.
In 1900 the mileage in North Carolina
was 1857 miles; nov it is 1893 while
the improvement in rOad-beds and
structure has led to an increased ya!u-
atlOn Oh 10 per cent mere Is lOQay
much activity in railroad construction
New lines are being rapidly completed
The South and Western is being built
from the Tennessee line through the
Blue Ridge in Mitchell county to Lin
colntOn. where it connects with the
Eastern system. The Pamlico, Orieu-
tai and Western, beginning at New
Bern. extends into PamlicO county
where it will connect with a coas(
line from Norfolk. The Raleigh and
PamIico gives a new line from the cen
ter of the state to deep water at Wash
ington. n. G.. The Durham and South
Carolina gives another outlet to the
manufacturing industries of Durham
while the Cape Fear and Northern in
like manner connects Durham with the
Atlantic Coast Line. A new line wi
be nne
no aOno,1o+oI f,~opor Pa1pioh RI 10 y-arfo-