The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-28

the last two or three decades, and on almost every hand there are to be found splendid cities and towns filled with progressive people running a race with the progress of the Twentieth Century, and distancing in fact all competitors in the struggle for industrial and com mercial supremacy It is natural. per- haps, that these new people should de- sire new things. but the better senti- ment of the best people cling to what Is best in the history of Alabama and are proud that they have something
 to show in this historic shrine at least of their just claim to honor and respect ability.
 The morning after the newspaper convention adjourned at Montgomery . small group of newspaper men visited
 tho Capitol and, standing where Jeff
 fersony Davis stood nearly half a cen-
 tury ago, and looking out across the hills and valleys, their eyes were raw
 ished by the beauty of the scene; hills
 upon hills, crowned with beautiful res
 idences and we'll paved streets filled
 with busy population, and In the far
 ther distance great, wide pastures cov-
 cred with herds of cattle, and near at
 hand mills and factories and workshops
 filling the air with the rattle of their
 machinery and the smoke of their fur naces. Just under the dome of the Capitol two lovely women were taking
 down from their glass cases on the wall
 the tattered uniforms of Confederate
 soldiers, and brushing the dust from
 the battlefiags that had been followed by the men in grey in the n supreme
 struggle of the Southern people for their independence. It was a tender off, flee that these faithful women were
 performing, and in pathetic contrast
 with the stir and tumult of the life f1ll-
 ing the town and the valleys below. It was the Old South and the New South,
 the South of memory and the South of material achievement; a happy touch
 between the South that was and the South that is: the South that was great in the character of its people and the South which has builded larger barns in
 which to harvest It's increasing pros perity; the South that was and the South that Is, moving on together to the achievement of a noole dcstiry.
 The city of Montgomery is built upon a succession of hills with an average elevation above the sea level of 200 feet. In 1870 1t had popula- tion of 10000. Ten years later this population had increased ta l6,00o, and now, according to an estimate recently prepared by the Commercial Club of that city, it has a population of about 50,000. It is one of the healthiest cities III Lno OHtOHs slo pSkiNSb Sy otSAi CA drainage having been established in comparatively recent years. and the administration of its sanitary affairs having been so thorough as to render the town immune from any "pestilence that walketh in darkness" The city has an admirable water supply of D. 900, 900 gallons a day. obtained from seventeen artesian wells. sunk to depths varying from 250 to $50 feet.
 The water is perfectly pure. and it is good for all purposes, being regarded by high scientific authority as q better water than that enjoyed by any other city in the country. The climate of the
 town is all that could be desired. the
 winters being mild. and the heat of the summer tempered by breezes from the Gulf. The streets of the town are paved with granite and vitrified brick, and the country roads are as nearly perfect as 1t is possible to make them, every public road in Montgomery county being well graded and maca- damtzed. The advantage of such roads is manifested in the very large wagon trade to Montgomery, fully 50.000 bales of the cotton receipts of this market coming into town by wagon. great deal of attention has been devoted In recent years to stock raising in the country around and about Montgomery, and large herds are fattened In this section every year for shipment to the markets of the North and West. The truck growing business in Montgom- ery's hinterland has been developed at l a phenomenal rate in recent years, and | the proximity of the place to the coal
 and iron fields of Alabama enables 1t
 to engage largely in almost all forms | of manufacture. The rate of State and
 county taxation is only $1.15 on the hundred dollars, calculated at from | fn fnnrfha Of fhq r.
 ket value of the property. The city | tax rate Is 1 1-S per cent. Labor Is cheap and abundant. The transporta- | tion facilities are exceptionally good, the railroads radiating from Montgom- cry like the spoke of wheel, and all
 most every important seaport on the Gulf and Atlantic coast is reached by direct lines. In addition to these rail-
 road facilities the Alabama river is navigable all the year round from Montgomery to Mobile, and with this advantage of an all water route Mont gomery is, in effect if not in fact, a seaport town.
 'ln a general way" says the Com
 mercial and Industrial Association, it
 may be said for Montgomery that 1t is one of the cleanest, healthiest and prettiest cities in all the South. It
 is particularly attractive to the home seeker; to one who desires as a place
 of residence, and all the year round cli- mate devoid of dangerous extremes; where educational institutions and churches of every denominations abound, where law and order prevail; where broad avenues are lined with beautiful shade trees and handsome homes; where near by markets furnish every delicacy of the coast and tropi- cal section; where the theatre provides
 everything desirable in the way of mus sical and dramatic entertainments:
 where golf, tennis. riding, driving and
 out of door pleasures of all kinds can be enjoyed every day in the year;
 where the best of hunting and fishing can be had the season through-and | where an old and cultured community. | typifying accurately the refinement and hospitality indicative of Southern life, will extend to all new corners the
 welcoming hand of cordiallty and friendship"