The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-14

1 the seat Of government rom iueca- | loosa.
 But when the session of the Legis- | lature, Montgomery's first session, be- | gan on December 6, the members made l the slow and arduous journey to the
 State Capitol by stage coacn, by pri- vate carriages if they happened to live in some of the nearby counties or by | horseback or by the steambeats that
 piled the Alabama river.
 They who built the Capitol and
 they who guided the destinies of the l State when sixteen wagons came over
 land from Tuscaloosa with the archives
 and records of the State. could not I possibly see the industrial develop | ment of the State, but in establishing
 the Capitol at Montgomery they build
 ed better than they knew. For Mont l gomery Is practically the connecting link between the agricultural and the l mineral district of Alabama The min
 eral riches of Alabama in those days l formed another unrevealed fortune | bama, but the Capitol was 80 placed | that when the treasures were found | Montgomery was almost within reach ;, of the riches and shared in the pros
 perity that followed their development,
 only less than the cities which grew up in the midst of and from the
 wealth which accompanied that devel-
 opment.
 On the other hand she was already
 by nature and by environment the l capital of agricultural Alabama. She | was the agricultural Alabama's chief
 city, for Mobile was distinctly a sea- | port. She was and remains the chief | point of distribution for agricultural
 Alabama and the products of Ala bama's fields flow through and stim-
 ulate her commerce no less than does l the trade which ebbs back from the
 outer world as a sequence of that pro- | ductivity.
 Connecting Link.
 The connecting link between agri- cultural and industrial Alabama. the | city of Montgomery is sensitive to any
 thing that affects the welfare of eith-
 CT section Nor Is she so identified | with the interest of any one section
 to the exclusion of the other. In Mont | gomerys favor as a Capital City, 1t
 has been said with some pride, that | she has not the newness nor crudeness
 of some of the cities, grown up in the | past twenty-five years with an atmos- | Dhere incongruouE with the traditions | of the State and the customs of the | people. The life, the atmosphere of
 Montgomery is more characteristic of | Alabama taken in the whole than that
 of any other city in Alabama.
 And withal her percent of growth
 between the years of 1890 and 1900
 was larger than that of any other city
 and Birmingham is in mind when this
 statement Is made. The table was pre-
 pared by the census department and its
 truth cannot be doubted. The recent
 five years figures given out by the
 Census Department carries. too, the | satisfying information that Montgom-
 ery's percent of growth continues
 larger than that of any other city of
 the State. The figures. officially an l nounced, show that the zap between
 Birmingham and Montgomery as to the
 question of population is smaller than
 it was when the 1900 census movement
 was created.
 But the growth of the. city as pro-
 nounced as 1t Is was not so pronounced
 as to alienate the city from those
 characteristics which gave her indi- l viduality in the past. Montgomery's
 social life and the adjective is used in | its broader sense, early took form. It
 is matter of history that the Terri
 tory of Alabama. when it was thrown
 open for settlement was settled faster
 than any territory in the history of
 the United States. To this day, even with the settlement of Oklahoma in mind. the record of Alabama in this | respect has never been excelled. For | Alabama, too, 1t is claimed that no
 territory had higher class of immi- | grants for its first settlers than did 1 the State of Alabama. The new com
 CTS. those who opened the country and | paved the way for the later and bet
 ter civilization, were in the main Vir- | ginians, Georgians and Carolinians | The institution of slavery with all the | wrongs and demerits that may be l charged to 1t was a great developer. | The agricultural life, which depended | upon slavery, was constantly calling | for wider fields. The new territory of l Alabama offered the field and the op- | portunity for that systems develop I | tunity offered the adventurous spirit l who goes to new lands whether he does 1 or does not own slaves. Alabama was l fortunate in the attractions she was
 able to offer the man of means and | culture-the man who had family tra-
 ditions to bring to his new home and
 the wealth to shape his family life
 upon the model of the older State he | had left
 The Early Montgomery. The Montgomerian, if he be we'll | informed, can recall the older families of the city and of Middle Alabama. If he be well informed he must be i'm pressed with the fact that but few If any State had such high class immi- grants. He must know that they were people of education, of refine ment and of wealth. Montgomery was peculiarly fortunate in securing in her early days many such families.
 The social and intellectual life of the city out of this conditions assumed a high and individual character. It
 was known in the early days, as 1t is known now, as a city of refinement and culture. Even then the social and intellectual standard of the city was high. The charm of its social life had its fame-a fame that was not pent up in the confines of the State.
 Into such surroundings the State | Capitol fitted well. A city typical of the South and typical of the State is Montgomery. a city whose citizenship was alive to intellectual and social | pleasures. a city whose commercial life, | as successful as 1t has been, has not
 been so strenuous as to banish the softer and better things of life and i the art of living.
 But little is 10 be said here of the | stir and excitement that attended the
 raising of the curtain on the great l drama of war. Much has been said | and written of this-more than of any
 other chapter in the life of Montgom- | cry and of Alabama. Alabamas Cap 1 itaL as the Cradle of the Confederacy,
 is indissolubly associated with the be- | ginning of the great war. The Cap