The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-25
BY c. GRosvENoR DAVE.

 ing of the Alabama Press Association In Bessemer was the address of c Grosvenor Dave. Secretary of the Ala, bama Commercial and Industrial As soclation. It attracted much attention and was the subject of much discus. sion among the editors.
 Mir. Dave said:
 Ladies and Gentlemen:
 Tt is great honor to stand before the one group of people that has to do with the rapid dissemination of Ideas In Alabama. It rests with fewer than 200 n-sn and women In this State as to what the 2,2S0. 900 shall know of events or of policies. It rests with you as to whether ideas shall slowly move from person to person or whether those ideas shall Hash over the whole State at once. ask you, therefore, to con sider not this messenger but this mes sage. and to decide whether 1t shall be laid before the eyes. of the entire State immediately.
 The subject chosen for this address is vitally important to every person in the State. A rapid accession of popu- lation would Increase land values, in- crease money in circulation and inter- pret itself in cash benefits to every en- terprise in the State. from the Capitol downward. Let me first show that an ideal of 100000 In our State is not unreasonable.
 Alabama contains 52s5O square miles.
 New York, on an area 5000 square miles less than Alabama. maintains s.
 Pennsylvania on an area 1000 square miles less than Alabama maintains G. 900.000
 Ohio on an area 1I.oOO square miles lAaa AfahAFna Inf lUa
 Massach usetts on an area 44,O00 square miles less than Alabama, main tains 3.l75.4s7.
 Let us look abroad for moment.
 England and Wales, on an area 5000 square miles greater than Alabama, maintain 32.527.s43.
 Holland. on an area 10000 square miles less than Alabama, maintains D. 591.701.
 Figures could be produced showing still denser populations than these but some of them are in uncivilized- coun- tries and you would very rightly ar- que that q duplication Of conditions in those crowded countries was the very last thing that Alabama should at- tempt. The countries and States men, tioned. however. maintain large pop ulations in good average of success and contentment and do so because Of
 
 which their own resources are devel- oped or because of the advantage ta- ken of resources elsewhere less com pletely utilized.
 Let me show you why an ideal of 100000 Is not unreasonable. Accord ing to the census of 1900. Alabama ear- ried . population of 1.S2s.6s7. The present estimates places It at 2.250. .000 i. The Governors estimates for Alabama, EJsa .s&m nfsaara ta El~n ok... a New York show that in seven years Alabama gained 421,3o5. Pennsylvania gained 697,ss5, New York gained i,~ 207.5a3, Ohio gained 399.455, and Mas sachusstts gained 36S.i41. The per eentage of gain was greatest in Ala bana. go per cent here, as entrusted with 9 per cent In Pennsylvania, Is per cent In New York. per cent in Ohio and Ia per cent In Massachusetts. Alabama ia coming to its own by no false methods or else the panic would have ruined us instead of merely halt ing us.
 Let me next show that the gathering and maintaining of such . population is utterly reasonable and has better basis for realization than any other similar sized area in the known world England. without Wales, is about the size of Alabama She Is a wonderful SV4AbEEs HdtG AA0a dtaQ 4 WON0GE4UA Atb- tory. England. however. is within cal culable distance of the exhaustion of her resources underground and long since failed to raise her own food. Her greatness Is not maintained because of peculiar riches of her own area, but because she Is a world power, with coll onies around the entire circle of the sun, bringing to her riches from an area three and a half times as great UG .gn la t.nva Nfa has not commenced to exhust herself; nor does she yet use her soil to a frac- ton of the advantages 1t gives.
 New York State, with a population of over S.00O.00O, has nothing like the resources that belong to Alabama. Her greatness comes from the fact that she gave . practically level road to the West, via the Hudson River. and the plains between Albany and the Lakes, of the produce of the West before even railroads changed conditions of the world. The leadership then gained has remained with her. New York's greatness depends not upon self, but upon the contributions made to its great city by the whole United States in some form or another. Alabama has resources that will make 1t the greatest creditor State in all the Union,
 
 for greater State.
 Let us contrast Alabama with ohio; Ohio has more than the hoped-fcr {. 100000. The basis Of it's growth was agriculture. Its manufacturing devel- opment has been in great degree due to the supplying of the needs created by It's agricultural development. Ala bama fully developed as an agricul- ral State without the development of It's mineral resources at all. can equal Ohio; for Alabama has a longer grow Ing season and vastly greater range of products,
 sylvania: There exists between the two States a decided parallel based upon iron and coal. Pennsylvania, with nearly 7,o00.0o0 people. a large proportion of them gathered in Phlla- aelphia because 1t is a port and an- other large proportion gathered in Pitsburg, because of it's manufactur- Ing resources. faces at this very mo- nent a decline in manufacturing lines. The iron and steel industry, dealing IS 1t does with enormous tonnage, must necessarily try to get near it's raw material hence the creation of Gary. ind, so that the Lake Superior ore shall come near to the soft coal of In. iiana and Illinois. Bearing In mind hat the iron ore in Pennsylvania Is practically exhausted, you will see that jary is working away at Pennsylva- lia's supremacy in steel and iron, and why? Because the greatest hope of ron and steel in the Northern States ies far away from Pennsylvania. When that hope is exhausted. in a gem 'ration, as Ecke1s of the Geological survey declares. there will remain fin