The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-03-13

| have said something OF the increase
in three Of the products Of the earth
without mention until now of the
very material fourth-tobacco. The in
recase in the tobacco area in ten years
has been a thing extraordinary. It's
| cultivation has extended from the Ia
| bic lands far into east and an eastern
| town, in section in which ii was not
known until recent years that tobacco
| would grow, isnow the third II not the
| second tobacco market of the state
The town in question increased its
sales OF tobacco ,0O0 ,0G0 pounds from
March i, 1907. to March /, 1905.
| / Pause .Cr a moment 70 impress
the fact that We are Of a state the
sell Of which yields luxuriantiy two
| or the great staples Of the world and
that We are perhaps the only state
| with towns and cities where cotton
wagons and tobacco wagons stand side
by side in the streets.
| I am not to give you a schedule Of
the products 'of which our soil is
capable; If l did / would furnish a
catalogue which no state OF the union
| can equal
! While we exploit these kindly fruits
| CT the earth, we are not to forget
| the treasures which lie hidden in its
| bosonl-the gold and silver, the lead
| and zinc, the copper, mica, corundum.
| precious stones, the marble, coal and
/ ircn. The two latter cannot be class
4 cd among recent evidences of our de-
1elopment, but the speaker is Of
il these who believe that one day the
| state will reap rich rewards from de-
| posit Of coal and iron we'll known to ex-
| ist and already touched in places by
| the hand of man. Our gold mines
| have already given us returns in in
! direct way. You have heard Of the
citizen (Cf MecklenbUrg perhaps) who
| CcmfOrted himself for the devastation
the civil war had wrought upon the
state with the reflection that we had
| gotten even with the Yankees by
enticing them down here since the
war and selling them gold mines'
Yet we must not treat this interest
too lightly, for from first to last we
have found, to put il very conserva-
lively quite $30,000,000 of gold and
have one mine which has yielded well
in excess Of 100000 Of the metal
OF minerals Of all kinds the state
counts l84 varieties.
Somewhere in the enumeration Of
the products or the deposits of the
earth belong the shell limestone and
mari and the very valuable phosphate
beds Of Duplin, Sampson and New
Hanover, to the latter of which the
city Of Wilmington and the cause Of
q agriculture owe much.
The second original source of wealth
the forests: Here's to the land of
the long-leaf pine"
And allusfon to the forest compeis
thought Of the most remarkable de-
velOpment we have witnessed in 10
years. mean OF course Che manu-
facture Of furniture. In this interest
N''rth Carolina stands second only to
Michigan. There Is not state in the
union in which our furniture is not to
be found. STxtyfOur carloads iOf it
have gone under federal contract from
one North Carolina factory to the
canal zone of the 1sthmus Of Panama
and only last Saturday another gov
ernment contract for furniture for
Panama was awarded the same fac
tory. 1t Is familiar to Cuba and an
nually the market for it is enlarged.
A trustworthy manufacturer of High
Point furnishes the information that,
estimated on a conservative basis, the
output of the furniture factories of
the place increased not less than l.
COO per cent in the ten years 1897-1907
and High Point is only one of no
less than ten furniture manufacturing
centers in the state, a number of them
young in this branch of business.
Our forests include 153 kinds Of
woody plants and of these over sew
enty are trees of the first size and
fifty-three are trees of great. economic
value Fourteen attain height of
over 100 feet, three a height of over
140 feet, five reach diameters of five
feet or over, and five diameters of
seven feet or over"
No recent authentic figures are
Immediately at hand but estimat-
ing from the last that are available
it is entirely within bounds to say
that the annual resources from our
forests including the by-products of
tar and turpentine amounts to $780,
0G0 900. Is it not worth while to safe
guard this great and growing source
Of wealth? You will say yes, and will
aid us of the west in our efforts to
secure a national forest reserve in
while we lend our earnest efforts to
yours to secure a thirtyfoot channel
of the Cape Fear from Wilmington to
the sea and the inland waterway
which is the dream of the distinguish
ed representative of the first congress
sional district.
The third source OF wealth-the
water. Our coast line is of great ex-
tent and those who farm the sea
do not go without their reward. So
far back as twelve years the
capital invested in commercial
fisheries, vessels, outfits and acces-
sories was approximately s2,250 900, the
persons employed in excess of 10,-
900 in number and the gain in the
volume of business in fourteen years
on the Albemarle and its tributaries
alone had been 800 per cent That
there has been a proportionate or
greater increase since it is safe to