The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-29

----- -.--- ----------
a grsss. Richmend's population has In
/, i-creased within the last ten years over
a so per cent: It's area has practically
l. doubled: its wealth has increased many
: millions of dollars. while IL has forged
r steadily To the front, until IL now oc-
T cupies a position well In the advance
! guard OF those cities which stand for
I commercial growth and prosperity.
Q With its population OF l21,62s Rich
: mond has now pulled away from those
: cities of only secondhand importance,
g and statistics show that not alone in
population but in manufactures and
general commerce the city Is well In
! line with such centers as Columbus.
. Syracuse, Denver and st. Paul.
: Though IL has made no attempt to
: absorb the entire surrounding coun-
: ties Richmond Is now by far the big
city of Virginia. showing a popula
{ ton nearly as large as the combined
Q populations of Norfolk, Portsmouth
: and Roanoke, which are respectively
the second, third and fourth cities OF
the State.
Virginia boasts nineteen cities.
Eliminating those already mentioned
; and including Danville, Richmond has
a greater population than the remain
ing thirteen combined. while leaving
out James City county Riehmond's
population is greater than the 1900
returns for the twenty counties of
Alexandria, Appomattox. Bath, Bland.
Charles City, Clarke, Craig. Greene,
= Highland, King George. Middlesex.
New Kent, Powhatan, Prince George
= Richmond. Stafford. Surrey. Warren,
Warwick and York.
Largest In Many States.
= The capital of Virginia Ia larger
: than any city In West Virginia, North
Carolina, Florida. Alabama, Mississip-
q pi, Arkansas, Texas or oklahoma. and
with the exception of Atlanta. New
Orleans and two Tennessee cities is
, the largest municipality south of
4 | Washington, Louisville and st. Louis.
= In 1900 the area occupied by the
I city was small. but its corporate limits
n surrounded one of the most densely
populated municipalities In the United
States. according to government re-
ports, while it's suburbs pushing out.
continued to grow until there was no
| longer any apparent line showing
q where the city ended and the county
began
!, Across the river, teeming with life,
was the city of Manchester at one time
>, famed for it's mills. and always recog-
= nized for its enterprise. surrounded by
Its suburbs extending well into Ches-
~ tenn continually carried home seekers
: beyond the city limits, where sepsrat
= commuties were formed-little cities
- in themselves.
J., Extends Limits.
le Finally unable to accommodate Its
Is population, Richmond annexed a large
sr section OF Henrico county. taking into
n its fold many thousand people, who
~ became at once the most enthusiastic
l. citizens. doing everything in their
d, power for the advancement of the city
W Recently with the consolidation
r Richmond and Manchester becoming
ar one cipalty-Richmond took in be
tween twelve and fifteen thousand
l. more people, and extended her corpor-
J. ate limits into Chesterfield county, be-
coming in an instance one of the lar
Ly gest and most important cities soutf
IT of Philadelphia.
It. But apart from its growth In area
to and population the last ten years o.
lie Richmond's history have been the mos
m remarkable since Its settlement, Ii
every field OF human endeavor the
s. greatest prosperity has resigned, II
~ spite Of the fact that during the latter
In part OF the decade the financial panic
In which swept the country was severely
L. felt here and for time greatly de.
pressed business operations,
T. During the last ten years the manu-
D. featuring life of the city reached III
ne high water mark. With 1915 manu-
re featuring plants at the beginning o
KS the new century, Richmond now boast
W 1853, showing an increase often pc
cent.
v The number of hands employed II
in the operation of these plants has beef
of increased from q, 233 in 1900 10 l,33
b, an increase of 4S per cent. thi
lys4d hain ~ ha 10
er important factors in the growth of tn
gs city indicating not only the prosperou
ID. conditions of the factories. but tina
IN work was afforded to some 10000 NOR
II people, enableing them to establish
US homes of their own and participate il
I'd the general prosperity of the city
commercial life.
al Remarkable Increases.
rs With only s17,332,3S2 invested il
-. manufacturing plants In 1900. tn
~ city now shows an employed capita
OF nearly twice that figure-s34. 11g.
VI 907--an increase Of 81 per cent, Will
~ the annual sales OF these plants hav
H. increased phenominally showing 70
1890 total of $s5,3S4.532 as agains
es s41,866.923 in 1900. the percentag
-. of Increase being LOG.
~ Keeping well in line with manu-
~ = factories the big jobbing houses sho'
~ great credit upon their management.
~ In 1900 the total capital investe
'N' in the jobbing trades in this city wa
$8,1T0,500. The total sales that yea
amounted to s35.377,295. To-day tn
capital invested aggregates s12,71S.
250-an increase OF So per cent
while the sales shown at the begin
ming of the year We're 80 per cent
greater than those OF a decade prev
lious or S68,040425
With such operations, and witt
II such activity in all lines of bushes
Il the banks could not fail to prosper
~ lending their support when needle
and reaping the reward they well de
10 served for occupying so prominent
part in the business life of the city.
% In the ten years from 1900 to 1871
-, the total banking capital was increas
80 ed from Discriminating tn
- surplus--to $11,S17,S50, an increas
- OF I04 per cent. Deposits increase
"a from s12,45s, 800 to S3S, 24b,s00, al
la advance of 207 per cent: loans from
s13,9s1.000 to s3S, 495,915, an In
- crease of 175 per cent. while tn
- bank clearings went up from s165,
AZ s0l.0S7 to $361.207,117. showing al
e. increase of lis per cent.
u Profiting like the banks from com
mercial activity the postoffice re