The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-03-13
Comparative Figures to
Show How State Has
Grown IN Ev verything
.BIGF A.RM PRODUCTS
FORESTS AN D MINES.
Iron Interest, Coal Wealth, Manu-.
featuring Advantages, Com
1nercial Greatness, Banking
Enlargement, Mercantile
Advancement After All,
Farm Is Foundation.

isBfts4E = dIIU Id W. sI'Ol4llOdllOlls 9t34s'
BY FRANK s. WOOD$ON,
& Industrial Editor.
"Tie roses nowhere bloom SO white
AS in Virginia.
The sunshine nowhere seems so bright
AS in Virginia.
The birds sing nowhere quite SO sweet.
And nowhere hearts so lightly beat, If
For heaven and earth doth seem to
meet.
In Old Virginia"
Or words to that effect, as the min
strel man would say.
But there is something more than IS
the white roses and something more
than the sunshine and something more
than the sweet singing birds in old
Virginia, as will be shown later on.
Tell-Talc Figures.
I have been reading the Hand Book
of Virginia for 1910. fresh from the
press, the same having been published
by the State Department. Of Agricul-
turc and Immigration. and being com
piled under the direction or George
Wellington Koiner. tho active and
wldeawakc commissioner.
Besides a map OF Virginia. which
is not quite as up-to date as it might
have been and should have been. the III
Hand Book has 2Ss pages OF more
or less valuable information. Too
many of these pages. fifteen by actual
count, and they are printed In fine
type are taken up to give the super
fluous information as to who is Cover
nor OF Virginia, who are the other
State officers. judges. Legislators and 81
What not. and also who are Congress
men and what counties compose thstr5
respective districts. Fl itteen more pa Esas
might have been made TO hold ne
names of all the rostmasse1s, eorons 81, ,hs
state, and they would have been just
as interesting.
Comparative Data.
Barring the fifteen pa ses a hove re-
i ferred to, the Hand Book Is full OF
4 meat and valuable information. al
4 Though few OF the pages are little
stale and IL the honorable commits
4 sloncr had had a bri Sht you ne man 10 20
Il edit his copy before it went to the
|fprinter and that bright young man had
4 changed some Of the dates and more
iIscorrectly added some OF the columns
LOT figures the statistics given would 3
4 have been trifle more accurate.
Nevertheless the Hand Book is q
i valuable contribution to to-dayss M
tory of Virginia, and as 1T Is eXpectea
Ito circulate moro largely among tnc
! people beyond the borders OF the staAe y
J than among those at home inc N
4 saccuracies above noted may not cut
/ much. IL any, figure.
The Hand Book abounds in Figures
! ana bles. a II of which arc interesting
1 and informing Eswhen you come to study
| them out, but tho axerag &c Virginia
| reader does.-not love to study out q.
| mass Of figures and wade through
statistical tables to find out what "
great and growing State he lives in.
lit is my pleasure to dissect the Hand
4 Book and put in straight reading mat
ter these interesting figures, and show
/ how they compare with the figures OF
1, a generation and cvensa decade ago.
The land area OF the State is 4O,262l
i square miles. In tho nature Of the
case. the area has not grown in a.
i generation, and ever will grow, but
i Iithese forty and more thousand square
ltmilcs have Increased Immensely in
.liyalue. 40 what extent they have thus
Increased 1t would be hard to tell but
1.-The assessors are at work right now
1 as they are required to do once In five
A 5lyears. and when they finish their WORK
and make their reports twill doubt-.
i less be shown that the forty-odd thou
] sand square miles OF land in Virginia
} are worth q great deal more to-day
1, than they were five yea ears ago.
Where Incrcnse Comes In.
Z The Increase in the value OF wn
!. and city properties has been Immense.
and better roads and improved sagri-
!. cultural methods In the country have
J had decided tendency to increase the
! lvalue OF farm lands. Tho figures that
t some OF the farm lands 4 have been
4 selling at within the past few years
: demonstrate this fact ss9s
Land values are based upon what
7 the land will produce. Better farming
= methods, better Judgment In crop
& making. the ability of men to make
mnny blades OF grass come out OF Viz
N Isinia soil&where in Yee olden time only
, lone blade spronted. have ombined TO
: make we'll cultivated Virginia land
4 worth@a great deal more money than.
! + the same land used to be worth Just
!. here some OF Commissioner koiner's
! figures come In handy. He shows that
o in the good year 1900 Virginia far-s
4 mers worked or attempted to work.
.. over 100000 acres OF land, and ds-,
: rived from those acres. including dairy
!, lproducts, live stock and fruits, con-.
llyear the same farmers, or an equal
9 number Of them. made nearly $aoos-3
y 100000 worth OF the same kind q G
I stuff on just a trifle more than Y a.
$ 900. 900 acres OF the same kind Sof land,F
-5 letting the other8m!llion acres rest a.
5 bit. Well. that shows that Virginia
farmers are catching on to Intensive
& &farming and that they are Ina proving
their lands. II ~;
u Then and Now. 81 vi
Thirtysyears ago prop ertyl. val lues In
!, the whole state were placed at r.
a 900. 900. Twenty years ago, according
]. to the United states census ilgurss.
Il they were sl,lO2.al0.ooo, Last years
. ngures put Z them sl;sno,00o.onp.
I There & Is no telling where they Will
n go 10 when the assessors now 5at work
= all over the state cnmplelc he new
Y assessments. In Richmond alone, ~
!. to slo,o00.0Oo. Then there are tho
n, (Contlnued on Page s.i