The farmer and mechanic., 1911-04-18
RALEIGH COMPARED
WITH OTHER CITIES
COL F. A. Olds JUST Back from Iisif to Eighty
Fiz,e Cities and Important Towns I'm the South
and the Southeast, Writes of R0leighS
Advantages and Disadvantages

claims the best roads in the South,
with 625 miles improved, mainly sand
clay, the country there being about
as rolling as that around Raleigh.
A weak point here is the lack Of
complete care as to the cleaning of
streets, this being due very largely to
the people themselves and not so
much to the street cleaning depart
ment. In many towns no paper is
found blowing here and there In the
streets, and there is far better care of
sidewalks and grass Columbus, Ga,
has easily the most beautiful streets
in the South and they are simply not
to be forgotten. They are extremely
wide, carrying four rows of trees, and
grass plots are SO arranged that they
form two belts between the sidewalks
and the street. Augusta, Ga, is sec
ond only in this respect.
In the matter Of electric illumnia-
ton of the streets at night by special
devices, San Antonio leads, being fol-
lowed by New Orleans, Columbia,
Charleston and Jacksonville.
AS has been said, the presence of so
many State buildings in and around
Raleigh is a great asset, for certainly
no capital in the South has so many,
and then, too, the State Museum is Of
extreme Importance. No State mas
anything at all approaching it, and the
writer feels sure that all the other
of the numerous halls Of the museum
here. While there are some larger
Capitol buildings, for example at Aus
tin. Texas; Columbia. S. c., ETC., yet
the stately structure here, a model Of
the ancient style Of Greek architec-
ture, is really more attractive than
any of them. The Capitol at Austin
is immense. being even larger than the
Capitol at Washington, and cost five
million dollars. In the grounds of no
Capitol are such noble trees found as
here.
There is a very marked advance in
the character and type Of school
buildings, the finest one seen complete
being the Sidney Lanier High School,
at Montgomery but an even larger one
is under construction at Fort Worth,
Texas, which will have seventy-one
rooms and a great auditorium, and
will cost quarter Of a million or
more.
Raleigh Is found to be the only city
without I. M. G. A. building. In
fact no place o. more than 5000 pop
gratifying to know that Raleigh has
taken action and made this at once
popular and valuable provision for its
own young men and those who come
here.
Mention has been made Of the fact
that this city has remarkably fine
auditorium. The writer visited the
one at Houston. Texas, just completed.
which cost s45O,o0O. The buildings
are Of the same general design, except
that the one at Houston is larger.
sive city say they regard the building
one of the chief assets Of the place
and that it enables them to offer a
splendid meeting place for all sorts Of
occasions. Raleigh now comes to the
front as the convention city, for It can
ofrY1r ifoy~x
convenient, safe and admirably To-
Gated. A weakness here has been al
lack OF modern hotels, but this is be-
ing rapidly overcome, and with two
remodeled hotels and three new ones,
two soon to be under construction,
there will be splendid provision for the
public, which always, and properly
too, expects admirable accommoda-
tions at a State capital. The tendency
everywhere is to have extremely hand |
some hotels, and they are among the
most striking buildings not only In the
cities but in the towns.
A feature that is observed almost
everywhere is the construction of very
handsome churches. 1t was a sur
prise to find in a Texas town Of only
about 5000 people a church whcih
cost $4,000, and which is Of beau
tiful design within and without.
The writer found the commission
form Of government for cities and I
large towns gaining in favor every day t
and the idea is sweeping the country. /
1t is not only impressing very large
places, but smaller ones and many say
it is only a question of time when this !
plan will be in general use.
Raleigh is like Colum bia, S. c., and |
Waco, Texas, in that it has only one
"Sky- -Scraper," the one at Colum bia |
being twelve stories high and that at
Waco twenty-five. So high is the lat
ter that it is one Of the local jokes that |
two towns, one at the east and one at |
the west, tried to get an Injunction to |
prevent the erection Of the building. !
on the ground that one would be shut
out from the sunrise and the other /
from the sunset
Raleigh has by no means taken ad-
vantage OF ITS location as a manufac- |
turing site. and IN view of the early
Of factories at many other