The Republican journal., 1914-04-09

the seventy years previous. and what has
it profited the people or the business or
Belfast? One tremendous sign of prom
ise for the future l can see from it, and
that is the formation of this Board of
Trade.
Before take up the work of Board
of Trade l want to tell you about two
towns know well and what happened to
them.
| When Sherman was on his way from
Nashville to the sea he had fight just
outside of Atlanta, and then entered the
city, or town, of Atlanta to prepare for
the rest of the march. When he went
out he set fire to the town and when he
was through there was one poor old log
cabin left among the residences and three
or four public buildings.
The war was soon over after that and
the former owners of homes gathered to
see what they could do. They had no
money to amount to anything, their crops
had been gathered by Sherman for his
troops, and what he did not need he
destroyed. Their slaves lad been confis-
Gated and then set free. 1t was gloomy.
disheartened little body of men who met
that day to finally determine what should
be done. To many it seemed as though
IL was oil lIIlpOSS1Dl0 tdoh " AVOAAAN SAASAA
homes and again become fourishing
town.
There was much talk of giving up and
going to Chattanooga, which was not
much injured by the troops, but there
was one little lot of those men who would
not listen to any surrender to the fate
that had been thrust upon them.
''What have we to start WITH" cried
some stWhat have we7" said some one in
reply. ''Why sir, we have Peachtree
Street. We have all the land that burned
up Atlanta rested on. Why, sir, we
have what no other town in all the glo-
rious South has, or can have. We have
the only street in the South from which
the rains from heaven run to the Allan
tic ocean from its east side and into the
Gulf of Mexico from the other side.
Sir, we are the natural distributing point
for the whole South. The Almighty de-
creed it when He created the earth, and
our forefathers proved it when they
built Peachtree street. We would be
flying in the face of Providence to desert
Atlanta. Go TO the northern people and
tell them what we have got; they are
traders, they must furnish us with our
goods at first, and they need distrib-
uting center. Where in all the South
can such another point of vantage be
found? If we work together, without
ceasing, for the good of Atlanta in few
years we will have growing town again.
The men of the North have money,
we must get them here, we must meet
them in peace and with all the power of
southern h -spitality, we must work with
them hand in band, if we want to build
up Atlanta
And the counsel prevailed. What is
the result? Atlanta today has a popula-
ton of 200, 600 people and her manufac
turing plants last year turned out over
so million dollars worth of goods. At the
last census her valuation was almost 300
million. her net debt only about six mil
lions and her tax rate SIPS per thous-
and, on 60 per cent valuation.
That is what working together for At
lanta with ''Peachtree street where the
water flows into the Atlantic from one
side and the Gulf of Mexico on the
other as one slogan, and Get together,
stay together, then work for Atlanta
with the majority, or get out of Allan
in less than fifty years. Gentlemen,
what has Belfast done in fifty years?
At the time Atlanta was started, Chat
tanooga, only few hours ride away, was
a good-sized city Of fifteen or twenty
thousand in the city proper and suburban
towns connected. Chattanooga had what
Atlanta did not have, the finest coal
and iron mines in the entire South, a
number of manufacturers already estab
lished, through line from the North to
the far South, and from the seaboard on
the east to the Mississippi River. But
Chattanooga did not grow much in pop
ulation, or influence. Her magnificent
mountain scenery, her splendid Tennes-
see River, all the great level valley lands,
rich as land need be, the finest grades of
iron ore in unlimited quantities within
the limits Of the town, or near by; natu-
raj resources beyond, far beyond, hose
of any other town south of Mason and
Dixon's line. Yet she did not grow.
Since the war closed Birmingham and
Ainsley with far less natural advantages
have grown from a waste tract of land
to great cities. From 1900 to 1910 Biz
mingham grew from a city of less than
forty thousand in 1900 to one of about
one hundred and forty thousand in 1910.
Chattanooga in the same time, with |
about the same population in 1900, and |
with far greater natural advantages,
gained only fourteen thousand.
Az Tue last ceISuSDlEulDSudm udO d To-
talvaluation of 247million, Chattanooga 70
million. Birmingham had net debt of !
So, 800, 600, Chattanooga only half mil
lion less. Birmingham assessed tax of
$l.O0 per thousand on IS per cent valu-
alton, Chattanooga So. 40 per thousand on
a forty per cent valuation.
Now there must be some underlying
reason why Chattanooga. with all the
natural advantages in her favor, and
good sized, fully equipped town in good
running order at the close of the war,
should be SO completely outstripped in
the race for business by Birmingham and
Atlanta.
The reason is largely the same that
has held Belfast back from her rightful
position as one of the larger leading
cities in Maine.
Chattanooga, like Belfast, has per-
mitted herself to spend large portion
of her energy in argument over petty
personal matters, and in time these be-
came so bitter there could be hardly
found one business man in the town who
did not have the appearance of believing
that he was the only really honest man
in town. All the rest were crooks and
They fought themselves so sue
cessfully that strangers who went to
to investigate her natural
very soon discovered that to