The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-10-11
Article By Richard H. Edmo nds in Manufacturers !

IN meeting next week at flCnnOnu
Va. for the first time in that city
since 1900, the members of the Amer
lean Bankers association cannot fail
ito be impressed with the many loca
reflections OF the wonderful progress
of the South .in the past fourteen
years. The association itself has
grown to a membership Of $4,000
treble that of 1900, and its activities
have expanded and become more di-
versified The municipality of Rich
lmond has enlarged it's borders by an:
|nexation. called for by increasing pop
ulation in environs and contiguous
communities consequent upon ar
overflow of population from the cen
ter. Growth of the citys energies in
many fields Is indicated in the in.
crease between 1900 and 1914 of the
capital. surplus and undivided profits
of all its hanks from $5.6S6,000 to
$17, 900, and of their resources
from s22,425.000 to $71.661,000; OF
capital invested in manufacturing
from s16.ss0.o00 to quite $50 900. 600
and of the value of its manufactured
products from s24.670,000 to $4,000
9~es accompanied by an increase In
population. natural and by annexation
from 94.765 to 5000. or at the rate
of nearly 43 per cent. The statistics
tries within the corporate limits. They
would be swelled TO some extent II
there were included the figures for
all industries naturally centering al
Richmond. Iron and steel products
Of wide range, from nails to locomo-
.tives. fertilizers. -four. cigars. ciga
rettes and smoking and chewing to-
bacco, woodenwares Of many kinds
paper. paper boards and paper boxes
agricultural implements and tools
brooms. canning products, ice. vehi-
cles. packing-house products, brick
and other clay products, boots and
shoes and other leather goods, tir
boxes, trunks and variety of other
articles are the output Of Richmond's
factories
No natural resource of importance
lin the South agricultural. mineral Oh
forest. is neglected as basis IN one
form or another for these diversified
industrial activities In the city on the
James, and the power in that river Is
ydro-eiectrically developed as one OF
the elements for local light, heat and
motion. Four great railroad systems
connecting with others In the South
and in other parts of the country. to-
gether with steamships coming to the
head of tidewater an the base OF Ricn-
assembling OF the raw materials from
nearby points and distant ones, and
of distributing products widely
In certain sense Richmond IL
thus a sample house of Southern ener-
gies and equipment. the Richmond
progress is an illustration Of the pro-
gress OF its section.
Such has been the progress of the
South since the American Bankers as
ISOLATION met at Richmond in 1900
that the coming meeting is fit oc'
casion for a brief review. In tbs
fourteen years the amount OF capital
invested in manufacturing in the South
has more than doubled. increasing
from si.40s, s66 900 TO S3,a32, 43, 900
or at the rate Of 1888 per cent, and
the annual value of manufactured
products has increased from $i.se0,-
$4,000 to SASS. 7ol, 600. or at the
rate of 124.l per cent. The capita
is invested in 23S distinct lines o,
manufacturing OF the total OF 2s2 ir
the whole country. But thorough,
characteristic of developments in this
line is the fact that Al per cent OF
the total manufactured products Of
the South are the output OF the lum'
Der. cotton. flour and grist, slaugh.
tering and packing, cottonseed
the importance of each of these being
in the order OF their naming. Lum-
Der and timber products constitute
about one-seventh of the total output
OF manufacturing. With greater and
greater persistence the country Is look.
ing to the South for its supply Of
lumber and all that that involves
Thirty-odd years ago the United
States was cutting annually 1873
$4,000 feet Of lumber and the South
3.Slo,03S, 900, or something more thar
one-fifth- of the total In 1913 the
whole country cut 3S.3ST GOO, 900 feet
or 3,220.000. 900 feet more than tT
1900 But between 1900 and 191!
the cut in the South increased from
14.444.9S5, 900 feet to 21.532,ss3.00t
feet, or at the rate Of ~ per cent
and to an amount greater than hall
the country's cut Included In the
annual cut In the South are about
is. 600, 000. 600 feet of yellow pine, T..
soc, 900 900 feet of oak. 1,ooo.0oo,o0
feet of cypress. 100000, 900 feet OF rec
gum, 500 900, 900 feet of poplar, 200.-
600 900 feet of hickory, 7o,ooe. 0oe
feet Of cedar and 1000, 900 feet
Of SO other kinds of wood, including
white pine, hemlock, spruce. 1arch
fir, maple. chestnut. beech, birch
Eastwood, elm, ash. cottonwood. tupe-
10, sycamore, walnut, cherry, locust
willow, dogwood. persimmon. laurel
magnolia and mulberry. More thar
Csc, o00. 900 feet OF Southern woods
are cut into veneers. to be used In
the manufacture of furniture, cabi'
net work, boxes, baskets, etc. anc
the wastes of the numbering industry