Transportation.
Atlanta is the railroad center of the Southeast. Twelve radiating lines furnish ample facilities for distribution of manufactures and merchandise from this point. Five of these lines belong to the Southern Railway. Here is a list of the lines:
Southern to Washington.
Southern to Knoxville.
Georgia Railroad to Augusta.
Southern to Birmingham.
Southern to Fort Valley.
Southern to Brunswick.
[2]Seaboard Air Line to Birmingham.
Seaboard Air Line to Portsmouth.
Western & Atlantic to Chattanooga.
Atlanta & West Point to Montgomery.
Central of Georgia Railway to Savannah.
Louisville & Nashville to Knoxville.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CARNEGIE LIBRARY.]
The connections of these make many more routes over which there are through trains, as for example, to Columbus and Albany.
The Southern Railway, Central of Georgia Railway, and Atlanta and West Point Railway have let the contract for a union pa.s.senger station at the corner of Mitch.e.l.l and Madison streets, and will spend about a million dollars on the structure. Altogether they will spend two millions on the station and terminal facilities connected with it.
Atlanta"s hotel accommodations are superior to those of almost any other city in the South. The Piedmont is a fire-proof building of the best cla.s.s, with steel frame. The Kimball, the Aragon, the Majestic, and the Marion have long enjoyed an enviable reputation with the traveling public.
There are numerous smaller hotels and any number of boarding-houses.
Atlanta is the stop-over point for the Florida winter travel, both going and coming, and is rapidly becoming a summer resort by reason of its elevation, bracing atmosphere, and cool climate.
The Radius of Distribution.
Atlanta"s advantages as a distributing point are shown by the central location with reference to Southeastern towns. There are seventy-nine towns of exceeding 4,000 population in Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi. The average distances of these towns by States from Atlanta, Savannah and Nashville are as follows:
ATLANTA SAVANNAH NASHVILLE Alabama 195 miles 419 miles 269 miles North Carolina 400 miles 352 miles 629 miles South Carolina 239 miles 193 miles 526 miles Georgia 147 miles 233 miles 386 miles Mississippi 423 miles 606 miles 440 miles --------- --------- --------- 1,404 miles 1,803 miles 2,250 miles
Average distance of towns in five States 280.8 miles 360.6 miles 450 miles
[Ill.u.s.tration: COURT HOUSE--FROM THE SOUTH.]
Street Railways.
Atlanta has a fine system of street railways, with one hundred and forty-two miles of track radiating from the heart of the city to the residence portion and thence to the suburbs. In some directions they reach out for eight miles, as in the case of College Park, Decatur and the Chattahoochee River.
The service is excellent, and there are one hundred miles of tracks within the city limits. The uniform fare is five cents, but there are transfers from incoming lines to any part of the city. Almost any spot on a car line, within the city limits, can be reached from any other point inside the city for one fare.
There is ample service to all the parks and resorts, and an electric line to Marietta is nearly completed.
Light and Power.
Atlanta is well supplied with gas at a low figure--$1.00 per thousand cubic feet. It is so economical that gas stoves are very largely used for cooking purposes and not a few for heating.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LAKE ABANA--GRANT PARK.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: NORTH AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.]
The Georgia Railway and Electric Company has two large plants for the generation of electric current for light and power. The city is well illuminated by arc lights and electricity is largely used by business offices and residences.
The same company has a steam-heating plant, and pipes have been laid in the princ.i.p.al streets for this service.
Great Power Plant.
The Atlanta Water and Electric Power Company has erected on a ma.s.sive masonry dam across the Chattahoochee River, at Bull Sluice shoals, fifteen miles from Atlanta, and in a few months the plant will be completed and equipped to deliver 11,000 horse-power of electric current in the city.
The total investment will be $2,000,000. The power plant will give a tremendous stimulus to manufacturing.
As the steam and electric powers already in existence furnish 45,000 horse-power, which is in constant use, the addition of 11,000 horse-power will increase the manufacturing industries of Atlanta by twenty-five per cent. This is considered a very moderate estimate; for within the three and three-fourths years following the census of June, 1900, the product of Atlanta factories increased from $16,721,000 to $27,417,000, and the number of wage earners from 9,368 to more than 14,000.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTHERN FEMALE COLLEGE.]
Rapid Growth of Business
The business of Atlanta is growing four times as fast as its population, although the population grows twice as fast as that of the country. The rate of increase in population for the United States has been two per cent. per annum during the past decade. In Atlanta, it has been approximately four per cent. During the year 1903, the business of Atlanta increased fifteen per cent. as measured by postal receipts. Since the Exposition of 1895, bank clearings have more than doubled and bank deposits have nearly trebled.
Chamber of Commerce.
During the thirty years of their existence the Chamber of Commerce, and its predecessor, the Board of Trade, have been active in protecting and promoting the interests of Atlanta. Meetings in the public interest have usually been called at the Chamber of Commerce, and it was there that the first meeting to organize the Cotton States and International Exposition was held. All important questions affecting business have been discussed there and a score or so of standing committees have been const.i.tuted by the Chamber to look after the interests of Atlanta. The Chamber of Commerce is the open forum for the discussion of all matters which affect the general welfare of the community, and in this way the organization has exerted a powerful influence.
The present officers are:
Robert F. Maddox, President; Samuel D. Jones, Vice-President; Walter G.
Cooper, Secretary, and Joseph T. Orme, Treasurer.
Daily Newspapers.
Atlanta has three daily newspapers. The Const.i.tution, a morning paper, acquired national reputation under the management of Henry W. Grady, and has continued under the management of Clark Howell to hold a leading position among the newspapers of America.
The Atlanta Journal is a large afternoon paper which acquired national reputation under the management of Hoke Smith, and has continued to grow under the management of James R. Gray.
The third daily newspaper is the Atlanta News, a penny afternoon paper organized during the summer of 1902. It appeared August 4th and rapidly acquired a large circulation. A bright future is predicted. Editors, John Temple Graves and Charles Daniel; Business Manager, Chas. Daniel.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WATER WORKS PUMPING STATION.]