Atlanta is one of the few large inland cities located neither upon a river nor a lake.  When the city was founded, the customs of life in Georgia were such that no one ever dreamed that the State might some day go dry.  Having plenty of other things to drink, the early settlers gave no thought to water.  But, as time went on, and prohibition became a more and more important issue, the citizens of Atlanta began to perceive that, in emergency, the Chattahoochee River might, after all, have its uses.  Water was, consequently, piped from the river to the city, and is now generally—­albeit in some quarters mournfully—­used.  Though I am informed by an expert in Indian languages that the Cherokee word “chattahoochee” is short for “muddy,” the water is filtered before it reaches the city pipes, and is thoroughly palatable, whether taken plain or mixed.

Well-off though Atlanta is, she would esteem herself better off, in a material sense at least, had she a navigable stream; for her chief industrial drawback consists in railroad freight rates unmodified by water competition.  She has, to be sure, a number of factories, including a Ford automobile plant, but she has not so many factories as her strategic position, stated by General Sherman, would seem to justify, or as her own industrial ambitions cause her to desire.  For does not every progressive American city yearn to bristle with factory chimneys, even as a summer resort folder bristles with exclamation points?  And is not soot a measure of success?

Atlanta’s line of business is largely office business; many great corporations have their headquarters or their general southern branches in the city; one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks is there, and there are many strong banks.  Indeed, I suppose Atlanta has more bankers, in proportion to her population, than any other city in the United States.  Some of these bankers are active citizens and permanent residents of the city; others have given up banking for the time being and are in temporary residence at the Federal Penitentiary.

The character of commerce carried on, naturally brings to Atlanta large numbers of prosperous and able men—­corporation officials, branch managers, manufacturers’ agents, and the like—­who, with their families, give Atlanta a somewhat individual social flavor.  This class of population also accounts for the fact that the enterprisingness so characteristic of Atlanta is not the mere rough, ebullient spirit of “go to it!” to be found in so many hustling cities of the Middle West and West, but is, oftentimes, an informed and cultivated kind of enterprisingness, which causes Atlanta not only to “do things,” but to do things showing vision, and, furthermore, to do them with an “air.”