The magic word "success" in large letters was emblazoned at the head of the floral parade yesterday, and everybody who participated in it had just cause to heartily shake hands with themselves. Long before the hour set for the parade to move, people began streaming downtown to secure places of vantage and the starting point at the corner of Catoma and Montgomery Streets was a mass of people. A little after 4 o'clock the parade moved off in the following order:

Cordon of mounted police, Second Regiment band, city officials and visiting railroad guests in carriages, floral parade.

The decorations of the different vehicles showed conclusively the innate taste of not only Mrs. Trvis who had it in charge, but of the ladies of Montgomery. The Chief Marshall of the day was Mayor Clifford Lanier, Jr. and his aides were Messrs J. Ware Walker, G. L. McGough, Frank Kohn, and Jack Thorington. Following were the "dramatis personae" of the floral parade:
Mrs. C. A. Abercrombie, Miss Mary Gayle, victoria, decorations pale yellow to burnt amber poppies.

Mrs. McKinny, Mrs. Hails Janney, low phaeton, pampas grass, pink roses.
Miss Kate Gaston, Miss Belle Mulford, two sorrel horses, high trap, small sunflowers, brown centers.
Miss Mamie Greil, Mr. and Mrs. Greil, trap, pink and red roses.
Miss Kate Davidson, Miss Mamie Coleman, low phaeton, pink roses on a foundation of pale green and white.
Mrs. Nathan Greil, Mrs. Roman, Miss Kahn, trap, black horses, yellow harness, trap banked with yellow roses.
Mr. J. P. Bullock and Mr. Kirkland, trap,
Misses Roberta Sistrunk, Caroline Beale, pink and green roses.
Mrs. Lawrence Fisk, a trap with pink chrysanthemums.
Mrs. William Gayle and Mrs. B. Wilcox, a trap with red, white, and blue colors.
Miss Phillis Gayle, exquisite little white trap decorated in yellow roses and gilt.
Miss Sallie Tyson, Miss Annie Tyson, with Mr. Manor and Mr. Thad Watts, a landau solidly banked in pink and white roses.
Miss Mattie Henry Tomkins and Miss Mabson and Miss Vance, a trap, pure white chrysanthemum trap with white horses and white harness.
Miss Carrie Bullock and Miss Norvelie Bragg with Mr. Hunt Taylor and Mr. John Brag Beers, a pair of black horses, a drag banked in LaFrance roses.
Captain Jeff Falkner, three beautiful little turnabouts with Shetland ponies, one in yellow and white, another in pink and red, a third in pink and green.
Miss Annie Virgin, Miss Tharin, a victoria solidly banked in shades of lavender.
Miss Fannie Jeanette Tatum, a tandem, high top, covered with American Beauty roses, with her, Miss Bing Patesen, Miss Annie Rousseau, and Miss Lizzie Berney.
Miss Elizabeth and Josiah Morris Baldwin, a trap banked in LaFrance roses, with old Uncle John, a family servant, dressed as Uncle Sam.
Master Roland Nachman, Miss Phillipa Marks, and Miss Annie Danziger, a trap covered with Marguerite violets and smilax, and an immense Marguerite that forms a canopy.
Master Joseph Baumer, a goat cart, ribbon grasses and red poppies.
Mr. Glass, surrey, green and white, pink roses.
Mrs. Harry Stringfellow, a high drag, handsome black horses, solidly banked in white roses with ruchings of pale lavender,
Mr. Tom Farris, Mrs. Harry Mathews, Miss Mary Virginia Graves, Miss Kathleen Stringfellow, Miss Kate Blanton,
Miss Mary Holt, landau, yellow roses, black horses, Miss Naomi Carter and Miss Tate.
Mesdames Moore and Zirkle, white victoria, pale green ribbon grass, white roses.
Miss Knoxie Walker and Miss Juliet Craik, a white and black trap, black horses, white harness.
Mrs. Dr. Tuttle, surrey, white horses, lavender and white chrysanthemums.
Mrs. T. J. Mattox, high English trap, jet black horses, crimson satin harness, American Beauty roses.
Miss Theo Welsh, Miss Ethel Marks, Miss Marguerite Coleman, Mr. George Beale, a high trap, red and white roses, a blue foundation, to represent the national colors.
Miss Willetta McManus and Miss Mary DeYampert Meriwether, phaeton, beautiful white horses with white and pink decorations.

From Montgomery Street the procession moved to Court Square and then up Court Street to South and across to Perry, down Perry to Dexter Avenue and up the avenue to the Capitol and then down again to Court Square and down Commerce to the depot. Here an immense jam of people had already gathered and it was all that a couple of policemen could do to keep the big doors opening into the shed closed until Captain Falkner had delivered the following address:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with much pleasure that I, in behalf of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, contribute my mite to the grand pageant of today. For this, perhaps the grandest floral exhibition ever seen in Montgomery, we are indebted to our noble women, without whose constant presence among us, even this magnificent specimin of architecture, with all its adornments, would be far from beautiful and life itself would be regarded far from beautiful and rather undesirables am sure that every man here will agree with me that the loveliest tinted rose, the sweetest violet, and all the flowers displayed on this occasion are not half as radiant, beautiful, and lovely as the fair hands who have woven them into garlands.

"This is a day for all around handshakings and congratulations; it marks an epoch in our history. We have truly a great city; an historic city, a city that is 'set upon a hill and cannot be hidden.' Situated in one of the finest agricultural regions of the world, furnishing to this market nearly two hundred thousand bales of cotton per annum, the capital of the first in alphabetical order, as well as the first and greatest state in the Union in possibilities. With a splendid city government which protects and guards the interests of all the people, emphatically a city of churches, schools, and libraries, presenting every religious and educational advantage; with a splendid system of water works, Furnishing an abundance of pure, refreshing, artesian water; with a perfect system of storm and sanitary sewers in addition to superior natural drainage; a delightful and genial climate making it a health resort at all seasons of the year. With a fine system of electric cars, an excellent telephone and telegraph system, several ice plants, unlimited markets, superb banking facilities, every convenience is at our command so that mankind may abide with us living in any style desired, to be governed by individual inclinations or abilities. Our cotton factories, cottonseed oil plants, iron works, boiler works, factories, machine shops, railroad repair shops, numerous small manufacturies, etc., furnish employment to a large number of skilled artisans. We are abundantly supplied with daily and weekly secular and religious papers, and being a veritable gateway to all parts of the world, having within our limits forty thousand of God's best people, who, in point of culture, refinement, and civilization, are the peers of any. It may be truly said that while Boston, has long boasted as being the 'Hub of the Universe,' Montgomery, in view of her past remarkable achievements, should, within a very short time, be dubbed the 'Heart of the World'.

"Many thousand years ago, when means of communication between communities were crude, and the steam engine as an instrument of development and civilization was unknown, it was said that 'All roads lead to Rome,' but today, living as we do in the most progressive age of the world's history, we would not be far wrong in saying that all roads now lead to Montgomery.

"Rapid transit has revolutionized the world. By means of rapid transit we are able to have here at our pleasure the product of any portion of our country. We may have at our breakfast an orange from California or Florida, a beefsteak from New Orleans or Chicago, fish from Pensacola or Mobile, or from the northern lakes. Also, by this means, the fruits, vegetables, and other various products of the most of the United States are constantly delivered fresh in the markets in the coldest regions of the north; and, in innumerable ways the railroads, these great arteries of trade and commerce, are working almost miracles among the people of this great country, and yet we are only in our infancy.

"Montgomery is now availing herself of the means of trade and profit not only by the Alabama River, but by the six grand trunk lines centering here and radiating, by connecting lines, to all portions of the civilized world. Through the enterprise of our businessmen, Montgomery is already a most important distributing center, and by the continuing co-operation of such vitalizing agencies as the Commercial and Industrial Association and the Travelers' Protective Association, both invaluable auxiliaries and couriers of commerce, she bids fair, within a few years, to be the metropolis of the South.

"There are but few people now who can appreciate the delays and inconveniences incident to travel only a few years ago. For instance, parties starting from New Orleans to New York would take the New Orleans Road as far as Mobile. There it was necessary to change cars and take the Mobile and Montgomery Road to Montgomery.

"It was then necessary to change cars at Montgomery, and, for a long time, to travel by hack entirely across the city to take a train of the Western Railway of Alabama to West Point, Ga. At that point it was necessary to again change cars and take a train of the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, and so on all the way through to New York. The sleeping car was practically unknown in this part of the country. In fact, sleeping cars would have been of no practical benefit under conditions then existing.

"Before the building of the Alabama South and North Railroad from Montgomery to Decatur in order to reach points on the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, it was necessary to go by Atlanta, Ga. and Chattanooga, Tenn, or to Mobile and thence to Corinth, Miss., over the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The great mineral regions of Alabama were then practically unknown. Coal was worth in Montgomery at that time from eight to twelve dollars a ton, and was considered a luxury, being the medium used for domestic purposes and not at all for manufacturing purposes. Efforts looking toward the building of the South and North Alabama Railroad were commenced more than forty years ago. Not only the City of Montgomery, but our people generally, took an active interest therein, subscribing large sums of money thereto, and, as is generally known, a contract was made by the directors of that road with a firm of contractors to build the road, and all the money available was spent in trying to construct it. But it will be remembered that those were the days when the wheel scrape, the steam shovel, and other implements of that character were unknown and only the pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow were available. It was a time when everything was at the very highest prices. It is needless to say that there was utter failure. Afterwards, another contract was made by the directors with another and different firm by which it was thought the road would be built. Large sums of money were secured by subscription and by the issuance of bonds and the like, all of which was spent in a fruitless effort to construct the road.

"The directors of the South and North Alabama Railroad then appealed to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company to save this enterprise to the people of Alabama, and to construct the road from Decatur to Montgomery. To do this and to prevent a loss of such parts of the road as had been constructed, the rights-of-way and other property acquired, it became necessary for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company to assume the vast indebtedness which had accrued on this property, and to endorse its bonds, and to furnish fresh money for the completion. This it did, and the only pay it has ever received to this day for the work it has done or the money it has advanced was the preferred stock which was issued to it under its contract with the directors of that road. In view of the fact that prices of everything, including labor, material, and supplies were at that time the very highest. The cost of constructing roads was very much greater than at any time since. A very large indebtedness had accrued, and it took still a very great additional sum to build the road and put it in operation. But in this manner it was built, and is today the equal of any single track railroad anywhere in this country. Owing to the special circumstances which I have mentioned, the cost of construction was more than twice as much as it would cost to parallel this road today. But we believe that it has been and will continue to be a great blessing to the people of Alabama, and we know that all who are familiar with the difficulties encountered in the construction of the South and North Alabama Railroad fully appreciate what was done by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company in securing to the people of Alabama a line of railroad which has done so much to develop the rich material resources of the state.

"Realizing the commercial importance of the city of Montgomery and acting m the same spirit which has ever characterized this institution, it has, at its own cost, without the aid of any other company, built at Montgomery this magnificent passenger depot which is equal, if not superior, to any like structure in the South.

"Growing as our city is, it is not believed by the management of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company that even this mainmoth station will suffice for the needs of this city for more than twenty or twenty-five years, but that within that time our city will have grown to such proportions as to demand station facilities many times larger than this, and to this growth in Montgomery, in which I have the fullest confidence, 1, as one of the representatives of this great railroad company, pledge you our earnest and hearty co-operation.

"With these remarks, it is with a great deal of pleasure that I announce to you that in a few moments, after you have heard from these little boys by my side, these doors will be thrown open and this magnificent building will be started upon the use for which it has ben constructed, and in behalf of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, I invite you to enter and I bid you welcome."

At the conclusion of the speech Master Jeff Falkner, Jr. said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company is about to open the finest depot in the South."

Master Robert Falkner said: "Ladies and gentlemen, The band will now play Dixie, and we boys will do the rest."

The Second Regiment Band played Dixie and little Jeff and Robert Falkner swung the big doors and the handsomest depot in the South was formally opened to the public.

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