San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-06-24
SOUTHERN RESOURCES.

The term 'new south is not Il mis-
nemer it is a term expressive of a very
pertinent fact. 70 those who read care
fully between the lines ii is term that
conveys -blOoded idea /; an idea,
too, Of no restricted significance but
covering nearly every department of
material resource as we'll as social and
governmental development. The old
slave conditions were so inimical to all
progress that the Southern states have
remained until very recent period an
unknown territory. Now that the field
is opened for exploration and investiga-
tiOn, il is found that her natural wealth
Of soil is only one of her many material
advantages Her deposits of iron, coal,
salt, lead, silver and gold, promise to
prove of such Importance as to chal-
lenge competition with the most pro-
duCtive mineral sections of the great
north and northwest. Already her iron
manufactures and her coke and coal
fields are causing apprehension in the
older iron districts OF the north, and the
day is certainly not a distant one in
which the center of iron manufacture
will gravitate below the now obsolete
Mason and DixOn's line. The prOClama-
tiOn that declared the slaves of the south
no longer in bondage, though to them I'M
known, struck the shaokles from a great
nation of whites and left them in condi-
tion to develop, undominated by the
slave idea This larger freedom the
"new south" has taken as an inheri-
lance, and under Its improving Condi-
tions has entered upon a career OF social
and industrial development that bids
fair to carry her to the very front OF
that rspidly marching host that forms
the van of the American army of pro-
gress. She has been a constant surprise
to her northern neighbOrs, who were as
ignorant of the vast resources of her
territory as they were of the teachable
nature Of her people. Once her eyes
were opened to see that a greater
wealth lay in the utilizing of her natural
resources than in the mere cultivation
of her more fertile lands by slave labor,
she was not slow to enter upon the
work Of their development. Every year
has enlarged the circle of her production,
added some new gift to the heap of her
natural treasure, brought to light and
thrown into the lap of her commerce
some new product of her soil or her
mines, to increase her wealth and the
establishment OF her northern competi-
tors. Almost the last thing that would
have been looked for, as unlikely as the
shipping OF Goals to Newcastle, was the
shipping Of southern pine to the great
lumber regions of the north. These
shipments have become very extensive
oflate, and for certain kinds OF work our
southern pine stands without a rival in
the northern market. Its value for floor
ing, for the construction of cars, for ele-
vator carrying trOughs, for warehouses,
for Touring mill finishing, etc, is I'M
equalled, and Of late years large quanti-
ties have been shipped sorthward for
these purposes. The new elevator at
Duluth, on the shores of Lake Superior,
in the very center of a heavily timbered
pine region, is built OF southern pine
shipped over 1900 miles by rail because
in the end 1t is found most economical
The largest warehouse in Chicago, tina
great Timber market of the northwest,
probably the largest lumber mar
ket in the world, is built OF
southern pine, it being recognized
as the strongest and most desirable
of all timbers for heavy constructions.
The western market, into which south
ern pine is forcing its way, bids fair to
be very largely supplied by the southern
product, as our increasing railway faciii-
ties bring the southern lumber merchant
on more equal terms with his northern
rival In trade. The yellow pine of Mis-
slssippi and Louisiana stands high in IA