The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-05-31
. WV rsor.ASprn ON THE SOUTH.

Mr.. Edward Atkinson is a well-known Nc"
rncland political economist who hiss for sew
eral years past given great deal OF thougn'
and attention TO the South and its resources
and as a rule his remarks have not only peen
| inst 10 our section. but sometimes have Deen'
| II ANYTHING, too partial. Only once IN MS
speaking and writing has he apparently SHOWN
preiudice in favor of his own section, ana
that was several years ago-when probably ne
was not 30 we'll informed as he has since be-
eome-when he expressed the opinion that
| the South could never be as well adapted 10
| cotton manufacturing as New England. he
has since seen his mistake. however. and has,
70 we mistake not, unhesitatingly corrected
himself.
Fxnressions of opinion from so fair and
candid n man. who is acknowledged also to be
a practical thinker and writer of ability, must
ALWAYS be regarded as valuable, and an article
from his pen in the current number of the
Manufacturers Record on the South and its
resources is unusually interesting. He writes
that here in the very heart of the eastern part
of the United States he finds an area about
the size of France, endowed with more va
RED resources and better climate, and
capable of supporting as great and pros
porous a people as the land of Charlemagne
and Napoleon. No other similar area
within the limits of our common country Is
so spalsely settled, and, until recently wss so
little known TO the world. Yet this relatively
small territory is capable Of supplying meats,
fruit. and vegetables to a countless popula-
ton; of Welding stone, brick, and marble for
their dwellings; iron, steel. and wood for va
RED manufacture; cotton, wool, and fibre for
textile materials minerals without number
for almost everything used in the arts; coal to
run the furnaces. and, in many localities,
water-power to do away with the need of en-
gines. Above all, this marvellous area has the
best conditions of climate, soil, humidity and
rainfall to be found in North America.
The favored region has as yet been COM
paratiyely little known to the world, mainly
because during the greater portion of the
time since the Republic began its existence
the Southern population, having almost
wholly devoted themselves TO agriculture,
were themselves ignorant of their hidden
has now come, however, for all these sdvan-
tages to be better known, for as yet the re-
gion possessing them has only been very
roughly explored. Although few manu-
featuring towns have sprung up, only surface
indications of the wealth beneath have re-
ceived attention. and the work of develop
ment has yet to begin.
Mr.. Atkinson cites the fact that in the Old
World great manufacturing towns are located
near iron and coal mines, where often the ne
cessary raw materials have to be brought from
a distance. But here iron and coal are in
juxtaposition, and, therefore. what the great
iron producing centres of Europe have done
for countries where they are located may be
repeated ON greater scale in that portion of
the South lying at the foot of the Appalachian
mountains.
From all this the prediction is freely made
that although the industries which will be
established in this region are but dream.
still from such beginnings as Piedmont,
Birmingham. Winston and Roanoke the stu
alton fifty years hence can be forecasted
And the picture presented to the Imagination
makes the brain whirl with its marvellous out
lines and stupendous proportions.
Truly every Southerner must feel justifable
pride when he reflects on the possibilities of
the vast wealth which posterity will reap in
his dearly loved and specially favored, though
of late, much down-trodden and bitterly
ca.umniated section. Every indication seems
to point unerringly to the fact that the South
is destined, and in the very near future, to be-
come once more, not only the wealthiest
section of this whole country, but to reassume
her old position of commanding power and
influence in the Republic.