The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-01-09
VIEWED FROM 4 DISTANCE.
What Northern Observer Thinks About
the Resources and Prospects
ni the South.
tPhlladelphl. Times.

In its labor, which, in the number Of
employees, includes 81 per cent of the labor
Of the whole country. strikes during the
last decade have been but a. one to twelve
in the rest Of the United States. In its
supply of water power, which equals six
times the entire water and steam power
in use for manufacturing purposes in the
United States in 1880 and which can be
utilized at an average of $40 per horse
power against an average of not less than
81 } in the rest of the country. it possesses
the cheapest and most abundant motive
power in any country Of equal area in
the known world Thus in labor and
cheap motive power, the two most impor-
tant elements in the conversion of the
natural wealth of the country into forms
available for consumption. +he South
stands pre-cmincnt.
And when it comes to an inventory Of
natural wealth the showing is immense.
Over 40 per cent of the area of the South
is still heavily timbercd. as against II
per cent for the rest of the country.
There is still standing about 230 900, 900
600 feet of yellow pine, the best and most
endurablc Of all the pine for building
purposes When to this is added the
other timber in the South the sum total
reaches 100000, 5000 feet, with a mar
ket value of $l0,0000O0,000. The yearly
cut of timber in lis various forms amounts
to more than 800, 900 in value, and is
increasing rapidly.
In the last ten years the number Of
blast furnaces has greatly increased and
the production of pig iron risen from
80. ~ tons in 1880 to ,6SI ,6G.j in 1872
an increase of 4o0 per cent. In the mat
ter of fuel the South has an abundance OF
cheap and excellent coal. The bulk of
the ore from which the Southern pig iron
is made is native. There are more than
twice as many cotton mills rs in 1850. The
number has risen from l6l in 1850. con-
suming 1901 bales of cotton with pro-
duct worth $I6,356,lS2, to 334 in 1890, con-
suming 5l5,2 80 bales and turning out n
product SOL 1889. A striking feature
of this exhibit is the propo -tionate in
crease in the value Of this product; show
ing that tie new mills are largely devoted
to the production of the finer grades Of
goods.
Another remarkable index of the grow
ing prosperity OF the South Is found in
the rapid increase of its railway mileage.
This has more than doubled in the decade,
having risen from 1872 miles 1880 to
HIS in 1890. The gross earnings last
year reached $ll9,S97 ,205. OF course
so much railroad building and so great an
increase in the manufactures Of lumber,
cotton and iron must of necessity have
stimulated agriculture, which, before
the war, was the chief resource of the
South. In this field the showing is
an increase in the farms from ,55l ,061
in 1880; in the value of agricultural ma
chinery, from S61 ,312,50 to $3.50, 1000;
in acreage, from 54.679,l45 to 75,5ll ,429;
in the value of products, from $6l ,699, l45
to 1881. I07 900. and in the value of live
stock, from $3.50, 066, sS3 to $555,9O5,lO s.
One could go on indefinitely showing
from the census statistics regarding the
increase in banking capital, the assessed
value of property, the rate of the in
crease in population and hundred other
particulars, how since the death of slavery
the South has experienced new birth in
Industrial prosperity, but the figures al
ready given will suffice to indicate the
general tendency.