The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1891-05-21
WHOLE NO. 369


with general elevation OF one tholA
and feet above sea Level, fertile. heaviA
timbered, the most abundantIy ana
beautifully watered reeion in the world
with broad ard continuous belt Of
fossil ores of the Clinton measures
along its northwestern rim and inme-
diately at the foot of the coal field,
and at the foot of the mountain ranges
which wall it in on the southwestern
side, anether bordering belt of brown
ores in the Lower Silurian formation, (.
and the subcarboniferous rocks, allA
brought up by foldings and their edgess
exposed by the erosion which formed
the valley.
Southeast of the valley another strip
of almost equal area of very high
mountainous country, ranging from
two thousand to sixty-fve hundred
feet above sea level, very heavily tim
bered, full of water-power and rich in
states, fine clays, the crystalline mar
bles, magnetic and specular (Besse-
mer) ores, copper, tale, mica, corun
dunn and other minerals found between
the Lower Silurian and the Oldest
Archaen rocks of the Blue Ridge, The
wealth of iron matches the wealth of
coal. In the northern half of this re-
glon the streams take their rise in the
western or coal field ranges and flow
eastward to the Chesapeake, cutting
channels for connecting these inter
dependent resources of coal and
other minerals. In the southern half
the streams take their rise in the I'm
broken easternmost ranges, and flow
through the intervening highef bat
broken ranges into the valley to meet
the streams flowing down from the coal
fields. Everywhere, from one end of
this region to the other, its interde-
pendent resources, lying in parallel
strips, is connected by natural chan
nels worn by innumerable interlacing
streams, binding it together. Upon
this field has been made the remark
| able development of the South in the
past decade, but what has been done
has been but the faint scratching on
the outcrop. Around this great
mound of wealth piled up in the CEN
ter of the South, forming natural
workshop and a magazine of resources
twenty times as great as that of Great
Britain, lies more than half million
villas of vi farI1I0 11
the South and the bordering prairie
| States north of the Ohio, to be en-
riched by its wealth, flowing down in
exchange for their surplus products OF
food or textiles, and of the wealth of
the Atlantic and the Gulf
This hundred thousand square miles
of Southern mountain country, stand
ing alone, has combined wealth of soil,
climate, minerals, forest, dynamic
forces, to sustain and employ dense
population, incomparably greater than
the resources of any other region of
like area, Its own powers are given
an unlimited increase by the varied
resources of the Southern ard central
Northern States surrounding it. With
a population as dense as that of Massa-
chusetts it would contain about twenty
eight millions of people; as dense as
that of England and Wales, fifty
millions; compared with Belgium,
about fifty three millions; with Sax
ony, fifty. five millions. The rela-
tive inferiority OF natural founda-
ton in the countries named will sug
gest itself to every mind
This mountain region alone can
furnish permanent employment when
fully devel oped for population twice
as great as that OF the United States
today, and about it on all sides is a
country needing the surplus wealth
which such a population could pro-
duce and able to give back products
needed IN exchange. The only limit
to the growth Of wealth, whether in
its amount or the rapidity with which
it can created, is the J rofitable ex-
change of surplus products between
people employed in different work.
Distance is the friction-the lost
power-of commerce. The nearer 10
each other that varying resources can
be worked up for exchange the small
er the loss Compact growth is con-
centrated work. With the proximity of
inexhaustible interdependent resour
ces which nature has given the South,
the long haul of food and raw mater.
ia!s from all parts OF the earth to Old
World countries, and the long haul
distribution of products, can not hope
to compete as Southern foundations
are perfected and industries establish
ed. AS European farms were training
schools for the millions who came to
our Western lands, so now are Euro
pean furnaces, factories, mines and
mills training schools which must in