Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1892-10-13
FRIGHTENING HOPES.
Great Industrial Possibilities Of the
South Under Protection.
VIII the Men Of the South Listen to
Reason.

A great future awaits the South. She
is nearing period of great prosperity.
The West has been taken. and the tide
of immigration that has so long moved
westw ard has reached the Pacific Ocean.
In the future it will turn toward the
South. The South should be in posi-
ton to receive and welcome it. Last
year the shipments of fruit and vegeta-
bles amounted to $4,000, 900. 1t pro-
duces three fourths of the cotton crop
of the world, and its grain crop exceeds
the cotton crop. Its lumber product
amounts to S4OO, 900, 900 per annum. Its
rivers and sea coast will always regu-
late the freight on railroads and make
the transportation of products low.
According to the best authority, the
richest portion of the United States
lies in that section covered by the Alle-
ghehy Mountains and their spurs, reach
ing from Pennsylvania to Alabama,
embracing a strip of country about 700
miles in length and from $50 to 200 miles
wide. 1t contains the largest deposits
of coal and iron ore, and has larger
area Of forests of timber than any equal
area in the United States or in the
world. Iron ores, limestone, and the
best coal for fuel and for making steam
and coke, are found in unlimited quan.
titles, often few miles apart. The
wealth of this section consists largely
in what is called "raw material
Der, coal, iron, lead, zinc, wool, and
salt, and upon the development and
disposition of these the future of the
South depends.
West Virginia is the first State on the
list covered by this favored belts. She
stands at the gate way of the South.
She ranks first of Southern States in
the production of coal, and the third in
the Union. The following will show
the increase in coal and coke produced
in West Virginia in the last ten years:
In 1880, 1,253.579 tons of coal and 1871
715 tons of coke. In 1891, 1881 ,43O tons
of coal and 1,23S, ,418 tons of coke, show
ing an increase in ten years of about
5000, 900 tons of coal and 1000, 900 tons
Of coke.
The Democratic party declares for
free raw materials in addition to its
war ON Protection. The South has
reached the most important point in
the history of her development. 1t is
for her to decide now the wisest and
best course to pursue, looking at her
material interests and industrial pro-
gress. Is it fair to West Virginia and
the South, after other States by reason
of Protection have established vast in
dustrial plants, gathered around them
a large population, with schools,
churches and banks, and have reached
point where money is abundant and
the rate of interest low, to say, after
all this has been done, that in the fu-
ture raw materials which feed these
factories and great industrial plants
that have been growing strong for half
century shall be admitted free, and
that these States shall do the manu-
featuring for this country and for the
Southp This would be repeating the
history Of the conduct of Old England
toward the United States nearly one
hundred years ago. The South once
followed her leaders who, through a
desire to hold power, precipitated wal
that brought defeat, and in its train
"unnumbered woes" Had the South.
ern people been wise and listened to
reason, they would have averted war,
with all Of the disasters, ruin, and de-
spair that followed, and not only beer
paid for four millions of slaves, but h ad
the advantage and benefit of their labor
on better basis, and now be the richest
people in the United States.
West Virginia and the South stand in