The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1894-09-07
Forging to the Front.


naiy states
The Iaagfaeige Record predicts .
great increase Of business and mueli pros.
perify in the southern states this fail and
winter. Reports which it has received
from all portions 81 tho south show that
the crops are larger and in better eondi-
ton than they have been in years, and
that vast.amount of northern capital Il
being invested in manufacturing enter
lPrisss, and especially in timber lands in
North Carolina. Alabama, Louisiana and
Mississippi. These Investments have been
made within the past two or three weeks,
aud they show how absurd was The repIsb-
lican cry that putting lumber on the free
list would close the saw mills in The sonth
and northwest, because the United States
weall be stacked with lumber from Cam
ada. Business men, however, are not
EASILY deceived by the cries of politicians.
They know that untaxed lumber viii
cause strong demand for hard woods
and therefore they have formed compa-
mes and purchased Sarge tracts of pine
lands in the south which can boast Of
millions of acres of virgin forests, while
those lef the north are almost exhausted.
The lumber industry in this state has
increased surprisingly during the present
year, as "trip over the Illinois Central
road will show In the cypress and pine
forests along the line of the road a large
number of mammoth sawmills have been
established which are equipped with the
most improved machinery, and with
plants for steam-Cirying lumber in large
quantities by the latest process. The
officials of the Illinois Central have dome
much to induce capital to invest in lands
and manufacturing enterprises at points
ON their road, and each year the improve
ment of the country, which only a short
time ago was sparsely settled, becomes
more marked.
The Manufactures Record declares that
the passage of the senate tariff bill has
unlocked capital and that there are many
reasons that will cause ii to flow south
ward, and the principal one is that while
the crops of the west are failure, the
yield of the staple products of the south
Will this year be unusually large. Aside |
from this fact the financial depression
caused fewer failures and less distress in |
the southern states than any other sec
ton of the country, and therefore the
south receives larger measure OF benefit |
from the revival of business than either
the north or the west, and the result is
there is more activity in all the channels
of trade than has been witnessed in the
last two years.
Nothing, as We all know, succeeds so
well as success, and the moment the peo-
pie of the north arc aware of the fact that
the south is riding on the top wave Of
prosperity there will be a rush of capital
and immigration in this direction, and
iron and cotton mills and factories Of all
kinds will spring up along the lines of
our railways. In the convention at
d. c., Mr. Isaac Avery, of
Georgia. in his address said:
Sin 1891 and 1892 the Bureau of statis-
ties at Washington showed by its official
reports that southern exports grew those
two years $50, 0O0, 900, against SS1, 200, 900
in the rest of the country, and that south
ern imports grew % per cent, against five
per cent in the rest of the country. In
1898, the depressed year. our southern
foreign business fell off with that of other
parts of the country. But the official re-
port of the bureau of statistics for the
year from June, 1888, to June, 1884, shows
some amazing results Of southern direct
trade.
1.-THE exports in 1894 ran to $500, 49,
"a, with total increase over the pre-
Yious year 1883 of 81, 47S,S 1853. SO we
zee the south enjoying the distinction of
making at fifteen ports an increase of
81, 754 ,S06 export business out of the
81 Al, 353 increase in The export bust
less Of the whole country. This is a su-
perb yindieation of our southern direct
.rade movement and an irresistible en-
for the south to keep itup."
No better evidence than these official
igHres can be submitted to prove how
'apid and remarkable has been the de-
felopment of the south within the past
,wo or three Years, and in spite Of one of
Inc most serious financial panics the
country has ever known. The future of
ihe southern states is indeed bright
,nough TO excite tho envy of the world.
Their marvellous resources have at last
'een recognized and there is no power on
ne face Of the earth to prevent the soutl
rom forging to the front and becoming
he weaithiest the most prosperous and
he hnppiest section Of this great country.