The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-07-04
THE NEW SOUTH.

South however strongly marked they
may have been in the past. are gradually
being wiped out and in the course Of time
may suffer complete obliteration. The
primary cause may be seen in the aboli-
ton of slavery, from which has resulted
the Identifying OF labor and the develop
ment OF Industries which would never have
existed had the South. AZ formerly. de-
voted its attention solely to agriculture.
A writer in the last number OF the North
American Review treats somewhat ex-
haustively Of the great and varied re-
sources of the South. shows what progress
has been made in the recent past and con-
cIudes that n she does not stretch out her
hands and take what nature has so kindly
offered and become great 1t will be her
own fault. Immense natural wealth she
has already: IL only requires enterprise
for the development of those natural re-
sources which. year by year, are acknowi-
edged to be richer and more wonderfully
varied than was ever imagined.
The idea that cotton is king" appears
to have become antiquated. The people
are interesting themselves in other
branches of agriculture for which the
South. by reason Of variety of soils and
mildness of climate, seems adapted. Cat
tie raising is not confined. as may gener-
ally be supposed. to Kentucky and Texas.
1t is becoming an important industry in
the valley OF the Tennessee. Florida Is
shipping many cattle to the Cuban mar
ket. Fifteen years ago, IL is said. there
were only twenty breeders of cattle in all
the states southeast OF the Mississippi
river Today the state OF Mississippi alone
has FIVE times as many. The acreage de-
voted to fruits and vegetables is expand
ing Louisiana oranges are being sent be-
yond the state lines. Florida is develop
ing a large trade in cocoanuts and pine
apples and the total crop of peanuts Of the
South has increased over so per cent. in
the last five years.
There has been an over-production of
cotton, the crop of 1890 being over seven
million bales-the largest ever known.
But the demand by the spinners of the
time TO come bound to be great staple.
Moreover. the gratifying feature in con-
nection with fits production is that one
third of the total amount required by the
spinners of this country is taken by the
South herself. Fifteen years ago she had
but half a million spindles; now she has
over two millions. operated in 2n mills.
The lower grades of cotton goods made in
Alabama are now In competition with
those of Lowell.
At the close OF the war there were only
seven cottonseed oil mills in the United
States: now there are 26S and the manu-
facture of this product has become a great
Southern industry. In 1889 Louisiana had
about as many acres in corn as in cotton.
and Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and
Virginia are raising large crops of wheat,
the -four OF Richmond now being shipped
to Brazil and other South American states.
Texas grows more wool than California,
and wooden mills are almost certain TO be
something OF the very near future. The
Southern woods have long been celebrated.
and with the Industrial revival the walnut
and oak will be made into furniture on
Southern soil instead of being sent to the
factories of Grand Rapids.
The greatest expectations for the pros
perity OF this new South. however, are
bound up in the richness of its mineral de-
posits and the possibilities which await
their development. Already the mining OF
coal I'm the Southern states has advanced
so that she now produces over Is per cent.
OF the output I'm this country. Coke is
made cheaply. and the growth OF the iron
Industry Is remarkable in a section so long
hostile TO manufacturing and disinclined
to engage in IT. Iron ore exists in abun-
dance and Alabama now turns out as
much Of that manufactured product as
the entire South did four years ago. Today
that state is second only to Pennsylvania.
IL is estimated that the miscellaneous
industries OF the South have now capital
OF ST., 600 invested. Its growth as an
industrial section during the last fifteen
years has been remarkable. With such a
change Of conditions Il is to be expected
that there viii be corresponding changes
I'm its social and political thought The life
OF the South today is not that OF ante-bei-
lum times New men. new capital new
industries have come in and instead Of a
land OF the plantation II is now becoming
the land OF the mill. tho mine. the factory
and the furnace Their needs and neces-
stiles are not those OF twenty-five years
ago. They are becoming different peo-
pie. less attached 20 traditions. are broad
er and more cosmopolitan. Trade has
brought them in closer touch with the
North. prejudice is dying out and those
willing 10 assist in the gphuilding OF the
South are welcome. All these forces al
work can bat have an influence on the
thought OF the people. The motives by
which they were once sctuafed no longer
ex's;. new TIE Is opened TO them. and
with a change from the oid-time strnos-
phere and surroundings 20 those of the
present may he reasonably expected
changes in political sentiment and belief
no less marked and radical.
MIGHT HAVE BEEN rXpECTED.
f-m4n tAn Resth 80 cen Gan. ,n,rtv