Birmingham state herald., 1896-03-01

cotton the raw material would when con- verted increase in value to not less than $1 ,000, 100000, giving employment to near ly 15,000,00 900 of people, and keeping this vast volume of money in the south.
 New and old England find in the manu- facture of cotton their most profitable in-
 vestments. Their skill and experience
 have enabled them for genera tons to
 control the cotton goods trade or the
 world; but this supremacy will not con
 tinue. The continent of Europe is chal- lenging the trade of Great Britain, and one-third or over of the American crop
 Is being converted into goods by these
 European countries, while the south is forging to the front and controlling the home market for unbeached goods.
 There is no danger of the south
 Overdoing the Business.
 The cotton that she grows will not be thrown away. It will be made into goods either in this contry or in Europe, ana whether manufactured at home or abroad it will compete with the southern prod
 uct. The south has five great factors in her favor:
 1. She grows the raw material
 g. She has the best labor.
 . She has abundant and cheap power.
 A. She has the climate.
 3. She has 70,000O00 of consumers. Cotton manufacturing is compara-
 lively new business to the south. There
 were a few mills here ana
 there before 1860. and the con
 dtions for southern development;
 were not well defined or settled untli about eig hteen years ago. since loeo VOL derful progress has been made i'll this as well as in other industries. where the south produces the raw material at mln~ mum prices. No other country can pro duce iron, coal, wood, granite and marble as cheap as the south, and, as Tn cottoh' the south will naturally develop manu- factures on those lines substantially and successfully.
 Natural Selection.
 Capital and skill will seek the most in- viting fields for investment and develop ment. The manufacturing plants VIII come tothe raw material. This IS lnev- itable It is the common sense, intelli- gent, practical and logical result Of the situation. No artificial advantages, now ever long established, can withstand the natural bountes of raw material, cheap power and climate The potential infiu- ence of natural selection is bound to over come the natural advantages of a cen tury possessed by New England and Great Britain.
 It Will Take Time. This cannot be done in day. It Will take time for the south to manufacture her raw material. It is manifest that there is no business sense in transporting cotton 1900 miles to New England and 5000 miles to Great Britain and the con tnent, and in importing the products to this country, when the raw materials can be converted into goods in the south at less cost and with more profit than in any other section or country. If in fifteen years the south has in- creased her consumption from 20O,0o0 to 1,00O,O00 bales, what will she do in the next twenty years, under conditions that fo ha fau b1a for tbp dpNPlOD-
 ment of this great industry?
 A Fiction.
 That there is anything in the climate of the south to prevent the highest devel- opment and best civilization is a fiction, pure and simple In the temperate zone, it affords the healthiest climate and most certain field for profitable investment. The average temperature in summer does not exceed 80, or in winter it does not fall below an average of 40 degrees, take 1t for granted that the people of the south, and especially the governors of the south ern states, are acquainted with the natu- ral phenomena which I am relating, but
 as I hope for this address to reach still wider audience in the west and northwest, I may be excused from repeating what may appear to some to be
 ancient history I have in mind that Chi cago is the largest billboard on the Amer | ican continent, and-I wish to post on it
 
 be known. Ignorance of the south in the eastern states is incredible. Even in Boston alli- l gators are supposed to run wild in the | south to the great danger of life. and | that malaria and yellow fever and walk l ing arsenals abound at all seasons; in all sections are fictions that have found lodg- l ment in the minds of good men and wo- men in other sections of the union. These 1 misrepresentations of the south are with I~.rf ftIet4 Int fhnxy i-f md 1G l our duty to remove them from the minds | and hearts of our countrymen whom we wish to come and make their homes with us in the healthlest country and the yer | itable
 Garden Spot of the World. | One of the most prominent and success l ful merchants in Chicago said to me re- | gently: .''The people of the north and | east do not move south because of the eli mate The people of the eastern middle | states go west and northwest because l they move in the same latitude and tenn perature, but that is not the reason why l they did not come south before 1S60 :" | There was an almost insurmountable l barrier to their progress in this direc- l ton before that time. and for many years l subsequent thereto, growing out of con | ficts and differences now happily set l tied As to the climate and temperature | of the south, there is nothing in them to 1 retard the highest physical and mental l development. On the contrary, the cli- l matic and natural conditions are most l conducive to mental culture and success 1 in industrial progress. From the cradle 1 of the human race the greatest achieve ments in agriculture and in the arts and 1 sciences have been wrought in the tenn
 peJ ate zone in climates similar to the l south.
 l 'rhe So:ist, the Most Tiuly Temperate Zone l ofihe Unit States 1 The Kansas City Daily Times. com mentine upon some facts given in the llasl Issue of the Southern States. says: