The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-05-29
The soUTh.s DEVELOPMENT.
People Of the North Migrating In . New
Direction.

IL WOui0 not De AT all surprising II
for the next ten years the rate Of prog
ress in the south were more rapid than
in any other section of the country. It
is, of course, somewhat misleading,
says the Boston Herald, to class under
one comprehensive designation states
whose material conditions differ so
widely as those of South Carolina and
Texas, Louisiana and West Virginia.
But even limiting the inquiry to the
older states of the cotton belt, there
are forces at work destined to put
new face on southern development be-
fore the century has run out. The ex-
tension of cotton manufacturing is but
one of these, though it is an undeniably
important one. Two points in regard
to this were strongly impressed on the
Massachusetts delegation in their re-
cent tour of investigation. One was
the comparative abundance and intelli.
gence of the white labor, and the other
the extent of the still untouched re-
sources Of water power. With the new
facilities offered for electrical distribu-
ton, this is certain to be very impor-
tant element in the coming develop
ment of the south. With the crudest
appliances it has already contributed
largely to the economical working of
the cotton mills, and with more scien-
tific methods of conversion and distri-
button it cannot fail to be fruitful
source of wealth.
The comments only go to show that
the east and north is full of the con-
6dence that actuates far-sighted south
ern business men. The financial strain
to which the country has been sub
ccted was only a preparation, or time
of probation, and our section is now On
the eve of an era of prosperity and hap
piness. After making due note of our
agricultural and lumber industries, the
article pays it's respects to our immedi-
ate source of wealth, and passes down
the line in the following words that
cannot fail to give encouragement to
those inclined to be doubtful:
The rapid strides made in the utiliza
ton of the coal and iron beds of Ala
bama are but sample of what is sure
to be witnessed in other states, notably
in Tennessee. The fact that the rapidly
growing trade in phosphate fertilizers
in South Carolina and Florida is of very
recent origin has not been generally
recognized. These two states mine
more phosphate rock than all the rest
of the world, and now Tennessee is
coming into the field with deposits of
considerable extent and richness. The
manufacturer of cottonseed oil is also
a comparatively new industry, and it
means for the south a solid addition Of
wealth from produce formerly all but
worthless. The ports of the south are
beginning to claim share of the inn
port commerce, to which they have long
been strangers, and are trying to util-
ize the advantages of geographical
nearness as distributing points for
places like ST. Louis, Cincinnati, Louis
Vile and Kansas City. Nearly all the
manufacturing enterprises of the south
have yielded of late years profit above
the northern standard, and much of
this profit has gone to the extention OF
works and factories already in existence
or the building of new ones. Briefly,
the south is in the field of commercial
and industrial competition as it never
was before, and its progress in this di-
rection is bound to have in the imme-
diate future greatly accelerated rate
of speed.