The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-18

The South is all right. Things are get
ting in better shape in this section of the
country, and the indications are that the
South is upon an era of unprec edented
prosperity, probably because she is at this
time on the very edge Of a sweeping in
dustrial revolution. The Manufacturers
Review sizes up the situation in this way:
Lumber had gone up, taking timber
lands with it; naval stores had risen stead
lily in value; phosphates were actually
booming; cotton mills had become that
many gold mines; iron and coal in the
Appalachian range had beaten the band;
and all that Awas needed in addition to
carry prosperity to every part of the
Southern country was a rise to the profit
point of the product of the cotton plant.
That rise has come, and it has come to
stay, because it is confessedly based up
on the unprecedented demand for cotton
goods, without especial reference to the
size of the crop. The price of the raw
material has been advanced in other
words, to the goods level, and there it
will stay while the prices of manufacture
ed goods is maintained There is no rta-
son TO expect any immediate change for
the worse in that respect.
Few fully appreciate what a change of
ten dollars bale, including the seed
means. And yet is easily put down on pa
per. Ten times ten million is 100000 900.
That is what the recent rise means to the
cotton farmers, for nine-tenths of the or D
is still in their hands This great sum dis
tributed as surplus money throughout the
South viii take out of this section ali the
sardonio qualities 1t had accumulated
through a series of years of great tribu-
lation. 1t will add comforts in homes that
have haroicaliy done without them; ii will
send many boy to college and many a
sweet lass TO higher schools; 1t will duui-
date a world of small debts it will fill
the factories with orders, and in some sec
tons at least it will add new mills to the
South's growing list. 1t will in a word
put the South on its feet.
Touching upon The question of Southern
factories the Review says:
Every surplus dollar could be well
placed in Southern factories. They are the
hope and mainstay of this section, ana
there is room for many more. Until the
entire cotton crop is spun in the South
there is room for more diYdend-earning
cotton mills. Until all the iron of the
South is turned into steel, ard steel into
manufactured goods, there is room for
more Woodworking mills. Until the lum-
Der of the South is turned into building
material or furniture or other articles o.
commerce, there is room for more wood
working shops In fact. the South has. in
one respect, only approached its limit.
and that respect consists in It's oil m lis.
and yet a small share of the seed goes to
the mills, and the mills of the South do
comparatively little refining. The field for
factories is broad and inviting. The raw
material is here. and if cotton stays up.
the capital will he here too. These are in
deed good times in the South"
This is the right kind Of talk, and IT
is the kind of talk the South needs. The
South is not on a boom. The South is
growing, expanding, spreading out, and the
timer is not far off when she will be in a
position 10 fix the terms upon which she
will do her trading with the outside wor d