The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-04
THE NEW SOUTH.
Progress ina the Southern states
since the Civil War

The advances which have been made in
the Southern States in the third Of
century since the close of the war OF Sc
cession have been one OF the marvels OF a
marvellous age. When John Jay was nego-
tiating the treaty with England IN 1924.
which bore his name. he appears not 20
have been aware that cotton had a chance
10 ever become an important article OF ex-
port from the United States The inveu-
tiOn of Eli Whitney's cotton Gin about tn.
same time. but which had not yet got into
operation, and by which one man could.
in the preparation Of cotton for the market.
do the work previously done BY a hundIei
men. made a swift and sweeping change IN
the conditions, and ultimately converted
the South into the field for the production
of cotton for the world
When John c. Calhoun. in his speech on
the compromise measures OF 1S50-the
speech which he composed. but which he.
not having the strength to deliver st. gave
to Mason. Of Virginia. TO read to the SEN
ate-uttered his lamentation at the calami-
tOus fate of the South which was as no
thought. condemned to be forever the
newer Of wood and drawer OF water for
the North he voiced view which was en-
tertained by almost everybody at that
time. in the North as well as In the South
But the On-coming years have brought A
then. The abolition of slavery. which the
South franticaily fought in Congress and
on the battlefield. opened that section to
the capital and enterprise OF the world
replaced the slave labor. which was in
reality ruinOusly dear. with the paid and
Intelligent freemen- The South's magnid-
cent natural resources have been devel-
oped. and by the Mdas-touch OF the new
forces which have gone into that region
nd
turned into gold
The United States has in the past two
CT three years, gone far ahead OF Great
Britain. which had led the world hither-
TO, in iron production and the South es-
pecially the States OF Georgia Alabama
and Tennessee, has contributed a large
part Of the country's gain in this depart
ment OF activity. AS Gotten factories have
sprung up beside the cotton fields. SO fur
naces and mills have been erected at
the mouths Of the mines all over the
South. and the mines OF that section are
among the richest and most extensive In
the United States. II is estimated that
the deposits of iron ore in the three
Southern States named are great enough
to supply the entire world for a century
or two if all the mines elsewhere were
to close. Here is a source Of wealth to
the South which was never dreamed OF
by its statesmen and publcists OF forty
years ago and whose development would
have been impossible under the slavery
regime.
We were mistaken" exclaimed the
Southern statistician and atolitiOnist-
hater. De Bow, after the war had over
thrown the SOuth's peculiar institution.
Slave labor was more ruinous to the
South than il was humiliating to the slave.
God has given the South a glorious her.
tage in natural resources. Let US set
10 work 70 utilize them. We want legis-
alton in each State to encourage fmmi-
grafton and the investment OF capital.
Then the hum Of industry will be heard
rom the Potomac to the Rio Grande, ard
he South will be prosperous and gl0ri-
ms