The age-herald., 1900-05-06
INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
 OF THE SOUTH
From the New York Commercial.

Iron lnQuSITleS, IS d TeNeIaIlpn to the WHOie world. Nothing like it was ever seen in the south before, and it bids fair to surpass the industrial development of the west in the years succeeding our civil war. There is now hardly village in the south but has Its manufacturing establishment, end new industries are springing up on all sides. These industries, too, are paying div idends which would surprise the business world if they were made public For years it was said the southerner had genius for politics, but no aptitude for business. What a fallacyl The southerner has shown his ability to utilize the natural advan- tages of the soil and climate, and, al- though without capital or business pres tige, to successfully compete against the world. This, however, has not been with out a struggle. On the contrary, like all other great and lasting achieyements, it has been accomplished by strenuous efforts and by fighting over every inch of the ground. Hic labor, hoe opus est.
 Take iron, for instance. First it was said southern pig iron, while it could be made cheaply was of an inferior quality, and fit only for cheap castings, but when the southern man commenced to ship and sell his iron in Pittsburg, and when the English and German manufacturer began to actually prefer the Alabama over the Ohio and Pennsylvania iron, that misrep- resentation died and was gathered unto it's fathers. Then it was said the future of iron was steel, and steel could not be successfully made out of the Tennessee iron, for the reason that the cost of elimi- mating the objectionable properties in the ores and reducing the same to steel would be more than the steel would bring in the market. The Birmingham rolling mills and other like establishments by actual experiment demonstrated the falsity of this assertion, and 1t died and was gath cred unto its fathers, and now behold the enormous steel industries at Ensley, Ala, near Birmingham, a sight worth going 5O0 miles to see.
 Then it was asserted that the southern iron man paid so much higher rate for money than his northern competitor that the advantages of his location and cheap ness of his raw materials were neutralized by his lack of capital and the high rates he had to pay for money, and because of this lack of capital he could not success fully and permanently compete with those having superior capital. The successful reorganization of Tennessee Coal and Iron company, Soss-Sheffield company, Ala bama Consolidated company and many other iron companies, giving them an abundance of capital at low rate of in- terest, demonstrated that capital with it's keen instinct of profit, had unbounded confidence in the future of iron in the south, and was desirous of developing and utilizing its natural resources, to the mutual advantage of both lender and bor- rower, and this last misrepresentation died and was gathered unto it's fathers. A few years ago the south had great trouble pettinR river and rbOr anpronria tiOpS. now she can get all she wants if it will assist in getting the coal and iron to tide water for export, and thereby removing her as a competitor in the home market In the last river and harbor bill Alabama actually got one-seventh of the whole amount appropriated.
 Birmingham is of the iron cen ters of the world, and if the Pittsburg dis trict has accomplished what 1t has-and it has accomplished wonders-with only the coal at its doors the ore being 1,20O miles away, what may be expected of the Bir- mingham district, now in its infancy, with the coal, red ores and limestone at it's very doors and the superior brown ores at An niston only sixty miles distant? This, too, with railway lines radiating in every di- rection and millions of money pouring in- to this region for purposes of investment and development. The mining of ore has become so profitable around Anniston that it is expected thousands of acres of the best agricultural lands in this vicinity will remain uncultivated this year because the farm labor has found 1t more profitable to go to the mines, and this, notwithstand- ing, cotton is now worth cents per pound.
 As to the development in coal it is enough to say that the output of coal in Alabama in 1898 was 5000, 0000 tons. in 1899 1t was 7,500,000 tons, and it is expected to be 100000 tons in 1900. What more could be said?
 The development of cotton manufacturing in the south is even more remarkable than that of iron manufacturing. It is simply inconceivable even to those among whom this development is taking place. and those who do not visit the south have no idea at all of the wonderful transformation taking place. But few years ago the south had but few cotton factories, and their output was a negligible quantity. Today thee1 is hardly village that has not its one or more cotton factories, sometimes as many as ten or twelve in North and South Car olina, and if I should state the dividends paid by these cotton factories 1t would sound incredulous. It is estimated this year that South Carolina will spin into goods all the cotton raised within that state and that North Carolina will have to import cotton from the other states to supply her mills. It will be but few years until Geor- gia, Alabama and the whole south will be found spinning all the cotton raised there- in. What will be the result? Instead of a 11,000, ,O00-bale crop of cotton, worth cents per pound and bringing $275, ,0OO 900, we shall probably see 1t spun into cloth and bring ing about 20 cents per pound, or over Si.- GOO, ,0OO,O00.
 At the beginning of cotton manufacturing in the south it was said that the south could never make a success of it for sev- eral reasons, one of which in chief was the lack of skilled labor but here again. reasoning from false premises produced false conclusions, as in the iron business. for the wife and daughter of the so-called "Southern Cracker" have proved to be the very best cotton mill labor in the world patient careful and industrious, without desire to organize labor unions and demand exactions from their employers as in the New England state.. Then it was said inc south could never make the finer grades. but must confine itself to the coarser cloths. Again, we see a theory exploded. and find the Dwight. Merrimac, New York and other mills duplicating their fine plants in the south with new and improved ma- chinery and manufacturing the finer grades, How did these marvellous transformations