The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1901-08-16
RESOURCES OF THE SOUTH.

BALTIMORE. Aug 15-Dr Charles W.
| bapney. who. as Assistant Secretary of
| AsHcuiture. won distinction as a scien-
tihc and practical expert. and who is one
| OF the leaders in the agricultural and
| industrial development of the South con-
| tributes 20 this weeks issue of the Man
| uiacturers Record" striking paper bear
| ing upon the potentiahties of agriculture
| IN the South and their relation TO its
/ general advancement He contends that
the South is capable of illustrating fully
| the principles that the country that can
| supply the greatest variety of products.
| raw and manufactured. and can find
, markets 70, them near home. is bound
to become the wealthiest country: that
manufacturers make the home market
that farmers make markets to a large
extent for the manufacturers. and hence
that the best farming country is, after
all. the best manufacturing country, and
vice versa He continues:
These well-known principles have been
restated here for the purpose of calling
attention to the great economic advan-
taSes possessed by the Southern States,
especially those lying on the other side of
the Appalachian system / know no other
country in the world so rich in both agri-
cultural and manufacturing resources.
Consider how wonderfully these two great
classes of resources are varied and min
gled in the South. Coal and iron. marble
and hardwoods, copper and zinc abound
throughout the upland regions of the
South In the hills adjacent to the rich val
leys- Here is country that can support
and employ an almost incalculable popu-
lation. 1t is larger than all the manufac-
turing counties and departments of Great
Britain. Belgium, France, and Germany
combined. and contains more coal, iron,
and woods than all of them.
In the Piedmont country we find the
wheat, tobacco, and cotton fields in the
immediate neighborhood of great water
powers. The coast region contains the
great truck gardens of the continent
alongside of almost inexhaustible depos-
it's of phosphates. Where else can such
a combination of resources be found in
such climate and under such skies?
Consider also the location of the
Southern States as to this continent and
to the world. Within one day of New
York by express freight and within eight
days of Liverpool. the central South has
a great advantage in its location. Sixty
million people live within a radius of 100
miles, the average days run of an ex-
press freight, of Knoxville, Tenn, which
we may take as the centre of this portion
of country, more people than can be
reached within a like radins from any
other point in America, for this circle
includes all our great centres of popula-
ton. from Philadelphia and New York to
Chicago and st. Louis, and from
St Paul and Detroit to Mobile and New
Orleans. The ports for this country are
Baltimore, Newport News, Norfolk, VIII
Charleston. Savannah. Mobile.
New Orleans, and Galveston. Their
limit
apparent at glance They are nearer
to the West Indies and South America
our future great markets. and with the |
!sthmian canal will be nearer to the
East than those of the Middle and East |
srn States. These are only a few of the |
conditions, familiar to everyone. which |
make the southern Appalachian country |
The most promising in the world.
The South could, with sufficient labor
and capital, produce ten times as much |
cotton, for one item, as it now produces |
This alone would equal the value of the |
present agricultural output of the entire
When all mankind becomes as
civilized as European peoples are now and
wears as many clothes it will require So
5000 bales of cotton to supply them. If
he South keeps up its present proportion
If the worlds cotton supply it will sell
=. 000.O00 bales, which. at present prices. !
would be worth more than all our eX-
,orts of wheat and meat. Something like
his is true also of the cereals, of tobacco, |.
If the animal products. and of the vege-
ables and fruits which this wonderful
and would yield.
From the standpoint of the European
armer the soils of the South have as yet
,een scarcely scratched. With intensive
utilizing the vast stores of phos-
,hates; with thorough cultivation of all
rable soils, using each in the best way.
md especially with manufacturers in
very valley to make markets for the
heavier and more perishabie products the
southern States can and will produce ten
lines the agricultural product they now
10; in fact. 1t is absurd to put measure
pon the products of so vast country
With such varied and almost wholly I'M
developed resources. These things will