The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-20
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
THIS SECTION SHOULD LEAD
 THE WORLD.
The Best Agricultural Section Makes the Best Manufacturing Sectlon |. and Vice Versa-strong
 Paper by Dr. Dabney.

Taper Dy UT. OdohSJ'
 Baltimore, Sid., Aug. 16.CSpecial)- Ds.s fshaS |fkE,s " Dabney, who as As s31AaG $HGfktary of Agriculture won dstlncfiSN as a scienttnc and prdctlcai expert and who is one of the leaaers ln the asficEinafal anu indt striai deVei- cpment of thkEouth, contributes 70 thls eek's issue of The Manutactnrers Record a striking paper bearing upon the wonderful potentialitles or asricui- ture in the South anu their felatioh to it's general advancement. He contends that the South is capable Of ilustrat- ing fully the principles that the coun- try that can supp.y the eatest Vatlety of products, raw and manut tet ireo' and can find markets for them near home, is bound to become the weal'h- test country; that manufacturers make the home market; that farmers make markets to a large extent for the man. ufacturers and hence, that the pest farming country is, after all. t1e pest manufacturing country and Wee versa. He continues:
 These well-known principles nave been restated here for the purpose or calling attention to the great economic advantages possessed by the southern States, especially those lying on either side of the Appalachian system "r ow no other country in the world so rich in both agricultural and mabufactur ing resources. Cons.dar how wonderfully these two great classes of reso:::ces are varied and mingled in the south. Coal and iron, marble and hardwf ods copper and zinc abound throughout ti | upland regions of the South in the ] Ills adjacent to the rich valleys. Here is | a country that can support and em- | ploy an almost incalcu;dbie population. | It is larger than all the manufa, tul- | ing counties and departments of Great | Britain, Belgium, France and Germany combined, and contains nore coal, iron and woods than all If th.r,.
 Tn the Piedmont country we find | the wheat. tobacco md ;l:e cotton | fields in the immedaIe neighborhood of great water powers. The coast re- | zion contains the great truck gardens of the continent alongside of almost | inexhaustible exhausts os 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. Ni.hin one day of | New York by express frciyht and with | ing eight days of Liverpool the Central l South has a great advantage in it's iG- cation. Six million people live within a radius of 700 miles, the average dsy 5 run of an express freight, of Knox 1 vile, Tenn, which we may take as the center of this portion of country, more people than can ta reached with in a like radius from any other point in America, for this circle includes als l | Philadelphia and New York to Chica go and St Louis. and from St. Paul and | Detroit to Mobile and New Orleans. The ports for this country are Balti- more. Newport News. Norfolk, Nil- mington. Charleston. Savannah. Mo pile. New Orleans and Galveston. Their | proximity to the marke-s of the world are apparent at a glance. They sle nearer to the West Indies and Son.h America. our future great markets. and With the isthmian canal will be nearer 10 the East than those ot the Middle ana Eastern States. These are oi,lv A few of the conditions. familiar to ev- eryone. which make the Southern Ap- pdlachlan country the most promising in the world.
 The South could, with sufficient la DOT 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 out put Of the entire country When all mankind become as civilized as Euro pean people are now and wear as many clothes. it will require 50,O00, 900 bales or cotton to supply them. If the South keeps up its present proportion of the worlds cotton supply it will sell 3S. ooo.ooO bales. which, at present prices | wnIId xHynr
 ports of wheat and meat. Somethins like this Is true also of the cereals. of tobacco. of the animal products and Of the vegetables and fruits which this wonderful land would yield.
 From the standpoint of the Euro pean farmer. the soils of the South hke as yet been scarcely scratched With intensive methods. utilizing the vast store sof phosphates: with thor. ough cultivation of all arable soils. us ing each in the best way, and especial ly with manufacturers in every valley to make markets for the heavier and more perishable products the Southern States can and will produce ten times the agricultural product they now do In fact. 1t is absurd to put measure upon the products of so vast a coun. try with such varied and almost who'll ly undeveloped resources. These things will come in time"
 The South's importance in our foreign commerce has been demonstrated again and again. at no time. perhaps, more strikingly than during the past fiscal year According to an analysis of the export figures by The Manufacturer Record the South contributed more than one-third to the total exports and through Southern ports passed goods | to the valrIe of S52S 6S4 706 or 35 R ner cent of the total Ii quotes. as typi- cal the figures of the three North At lantic ports and of the three Southern ports at which the bulk of the in creases for their respective sections occurred and says:
 'The increases al these ports in their order were: Boston. $s1 .51271s. or 2G per cent; New York. S10. .75S507. or ? per cent: Portland. $2.474 90a. or "A per cent: New Orleans $36, 6,917.s35 or 31 per