Sunday Washington globe., 1902-05-04

I'm that section of our common country
alone there are uudeveloped resources
sufficient to afford profitable investme mt
for all of our unemployed capital for gener'
atious to come. It's development has only
fairly begun The South was, until recent
years, distiuctively an agricultural country
and vet after all these years, its agriculture
Is still in its youth. But little more than
half of its agricultural lands have been
cleared BY reason Of its sparse population
not more than two.thrds of that which has
been cleared Is cultivated and because Of
its inefficient system of labor and lack OF
capital, that which is cultivated does not
yield much more than half of what it is
capable of producing
Touching manufacturing and mining in
the South, Mr.. Simmons showed that they
were in their infancy and offered rich fields
for exploitation of capital He said:
In North Carolina, my own state, the
number of manufacturing establishments
in 1890 were 3,667; in 1900, 7,226, an increase
of q2 per cent. Capital invested in manu-
featuring in North Carolina in 1890, S52,74S,
600; in 1900, So 5o5, 900, an increase of t33
per cent Value of property employed in
manufacturing in 1890, S45,575 600; in 1900,
SI44ooo, 900, an in crease in ten years of G55
per cent.
'As wonderful as this record is the growth
of manufacturing at the South, as said
before has been retarded By the want of
capital. The increase of these twenty
years is but a fraction of what will be the
increase of the next twenty years If the
capital which we expect will 6ud invest.
meut there is not unfortunately diverted
from us for the purpose of exploitation in
distant parts of the world Certainly no
other part of the world today offers more
profitable investment than the South
What is true of the South is also relatively
true Of a large area in the western part Of
our country.
IF the money which we have spent in the
Philippines since the close of the Spanish
war had been invested in the reclamation of
the arid lands of the West millions of acres
of valuable land would to-day be open to
settlers, and in the next generation would
have yielded a trade more profitable than
any we can hope TO get from the Philip.
pines for generations to come. 1 assert
with entire confidence, Mr.. President that
the same amount of money expended in
the South and in certain sections of the
West in the development Of our resources
there would create many times the trade,
many times the demand for the products Of
our mines and factories, that the same
amount of money expended in the Philip.
pines would create.
In considering the value to us of the
Philippines for the purpose of trade. we
must also consider the cost of subduug
them and governing them while we are
creating this trade We have already spent
$4,000, 900 in attempting to subdue these
islands, and our army there is now costing
us not less than $4,000, 900 year. It will
be necessary for US to maintain an army
there of from 10000 to 10000 soldiers for an
indefinite period of time
In conclusion, Mr. Simmons protested
against the holding Of the Philippine Is.
lands as a possession of the United States,
declaring that if retained the islands could
bring to this country only disaster and mis-.
fortune.