The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-02-23

sncoura sing friendship to repair the raw
ages created BY the war, and behold
transformation which reads like q fairy
tain such another instance of magnani-
nifty on the part Of conqueror and ability
OF the conquered In such . short interval
to repair not only the waste places. but
e r the shf Il the :. oSssa
lesson which the other great nations may
study with profit and never ending In
The Director Of the last census has just
issued . statement showing that Tor the
pastsdecade the South kept pace with the
West and North in increase Of popula-
ton. and the significant feature Of 1t Is
that while the increase In the West and
In the South the increase was over
whelmingly in the country and small
towns. This IL a healthful. hopeful sign.
1t shows that there il life in the old
and landed estates 10 still an instinct Of
the descendants Of the cavaliers, a. 1t
was in Washington's time. No country
can be near to decaying which shows
tile farms being cleared to make way
for homes and profitable agriculture. Nor
has manufacturing been neglected: on the
contrary. the Development now going on
South is a revelation to the world. and
1t bids fair to surpass the industrial de-
velopment Of the West in the years sue
ceeding our civil war. Industries are
dividends which would surprise the bus
mess world II they were made public. For
years It was said the Southerner had
genius for politics. but no aptitude for
business. What an egresious mistake!
through self-defense. in politics trying to
preserve the status quo II now engaged
In business. It 10 building railroads. cot
ton factories. iron industries and all 9TH
er kinds OF manufacturing establishments.
The South. In complete control of Its own
affairs at home, II not much disturbed as
to who IL In control Of affairs at WASH
inGton. although. as the wife Of Louis
does like to hear his whip crack occa-
sionally." Genius Is but faculty tntensi-
fled, or. a. DR.. johnson said, great gen.
eral powers of mind capable Of being
the same intellectual forces in the South
which controlled the policies and desti-
nies of this whole nation for the sixty
years preceding the civil war, when now
devoted to commerce and manufacturing,
will not be able to meet competitors when
nature has given them the advantage of
soil. climate and cheaper labor and
cheaper raw material? He must needs
be very rich or very reckless who invests
his money solely upon the idea they can
not, and regardiesa Of all natural advan-
tages.
/ would not have you think, however,
that these great strides in manufacturing
In hte South have been without effort,
or that hers has been a primrose path
of dalliance''-on the contrary. she has
been making fight for the last thirty
five years which required more courage,
fortitude and patience than 1t did to
carry on the four years Civil War. She.
without experience or adequate capital
and beset with race troubles on every
side. wherein the greatest kindness was
non-interference, has met the fiercest
competition which brains and money
could supply. and like all great and last
ing achievements In the business world,
they have been accomplished by siren
uous and unremittiIe efforts and by fight
ing over every inca of the ground. He
labor. hoe opus est A less brave or less
cheerful people would have given up in
sheer depsair. and the fact that they did
not has justified the faith and kindness
of their friends. and has shown that they
are well worthy to be called by that name
OF which we are all so proud--that Of
Americans.
When the South first commenced to
manufacture iron 1t was confidently as
serted by her competitors that while
Southern iron might be made cheaply, 1t
was of an inferior quqality and fit only
for CHEAP castings. but when the South
erner commenced to ship and sell his iron
In Pittsburg. Cincinnati and Philadelphia,
and when the English and German man
ufacturer began to actually prefer the
Southern over the Pennsylvania and Ohio
iron, that Misrepresentation died and
was gathered unto its fathers. Then IL
was said the culture of iron was steel
and steel could not be successfully made
out of the Southern iron for the reason
that the Cos. of elimin ating the objection
able properties in the ores, and reducing
the same to steel. would be more than
the steel would bring in the market The
enormous steel industries now in success
full operation in the South disprove this
q md M tnH nd
cred unto its fathers. Then it was as
serted that the Southern iron man paid
so much higher rate for money than his
Northern competitor that the advantages
OF his location and cheapness of his raw
materials were neutraliZed by his lack
of capital and the high rate he had to
pay for money. The successful reorgani-
cation OF Southern iron companies giving
them an abundance OF working capital at
a low rate Of interest, demonstrated that
capital with its keen instinct for profit
had unbounded confidence in the future
of iron in the South, and was DESTROYS
of developing and utilizing its great nat
ural resources to the mutual advantage
of both lender and borrower. and so this
last misrepresentation died and was gath
cred unto its fathers.
The development In the mining of coal
has kept steady pace with the manufac-
ture of iron. and. If anything, has exceed
ed II, while as to the lumber business, 1t
Is generally admitted there are no tim
pcr IoicStS oI any consequence now
standing available for manufacture ex-
cept in the South. AS to the oil bust
ness, / guess you know something about
that up here.
The development of cotton manufac-
turing in the South is even more remark
able than that of the iron and coal busl-
ness. 1t is SIMPLY inconceivable even to
those among whom this development is
taking place and those who do MT visit
the South have no idea of the wonderful
transformation going on there. But a few
years ago the South had but few cotton
factories and their output was a negli-
glble quantity. Today there is hardly a
village but what has it's one or more
cotton factories. sometimes many as
ten or twelve. Today the South spins as
many bales of cotton as New England.
although it started in this bust
ness but yesterday. Who can doubt that
the iron logic of events has decreed that
In few years practically the whole cot
ton crop will be spun into cloth in the
South, thus increasing the value of that
crop many fold, besides giving steady en-
ployment to hundreds of thousands of
peoplef At the beginning of our cotton
manufacturing Ii was said by our COM
petitors that the South could never make
a success Of 1t for several reasons, one of
which in chief was, the lack of skilled or
capable labor, but here again reasoning
from false or mistakenly assumed prem
Uses produced false conclusions as in the
iron business for the wife and daughter
of the so-called Southern Cracker, who
have afforded our New England magazine
writer's such amusement, have proved to
be the very best cotton mill laborers in |
the world-patient. careful, loyal and in
dustrious and without desire to organize
labor unions and demand unjust exac-
lions from their employers. 1t is a poetic
and refined justice that puts ii in the |