The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-11
CLOSING DAY OF THE
 A. P. l. COMMENCEMENT
Richard il. EdmOndS Delivers the AddreSS---HOn0rs Conferred--Degrees Received by Many
 Young Men--Alumni Meeting. 3,.

coal which burdened it's mountains, of It's cotton and its timber, as furnishing basis for unlimited employment and for wealth greater even than what 1t had known before 1860. But what a mighty change 1t had to face! The twenty years which had pessed since is6o-for 1t was not until about 1880 that 1t could seri- ousiy begin industrial devclopment-had witnessed wonderful expansion of man ufactures, of trade and of wealth throughout the North and the West. hile they, advancing with giant strides, had created great industrial prosperity the South had been crushed by the war, with its overwhelming losses of men and property. In that dark period of poverty who would have dared to predict that in twenty years the South would win the worlds recognition as the strongest com petitor for industrial supremacy? Who would have dared to predict that in that twenty years the rate of industrial and agricultural advancement would be greater in the South than in the North asts; and yet these things have all come to pass.
 Progress Since 1880.
 Though statistics must be used to tell the story of the South's industrial up- building since 1880. they really tell only a small part of 1t. It Is true that they present in concrete form the most salient points, but there is a great background to be sketched, and without seeing this the full measure of what has been wrought and what this means to the fu- ture of the South-yea, to the future of our whole country-cannot be understood. It does not mean much to most people to be told that the output of coal in the South Is now over 60.000.000 tons a year and the production of pig iron over 5000. = OO0 tons. These, of course, are large ffg- ures, but as the industrial expansion of the country is the wonder of the age such figures might merely mean that the South Is possibly keeping step with the nations advancement. Comparisons 1t is said are odious, but comparisons are essential to right understanding of figures such as these, as well as of all other statistics. They furnish the perspective which en- ables us to judge rightly of what has been done. It may not count for much to say that the South's coal output is co., 100000 tons year. but 1t counts a great deal to say that this Is nearly 20,000, 600 tons more than the total bituminous coal production of the United States in 1880 coal output of 1860. The production of coal in Alabama last year was about Il. 000.000 tons, while the production of bituminous coal in the United States In 1860 was less than 6000,00o tons. The pig iron made by Southern furnaces is now four times as great as the output of the United States in 1860 and is almost equal to our total production as late as 1eS0 But even the full significance of these figures does not appear unless we study them in the light of other things. To measure their importance we should 20 back to Colonial days and trace the in- dustrial activities of the people of the South as shown in their forges and foun- dries and diversified manufactures on down to the day when Whitney's cotton gin revolutionized economic conditions and fastened slavery for more than half a century upon the South. We should fol- low the trend of capital and energy to growing, which. for forty years, by reason of the high prices of cotton, aver aging during thst period seventeen cents a pound. caused a concentration of the energy of the South upon this industry, with sugar, iron, rice. corn and food stuffs forming good second. We should have to study the great changes which came about in the revival of the indus trial spirit in the South when in 182 and lS43 cotton declined to an average of about five cents a pound. Then we would see that the recrudescence of the indus trial spirit almost dormant for half a century, resulted in most wonderful rail- road and industrial advance. Between 1850 and 1860 the South built 7,562 miles of railroad, while New England and the Middle States combined built only 47l2. The South's industrial interests during the same period made almost as marked progress, and though most of It's facto- ries were small, as were New England s III IIelT carry stages, they numDeTe0 Tn 1860 nearly 25o with an aggregate capi- tai of $175 100000.
 So great was the prosperity of the old South based on this railroad and indus the Ss es s Sy ests, that in 1880 the United States cen sus reported the assessed value of the soHths property at ssS 900 ooo or A country. Bear these facts in mind and turn to 1870. The Souths industrial in- terests had been plotted out by the war By the same war q tremendous impulse had d been Sen S5 to th9ss of Hew Ensandd value of in the South hsd doS drSP 600 in 1870, In 1860 the true valuation of all property in the country. as distinct from the assessed valuation. was yl6.lbs;. per cent, was credited to the South that section outranking the Middle and New England States combined by H4o, 900 .ooo crease in the " valuation .s1 of Southern grease of g. 46O. .OOO,0OO in the New England and Middle States combined. Tn 1S60 the land and Middle States was $5.591, ,oOo, o0O and in the Southern States 6.332, coo 900. difference in favor of the South of S74o.: ruin of the war. the total valuation of Southern property had dropped to e4.400,- . o00,c00 and that of the New England and
  0OO In 1860 the South had exceeded thesc sections by OO00O0; in 1870 1t was $1o. 300 o0,0O0 behind them. It Is because these facts are not generally known that the old South Is accused of having lacked energy and enterprise. Its people are even now charged, often by Southern pa pers and Southern speakers. with having been less active than those of other sec lions in the development of their country and in the creation of wealth.
 The South of Activl.y.
 The South of today. the South of in- dustrial and railroad activity. Is not q new South. but a revival of the old South whose broad commercial spirit. crushed by the war. is again seen in the development of every line of industry to which this section was bending It's ener- have studied these facts that we can rightly measure the potentiaIities, of this section Only in this way can be had the proper viewpoint from which to study