The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1903-12-25
Tie Prosperity in the South.

That the South is prosperous.
every body who has given the mat
ter the least attention or has oh
served the many and various indi-
cations which enable the student
TO engage in economic condition
Of community or country must
have long since discovered This
prosperity, which is felt in every
branch of activity. is developing
new Industries and causing the
erection of factories everywhere.
1t IL not sudden and ephemeral
growth. but the result of five years
Of good prices for the South's
principal staple crop.
The Manufacturers Record OF
Baltimore. in II review of the effect
Of the present prices of cotton on
the prosperity of the South, points
out that in the last five years dur
ing which there has been II gradual
rise in the price until the present
very high figures have been reach
ed. the excess in the value of the
South's cotton crop over the pre-
ceding five years Is SSOO.OO0,OOO
The magnitude of this excess.
says the Manufacturers Record.
''and the influence which it must
have upon the prosperity of the
whole country, especially upon the
South. is illustrated in the fact
that il is nearly twice "a much az
the entire capital invested in all
the cotton mills of the United
States in 1900. it is about equal t.
the present market value of the en-
tire property of the United States
Steel Corporation, it i more than
the market value of the Standard
Oil Company. and more than the
entire capital of all the national
banks of the United States. For
the first two or three years of this
five year period the Southern
farmers used their increased earn
iDgs To pay up debts; then the,
began to account late Il little. and
this year they will be in shape to
spend more money freely than for
many years"
Even assuming, for the sake oi
being conservative, that the hg
of the Manufacturers Record ar,
optimistic, there can be no escap
ing the fact that they are in til,
main perfectly correct, and If they
err AT all il is merely in degree anC
not in substance, In the year | S9s
~ the cotton crop was ll,2I4.Uu(
bales. the largest ON record. and a
that time the average price of cot
! ton was little, If any. more than
cents per pound, or SO per bale
On that basis the South sold il.
largest crop for S2o2,OOO. 900 il
round figures. Should the crop o.
of the present season prove to b,
; no larger than 100000 and sci
at an average price no greater thar
III cents per pound, and ii ma,
sell for more, the South would re
, live 500, 100000. or nearly $3.50
100000 more than il received fol
it's largest crop.
Such being the unvarnishe,
! facts. IL is not surprising that tn,
South Is prosperous. Old debts
have long since been paid off an,
. money laid aside against rain,
day, so that much of the surplu:
from the present crop can be de
voted TO new enterprises and tn,
purchase of all sorts of comfort.
and luxuries which the people O
this section were compelled to dc
without in the days of and & cen
cotton.
= There are people who claim tina
the decreased condition of cottor
in the South has been partly du,
to the diminished fertility of tn,
> cotton States and partly to a sys
tematic curtailment of cotto,
acreage, with a view to infiuencins
prices. The more reasonable ex
PLANTATION, aside from rather re-
markable weather conditions. j.
. the fact that the energies of til.
people have to some extent beer
diverted into other channels. Will
factories starting up on every hand
the supply of labor is drawn away
from the cotton fields. This ex