The Opelousas courier., 1905-11-25
soUTH's GREAT PROSPERITY.
Government Reports Show F%latterina
Advance Along All Lines.

Washington, October &C. - Recent
government reports indicate a great
wave of prosperity sweeping over the
south, and it would that this
prosperity in the fair land Of Dixie
is not confined to any particular Sec
ton Or industry. 1t is widespread.
From every state south Of the his
toric Potomac river comes the glad
tidings Of good times. This phenom-
email prosperity abounds in store, work
shop, mine, factory and in the con-
struction and improvement of rail-
ways. Not one discordant note is heard
on prosperity's lutte in the land Of
cotton and magnolia blossoms. Farm
ers are blessed with bountiful crops,
for which they are receiving magnif-
cent prices. The cotton manufacturer
finds himself put to a strong test to
fill the orders for goods he has from
both foreign and domestic buyers, and
railways are busy constructing new
lines to new industrial centers spring.
ing into being day by day.
But the greatest evidence of pros
perity at the south is to be found
in cotton milling and the manufacture
of furniture. In the past fifteen years
cotton mills and furniture factories
have sprung into being all over the
south, especially In the states of Ala
horo CnNr~in NNr%L To~11ira CoJJfh
Carolina and Virginia, and this good
year 1905 finds them working over
time to meet the demands for their
products. These cotton mills and fur
niture factories draw on the fields and
forests of all the states of the south
for their raw material. The railroads
are assisting them very materially in
their strides toward making the south
a manufacturing empire by a most lib.
eral policy in the matter of freight
rates, both On raw materials and man
ufactured produces.
The cotton mills of New England
have hitherto had a monopoly of cot
ton manufactures in this country. The
advantages enjoyed by that section III
water transportation which guaran-
teed to eastern spinners very cheap
freight, has In the past enabled yam,
keedom to maintain q complete mo-
nopoly in cotton milling. It is differ
ent, far different, today, however. The
great railway systems penetrating the
south, the home OF raw cotton and
virgin forests. concluded to aid strug-
Cling manufacturers in the south and
build up cotton milling and other man
ufacturing in that section. They re-
duced the freight on raw materials to
the mills and factories, and on the
manufactured products from the mills
and factories to the markets of the
east and west, which reduction plac-
ed the southern mill men and manu-
~facturers On an equal footing with the
cotton mills of New England and the
furniture manufacturers Of the west,
SO today the southern mill men and
manufacturers are enabled to market
their products at the very doors OF
the eastern and western m~anufactur-
ers in competition with them.
AS before stated, this liberal policy
in the matter of freight rates on the
part of the railways leading to the
south has been the chief means OF
building up her manufacturing indus
tries. the real cause Of her present un.
bounded prosperity and the southern
people owe a debt of gratitude to these
land transportation companies they
will never be able to repay in full