The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-09

statements of the kind he has print ed are given any notice at all it Is the opinion of The News that the briefest pllsned in the last four decades in material and intellectual directions is at once he best and the most instruc- tive way & to overcome assertions essen | Henry w. Grady, in the most elo- quent speech that ever fell from Amer ican lips, described che condition of the South in the first hour. of defeat in terms as profoundly truthful as they were passionately sympathetic. In brief, the South then lay under a curse than civilized men ever knew before. and all the more intense from contrast with the easy abundance of genera tions preceding the furnace blast of war Make comparisons any way you please between the South of 1S55 and l the South of 1905, and Dr. Hart is an- swered Tn fashion to refute him ut terly. The test of peoples quality Is never found merely in the position it holds at a particular moment. Its starting point, its direction of move ment and tine distance it has made are even of more weight than that in forming a sound judgment of the ques- | tion of general achievement.
 1 Take a few details as illustrative uine advancement of the South since the close of the war. In thirty years, | to take the latest figures available, the population of that section has in- number of farms is 95i.O00, the acreage of improved lands is doubled, the as- sessed valuation stands at twice the figures of the earlier epocn. and the $250. 900. 900 annually. The cotton crop | alone Is worth the sum of $525.0OO.0O0 a year. The. assessed valuation ex- | ceeds six billions.
 In manufactures the South has out stripped the world in recent years in the progress 1t has made, especially in the manufacture Of cotton. The price of iron in world markets is-established by the cost of Southern production, be- cause it is cheapest and more easily handled in that region South Caro- cotton mill output, and DSist soon sur, pass her completely. Georgia and Alabama are hot on the industrial track of Pennsylvania. and in Texas which she Is rushing forward indus trially and commercially nor to the resources of her enormous domain.
 But even more remarkable than her material progress is the advance of the South in the department of edu- cation since her business men got on their feet and became able to turn their attention to schooling; the ris- ing generation. Many of the ablest Northern educators who have visited all parts of the South testify to the excellence or the SSnOOl system ol every State for both white and black children. Professor Sheath of Yale, is a typical example of mind trained to Northern methods and results, and yet warmly enthusiastic over the ad- mirable work he finds going on in the South, and especially in the higher in- structions of learning.
 It Is possible in brief newspaper article to touch on this subject of Southern development only in the most general terms. The News has given it careful attention for many years and feels qualified by study at first hands to oppose the conclusions of Professor Hart, squarely and without compromise. The South Is stronger than ever in every way. She is deal ing with tremendous problems in a thoroughly rational way, and needs but to be understood in. the rest of the United States to be appreciated as a magnificent element of the glorious Union that Is the great mother of us all.