The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-05
MUCH GOOD DONE BY INDUSTRIAL AGENTS South is Prospering as Never
 Before CAN COMPETE WITH NORTH Sylvester Baxter Writes in New York Sun of Recent Tour Made of
 the Southern
 States.
CAN COMPETE WITH NORTH

Washington, September 4-(Speeial)- An article of unusual interest to the south, the first of a series by MT. sylves- ter Baxter, dealing with the work of the railroads in the south's industrial up- building, has just been published by the New York Sun. In this article MT. Baxter points out the tremendous growth of southern industries in the past ten years under the impetus imparted by the ef- forts of the land and industrial bureaus of the railroads.
 According to MT. Baxter the present great industrial development of the south has been made possible only by the railroads in the adoption of the most modern and enlightened methods for the exploitation of the territory tributary to their lines. In the ante-bellum days southern railways were broken up into numerous fragmentary sections controlled by independent companies. There was, therefore, little possibility of action in unison as demanded by modern traffic requirements. But with the development of great transportation systems like the Southern and other leading lines created
  it has become possible to undertake on a large scale the work of attention to the resources and possibilities of the south as a manufacturing as well as an agricult- ural section. That the interest of com munity and its railways are identical and not opposed to each other Is strikingly illustrated by the results of this work as told in the busy wheels and spindles of the great workshops going up all over the southern states. Largely in conse- quence of the efforts of the industrial de- partments of the southern roads a great movement of capital industry and pop ulation has taken place toward the south.
 Represent Mileage of 4o,ooo.
 How extensive has been this work may be seen from the fact that the southern railway land and industrial agents as- sociation now represents sixteen different railway companies whose combined mill cage Is over 10000, covering every part of the ten great states which they pen citrate.
 MT. Baxter proceeds to describe the manner in which the work of these de- partments is carried on by the employ ment of district agents to report the open ings for new industries in the southern states, by negotiations to bring industries from other parts of the country to sec tions of the south to which they are adapted, through publications devoted to the commercial and industrial interests of their territory and through the friend ly assistance extended to new industries to enable them to become firmly establish ed. He says that the marvellous increase of new investments fin the south, amount ing In the past three years to the tre- mendous sum of $340, 600 600, is due in large measure to this systematic intelligent and concerted effort
 Not All Phllanthropists.
 While all this work, of course, is not philanthropic," says Mir. Baxter. The purpose of no great industrial corpora ton being to do good without refer- ence to financial returns it has the same results. It is an enlightened self inter- est in the line of policy. productive of good to all concerned. The millions up- on millions of dollars that have been added to the wealth of the south by such work are beyond comprehension. While the creation of good railway facilities has been the chief factor in the phe- nomenal development of the south in re- cent years. 1t Is evident that but for the work of these land and industrial de- partments the process of growth would have been immensely longer than it has been"
 In an interview today Mir Baxter said that although he had endeavored to keen himself informed as to the progress of the south in recent years he was amazed at the evidence of rapid growth which he had witnessed in the tour of several months from which he has just returned
 Tn my opinon' said MT. Baxter. "The present industrial development of the southern states, which remarkable as 1t is is really only at its inception. ac- counts for much of the rapidly growing opposition in that part of the country to such legislation as the Esch-Townsend bill or any law by which the fixing of railway rates will become a government function.
 "The south. more than any other part 1 of the country, will be likely to suffer | from the regulation of railway rates by | the government for 1t Is really at the 1 beginning of It's industrial development. Ii needs, more than the older and more fully developed sections like New Eng | land and the middle states. that elas- ticity of rates which can only be re- tained If the railroads are allowed there present freedom of action.
 Can Compete With North | "A striking example of this is found in | the development of the cotton spinning, furniture making and iron and steel in- dustries of the south The cooperation of the railroads with the men who have established and are developing these in dustries has enabled them to compete in | the markets of the country on equal l terms with the old established cotton manufacturers of New England, the steel mills of Pittsburg and Chicago, and the | furniture manufacturers of Grand Rapids and other northern cities Should the fix i Ing of rates be entrusted to a govern ment body. this necessary elasticity would inevitably be destroyed by the adoption of rates fixed on a distance basis. The disastrous results to the new and rapidly expanding industries of the south which would follow such a course | can hardly be over estiamted."
 Perhaps it is not etched enough; send