Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-04
THE SOUTH OF TO-DAY
Editor Clark Howell Writes of
Its Development.
GROWTH IN 10Th CENTURY
He Predicts a Great Future for the
Section
COLOSSUS OF THE REPUBLIC
The Panama Canal VIII Make the
Gulf and South Atlantic the
Levant of the New World.
BY CLARK HOWELL,
Editor Of the Atlanta Constitution.

light of<the past and thrilled by the sug
gestions of the future the task of proph-
ecy is not necessarily difficult. Bringing the
eye of an engineer to the worlds map as
outlined by Mercator the salient points are
too prominent to be overlooked.
What sailor is there who would not rec
ognize safe harbor, or what agent or
transportation could fail to see how the
river leads to the sea and the sea to all the
ports of the opposite shore7
Taking these suggestions of nature and
looking at the map, the trained eye viii
see at once where the people ought to be,
If they are not, and can safely speculate on
their coming when emergency arises Acct
dent placed the first north Atlantic port at
Salem. but the effort of nature TO right her
self drifted the ship moorings down 10 Bos-
ton, later to New York, and the chamber
of commerce Of the latter city, in order TO
account for decreases in the shipping trade
has had Investigations made from Norfo
to Brunswick. The. mysterious hand of ma
ture is still at work IN the effort TO correct
the work of misplaced confidence.
New Yorks surprise Is no greater now
than was that of Boston in her turn, but
both cities have been the benehciaries OF an
accident growing out of politics, by which
the south was switched out of a century or
progress, which went to the northeast, ana
which was swiftly followed there by the IN
augUratlOn OF the cotton mining
In the millions of spindies which she set
to work in time, there was secured the
profits which formed the capital or other
industries In the early years OF the nine
teenth century il was New England which
rode on the OK cart, and South Carolina
and Georgia which went into the buiidlng
of railroads. The name of Robert \. Hayhe
lives in school books as that OF the man
who replied to Webster. How many are
there who knew thar Haxne was the orig
inai great developer of American progress;
that he entered the South Carolina legls a
ture' as q business man to push the Blue
Ridge railroad scheme, the purpose OF
whic was TO connect the great northwest
with Charleston; that while there Jonn =
Calhoun induced him to drop business ana
take up politics. and thus While the south
silent New England rushed into the held
and secured the coveted territory? Even as
It was the South Carolina faliroaa WIS
built, and stands as the pioneer OF tne
Union, and the state railroad OF georgia
MERGED the Cherokee country TO the west
which is to this day one OF the great trunk
lines leading to the sea.
Great Internal Revolution.
The south of today. however. has no
cause to regret what might be called her
misstep of the early years of the century.
Connected with the rapid building up of the
west. and the profit which resulted there
from to the east there were problems.
While the population of the south became
homogeneous, and built up high ideals of
patriotism well as of home and morals.
the new populations pouring to the west
had to be weaned from old customs ana
trained into rev, and this, too, without dis
turbing the serious fruit OF Amerleanism
which was kept intact IN the south Our
time of filling up the waste places Will oe
met by the American grandsons OF THESE
emigrants who WILL from the very first, De
capable of the most complete service. Thus,
the very inertness Of the southern people
has been to them 8 blessing. Iney nave
been so well drilled and assimHated that no
matter how strong the tide of immigration
may become they will have the SIKH ana
the good sense to direct IT, Added to tne
higher character of the immigration the
advantages of nature have been efnpfa-
sized SO that the motive power of the TWEEN
tieth century will be electric rather than
according to the slow measures Of the old
process.
The past twenty-five years furnishes
abundant evidence of the internal revolu-
ton which has been worked by the FORCES
of enterprise The great staple or cotton
has been redeemed from the unjust crlu-
cisna of former conditions, and stands once
more the king of production During al
that time when disaster would nave De-
fallen our balance of trade, 1t has oeen up
held by the regular inward drain OF sSoo,
COO 600 which came from 1t. 1t has been
discovered that the world needs every
pound produced, and that no other crop can
SO readily bring the money when needed
The great triumph, however, HAS peSiA tAS
sevefopment of the cotton factory. AL
though the world has over 9O,o0o.oo0 spin
dies in motion only 15,COO,Oo0 or which are
on the American continent, the Idea seemed
to prevail that this business belonged by
right 10 Old England and New England.
CROP which was worth $500. 100000 In the
field became worth. after passing through
a foreign loom, in the lowest grace Q. yam,
5000 COO GOO and in the actual manufacture
of sheetings and prints was worth Sl,ooo'-
100000
The Growing Industry.
Augusta and Columbus, in Georgia, fol-
lowed by Spartanburg, in South Carolina,
deserve the credit for seeing the business
which there was In the manufacture as we'll
as in the growth of cotton. Their phe-
nomenal dividends were first attributed to
unusual conditions, but other mills began
to grow up in every state of the cotton
belt and all made money, until now about
900, 900 bales are manufactured In the
fields.
There were but 164 mills in the south In
1880. with 861 800 spindles, and manufac-
turing S7,610. $50 pounds of cotton.
414 mills with 1892. 201 spindles, manufac-
turing a54 435. 60 pounds Was ever more
stupendous revolution made in an indus
trial line?
The aggregate Of spindles In 1893 was IA
per cent more than the year before, and
was exactly doubled since 1892 gain OF
100 per cent in six years was the pace set
by the closing years of the old century, and
the opening years of the twentieth century
have even bettered this record.
Enlarged attention Is given to the cotton
industry not only because the plazt ie ma
tive in the south, but because the almost
50, O0o 900 eco which goes into its manufac-'
ture is a price which may well place the
possessors of 1t in the very front ranks Of
commercial operators. Time was when iron
was king, but with the immense possibfli-
ties contingent upon the cotton trade iron
can only be granted a vice-regency here
after.
With a shipment of 100000 worth OF
sheetings on a Spartanburg sidetrack at
one time to go unbroken to China some
idea may be found Of what the trade is go
ing to be-
The Pacific is to be to the twentieth CEN
fury what the Atlantic ocean has been to
the world ever since the Mediterranean
ceased to float the worlds commerce The
ports OF Japan, China and all OF Asia. as
well as of Australia. lie across the water
from U.s. In Asia alone there are S00,0o 600
people in need of the first requirements of
civilization Their need for clothing, the
manufactures of wool marble and iron Is
growing persistently. while their ability TO
cultivate the genius of the artisan is too
remote to be even considered. They have
little need for the mere raw material. We
<afI xxssz4i ff1<x~ affl