Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-30
s0UTH'S PROGRESS
Interview With D. A. Tompkins
of Charlotte, N. c.
THE RESOURCES DEVELOPED
Industry Has Taken the Place Of In
dolence.
SKILLED LABOR BROUGHT IN
Utilization of Products and Forces
That Were Formerly
Neglected.
BY WILLIAM z. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the Chicago
|, Record Herald
| AT SEA, s. 8. st. Louis June s. 1906.
| A few days before sailing met at Wash
| fngton Mr.. D. A. Tompkins OF Charlotte,
N c., who was calling at the White House
| with committee of the American Manu-
| facturers Association to solicit the aid of
the President In securing the passage Of
| the bill that has been so long before Con-
sress to build up merchant marine. The
President told Mr.. Tompkins and his asso-
ciates that he was all right. The trouble
was at the other end of the avenue, and adj
vised them to bring all the pressure they
could command upon the Speaker of the
House of Representatives. the Wisconsin,
| Minnesota and Iowa delegations and other
republicans who are opposed to the bill.
| Mr.. Tompkins Is one of the most progress
| sfve and influential business men in the
south; the president of big manufacturing
concern that makes all kinds of machinery.
and Is associated with Mr.. Caldwell anoth-
er OF the same sort, in publishing the Char
lotte Observer. No city of similar size has
better newspaper. 1t is one of those
anomalies that you find it frequently in the
south, advocating republican doctrines and
supporting the democratic ticket. Nobody
minds that Inconsistency, however, every
body understands the reason for it, It is
color blindness
Mr.. Tompkins is enthusiastic about the
progress and prospects of the south, and
that Is one OF the reasons why he is so
earnest in advocating steamship subsidy
He grows particularly eloquent when he de-
scribes the remarkable industrial develop
ment and the promising of opportunities Of
his own state.
L asked him where they got the capital
to do such q big business down there.
You ask where the money comes from"
he replied II don't believe anybody could
tell you. It is little like the disappear
ance of the Indian. Every body has always
protested that the white man wanted TO
save and civilize the Indian, and l have no
doubt that has always been his motive, but,
nevertheless, the Indian gradually faded
until he disappeared from our part of the
country. Nobody brought money to North
Carolina Nobody there had any twenty
five years ago, and nobody has had much
in the interim. The facts seem to be that
immense values have been lying dormant
there for more than half a century under
the shadow of slavery. The three decades
succeeding the civil war constituted the pc
Rod OF thirty years war for Christian
civilization In the south. The civil war it
self was but a small calamity as compared
with the reconstruction period. AS soon
decent government was re-es tablished in
the south. the blighting influence of slavery
being gone, the sunshine of free Institutions
put values into all property just as yeast
puts value into dough to make bread.
Birth of Values.
an answer to the question where the
money came from. may suggest that cot
ton seed were formerly of no value Now
that product brings to the south one hun
dred million dollars every year. Formerly
we shipped our cotton away at six cents
a pound. or at $50 bale Now two million
bales of 1t is shipped away in the shape of
cloth to China and other foreign markets.
The value of cotton In cloth and yarn Is
more than 800 bale People who refused
to work in the presence of slavery have
now gone to work, and are bringing to
North Carolina and other parts of the south
the difference between the price OF cotton
and the price of cloth. Formerly only the
negroes worked; nobody else did Natural
forces and resources remained updeveloped
because the white men would not work and
the negro did not have sense enough to
develop those natural forces and resources.
Now that slavery has gone, everybody and
everything in the south works. The former
rich white man has gone to work; the for
mer poor white man has gone to work. and
the negro is very convenient helper to
both.
1.-THE hardwood trees of the state were
formerly worth nothing. They stood use
less in the forests, but now furniture max
ers are putting them into shape which
brings from one hundred to two hundred
d
the central city for furniture, has thirty
factories And 1t completes with Grand
Rapids in that business. The growth of
furniture factories is more rapid In North
Carolina than in Michigan at the present
time.
''The rivers which flowed useiessiy to the
sea from an elevation of thirty-five hun
dred feet have now in many cases been
harnessed and are delivering power along
their banks worth twenty and thirty dol
lars per horse power per year. Vast guam
tites of machinery have been brought into
the state and put to work. The coal mines
which were dormant for centuries have sud-
denly been developed. The soil has be-
come more productive by the intelligent
use Of fertilizers. The manufacture of fer
tilixers is giant industry of recent growth,
and the cotton states have the best regu-
lated fertilizing system In the country. All
these developments have brought values to
the railroads; have brought values to the
land; have brought values to the forests,
have brought values to the waters flowing
down from the mountains These more
ments all came without money. The indus
/ trial development In North Carolina has
been accomplished with very little money
The New England manufacturers have been
very liberal In letting us have machinery on
credit: the commission men OF New York
have given us long credits and they have
always got dollar for dollar with interest.
Coming Of Skilled Mechanics.
Formerly one OF the great handicaps In
the south was the lack Of knowledge and
skin in mechanical pursuits. This has been
overcome with the assistance of skilled
mechanics from New England and the mid
die states. Many of our best superinten-
dents and managers OF manufacturing an
terprises have come on the farms into the
factories and have learned the business.
The labor In all home labor and came most
ly from the farms.
Another source of capital Is notable In
the irst decade, after the civil war, the
south made two and a half million bales OF
cotton which brought q cents pound,
second decade the south made 100000
bales and sold It at II cents pound or
total OF 81 200 ,000.0 The third decade the