The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1906-05-02
THE COURSE OF EMPIRE.

Nowhere in all the country has
recent financial and industrial de-
velopment been so marked as in
the South. The agricultural and
commercial activity and general
prosperity of the South today, as
shown by carefully gathered data
transcend the statistics of the en-
tire country. thirty years ago. Nc
other section has made an ad-
vancement during the past quart
er of a century that has been
quite so phenomenal. The South
today as compared with her con-
dition at the close of the Civil
War, presents such rapid strides
in material and civic develop
ment as are recorded nowhere
else in the history of nations.
Her Is, 900, 900 people are alive
to her growing interests and de-
mands and astir with the new
life that springs from an effusion
of possibilities. All the pent up
enthusiasm of this favored land
seems about to berst forth in one
mighty current of substantial and
economic progress.
In agricultural productions the
South has never had a rival in
this country. The North and
East have been able to boast of
their manufactures and COM
merce, and the West of it's mines
and timbered and grazing inter-
ests; but in the products of the
soil, the fertility and climate of
the South have placed her easily
at the head of the American pro-
cession from the earliest day of
her settlement.
But the end is not here. Last
year the South mined 10000, 900
tons Of coal, 9,244.0OO tons of
coke, produced AZ, 495, 900 barrels
oil oil and made 3, 10000 tons of
pig iron. Many a nation has
grown vain over a mineral pro-
duction not half so magnificent.
She has over $225, 900, 900 of
home capital invested in cotton
mills alone, her annual lumber in
come exceeds $3.50, 600, 900, while
her farm products every season
reach the dazzling aggregate of
81, $50, 0OO,0O These are en-
pire building figures. No sane
man, even prompted by ranking
jealousies and sectional prejudice,
can turn up his nose in the face
of cold facts and impartial fig
ures. The course of empire is
southwark. Every year sees a
constant stream of energy and q
corresponding wave of develop.
ment steadily pouring in that. di-
rection. The Nation cannot blinc
itself to the superior opportuni.
ties and munifcent resources Of
the South. Her rich alluvialsoil
salubrious atmosphere, soft eli.
mate and wealth of natural adj
vantages combine to make up &
whole approaching the incarna
ton of the ideal.
Yet with all this the South has
been content with the conscious.
ness of her own intrinsic worth
and his neither courted nor count.
enanced Irritation with other sec.
tons. She has even been modest
and charitable, claiming not hel
own. But in courage she has not
been lacking. Hers has been q
conservative loyalty, a fealty that
has adjusted itself to the soil that
gave it birth, and has shown its
teeth only when trampled upon.
But new conditions are confront.
ing her. The demand for more
positive and aggressive move
ment increases with the passing
years, and the voice of her re-
sources and latent possibilities,
that so long have cried out fol
development, is heard no longer
in vain. There is every reason
to believe that the South stands
on the threshold of an industrial
and commercial development such