The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-08-27
SHADOW OVER THE SOUTH.
Its Marvellous Prosperity Threaten
ed by the Hue and Cry Against
the Railroads.

In discussing the Wild Popullstlc
agitation against railroads which is
sweeping over the South tie New Or
leans Pieayune very wisely says:
If it shall turn out that, blind to
their own welfare, careless Of their
great economic interests and deluded
by politicians who are playing with
vast issues for their own political
aggrandizement, some Of the states Of
the great new south are cramping
their present and Stransling their fu-
ture by legislation and attempts at
legislation which tend to ruin their
lines Of communication with their
markets, they may awake to the fact
that there is grave danger of wide
spread industrial disaster as a conse-
quenee Of i'll advised railway legisla-
ton. Prudence should be called in
to play in every case to prevent con-
ditions. that may bring serious mis-
fortune to the south.
Whatever may be the conditions in
other parts Of the country, there is
certainly no section Of America which
has so little excuse for hostility to
railroads and corporations generally
as the south. In the south, at least,
the rapid increase in wealth is not be-
ing concentrated in a few hands, but
on the contrary is being shared in by
everybody. In every village and ev-
cry town, on every farm and in every
factory there are seen evidences Of
increasing wealth, and it is widely
distributed among all classes.
The farmers Of the south produced
last year more than $2,000,000,0O0
worth of crops and stock, which was
5O,OOO,OOO' more than the total val
ue Of the agricultural products Of the
United States, the south excluded, Ill
1880. Of manufactured products the
total in the south last year was So,
5O0,0O0,000, which was more than
FIVE times the value Of the south s
manufactured products in 1880. In
1906 the increase in the assessed val
ue Of property in the south was ST.,
1OO,OOO,0O0, which was $350,OOO,OOO
more than the total gain in assessed
value from 1890 to 1900. In that
ten year period the increase in assess
ed value was $76O,OOO,OOO. In the two
years 1905 and 1906 the gain was
more than $1,6OO,OOO,OOO. The south
has developed it's industrial activi-
ties until it now has $250,000,000 in
vested in cotton mills, or more than
the cotton mill capital Of the entire
country in 1880.
Notwithstanding the tremendous
development Of iron and steel in the
Pittsburg district as an outcome OF
the discovery Of the Mesaba ores, the
south, though its iron AMI steel busl-
ness is in its infancy, is yet making
at the rate Of 100000 tons Of pig
iron a year, which is but little less
than the United States made in 1880
and more than the entire county, ex-
cluding the south, made at that time.
In 1880 the United States mined AZ,
100000 tons Of bituminous coal, OF
which the. south mined 100000 tons.
Last year the southern states mined
s5,OOO,OO0 tons. Twenty-Five years
ago the exports through southern
ports amounted to about $25O,OOO,-
900 year, whereas foreign ship
ments through southern ports the last
fiscal year were $734,OO0.0OO.
Indicative as these statistics are OF
the broad, general progress Of the
south, they do not begin to tell the
whole story of its material advance
ment. Moreover, this advancement
would have been even greater but for
the fact that the south is suffering
from great scarcity of la
bor and from the inability
of railroads to handle the traf-
fic offered to them. So vast are the
resn ~ces Of the south, so marvellous
ly blessed by nature is it that it at
fords to the railroad builder and the
investor in industrial pursuits the
mo4 inviting opportunities in the
word. There is scarcely railroad
in the south that does not need double
tracking, and 5000 or 5000 miles
should be built every year for the
next fifteen or twenty years to meet
A. ,,,.,e.;no. ooooccitiae for increased