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

=. 'ho VIII IopulStlc
agitation against railroads which is
sweeping over the South the New Or
leans Plcayune very wisely says:
IT it shall turn out that. blind to
their own welfare, careless Of their
great economic interests and deluded
oy politicians who are playing with
vast issues for their own politicaI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, some Of The states of
lhe great new south are cramping
.helr present and strangling their fu-
ture by legislation and attempts at
legislation which tend to ruin their
hnes OF communication with their
markets, they may awake to the fact
mat there IS grave danger of wide
spread industrial disaster as a conse-
quence OF i'll advised railway legisla-
tlon. Prudence should be called in
TO play in every ease to prevent con-
dltlons 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
mas 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 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 100000, 900
worth OF crops and stock, which was
T430,0o0,000 more than the total val
lie OF the agricultural products of The
| United States, the south excluded, in
loo0. OF manufactured products the
total in the south last year was So,
300,000,000, which was more than
five times The value Of the south IS
manufactured products in 1880. In
1906 the increase in the assessed val
lie OF property in the south was 81,
l00,o00,000, which was $350000,00O
more than the total gain in assessed
value from 1890 to 1900. In that
ten year period the increase in assess
ed value was 100000. In the two
years 1905 and 1906 the gain was
more than 81 ,600,0O0,0OO. The south
has developed it's industrial activi-
ties until it now has $250,O00,OOO in
vested i'll 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 Mcsaba ores. the
south. though lis iron AMI steel busi-
ness is in its infancy, is yet maxim.
! at the rate of 100000 tons of PIC
iron a year, which is but little less
than the United States made in 1880
and more than the entire county, en-
cluding the south, made at that time
In 1880 the United States mined a.
100000 tons of bituminous coal, OF
which the south mined 100000 tons
Last year the southern states mined
So,0O0,000 tons. Twenty-Five years
ago the exports through southern
ports amounted to about $3.50, 0,000,.
600 year, whereas foreign ship,
ments through southern ports the last
fiscal year were 1874, 100000.
Indicative rs these statistics are of
the broad, general progress of the
south, they do not begin to tell tho
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 a great scarcity Of la,
Dor and from the inability
Of railroads to handle the traf-
fic offered to them. So vast are the
resources of the south, so marvellous
ly blessed by nature is it that it af.
fords to the railroad builder and the
investOr in industrial pursuits the
most inviting opportunities in the
world. There is scarcely railroad
in the south that does not need double
tracking, and 5000 or 5000 miles
should be built every year for tn,
next fifteen or twenty years to meet
the pressing necessities for increased