The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-05-07
The South's Prosperity.
Agriculturaland Industrial Con-
ditionsF undamentallySound,
Says President Finley, of the
Southern Railway.---Causes
Of Soundness are Manifold.
New Bern Snn.

New Bern Snn
The people of the South-that
means banker, manufacturer, 'upr-
chant, farmer. mill operative and
day -lOborer-will read it somewhat
skpptirally ut first blush. that DUR
lug the recent financial depression
which spread itselfin general over the
whole United States, the sertion least
iffrrted by the low market eonhi-
'iOns WAS the Southern states. The
Washington Post says that in his
''iIrrss t" he Prosperity. convention
At Baltimore. President Finlay,nf the
Southern Railway. told the business
men of Balimor- why this was so.
Il know ofno section.' he said. Sin
which agricultural and industrial
conditions are so fundamentally
OnHd rs they ar. in the Sour hnrn
States
''Agri"nltural, and Industrial con-
'iltions fundamentally sound" tells
the story of tlre South's prosperity.
which continues togrOw by leaps and
bounds and refuses to be checked bv
disturbances elsewhere. The causes
Uf this sOnndness are manifold Chi.f
among them is the fact that the
South is still the worlds producer OF
cotton, and so improved have her
methods of production become, so
we'll adapted herrlimatp and soil. So
we'll established her system and sup
ply of labor, that she is practically
able to maintain a monopoly upon
cotton growing without straining
herself to meet competition. Furth-
ermore with her great sweep of sea-
coast, indented with numberless har-
bnrs, and transportation facilities
provided northern capital. reaching
into the very heart of the fields, she is
able to market her harvest at al
most minimum of labor and time
and cost.
Other causps of the South's fun
dampntal soundness" are no less i'm
pOrtant because they are moral
rather than material in their appli-
cation, though material the widest
extent in the results that Came from
them The people of-the Southern
states have not developed all the
higher ''isms" of the so-called modern
civiliza ton. They have been 90 busy
working for the common needs of
| life to take up with lads and develop
new theories for human conduct.
Tire gospel of work is the only thing
new to them. The desOlatiOn after
the war brought this to them, and
in the glory of adapting themselves
to this new theory and performing
it they have let the procession of
modern cultism slip by. This means a
more unified people with more ideals
in common and enabled to work to
gether as "a community with less fric-
ton. In the Southern states are
found few alien nationalities, few an
archists and few nondescript move
! ments seeking to reform humanity or
damn governments. The religion Of
their grandaddies is still good enough
| for them, and the old ideas of mans
honesty and woman's virtue and the
| sacredness ofmarriage and the invio-
liability of law and the state satisfy
them. In consequence, there is little
heard of divorces among a 400"
that includes half the white popula-
ton, little heard ofgrpat labor riots.
and not much noise about the op-
Grafton OF gigantic corporate octo-
puses of great wealth." The farmer
sell his produce for a good price and
spends his money in paying a good
price to the merchant for the needs
of his family. The manufacturer
pays a good price for his raw mate
rial, another to his employes,and still
another to the railroads for market
ing his wares; the money he gets
from their sale he turns back into his
business or invests and helps devel-
op the country. No fads and theories
are INDUCED in to eat up the money
needed for more substantial things.
In fact, the people of Dixie land are
simply too busy being prosperous to
be quarreling among themselves and
looking for hard times.
The South is growing, growing
richer and greater every year. 1t is
becoming more and more a land OF
opportunity. And the chief reason is
because it keeps to its old-fashiOned
ideals; il is too busy to be dabbling
in new-fangleh ones. Progress and
prosperity come as much from people
as from land and water.