The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-04-13

of this city, in an address appealing to the south for conservatism in legis- lation, said;
 The south has justly boasted of it's great material progress What it has wrought in agriculture, in manufactures. and in railroad development has been the theme of many public addresses and of thousands of newspaper and magazine stories. This is all true, but may we not stop and inquire whether we are seizing the opportunities of the day in turning to the best account the resources which nature has lavished upon this section? Against the background of 15 years or more of ruin and desolation from 1860 to 1876, the achievements of the south since 1880 are hardly short of the marvellous. In that period it has increased it's pro- duction in agriculture from $660,O0OOO0 to $2, ,25O, GOO 900; in manufacturing from $751; 900 to $2. ,0O0,OO0, and in mining from SIT, ,O00, 900 to s26O O,000,00O It has in creas seed it's exports from $264,90O,OOO to $734,00 900, the length of it's rail roads from 20,6O0 to 65,000 miles and its aggregate wealth from $7,500,0 ,000,-
  it's population today of nearly 26,OOO,- 900, as compared with 33,S5500O Ill the rest of the country in 1SS0 the south Is mining more than twice as F Euch coal as the rest of the country mined 27 years ago. is making more than three times as much coke, more | than twice as much lumber and nearly rNIf al in vested in cotton mills Is more than 1 $3O, 1000, 0O0- greater than the capital so | invested in the rest of the country Ill 1 1S80 the value of it's farm products is nearly $70O, 100000 greater and the value of merchandise sent through it's ports is more than s150,00O, 900 great CT. Magnificent figures these! But, | is none of the natural power of the south abating? Are all of it's sources of wealth being developed as they 1 should be-? t4 s rs Massachusetts is about one hun
 dredth of the south in size. It has a l population about one-ninth that of ! the south. Yet, the factory products
 of Massachusetts are equal to 50 per cent of the factory products of tic
 south. North Carolina with its vast
 resources had total of factory prod
 ucts in 1904 of $142,oOO,oOO. Boston
 alone had a factory output of $1S4,-
 coo, 900. Is the south doing its best
 when such a condition prevails? Penn
 sylvania has 16,2S4 miles of coal; the
 south has 62,O00 square miles, Of
 timber and of iron ore within its limits Pennsylvania scarcely has any com pared with the south. Yet Pennsylva-
 nia factory products largely exceed
 the souths.
 Is the south accomplishing its best
 in manufacturing to the extent of l $2,50O, 100000 year, in the face of the ! S2,80O, ,000 900 done by Pennsylvania? With railroad mileage in proportion 1 to Pennsylvania,s, the south wouli
 have about 100000 miles, instead of 65,000. With mileage equal in pro- portion to that of Massachusetts, the 1 south would have 250,000 miles and l in view of our vast superiority in na- | tural resources, why should the south
 be willing to lag behind Pennsylva-
 mia and Massachusetts?
 | While Boston is type of the indus 1 trial progress of New England. it might | be said that its development is based l on long-continued growth, without inter- | ruption by war. Turn, therefore, and | contrast the progress of the Pacific coast, l the development of which is so entirely
 new, with what the south is doing. Look | at Seattle as a striking example. In : 1870 its population was only HOO, 8 mere | village. In 1900 its population was SO,OO | and in the last seven years this has been | increased to 225,0oo. The character of | it's business people is illustrated in the l fact that a few months ago 1t had under way public works such as paving, grad | ing, sewerage and water supply repre- | senting an investment of $12.500,000 With l in 10 years it's bank clearings have stead 1 fly increased from $36,0OO, 900 to over $bOO,- 1 GOO 900.
 Portland. Ore. has done almost as well
 and now has a population of l9o,ooo
 Los Angeles Is Remarkable.
 More remarkable than either Portland
 or Seattle is Los Angeles. In its semi | arid but fertile region Los Angeles, which | in 1890 had 50000 inhabitants, which as
 late as 1900 had 10000, now has a popula- l ton of 2S0,000, having had an increase
 during the last seven years of over TO- 1 0O0 people It's actual growth in populaS | tion in the last seven years has exceeded | the total population of any city In the | south outside of New Orleans and Balti- | more. The enterprise anu lhc piohu-iihiu- 1 ed vision of its people are shown n
 the fact that last year, by vote of 10 | to l. the city undertook the spending of l S23 GOO 900 to bring an abundant supply 1 of water from the Sierra Nevada noun
 tains nearly 25o miles away
 The really marvellous growth of these three cities typical of the general ad- | vancement of the Pacific coast, is due | primarily not so much to natural re- i sources as to the self-reliant untiring | energy of the people of the Pacific coast | in overcoming obstacles. In climate and | in natural advantages the south sur | masses the Pacific coast. It can more than | match the charms of climate of the Pa 1 cific coast In the his a mountains Of
 Western Carolina the climatic conditions
 of Canada are found in the Piedmont
 belt we have all the year round ilteglVlng
 air, while on the Atlantic and Gult coasts
 we have sub-tropical warmth. Tens of
 thousands of people have moved to Cal ; ifornia for climate alone when thousands
 of them might have been drawn here.
 Tens of thousands have likewise been
 drawn to California by the stories oi
 fruit growing Marvellous tales have
 been pictured to millions of readers about | the profit in oranges, in grapes and othei
 products of the soil, but how many out
 side of limited area know that the
 greatest strawberry growing sectlon oi America is in the south?
 How many know that in the same
 section trucking is yielding larger re,
 turns to intelligent growers than the pes'
 fruit lands of California? Broadly speak ing. it may be said that in natural aa. yantages the Pacific coast does not equal
 the south, but how far the growth sur ll.r. -l,o