The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-27
FINLEY SPEAKS
 UPON THE SOUTH Head of Southern Railway Tells
 of Progress Made
USE OF RAW MATERIAL
South Is Advancing In Manufactures and Agriculture Very Rapidly and Does Not Depend So Much
 Upon Other Countries.

Pittsburg, March 26-President w. w. Finley of the Southern railway the prin- cipal speaker tonight at the seventh an- nual dinner of the Traffic club, in dis cussing The Industrial and Transporta ton Possibilities of the South" predicted an era of more intelligent and mutually helpful cooperation between the people of the south and the railroads of that sec ton, which will mean increased railroad facilities throughout the south.
 MT. Finley spoke in part as follows;
 Southern progress in the future will take the direction, not only of the ex- pansion of industries engaged in primary .naKufacturing. but also of a multiplica- ton of industries which will utilize its primary products as their raw materials. Cotton textiles in increasing quantities will be made into articles ready for wear in southern factories. Iron and steel will be made generally In southern establish ments into railway structures, locomo- tives, machinery, and tools. Southern leather will be sent to the markets of other localities in the form of boots and shoes, harness and belting. and the prod ucts of the southern saw mills will be shipped to other localities. not only in the form of furniture, but manufactured into the great variety of commodities of which wood is a raw material.
 Substantial Progress.
 There Is nothing artificial about our southern industrial progress. It rests on the solid ground of the conversion of southern raw materials into commodities ready for use.
 "The south is now using it's raw ma terals in ever increasing quantities and Is adding to the profits of their production the profits of manufacturing.
 Side by side with the industrial devel- opment of the south there is taking place an advance in agriculture of fully as great economic importance. While raising larger quantities of the distinctively southern agricultural products, the far mers of our section are each year devot- ing more attention to diversified farming, and especially to the production of early fruits and vegetables for northern mar kets
 Rich as is the south in natural re- sources and industrial potentialities, it can
 
 look to the north and to the west for large variety of commodities that can be more advantageously produced in those sections. As our Southern industries con- tinue to increase the quantity and variety of their products, our section will cease to buy, or will buy In small quantities, some commodities which they formerly drew almost exclusively from other man. ufacturing and distributing localities.
 Beneficen Results.
 T am confident however, that the ulti- mate result of this will be a benefit to both sections.
 What your merchants and manufac- turers may lose In some lines will be more than made up by the increased demand for other lines, resulting from the in- creasing purchasing power of the south.
 Tn other words there will be an in- creased exchange of commodities between the sections to the material advantage of both"
 After reviewing exportation facilities and problems, the speaker declared that the trade of the United States with the Latin-American countries. was the most promising export trade we have today.
 "I believe he added, that if we are to realize the full benefit of our geograph- ical advantage with relation to it, we must have direct and regular steamship communication, not only from the North Atlantic, but also from the South At lantic and gulf ports."
 MT. Finley then reviewed the railroad legislation and litigation in the south during the past several years. He con- tinued:
 Most Pressing Need.
 "As to tine south, I have no hesitancy in saying that it's most pressing economic need today Is an increase in the carry ing capacties of its existing railway lines