The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-06

hered to that explanation atter we were told that the plantation in question had
 passed through the ownership of four different families since the war and was now the property of a Pennsylva- nian absentee landlord who had owned
 it for six years and had never visited 1t but once.
 Commenting upon one of my letters
 Joseph B. Babb, the genial and ener- getic secretary of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, says:
 "I have always insisted that our great est need was not the capital to develop the resources, but a spirit of self-reliance, | and education of hand and brain, | quickening of industry and a determina- l tion to do for ourselves Of course, we should welcome immigration. We should invite capital and protect it after it l comes, but it is of greater importance that we lay solidly the foundations of chara cter and citizenship, that we shine by our deeds, and not int1ict the circum- ambient air so much with our sounding boasts, and that our chronicle be one of performance and not of prophecy. Tt must not be forgotten, however, that the south has done much under circum- | stances that few who are not singularly | intimate with her history can realize. It | has not only been within the past two or | three years that the assessed values in
 
 , values of 1860, even excluding the slave l holdings It is not an exaggeration to | say that the south was pauperized by the 1 war. For sociologic and economic reasons 1 the south could not feel, nor take ad-
 vantage of the impulse of tremendous in- dustrial movement that set in immediately i following the war.
 .'The generosity of the north did not
 exact any indemnity, but, as a result of the war, the south has paid a tribute an nually far exceeding any indemnity ever imposed and, in comparison with which the $1. 000,000,0 GOO that Bismarck wrung from ] France, Is a bagatelle. We had to pay interest on money borrowed for develop ment purposes; interest on private and public debts, such as municipal, county and state bonds; premiums on fire and life insurance; profits on the clothing we wore, the furniture we used, wagons, pumps, agricultural implements, and in fact, on almost every manufactured ar ticle used In addition the national laws were framed regardless of our interests and an negotiable tariff added to our burdens. If it had not been for the an
 nual cotton crop of the south we would be in want and penury today.
 The industrial awakening took place in 1880 and has progressed with an energy,
 persistence and a broadening scope almost | equal to our opportunities. Was it not nat
 ural in the days when our factories were few and our means of development slen- der that We should look to our natural resources the means by which we should ultimately come to prosperity, and that we should boast of them because we had better method of publicity . open? Nor is 1t strange that this method, which came in vogue In necessity, has still its retainers, now that the days of necessity are past. l do not believe that the charge can be successfully made l -lA1. fl..N have been indolent or neglectful of their opportunities. They may not have risen 1 to the highest requirements, but against stupendous odds they have made brave and intelligent fight"
 Almost everybody who discusses the sub ject writes in the same tone that the
 south was pauperized by the war, but you never heard any complaint of this kind
 from Texas, which has boomed ahead
 with tremendous impetus and has become
 one of the richest states in the union.
 Every condition that applied to Alabama
 applied to Texas, and there is not man
 in Alabama today who has greater diffi-
 culties to encounter than men of his class
 in Texas.
 the Civil war Alabama, and afterward
 from the Indian wars, and was reduced
 to poverty by the grasshopper plague.
 II CT people had to pay the same prices
 for their clothing, the same taxes and the
 same interest and insurance that the peo-
 pie of Alabama paid and practically
 started upon nothing, and they are rich, while Alabama Is poor.
 The women and children of Kansas
 make more money from their poultry and eggs than the entire state of Alabama receives from it's cotton crop. It is just
 as easy for family in the south to raise chickens and eggs as 1t is In Kansas. Alabama is nearer the market for eggs and poultry, and yet her people have never
 tried to take advantage of this oppor- tunity to add to their wealth in this way and other ways that familiar to Kansas and the northwestern states. The population of Alabama has scarce ly doubled during the last half century. In 1860 there were 96s,201 people isi that state by the last census there were 1,S2S- 6g7 people. In 1890 Kansas had 107, ,206 populations in 1900 it had 1470, ,495. In 1860 {, Texas had GOA 215 people, in 1900 it had | 3,O4S 710, and both Kansas and Texas have l added at least 10 per cent and probably l 15 per cent to their population since the | census was taken Their wealth, through | their enterprise and public spirit, has more than doubled, while Alabama has | practically stood still.
 1 These conditions cannot be attributed to | the terrible effects of the Civil War. They l are due simply to the lacA of public spirit | and the lack of enterprise enough to take | advantage of the natural wealth that has 1 been placed at the threshhods of the 1 homes of Alabama. Kansas has no such geographical. mnsral and transportation | advantages as Alabama enjoys; she has
 no rivers or seaports,or mines or timber,