The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-08
BOOST SOUTH,
 THEIR SLOGAN Commercial Secretaries in Meeting. DAVE GIVES RESOURCES Montgomery Man Shows Great Ad-
 vantages. Secretaries Would Establish ueadquar- ters in National CapitoI--En-
 dor.. Use ok Convict Labor
 In Improving Roads.

today at the first annual convention
 of the Southern Commercial Secreta-
 ries Association. Despite heat of
 nearly ninety degrees. the secretaries
 put on full steam In the cause of ad-
 vertising Southern resources and
 crowded through the discussion of
 several projects which have lately l stirred the entire South.
 Those discussions included the South
 ern Commercial Congress with its
 headquarters and projected palatial
 building in Washington, the use of
 convict labor in converting the sticky
 red soil of countless roads in Dixie
 into smooth, hard highways of com- l merce and pleasure and cooperation
 between the commercial secretaries
 themselves.
 Mir. Dave Speaks.
 Statistics showing the south's re- | sources were given by G. Grosvenor Dave, of Montgomery, managing di-
 rector of the Southern Commercial | Congress-. Mr. Dave said in part. Viewed from the point of eoastline. | 1t is well to understand that the Sou | thern States possess an enormous ad- | vantage over the other two-thirds of l the United States; for the coastline of | the Southern States is 3,007 miles, swhile the coastline of the North Atlantic | States is Ss8 miles: of the Pacific coats | 1857. miles.
 "The natural advantages of coastline are already asserting their influence, | for we are able to say that Southern port still holds the second position for exports among all the ports or the | United States-New Orleans in 1900, and now a Southern port that nine years ago was wrecked and rent by l storm--the port of Galveston.
 We are also to show you that the | exports along the Gulf now exceed the | exports of Philadelphia and Boston by l Sl per cent and they equal more than | 50 per cent of the total which belongs | to the overshadowing port of New York. The tables of exports for 1900 and 1908 show that 27 per cent growth | in exports has taken place in New York | Philadelphia and Boston regarded to- gether. During this same time the 1 Gulf exports increased 31 per cent Tn the matter of imports-goods | coming to America for distribution. | you will find that while the three great ports above mentioned have increased | 27 per cent the Southern ports have in- | creased 97 per cent. Is 1t not reason- | able to claim that the Southern States by reason of their coastliDe are coming to occupy an important relation to the
 maritime future of the United States? When we consider also that all this swing of commerc is taking place I Canal and that the Panama Canal will l help to pull southward every inter- oceanic movement. you must realize l that the Southern ports will be on the very front door step of the worlds
 future commercial movements.
 Water Navigation.
 We also declare that the rivers of
 the South, navigable and therefore some
 day to be brought into cooperation with the energetic men of the South, are more than two to one when compar- ed with any other potion of the United
 States. The National Conservation
 Commission has reported that there are
 in the United States navigable streams
 amounting to 26,410 miles. How
 much of this is in the southf Over lS,215 miles.
 This enormous total does not in
 clude a single mile of the Ohio though
 1t benefits Southern States through
 300 miles. Neither does this total in-
 clude any portion of the Missouri
 River. If the Mississippi be regarded
 as a feeder for the Gulf commerce the
 milaEe should be 23.691 miles This
 leaves only 2.719 miles of navigable
 streams to affect the commercial pros- poets of the remaining two-thirds of the United States
 'sThe Appalachian Range. the greatest
 mountain range in the United States
 lying within the region of plentiful
 rainfall, is producing at present un-
 hairessed, every moment of every day
 five million horse power. The day Is coming when, through conservation im-
 pulses this water win be used to drive
 the wheels of industry and Of trans
 portation throughout the South. thus
 indefinitely the Sou.n.
 "If you look at the estimates regard ing the iron ore life of the United ctotaa ynt, will ace that the SOuthern
 Applachian region Is expected to en-
 dure @ hundred yeas after the Lake Superior region is stripped and ex-
 hausted. Yet, all the advantages be-
 longing to the Southern extremity of
 the Applachians. advantages so great
 that Birmingham sets the price for pig iron, yet at present only about 10 percent of the pig iron of the United States is made in the South Then look at the sixe and energy of Bir- minKham-the Birmingham district. Chattanooga and other cities in Ten
 nessee and in Alabama dependent upon
 iron ore, then realize that their mar
 velous growth to present dimensions
 has come through the creation of mere
 ly 10 per cent of the pig iron and pie
 ture to yourself what will be the de- velopment of those portions of the
 country when instead of 10 per cent
 they are producing 90 per cent of the pig iron of the United states and large ly giving that iron its final form. Accessibility to Coast.
 "The Southern States as a whole pos-
 sess more general accessibility to coastline, and therefore to the com- merce of the world than either of the other thirds of the United States. A
 string and a pin wheel will enable you to prove this. You men who think on commercial subjects do not heed that I should detail to you the advantages that rests with a portion of the coun- | try that can be statistical and gov ernfnental proof declare that 1t has more coastline, more navigable streams
 more water power. more minerals con l veniently arranged. more agricultural
 range more forests. more cheap land
 more accessibility to ports than any | third of the Union.
 "The meaning of this summing up of
 Southern opportunities Is this; and none but the blind will fail to see it.
 That there is to come a time in the history of the United States. as a whole
 must have the support and develop | ment of the Southern States, It
 means that our nation will never reach | It's full greatness. It means this, also.
 that as sure as the sun shall rise to- | morrow thee Is to come period of | commercial development In the South | compared with which the past growth l has been but the tottering of an infant. | These are not word of boosting or of l bombast but they are serious words. | based upon the incontrovertible evil dence of the South's resources and