The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-05-05
inspiring ADDRESS
BY PRESIDENT FINLEY

|
ern mills consume annually more tina
those of New England, having used /
1908, 2,1S7,069 bales, while New Ems
land used but 1,S94,S34 bales. Cotto
seed, except the small proportion use
for planting, was then waste produo
with no value whatever. Now it add
approximately $9O,0O00O0 per year +
the value of the Southern cotton cror
1t yields a salad oil that compares fay
orably with the oil from the Mediter
ranean olive groves, a high-class stocl
! food and a valuable fertilizer. 1t has
become the basis of a great and grow.
ing industry, which is located almost
in the Southern states.
If Emerson had been writing of the
iron and steel industry of the United
States he would then have found lit
tie to say about the South Some years
later, in 1880, the total output of
Southern iron ore was but S42, Asa
tons. In 1907 it amounted to 6,316,-
027 tons, or approximately as much as
the total production of the United
States in Emerson's time. With prac-
tically ineXhaustible supplies OF IRON
ore, coal, and limestone in close proX-
unity, the South is building up a great
iron and steel industry. AS has been
the case in the Pittsburg District, our
Southern iron and steel centers are
attracting manufacturers of machinery
of tools and other articles which use
iron and steel as their raw materials.
Prior to 1880 coal was mined in the
Southern States. outside of Maryland
and West Virginia, chiefly for domestic
use. The development of Southern
industries has brought about an enor-
morous increase in the demand for
steam coal and coling coal, and the
tota production of the South has in
creased from 6,O37OO3 tons in 1880,
to 94,S29,S35 tons in 1907 Southern
coal fields are so extensive as to as
sure an abundance of fuel for domestic
use, for the generation of power, and
for producing coke for centuries to
come. The supply is adequate not only
for the use of the South, but for ship
ment to the North and for export to
foreign countries.
The South is not wholly dependent
On coal for its power. 1t is singularly |
rich in water powers. A glance at |
The map of our section will show
arge number of streams having their
sources in the Southern Appalachian
and flowing to the Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Along
he upper waters of these streams the
all is so considerable that the water
II the samestream can, in many cases
re used for power generation at sew
raj different points. Before the hy-
ro-electric engineer entered the field
nd demonstrated the possibility of
over transmission for long distances
he use of water power was limited
the plants that could be located at
he point where it was available. It
) now no longer necessary to locate
ne factory at the power site; the n.y.
ro-electric engineer takes the power
enerated at a single point to factory
ties throughout large territory.
The climatic and soil conditions of
lie South are so varied that within its
mits there can be produced, profit
ply all the products of the temper
e zone and many of those of the
opics. 1t is furnishing each year an
creasing proportion of the fruits and s
'getables consumed in the United {
ates. Southern grown tobacco is |
in Southern factories.
eneath the soil of the South are
ores of marble and stone for the t
ilder, clay for the potter and brick G
aker, and wide range of useful and q
1amental minerals. Marble and gran S
from its quarries are going into J.
buildings in the North as t
IL as the South. Southern progress k
the future will take the direction.
only of the expansion of industries y
gagged in primary manufacturing, 8
also of multiplication of indus
rs which will use it's primary pro- fl
It's AS their raw materials. Cotton $.
tiles, in increasing quantities, will IL
made into articles ready for wear 70
factories. Iron and steel
be made more generally in s5uth H
establishments into struc .ural M
res. Southern leather will De sent wi
he markets of other Localities in an
form of boots and shoes. harness. civ
betting. and the products of SUI
lern sawmills will be shipped to lea
: localities, not only in the form -
irniture, but manufactured into
reat variety of other commodities |