The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-15
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
Growth of Southern Industries

Growth of Southern Industries
To the Editor of the Age-Herald:
Our interest in southern development
prompts me to address you on the SUI
ject OF the dversificatlon of southern
manufacturing industries
Each year witnesses wider diversified
ton of southern agriculture. This year,
the area planted in corn in the states
south of the Ohio and Potomac rivers and
east of the Mississippi is 1,6s3.0oO acres
greater than last year, and there are
increases from year to year In the areas
devoted to other crops, including fruits
and vegetables. This diversification is
the production of cotton-the leading ag-
ricultural product of the south. In fact,
the acreage of cotton planted in the
southeastern states this year is somewhat
larger than last year and many cotton
planters are adopting methods which will
increase the average production per acre.
What is being done in southern agri-
culture can be done with equal success in
southern manufacturing. The southern
farmer has the advantage of conditions
of soil and climate favorable to the
growth of a large variety of crops and adj
mirably suited to the raising of live stock.
The southern manufacturer has the adj
vantage of proximity to sources of sup
ply of large variety of raw materials.
He has ample supplies of coal for the gen
Grafton of power, and, In many locali-
ties, he can convert the force of stream
flow into electric power to be carried
to his factory. Raw materials and power
are the Indispensable requisites for in
dustrial development. Where they are
accessible TO an energetic and resource
full people, such as we have in the south.
the building up of great manufacturing
communities is inevitable. t. s..
The economic strength of the south in
respect to raw material may be illustrated
by comparing its advantages in this re-
gard with the disadvantages under which
important Industries have been built up
in other localities.
Conditions which are we'll known
prevented any considerable manufactur-
ing development in the south prior to
about 1880. Before that time our section
ton of raw materials. The profits to be
made by converting these materials into
articles ready for use had in large meas
ure, gone to other countries and to other
parts of our own country. Thus in New
England, there was built up a great cot
ton mill industry. This was done in spite
of the fact that the raw material had to
be transported for long distances and
from our own section. The New England
industry is still growing, but not nearly
so rapidly in those southern states
where the cotton mill has the cotton
field practically at its door or where it
is located on line of transportation be-
tween the field and the market for cotton
goods This is shown by the census re-
ports on the supply and distribution of
cotton which show that while in 1880
the mills of New England used nearly
six times as much cotton as those in the
southern states, in 1909 the southern mills
used 409,349 more bales than those of New
England Comm4nting on this phenom-
email growth of the southern industry the
editor of the textile statistics in the Cen
sus of manufactures of 1908 said:
mo fact relating to the Industrial prog
ress of the country is more important or
more significant to the student of social
and economic conditions in the United
otdltS tudIl tne N1SOT, the peTSlStencY
and the success of the south in introduce
ing this branch of manufactures. Com
bined with the manufacture of iron and
steel. 1t marks an Industrial revolution
in one-half of the country"
There are other industries to which
distance from sources of supply of raw
materials is a greater handicap than in
cotton manufacturing. An example of
this is the furniture industry ais to which
we may again refer to Massachusetts,
When the furniture makers of that state
could draw their supplies from nearby
forests they ranked among the first In
the United States in the production of
furniture. As their nearby supplies of
raw material have been exhausted. they
have fallen nack In relative Importance
and, In the five-year period covered by
the census of 1905, actually showed a
slight decline in the annual value Of their
products, while North Carolina showed an
increase of 800 per cent and Tennessee
an increase of 1893 per cent
Similar illustrations might be multi
piled and numerous instances might be
cited to show the advantage of manu-
featuring close to the supplies of raw
materials. An illustration of this that re-
Gently came to my attention was the case
Of church In Washington which asked
for bids for supplying oak pews of
particular design. Bids were received
from several manufacturers in the north
and west and from one factory in Ten
nessee. The bid of the latter was more
than $500 below the next lowest bid.
member of the building committee asked
the representative of the Tennessee fac
tory how he explained this great differ
ence. He replied: 1--WE have an immense
supply Of oak timber practically at the
door of our factory. These other bid
ders must get their raw material In
Tennessee or some other equally distant
locality"
Great as has been the development of
southern manufacturing, however, 1t has
been. up to the present time. largely in
the nature of what may be called pri-
mary manufacturing in which southern
raw materials are not prepared for the
final consumer, but are converted into
products which are. in turn, the raw ma
terials for other industries. A substan-
tial beginning has been made, however,
in carrying these processes forward in
the south, especially In some lines. and
believe that. while what I have called
primary manufacturing will continue to
develop in the south. our greatest indus
trial advance in the immediate future will
be In converting these primary products
into articles ready for the final consumer.
IT In in this that will he found the most