The Cairo bulletin., 1910-09-08

the better guardian. TThe worst
scandals CT state land misappropria-
tion. and there were many, are insig-
nificant when compared with the
record Of the nation. A4 a'
Tariff an Enemy
! The tariff in some respects is a
great enemy Of conservation. What
ever we may think of it as a general
industrial policy, every one can see
that, by excluding the raw products
of otner countries, it throws the en-
tire burden of their consumption upon
Tour own resources and thus exhausts
them unnecessarily. The tariff on
| forest products cuts down our own
forests, a tariff on coal depletes our
mines, a tariff on any raw mater,al
1 iorbils the conservation Of similar
natural resources here
President Finiey's Address.
w. D. Finley, president of the
J Southern Railway spoke of the South
and its resources. in part as follows:
/ THE interest of the railways of the
south in conservation and the interest
7 OF the people of the South in consere
vation are Identical" said President
| Finley of the Southern railway, ad
! dressing the Conservation congress
| today. Il will go further" continued
Mr. Finley, "and state my unqualified
conviction that any economic OF gov.
ernmental policy that Is, in the last
analysis. to the best interest of the
people of any community i%to the
| best interest of the railways by
which that community IS served
Conversely, my conviction is equally
strong that any economic or govern
mental policy that is harmful to the
railways is harmful to the commun!.
ties served by them"
Notwithstanding the wonderful IN
dustrial development OF the South
since 1880, it is still pre-eminently an
Agricultural section. 1t is a section,
therefore, in which the conservation
of the soil is of the highest import.
ance. There is prevalent belief
that the productivity Of the soils in
those parts of the United States that
have been longest under cultivation
has been seriously impaired Stats
| tics do not confirm the belief. EST
mates OF cotton yield per acre have
been made by the United States agr.
cultural Department since 1858
These figures on their face do not in.
Idicate any impairment of the pro-
duetivity of the cotton soils of thG
south. 1t is noteworthy that the
larger and more uniform Increases In
YIELD per acre shown by the depart
ment's figures are in the older cotton
states.
Under continuous use, with proper
rotation and intelligent use OF ferti.
lizers, soil productivity can be large'y
increased.
Other things being equal the cor
servative use of raw material, what.
ever 1t may be, consists in its maEt
facture, in the locality of production
through all the stages of preparation
for the final consumer. Manufactur
ing in the South has reached its
present growth and is being still fur
ther developed on the basis of this
kind of conservation OF raw material |
But large proportion of the South.
ern cotton mill products, lumber, pig.
iron and other commodities, advanced
through the first stages of manufac.
|ture, are still shipped out OF the
Fsouth to serve as the raw materalsl
Iof industries in other localities which
convert them into articles ready forl
the final consumer. and Southern coal
Is shipped to serve as the raw ma.
tterial for power @nd heat In other
parts of the United States and, 10
some extent, in foreign countries |
This is waste of energy which, un.
der ideal conditions OF conservation |
would be avoided, and, | am glad to |
b@ able to say that the present tenn
ency of industrial development in our
section is in the direction of It's
elimination. Substantial progress has
already been made in the building dp |
'of secondary manufacturing along
some lines, and | believe that the
most noteworthy progress of South
ern industrial development In the I'm.
mediate future will be in this direc-
ton, carrying with it an increase in
the volume OF primary manufacturing
through broadening the market forI
its products.
Southern Timber.
"One OF the most valuable or the
natural resources of the South Is its
timber. AS the timber consumption
of the United States is now in excess
of the annual growth, and as other
sections are drawing on our Southcrn1
forests, it Is obvious that these
Southern woodworking Industries are
TO survive and are to sbe handed
down to future generations immediate
and effective steps should be taken
for the conservation OF Southern for.
ests.
Whatever may be the decisions OF
our national legislature as to tie
proposition for the conversion OF our
Appalachian woodlands into national
fnraytc holiav, a. xx,o,.d 10 4, ,rts,