The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1911-07-20
WHAT WE HAVE AND WHAT WE
NEED.

From whichever point of view we con
template its natural advantages, we fn1
that nature has favored the south, and
Mississippi no less than other states. The
terrific heat waves which have been pas.
sing over the length and breadth of ths
whole country have made themselves fell
here: but when the total amount of the
damage to growing crops and the suffer-
ing and discomfort to the inhabitants are
compared to the results in the north and
west, all comparisons are in favor or the
south. Nowhere in Mississippi has the
temperature reached such extremes of heat
as were to be found in many cities and
towns of the far north and west; many
small cities in the west have had more
prostrations in one day than the state OF
Mississippi In the whole season. Here,
also. no matter how hot the days, the
nights have been fairly comfortable.
Again in the matter of vegetation and
the fruitfulness of mans labor, Mississippi
fares better; if temperatures in May and
Tune are too high for certain early matur-
ing crops our climate and soil permit the
planting of other crops maturing long
beyond the frost date of the north and there
is therefore less chance of total failure
of mans seasons work. The advan-
tages of the climate are shown in late re-
port issued1k the Department of Agri-
culture on the ssndition of growing crops,
wherein it is clearly demonstrated that
the crops of the south, cotton, rice and
corn, have suffered much less than the
staple crops of the west, where the hay
crop, for instance, is a total failure, or
the oat crop lower than that for num-
Der of years past. As to cotton, its con-
dition is the best on record.
The north is frostbitten in the winter
and parched in the summer, with a season
Just long enough for one crop under ia
vorable. meteorological conditions. The
greatest possible efforts must be exerted
there to Keep warm in the winter, and no
amount of effort can keep the sweltering
multitudes of the northern cities cool and
comfortable in the summer.
But Mississippi can learn one lesson
from the north, and learn it with profit,
and that is divcrsi6cation; diverslhcatlon
on the farm and Investigation in the
CITY. To the credit of the farmer be it
said, he is making more progress IN this
school of experience than his city neigh
Dor. The borf weevil in some sections
and the fear of the pest in other sections
have transformed the appearance OF most
Mississippi farms in the last few years,
and with each season there is more and
more demonstration that Mississippi soil
can and docs raise an infinite variety of
products. In respect of Investigation the
cities have made comparatively little pro-
gress; for the most part only one branch
of city fife is rapidly developing and that
is the mercantile business. Manufac-
turing enterprises are still woefuliy rare
and not varied, and with practically mex
haustible raw materials of all sorts ready
to hand, the state depends on the finished
product to be brought from elsewhere. A
glance at the innumerable articles of COM
rnercc and consumption handled in every
class of merchandising shows that not
one in te thousand is manufactured I'm
Mississippi, and that hundreds of them
are manufactured from MississipPi's raw
materials hundreds and thousands of miles
away, and shipped back here in finished
shape to be sold at several times the cost
Of the raw material, northern communities
deriving the full benefit of the payroll
of factories. Boards of trade and cham-
bers of commerce in many cities have
undertaken energetic campaigns for the lo-
cation of manufacturing plants in Missis-
sippi,and it remains. to be seen what success
they will meet. It is reasonably certain,
though, that until our cities engage in
manufacturing on larger scale, their
growth will be slow, and that limit to
the growth will be reached In short time.
The number of mercantile establishments
sufficient for the needs of any given
territory is limited at best, and real de-
velopment, i.e., growth from small town
to large city is possible only In COM
munities where commodities are manufac-
tured and not merely sold or exchanged ).
-Natchez News.