Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-07-06

w e Oh lHG new generation III TIE NcCuAl
need to sing daily, Lest We forget, for
it is a constant tendency on the part of
our young modernism business and
society as wel-to forget: to forget
who laid the foundations of the present
greatness of the South what mold of
men they were VINO shaped the desti-
mics of our country: what pfivations
and hardships. literally what sacrifices
of blood were made, in order that the
old South should be rehabilitated and
her very institutions be perpetuated.
Strange to say. comparatively few
people of the present time seem to
know much about the South of ante
bellum days. The inherent strength
and virility of the people of the South.
says a recent writer, and the natural
resources of this section are, therefore,
not understood. Even Southern col
leges and universities have fallen short
of their high responsibility to the ex
tent that they have failed to impress
upon their students the most striking
business achievements of the people of
the old South. Credit is given to the
old South for its statesmen and war
riors for its broad vision in national
affairs, for its influence in shaping our
government and in enlarging our terri
tory but if the question were asked,
what was the greatest business
achievement of the first half of the
nineteenth century, how many would
answer that it was the creation by the
South Of a cotton industry which rep
resented more invested capital than
the total capital of all the manufac-
turing interests of the entire country
in 1850? Even then the Souths cotton
dominated the foreign commerce of the
United States, and shaped much of the
business and political activities of Eu-
rope as well as America. The creation
Of this industry required as much bust
ness ability as that needed for the de-
velopment of the manufacturing inter
ests of the country, and involved far
more capital"
There Should Be Pride.
1t is but natural in this golden age
of the South's commercial and indus
trial development, when the natural re-
sources OF this section are being so
widely exploited and the hum of her
machinery is almost deafening, that a
feeling of glorious pride, if not exulta-
ton, fill the public mind and the in
toxication of the business whirl about
us cause US to forget. We are prone
to be dazzled in our admiration as we
gaze on. the glorious sunrise Of the
dawn Of this wonderful day of pros
perity and material achievement, the
greatest day the world has ever seen.
1t is natural to put too great an en-
phasis on the physical and material
values, losing sight of the moral and
intellectual, the unseen realities as
George Vending happily terms it.
Never before in her history has the
South grown so rapidly as in the past
twenty years We point with pride to
the fact that our coal production in
1910 exceeded in value the combined
output of the gold and silver mines of
the United States; that we are cutting
q 600, 900 feet Of lumber annually,
which is more than half that of the
entire country; that our textile mills
are using more than half of the Ameri-
can grown cotton used in American
mills today; that the output of our
mines and quarrses in the South equals
1870, 600, 600 year, which is s5,000,000
more than that of the entire country
in 1880; that our cotton crop, includ-
Ing the seed, for the year ending Au-
gust, 1911. was worth more than twice
as much as the value of all the gold
mined in the world and $437 600 600
more than all the gold and silver mined
in the world in 1910 These are stu
pendous facts, and can not be compre-
hended by the ordinary mind. II is but
natural, therefore, to rejoice in such
splendid achievements. and Il IS easy
to exaggerate in our own minds the
Importance of our physical and natural
resources No wonder that we are
proud of the South, and yet we may
well sing est We forget