The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-02-27
Development Shown by Manu-
facturers' Report Just Made.
Statistics Showing Prosperity
Beyond Grasp of Mind.
ALL IN SPITE OF POLITICS
Bank Deposits Show Prosperity
General, Holland Says.
Greatest Gain Has Been in
Southern Lumber Business.


New York, Feb. 27-The stupen-
dous collection of statistics which has
been made by the Manufacturers
Record of Baltimore for the purpose
of showing the industrial growth of
the south since 1880 resembles, in
the magnitude of its figures, the re-
port made once every year by the
clearing house association of New
York. The figures assembled in this
report are so large that it is beyond
the capacity of the human intellect
TO grasp their meaning. The effect of
them upon the mind is similar to the
vague and almost benum bling impress
sion which any one who has read the
figures telling of astronomical dis
tances and the movements of celestial
bodies in space has experienced.
OF course, there is instant, if not
complete, comprehension of the
meaning behind the statement that
in 1880 the capital employed in man
ufacturfng operations in the south
amounted to three hundred and thir-
~ million dollars while in 1911 the
capital engaged in like manner
amounted to three billion four hun
dred million dollars. But the story
that is behind the unprecedented in
crease of capital engaged in manufac-
ture in the south is too momentOus
suggestion which has occurred to
some in this city who have read the
statistics IS that while there have
been loud noise of politics, a great
beating of political drums and many
superficial indications of violent agi-
tatlons of a political kind prevailing
throughout the south in the past 30
years yet industry of all kinds has
progressed quietly and real business
has made its advances almost unob-
served, so that in thirty years time a
region of the United States which
was, relatively speaking, poor, rich
chiefly in the immensely of its unde-
veloped resources, has today become,
through the energy and the steady
and quiet concentration upon their
own business of the real workers of
the south, rich beyond compare and
rich in material and visible prosper
ity-
Several in this city have spoken of
the most instructive object lesson for
politicians, at least for politicians of
the self-seeking kind, which this
colossal array of statistics furnishes.
Many times within the past thirty
years the south has been looked upon
as the very center of the most radical
political sentiments. 1t has been pre-
sumed that there and in the remOter
parts of the west the seeds of false
economic doctrines could easily be
planted and nOurished to a large
growth.
These statistics now show conclu-
sively, that Notwithstanding political
agitations of all kinds and in spite of
the embarrassme nt and difficulty
which were inevitably consequent |
upon the reconstruction era, the real
workers of the south were silently |
busy in their own employments. They |
have created an enormous capital. The |
national banks of the south. which |
thirty years ago were capitalized at |
only hfty-fOur million dollars. are now
capitalized at little under two hun |
n
numbers, while the resources of these |
banks have increased from two hun |
dred millions to nearly two billions /
still using round numbers.
The Money Wealth.
There is no better evidence of such |
growth as leads from poverty or debt
to wealth and capital than that con-
tanned in official records of bank de-
posts. In the south thirty years ago
the total individual deposits IN tha
banks We're little under two hundred /
millions Today the aggregate indi- /
vidual deposits in all the banks of the
south are a little over two billion dol
lars
Herein is contained the story Of the
change from the conditioner the horro1v
er or the poor man to- one NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
money capital and IN all the shistorv or /
the United States there is, in all prob
ability, no record. relatively speaIzinf-
which surpasses that made by the south
in the amassing of money capital in the
past thirty years.
Moreover. much Of this money capital
represents the development of home re-
sources by means of gradually increas-
Ing home capital From the rich cities
OF the east and the midwest, and to some
extent from Kansas City and also from
the far northwest, OF which MINNEAPOLIS
IS the metropolis. capital has flown into
the south although in all probability the
great proportion of it has been invested
IN the development of her railway sys-
tens.
The growth Of home capital Is especia,-
" true Of the farm land DEVELOPMENTS
The figures showing the increase in the
value of farm lands. including buildings
and of farm products furnished as graft
flying an exhibit of material increases in
wealth as any record in the United states |
can do For instance, farm products ana
farm lands in 1880 were appraised at al
most exactly three billion dollars Yet in
the year 1911 the products of the soil from |
farms of the south were of the money
value of three billion dollars and the
aggregate value of both farm products
and farm lands in the south in 1911 was
twelve billion dollars, still using round
Now. much the greater part of this in
crease represents what may be called
homemade capital. There We're no large
or prospectuses of promo
ttons Of farm properties whereby money
in large quantities was brought into the
south The increase reflects chiefly the