The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-07-16
FOR A NATION
AND A .SOI1Tu
With That End In View, The Southern Commercial
, Congress Is Carrying Out Ambitious Plans For the
( Coming Year.

49, sweep out of the mind Of
Of no'ioh the accumulated erro,s
rro " 'nree generations whose
kno~ledse Of the South was eiths
s'Snt or generally inaccurate
Basis Of Work.
The physical 1eaderch;n
Wnlcn the work is to be base, 40
these: VASE" are
SoaSt-llne and harbor nd~ent,t,one
D1ne SCUM. from Baltimore to
Srownsv1lle exceeding the Pa,i6e
Coas. py two miles to one and tho
to one. A''io
NaVigalin streams in an; h.,o1t
ing n South-there being 2741o
!iiies OF n~aVlgabie rivers in tho mi
teo states. OF these, emitting the
ONO and the Missouri and the north
ern portions of the Mississippi IL o
Hl1les are found in the South. Or IN
cluoine the Mississippi basin, the
S ~ possesses nearly $4,000 miles
~ ~ g. ,ne total possessed by The . nj
Waterpower near great producing
areas-the Southern A~ppalachians
WIN tnelr surrounding region OF pro-
uucu'lty, ABOVE ground and under
siouhu' pelng unique among the wa
Empower regions Of the nation.
rainfall in inches per year and dis
Pei IfCIlI"Ino South pE-
ceiling all other portions of the Uni
ted States in this particular. except
the extreme Northwest around Puget
Sound.
SOILS and wet Landslide South pos
sesslng great stretches Of typical
SOILS; for instance, fifty million acres
ol truck lands; and also possessing
oy Iar the greatest portion Of the wet
lands Of the United States. These
represent the rich0cf soils I
when excess moisture is removed.
Days Of temperature favorable to
plant groWth-the greater portion Of
the south lying within a region Of 21U
days between frosts, in which par
tlcular It has the advantage Of the
rest OF the nation, for these DAYS Of
growing temperature are associated
win rainfall and with great soil
types.
Forests and forest possibilities
the South having for three years pro
duced more lumber than all the other
States together, and the climate Of
the South is peculiarly favorable to
reforestation and to perpetual growth.
Minerals in their distribution near
n~aVlgable streams and to the coast
thus becoming more valuable for
transportation, for use, and for COM
merce than is true in relation to the
other divisions Of the United States.
Scope Of The Congress.
IN other words, using material
things, a movement was started to
appeal not only to the pride Of heri-
taGe, not only to the pride of pos
session, but also to the pride of
achievement. latent in the South II
this great array Of once be-
comes Impressed on the mind Of men,
for nc civilization has arisen any
where in the world over except
through the utilization Of some one
Or more Of these basic ~our
Therefore, beginning with purely ma
terial things, which, after all, are the
bases Of every sane human activity,
the Southern Commercial Congress
has reached up into the realms OF
ethics, patriotism, and Of statesman
ship. 1t has declared that upon these
a greater civilization thar
has eve existed in the South must
more, it has declared that If this
greater civilization should arise
largely through the vision and activ-
tiles OF those who are now strangers
to the South, it should stand as an
everlasting reproach to the men of
the South, who, treading under foot
opportunities unmatchable, saw in
these opportunities no personal chal-
lenge to effort. 1t was also seen if
the active campaign to stir the mind
Of h nation as a whole toward new
assurance in the South were not first
undertaken in the South itself, the
natural lure Of the would
bring into that region a sweep of
population whose use OF
would be superior to those left in
charge Of the South, but unwilling
to exert transforming influences.
Consequently, while the Southern
Commercial Congress sounds as if it
were commercial, it might with truth
be called the Southern Ethical Con
gress,' for it is a moral power, and
it regards as it's very best field of en-
deavor the mind Of the boy and man
Of the South, SO that by constant re-
iteration of the truths of the South it
may arouse in the mind an affrma-
tive impulse to control use. and
transform the Of h South.
Furthermore, out declaring the great
truths of the South particularly rel
alive to it's unoccupied acres, the
Southern Commercial Congress strives