The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1913-12-29

III the inquiry Dldnk sent ny tHe
Manufacturers Record to prospective
building enterprises in the South,
there is one line which asks as to the
character of product and daily out
put" Responding to this inquiry
Carneal & Johnston, architects, of
Richmond, who are preparing plans
for a new building for the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg,
say students"
That is the finest and the highest
grade of product reported to come out
of any enterprise which the Manufac-
turers' Record has ever announced
students" How much that means
men trained in body and mind to util-
ize their God-given faculties for their
own advancement and the betterment
of the world. We boast, and rightly
so, of the great material resources of
the South, but infinitely more valuable
than coal and iron and cotton are the
people of the South, men and women,
and boys and girls.
In proportion as mind is greater
than matter, as soul is greater than
body, and spiritual things greater than
material things, is the value OF the
manhood and womanhood Of. the
South greater than all of its vast ma.
terial resources. The output by the
schools and colleges Of the South Of
students" is worth to this section
and to the world many times the out
put of it's coal mines and it's iron fur
naces and it's cotton mills. These ma
terial things are Of trifling impor-
lance as compared with the higher
things represented by students"
Great is the responsibility of the men
and women in the schools and colleges
who are training these boys and girls
and young men and young women and
fitting them to do their part in the
world. Their work has never been
adequately appreciated either finan-
cially or in public recognition of its
pre-eminent importance in the welfare
of the individual and of the country.
While We are striving to utilize the
material resources of the South, to
turn its coal and iron and timber and
water powers into withdrawing fac
tors, 1t is even more important that
the vast undeveloped, unutilized re-
sources of the unframed and unedu.
Gated boys and girls Of this section
should be utilized by fitting them by
education and by the training Of work,
and the education that fits them for
the responsibilities of life, to become
greater factors in the worlds affairs
than all the coal and iron and timber
of this or any other section. While
striving to improve the soil of the
South, still greater efforts should be
made to improve the souls and bodies
of the undeveloped and unimproved
men and women and boys and girls
of the South.
We talk a great deal about bringing
new population into the South, but the
incoming of new people is not half so
important as the development of the
people we already have. A great
influx of immigration would add might.
lily to the problems which the South
already facess. That new people will
come and that they should be, if of
the right kind, heartily welcomed are
of course self-evident truths; but
while striving to achieve material de.
velopment and to bring in outside
people, let the South turn its attention
with more enthusiasm than ever be-
fore to the utilization of the limitless
resources of raw material in the I'M
trained, undeveloped, unutilized people
already in the South. Probably we
have not a larger share of unutilized
and undeveloped people than other |
sections, but we have more than we
should have. There are more Idle |
boys and men hanging around country
torres and depots, cigarette smoking
md loafing, wasting time and body
nd soul, than we should have. Let
he men who are giving SO much
bought and energy to bringing in new
eople turn some of their thought and