The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-07-14
THE SOUTH THAT IS TO BE

uei IDS oSSn sd-u aBOuL the
New South, and the reunited Union.
But today We stand with our eyes up
on this glorious Southland OF ours,
and with a visionary eye, see the
South that is TO be-" 1t may be
such that its name will be sung with
glad hearts in every civilized land,
or 1t may be a reproach TO all ma
tions. 1t all depends upon what we
make the South within the next
twenty years.
We are just now at the crucial
point in our history. The next TWEEN
ty years will forever determine what
We are to be IN the following CEN
turtles, or for all time to come Ev-
lie manhood and womanhood will be
tested as never before But if We
are as true to our country and our
God as our fathers were, We will
men. During those terrible years of
81 TO '65, the South gave the very
flower of her young manhood for the
cause of the Confederacy. During
those and the darker years of recon
struction which followed, the South
faced and solved problems such as
no other people on earth have ever
met Our fathers conquered diff
conquer them. In the days which
tried mems souls they asked no fay-
ors nor expected any.
When Lee surrendered at Apo
imatox, his shattered and battle scar
red remnant, turned with slow and
painful step toward the wreck and
ruin Of the once Glorious South.
They came home in tears, not in joy.
In pathos, not in splendor. In pow
erty, and not in wealth. Honor and
a fadeless memory were all they pos
sessed
The Union soldier went home to
meet the praise of conqueror. But
! the sons of the Confederacy came
home only to find their farms de-
Ivastated, their money worthless. their
credit gone, the reins of government
| in the hands of an alien race, and
| even the foundation of society over
turned. It was indeed master
problem to rebuild their fallen for
tunes. But like brave and patriotic
men, they were equal to the task, and
nobly did they guide the South
through the dark and stormy years of
reconstruction, and placed her in the
| forefront of the industrial districts
of the world.
If, from Mount Mitchell, the high
est. peak east of the Rockies, bird s
eye view of the South could be had,
there would be seen mighty, resist
less, onward movement of a people,
who having struggled amid the dark
ness of the wilderness, with no pill
lars of fire to guide them. had at last
come in sight of the promised land.
The tide of population no longer
moving westward as heretofore, will
be turning southwark. From this ir-
coming tide, the veterans of the
| South, who have struggled for indus
trial independence are seen drawing
/ heavy reinforeements. Capital, the
greatest coward of the earth, joins
the procession and the South, beggar
no longer invites the worlds sur
/ plus money, seeking the most profit
able field on earth for a safe invest
ment-in invites not with a beggar' S
plea, but with the right to say: We
are independent. We can stand
alone We now have sufficient money
and experience to assure great and
steady advance. But so vast is the
field, so sure are the returns, that
we bid the world welcome that adj
may share in the utilization of our
resources, and in the consequent
wealth to be created.
Here, says the South to all man
! kind, is a reason of which earth has
no duplicate. Does this statement
seem too strong? Examine it mo-
! lment.
With an expenditure of twenty mil
lion dollars on the Ievee work along
J the Mississippi river, there will be
reclaimed an area of thirty thousand
square miles, which will yield TWEEN
ty million bales of cotton annually
The great state of Texas can produce
her food supply. and more than the
Souths annual production in cotton
a close estimate has been given thai
', the South can feed her people and
give the world sixty million bales oil
cotton every year.
Only few years ago, few believed
that the South would be able TO com.