The Port Gibson reveille., 1915-01-07
onR SHoRr-SIGHrHp sOUTH.


turers Record of Baltimore which
the South ponder and digest. Rail
road construction in the South, in
the year now closing, showed the
smallest mileage in the thirty-three
years of that publications. exist.
ence, and less than one.half of the
average annual increase in that
period.
In Congress the South is now 10
control. Perhaps unconsciously,
il has been paying off what it
chooses to believe are old scores.
To do this, the entire railroad indus
try of the country has suffered. But
the investment of new capital in
the South has been less, relatively,
than elsewhere; aud the loss to
business in that section has been
enormous.
This is at a time, moreover,
when the cotton crop has tailed,
not 10 quantity or quality, but in
marketability; while important
states have received another black
eye in the adding of resinous pro.
ducts, by the allies, to the contra
baud list. Rosin is binder OF
shrapnel shells, csmPhor is a con-
stituent of smokeless powder, and
turpentiue is the only discovered
basis for q synthetic substitute.
These, with the depression OF
trade, make the burden heavy to
bear. But persecution of the rail-
roads, for the cheapest kind OF
politics, has added immeasurably
to the paralysis of what once
looked like a promising develop
ment of southern industrie.
What is at the bottom Of all
this7 1t is two-cent fare laws, ex.
ira crew laws, mischievous med.
ding in the place of regulation,
trucking to the labor unions, sac
rifcing broad interests to the sell
fish demands of shippers who de.
mand rates bearing no relation to
the value of the service performed.
These things have frightened capi-
tai away. Real estate remains
undeveIoped, the industries which
supply the railroads drift from bad
to worse, and the last economic
failure is seen in the fact that ad-
ditions to taxes already oppressive
yield a lower revenue to the re-
spective states.
There is an old fable of Esop
which Congress and the southern
legislatures should ponder. It
tells of the dispute between the
Suu and the East Wind as to
which could make the traveller re-
move his cloak. The wind only
made him draw it closer around
him. Prosperous railroads mean
prosperous business, aud a larger
tax collection for public develop
ment from the greatest taxpayers
in the country.
Here is proposition as simple
as elementary arithmetic. Can
our southern politicians see it1
And, if for no less selfish reasons,
can they see it before it impresses
itself upon the mind and pocket of
the voter of I9I67-Wall street
Journal.
We southern people get an idea
in our heads and we admit no reas.
oning contrary to the opinion we
lave formed, then we drive at
oreak.neck speed until we are
ace to face with ruin. When we '
Ittempt to rectity our bIunder, we
70 as wildly to the other extreme. f
We are now worshipPing Politi- /
al heroes, who are pouring their }
ubtTe speech into our itching ears. :,
What do we care what laws they {
'ass7-they are our idoIsI They b
reach oppression BY capital-we
,elieve it; that the rich should II
upport the poor-why not1 The I
and other public service
are here. why not "
fleece" shems They may be the fc
goose that laid the gOldeA egg.
Ut that matters but little. there "
re other geese. g
NE 6oht the railroads. and for