The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-02-10

work. The bonded indebtedness is
only $4,000 per mile, and the ter
ninal is included in the assets of the
road. It was this policy that made
it possible to bring the road to prac-
teal completion in 1915 when the
total railroad construction in the en-
tire United States was only 900 miles.
The building of this road is typical
of the spirit of the 'rNew South" In
times past the South has not been
guiltless of the sin of railroad harry
ing, but today it has come to a reaIi-
cation that. its future depends upon
the establishment of new transporta-
ton facilities. There is an entirely
changed attitude toward railroad en-
terprises and if they are honestly and
capably managed they will get all the
support that. the people can give.
The South's Vast Resources.
Few realize the potential wealth of
the South, particularly of the section
served by the new road. The War
fields hold the largest body of coking
coal in the world. This fuel can be
laid down at Pensacola thirty cents a
ton cheaper than any similar coal can
be delivered at any Atlantic seaboard.
This is a great difference in price
when one considers that the average
profit per ton on bituminous coal is
only two cents.
In iron and steel the Birmingham
district bids fair to attain a world
supremacy. Coal, iron ore and lime
stone, the three fundamentals in iron
making, are found almost in the
same localities, and the cost of pro-
duction is correspondingly reduced, so
that the export steel and iron bust
ness of the country is likely to center
largely in the Birmingham district.
Of lumber the South still has large
resources. 1t is said that timber for
ship building can be laid down at
Pensacola at $22 thousand feet,
which is in every respect equal to that
costing $40 I'M Maine, where many of
our ships are built. Vast as have
been the amounts of lumber cut in
past years, there is still great re-
serve. Naval stores are produced al
most exclusively in the South, and
the middle district still has vast for
ests that have never been tapped be-
cause of lack of transportation. To-
day Pensacola claims to be the great
est naval stores market in the world.
It has also recently opened cotton
exchange, and expects to get large
part of the cotton export business of
Alabama.
Diversifying Crops.
The bad prices of 1914 and the
ravages of the boil weevil have been
heavy affections to the cotton grow
ers, but they are proving not I'M
mixed evils, for they have driven the
cotton planters to take up diversified
farming. With some of the richest
lands in the country the cotton grow
ers have, in the past, made use OF
canned vegetables and bought their
beef from Chicago, their pork from
Cincinnati, and their butter and eggs
from the North and West. Today
they are finding that they can pro-
duce these and many other things
more cheaply than they can buy
them. It is as interesting as a novel
to hear cotton kings of former times
recounting their recent adventures IN
mixed farming; as that, for instance,
Of the man near Uniontown, who had
grown nothing but cotton all his life,
who experimental with patch of
wheat last year--a mere fifty acres
and average fortv-one bushels per
acre. This winter he has planted 800