Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-10-17
GeOrgia'S Promising Future
In Lipe Stock Industries.

In the course OF the next few years Georgia's
for live stock production will attract mil
lions OF capital. Substantial investments in this
6eld OF enterprise already have been made and the
States output of food animals shows marked in
crease. But incomparably greater developments
are coming
In a recent address before the annual meeting
OF the American Meat Packers Association at Gin
cinnati DR.. Andrew NJ. Soule, president of the
State College OF Agriculture, astonished his au-
dience by simply relating the facts concerning
Georgia's capabilities live stock country.
Some OF his hearers to be sure. familiar with
the South's resources in this regard, but to the
majority of them, his statement was a revelation
They had not imagined that there were two hun
bred million of land in the Southeast ideally
suited to raising beef cattle sheep and hogs, or
that this land could be bought cheaply. They.
had considered the South in general and Georgia
In particular an all-cotton country. But they were
convinced by plain facts and figures that this
region offers the richest and readiest of all avail
able opportunities for solving the problem of the
nations meat supply.
That problem is of peculiar and pressing i'm
portance. In the last decade or SO Americas out
put of food animals has fallen far behind the
current increase of population In the same period
the worlds supply OF cattle and sheep suffered
relative decline, which has been carried still fur
Their by the European war. When peace returns
the beligerent countries will draw heavily upon
America to replenish and rebuild their live stock
industries, that the present shortage in the
United States will be accumulated to a really dis
tressing point unless vigorous steps are taken to
increase our native sources of supply.
The broadest and most inviting opportunities
TO that end in the South where millions of I'M
developed acres can be bought cheaply and con-
verted into cattle ranges live stock farms. Be-
sides abundance OF land for this purpose, the
South has just the kind of climate and just the
kind of native grasses best suited to live stock
raising, and the cost Of winter housing and feed
ing which is heavy in other sections is reduced
TO minimum. Thus it is possible to produce
meat animals more cheaply in the South than else
where; indeed, authorities the subject say that
this the only part OF the country, except perhaps
certain portions of the far West, where beef can
be produced at all cheapIy. In addition to these
natural advantages the South is within easy reach
of the great markets.
1t is to this section that the nation must look
for the larger part of its future meat supply; and
of all Southern States, none has better resources
for increasing that supply than Georgia. With an
area as large England and Wales, Georgia now
cultivates only about thirty-two per cent of its
land. Thousands upon thousands of idle acres are
available for stOck-raising purposes. Such oppor-
tunities will not go unnoticed and untaken mucn
longer. Georgia farms capable of producing
vast quantities of meat without interfering with
other agricultural demands, and such production
is steadily increasing. It is easy to foresee the
large developments in live stock industries to
which these resources will lead, at a time when the
demand for such industries and the profits to be
derived from them are so great.