The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-04-30

point of efficiency, is spreading!
this sad experienee-who had
lived midst the luxury and glory
of the South before the war and
who now looked upon her pros
trate form, stripped Of it's jewels,
its beauty battered into irrecog-
nation, to them the sound of the
Atlantis as it beat upon the east
ern coast from washington to Key
West must have been but long,
long moan that rolled across the
great cemetery of the Confeder-
acy with gathering loom until it
disappeared in the mighty gulf
that laps these southern shores.
Although born and reared in the
North where / early in life be-
came imbued with ideas prejudi
cial to the South and her people
l cannot think Of the days fol-
lowing the stupendous conflict
without tear for the loyal le
gions who fought so hard and so
long for what they honestly and
sincerely believed to be right. For
the greatest loss to the South
was not its desolate plantations,
its ruined cities, nor yet the dash
ing of it's halcyon hopes. The
South lost most when it lost its
men, its leaders, its intellectual
champions of progress and hui
man uplift.
Remarkable Transformation.
'One has but to picture the
scenes that surrounded the Con-
federates at the close of the war
If he would understand why the
South's AGRICULTURAL development
has languished AS the Eber-
ated soldiers wandered back to
their homes what must have
been their thoughts? When they
reached at last the one time scene
of joy and happiness and found
1t all changed-neighbo van
ished, homes desolate, fields
wasted. the stamp of ruin and
despair on every object, what
problem they faced! Can we
wonder that it has taken years
and decades-yea, half a CEN
tury-to repair the breach? Can
We wonder that the happy rural
life of the South that was smash
ed and ground into the very
earth, and nothing put in Its
place, has not even yet been
fully restored?
Opportunities for Live Stock Raisin
But while your cities are
ahead of your rural life, as I
have said, this only gives you
greater opportunity for further
development. The resources of
the South have only ben scratch
ed In the matter of live stock
raising, for instance, in which
am specially interested, it is for
tunate that a beginning has
been made Opportunities along
this line are broad, but it will re-
quire much patience and indus
try on the part of your farmers.
and much careful cooperation
on the part of Alabama Bankers
to bring your state where 1t
should be in the matter Of live
stock raising
To-day Alabama is anything but
a livestock state. You have few
herds of cattle that can compare
in value per head with cattle on
the Southwestern plains. Your
cows are known as very poor
stock worth from $50 to $50 per
head compared with SEQ to $40
per head for standard white-face
cows in the Panhandle of Texas.
Now it requires just about as
much grass. care and grain to
keep one as the other, hence it is
easy to see where the profit lies.
I hope that if any Of you are
thinking of encouraging live
stock raising you will see first of
all that whoever, makes this in
vestment buys good grade cattle
Our company would not loan any
any money on the ordinary Ala
bama or Louisiana cows.
Better Grade of Cattle Necessary.
Those old yellow hammers are
not worth feeding or looking
after. Their long heads and big
horns remind one of what an Ar
kansas farmer answered when
asked the breed of his hogs.
'Steelyard hogs he replied.
'Steel-yard hogs exclaimed his
questioner. I never heard of that
breed before. Wei, we call them
that because they resemble the
old fashioned steelyard which
hung on a hook and balanced. If
you will pick up one of these
hogs by the ears you viii find
that his nose exactly balances his
bodv''
you must get rid Of these
''steelyard'' cows. OF course, you
Will nave 70 get Tld OF the lever
tick also, which Is as bad on cat
tie as the boil weevel is on cotton.
Loans on Cotton Not Liquid.
lie me say to you bankers that
such a change in those parts of
Alabama, which are by nature
adapted to the change, would be
a tremendous boom 70 the bank
| ing business of your state. Your
cotton loans are not liquid, they
are made to the same parties
usually and in about the same
| amount from year to year. Il
you follow the custom in the cot
ton states you frequently make a
loan on a prospective crop to q
| tenant farmer who has no Other