Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-05-13

and the trip can be made in as comfortable
trains. The Southern railway, on which |
came here, takes one through parts of the
south which can do much in the furnishing
OF food and war supplies. I rode the whole
length OF Virginia, crossing the wheat and
corn lands of the rich Shenandoah valley,
passing through Lynchburg, the great to-
bacco market, and striking my first big cot
ton mills at Danville on the border of North
Carolina. From there on for a distance as
great as from New York to Cleveland we
were in sight of cotton mills, many of which
are making supplies for the soldiers. The
great red brick, white Widowed factories
rise right up in the midst of the plantations.
and it seemed as though the smoke from
their stacks must pollute the white bolls
when the crop is ready for harvest. About
every factory is its mill village, consisting Of
one-story houses of from three to five
rooms, and in most of the villages are large
new brick schoolhouses, which rise high
above the homes of the people.
In going through North Carolina we stop
ped at Highpoint, the Grand Rapids of the
south 1t has 20 furniture factories and its
beds, chairs and tables are now sold all over
the union. 1t also makes street cars for
Washington, New Y ork City and other large
towns of the north. Further south we saw
cottonseed oil mills, and at Atlanta passed
through an industrial beehive which re-
minds one of the big cities of the middle
west. Everywhere the new south is in evil
dence. Its industries are rapidly growing,
and it can do great deal along many lines
in this critical period. 1t is already making
about 100000 worth of goods every year,
or more than $500 per annum for every FAM
lily, colored and white, which lives south of
Mason and Dixon's line
Cotton is still the chief crop of the south
The factories are rapidly increasing in num-
Der, and with the high prices of today they
are paying big dividends. The "sky-high
cotton" boosted up by the war, is leading
many of the planters to drop their diversified
farming This tendency is being fought by
the department Of agriculture at Washing
ton and also by the states and the railways.
The cry sent out for more food is affect
ing the crops of this year. We saw patche,
OF &C rn, peas and beans here and there along
e line and gardens are being planted as
never before Near Atlanta we passed
through the enormous peach orchards Of
Georgia, which are now annually sending
millions of barrels of fruit to the north. The
Southern railway alone carried 5000 car
loads last year.
Diversified farming is needed to bring up
the land, and the war demand for foodstuffs
will do the country permanent good. AS
it is, many of the farms have been cropped
again and again. until they seem thin and
worn out, and the whole region lacks the
fAl.z NJ
" ork and the Mississippi river. The greater
part of the country is dreary to an extreme.
The land washes into gulleys and the slopes
must be terraced like the farms of the Rhine
valley and the hills of OIL Italy. The farm
scenes are different from those of Ohio, Ill
diana and Illinois. There are no large barns
nor outbuildings. There are no hay stacks
and no sios. There are no fences of either
railor wire, and but few cattle, sheep.
horses or hogs are to be seem The houses
are growing better, but most of them still
need coat of fresh paint There is no grass
to speak of, and the most of the land has
yet to be resown before it can be turned
into the mighty meat basket that the agri-
cultural experts say it will be when properly
farmed.
Leaving Atlanta, we went downhil al
most all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. We
passed through Alabama, whose COAL iron
and steel will form one of Uncle Sans big
assets in making guns, armor plate and simi-
lar war supplies. We crossed part of the
rich Mississippi delta, with it's vast unre-
claimed swamps, and stopped at New Or
leans, in the very heart of one of the coming
bread lands of the United States.
All along the line from Washington to
the mouth Of the Mississippi both man and
nature are jumping. In the north the farm