The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-02-11
FUTURE OF SOUTH
 AS RESULT OF WAR
By HOLLAND

| Born in Illinois, in 1866, a member or l the New York bar and partner in one ] oe the leading law firms, Mark Wins. low Potter is probably better known to the public as the president of the Car olina, Clinchfield and Ohio railroad 1 than in his vocation as a lawyer, al- | though that has been successful. The Carolina. Clinchfield and Ohio railroad | is associated with that remarkable en- terprise which owes it's success to CO., operation of capital and ability be- tween the late Norman B. Ream, the banking house of Blair Brothers and T. Jefferson Coolidge of Boston. They succeeded where others failed. They
 built an air line railroad from the Clinchfeld coal regions to Spartan burg, s. C., where connection is made with a railroad by means of which they are able to transport their coal to vast elevators and Wharf facilities which they caused to be constructed on the shores of Charleston harbor In order successfully to handle these properties entailed management which in its way equalled the great ability of which MT. Ream was recognized as a possessor. Ability of that kind was found in MT. Potter. And he was re- Sarded as especially valuable to the railroad corporation and to the coal company because his was not a mar row mind, concentrated exclusively upon one thing, but because he was able to take a national point of view of all our material connections. He has made a study of the agricultural industries of the United States and his early experience in Illinois in the heart of the corn belt served him well when at a later time he spoke au- thorltatively upon the production of Indian corn in the United States
 MT. Potter in a recent communica- tion to the Manufacturers Record of Baltimore stated that in the north and in the west all of the Indian corn lands have been taken up. An assertion of that kind has been spoken of as almost astonishing. for it was pre- suned that in the far northwest there still remained many acres of land available for the cultivation of Indian corn.
 But, according to MT. Potter. here- after the United States must rely upon the border states and the south for the supply of Indian corn, for which there will be not only in war times but after war very great demand
 IN THE YEAR 1918
 MT. Potter speaks as a man of au- thority when he says that there are several reasons for the belief that the six months between January l and July l, 1918, are likely to be the most momentous in the life of the nation One of the reasons for this belief in his view is that these months will disclose whether or not we have in- creased our food production up to the point of providing sufficient supplies for our own people and also for the rest of the world. If there should be failure of the crops in 1918 or even should there be any falling off in the harvest of next summer and fall as compared with the harvest of 1917. then in MT. Potter's opinion the price of foodstuffs in the United States will be increased 100 per cent next fall and winter, thereby creating intense distress and sure to cause social and industrial disorders. MT. Potter goes so far as to say that "the probable results of famine in Europe which d reduced production in the United States in 1918 would cause and the possible effect upon the determination of the war are too terrible to contemplate" Mr. Potter is one of those men whose Judgment is esteemed highly who are persuaded that we have been mis1ed respecting the sufficiency of our food supplies. Instead of sufficiency, in his belief, there is a shortage of beef considerable and an alarming short age of sheep and a falling off in the production of wool as compared with the production in 1910 of over S5.000,- coo pounds
 As one of the results of the war it IS already being perceived and here after is to be fully realized, according to MT. Potter, that the world is trans formed into new era never to re- turn to the old. It is an era in which the relations of producers to con- sumers of production. to consumption, Will be found to have changed for ever. For, instead of the excess pro- auction of the past, we are in danger ot a shortage in the future and unless this danger is overcome there will in- evitably arise very serious economic and social troubles
 APPEALING FOR AID
 MT Potter is one of those who be- licves that at this time it is the duty or men of capital and of manufacturers to provide all of the additional cap ltal and aid which are needed in or Ger to bring to the highest point pos- 10