Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-19
The South's Vital Interest
l.. the Drainage Congress

EATERS of farreaching import to
VB Georgia and the South will be con-
sidered today at the conference call
ed to make preliminary plans for the At
lanta convention of the National Drainage
Congress. Of all bodies seeking to develop
and conserve Americas natural wealth none
is doing more substantial service than this
great Congress by it's impetus to the rec1a-
nation of swamp lands; and assuredly none
is of wider value to the Southern country.
Within this region lie some fifty million
acres which now are wel1-nigh worthless be-
cause they are boys or are frequently sub
merged, but which if duly drained would
afford, with their incompatible fertility,
farm sites of the most valuable kind. In
their present condition these millions Of
acres would fetch, if salable at all, only a
few dollars each-ten dollars at the out
most. Reclaimed as for the most part they
could be at a reasonable cost, they would
be worth not less than hundred each. Thus
the wealth of the South in these lands
would be increased from five million to five
hundred million dollars, while the gain in
agricultural productiveness would be be-
Topd all measure.
rs potent force for bringing this recla-
NATION to pass, the National Drainage Con-
gress is of great significance to Georgia and
her neighbor States. Something of the i'm
portance of the national session to be held
in Atlanta next autumn is indicated by DR..
Joseph Hyde Pratt, State Geologist of North
Carolina, who says in a letter to Judge Newt
Morris, vice-president of the Congress: ''It
is not only going to assist us in actual
drainage Of our swamp areas, but also will
be a great advertisement in calling at
tention to the agricultural value of
these reclaimed lands, and thereby at
tracing to the South a desirable class of
settlers" In Georgia alone there are nearly
eight million acres of swamp and over
flowed lands, most of which are transform
able into flourishing farms. Compared with
its richly creative results, the cost of this
reclamation will be inconsiderable. Accord
ing to estimates by DR.. S. w. McCallie, Geor-
gia State Geologist, to whom the Common
wealth is lastingly indebted for his splen-
did labors in behalf of drainage the cost
would be less than twenty-seven dollars an
acre in the Piedmont section, and in the
Coastal plain, where the large size of the dis
tricts reduces the average, only three dol
lars and ninety-three cents an acre. This
means that for a relatively small sum vast
potentialities of production can be brought
into play. It means that when the facts
concerning these lands are widely known and
rightly appreciated there will be rush for
their acquisition and DEVELOPMENT It means
too, that the National Drainage Congress- to
be held next November in Atlanta will be
Invaluable to Georgia and the South as a
means of giving those facts emphasis and
publicity.
AS the precursor and preparer of the
national meeting, the conference held today
is highly notable. 1t brings to the city men
of leadership from divers parts of the South.
and also the president of the Drainage
Congress, Mr.. Edmund T. Perkins. of Chi
cago, the honor guest of the occasion. The
distinguished visitors, one and all, are
heartily welcome, and are assured Of At
lanta's and Fulton county's earnest COON
Grafton in plans for the success of the No
vember convention.