The Semi-weekly leader., 1921-12-14
EATON EXPLAINS
WHY OUR STATE
GOES BACKWARD
PROMINENT ouLFPoRT LAWYER
MAKES MAsTERLY ADDRESS
BEFORE BANKERS.
SPEECH FEATURES MEETING
Says We Cannot Hope to Make Prog
ress While Every Form of capI-
taIized Industry Is Being Per
secuted In Court.
Mr.. Eaton's Address.

Gu0 meeting, anu HIS duOI0oS was ue
cidedly the feature of the day, becaus,
of the array of facts presented. Hi
address in full was as follows:
At a time when the study of tht
best minds of all nations and of ever
section Of each nation is given towards
solution of the problems of rehabiii
tation and business revival, 1t is wei
for those OF us who are interested II
the development OF our own state Il
give some study to our local condi
tiOns.
There Is ample material for study
in the census reports Of 1920, compar
ed with the census reports of the pre-
csding decade, not only of our Owl
state, but of other southern states. The
three elements contributing to the
business well-being of any state are its
population, its agriculture and its man
ufacturing activities.
The first disclosure is in connection
with our population. We all recall dis
appointment experienced by each par.
ticular town in Mississippi when the
census reports were being given out
and when it was appearing that every
town, practically without exception
was receiving notice of a population
not only smaller than it had expected
but in many instances smaller than
the 1910 report. In many towns re-
counts were demanded and were ac-
tually had, but the reeounts did not
change in any material way the totals.
Finally the whole story came out, and
we were informed that our state had
lost in population between 1910 and
1920 approximately $500 people. We
were then told that this loss in popu-
lation was due to the emigration of
the negroes, and we were given to a
bit of reinsurance over the hope that
after all we had suffered no real loss
in the valuable part of our population.
At length the complete reports were
tabuated, and It now appears that our
loss in population is both substantial
and material. There was a loss in ne
gro population of, in round numbers,
$4,000. The gain in the white pOpuia-
ton was, in round numbers, $1,000, but
this gain is not at all hopeful. The
census discloseS that between the
ages of twenty and forty-five the
white population of Mississippi in 1920
was smaller than in 1910. This means
that substantially all the increase in
the white population of the state was
under twenty years OF age. In other
words, the increase was children
children which the state is educating
at large expense, children that are be-
ing fitted for uset,2, active life, but
children who will, if the present teu-
dency continues, leave the state be-
tween the ages Of twenty and forty-five
years and will give to other states the
wealth of service and opportunity they
are taking away from Mississippi.
Farming Goes Backward.
A similar story is found in the study
Of agriculture. In 1909 Mississippi
had 2,281 farms that it had in 1919,
while the general total of agricultural
products in volume in 1919 was sub
stantially less than in 1909. We should
that 1909 was year OF de-
preston. The panic at the end of
1907 and at the beginning of 1908 had
caused a business depression all over
the entire country, and farming activi-
ties were at the lowest point between
1900 and 1920. On the contrary, 1919
represents the peak of production not
only in agricultural products taking the
nation as whole, but in the prices
received for these products. With al;
this impetus to increase production,
our own state produced in quantity
less in 1919 than it did in 1909. It is
true that the farm products of 1919
much higher value than
those OF 1909, but this increase Of price
was due to nothing local to Mississip-
pi. It was due to the aftermath of
war, to shortage caused by the war,
and the terrific initiation succeeding
the war. The terrible year Of 1920,
ruinous slump in farm prod.
uct values, has brought us to a much
more depressing state than we have
had since the low cotton year 1893.
Even in 1919 before this slump there
were 1850 more farm mortgages in
than in 1909. Another dis
closure with reference to agriculture
is, as you probably already know, that
the production Of corn and cotton is
30 vastly In excess of all other agri.
cultural products as to leave little else
In some localities truck growing is i'm
portant, but taken as a whole its
values are not very great. They are
much below the value of the hay crop,
which in itself is much below the value
Of sorghum. The summary is that the
agricultural products of the state are
still as they have always been-cotton
and corn, with cotton largely in the
aacendance.
The showing as to manufacture ID
still more discouraging. The total
value of manufactures for 1919 was
$197. IA, 100000, in which the price OF
raw materials amounted to approx
mately $50. COO, 100000. leaving a total
value created by manufacturing pro
cesses OF 500, ,OO0. 100000. There is not
a Southern state which does not have
In II some city or manufacturing cen.
ter which produces more in the way Of
manufacturing value than the entire
state Of Mississippi. and except for the
Carolinas. the Southern states In man
ufacturing activities are Ear below the
Eastern. the Middle Northern and the
Middle Western states.
Manufacturing Drops of.
But q study Of our manufacturing
enterprises is little more astonishing
gtiIl. Lumber and lumber products,
including planning mill products.
amount to 80 per cent Of our total
manufactures, while the manufactuis
Ing Of cotton seed into oil and by.
products amounts TO 20 per cent These
two commodities represent heavy ton
nmge. where the cost OF transportation