The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-05-27
The VISION AND GENIUS OF
"A MASTER MIND I'm THE
DELTA OF The MISSISSIPPI
BY CLARENCE ]. OWENS
Director General The Southern Commercial Congress

land OF the MOuuu DuiAuSAo ., VIZ
monuments reveal to the archaeolo-
pist the secrets of an old eiviliza-
ton. and still later the home OF the
Choctaws and Chickasaws, is IN
reality not Mississippi, for Missis-
sippi IS many feet below the sur
face Of this alluvial plain. The delta
Il a composite or mosaic of deposits
from the many states drained by
the majestic river discovered by DE
Soto.
For countless centuries the riv--
ers brought down the richest soil
Of more than thirty States, and
spread il out over this great valley,
creating a fertility as rich as the
Valley of the Nile. Through engl-
neering skill the river has been
harnessed, the current now beng
held by the mighty levee system,
making secure from food waters
an area capable of sustaining as
dense a population as any other like
section of the world. In fact, for
agricultural permanence It has po-
tential power for the greatest rural
civilization man has known.
The Yazoo River empties into the
Mississippi at Vicksburg. The Mis-
sissippi Delta proper lies between
these two rivers, its average width
from east to west being approx
mately so miles, and embracing
practically all Of the region from
Memphis to Vicksburg. This area
is well defined and is probably with
out a rival on earth. 1t IS little
kingdom of agricultural power, and
furnishes an empire of opportunity
TO be found in no other quarter of
the globe,
The South is the land of cotton,
but Bolivar County in the Yazoo-
Mississippi Delta ranks first in cot
ton production as compared with
all counties in the cotton States and
il ranks twenty-hrst in the value OF
agricultural products as compared
with all counties in the United
States. This county, named for the
heroic leader who is referred to as
"The Washington of South Amer
lea" is Immediately adjacent to the
county which bears the name of
1.-THE Father of Our Country"
Thus Washington and Bolivar, at
the point of whose swords the in
dependence of a hemisphere was
won, have enduring monuments to
perpetuate their memory, in these
counties that stand through the
providence of God as high examples
OF economic independence.
In these two Counties in Mis-
sissippi, and chiefly in Bolivar, is
located the largest cotton farm in
the world. It is known as the Delta
& Pine Land Company, with plan
tation headquarters at Scott, Mis-
sissippi. Under one management
the different departments function
with the precision of a delicate ma
chine, and to the outstanding genius
Of one man is their success due.
With the development of the area
of 5000 acres, representing an in
vestment of twenty million dollars,
his achievement is only matched by
such empire builders as James ].
Hill and Cecil Rhodes.
AS a romance of brilliant accom-
plishment this farm stands on a
parity with the achievements of
genius in any realm of industry and
finance. The man whose vision
dreamed it and whose gereralship
and constructive ability wrought it
into actually and whose heart die
tated plans of organization and
policies of benevolence and humans
tarianism, now the loved and re-
spected leader of this mammoth en-
terprise was affectionately given the
title of big Boss" by Sir Herbert
Dixon of England, soubriquet that
still clings, as a title of endearment,
as it is pronounced by the officials
and laborers from the highest to
the hurnblest.
The "Big Boss" is the President,
l.. X. Salisbury of Memphis, Ten
nessee. He is dynamo of energy.
He is an organizer, the equal of the
heralded captains of industry and
finance, Familiarity known through
strong in physique, in mind and in
heart. His modesty has kept hid
den for a decade the wonderful
ability and achievements of the man
and the application he has success
fully made of system, efficiency and
organization to the conduct of agri-
cultural business in the Delta OF
the Mississippi, in the heart of the
South
Mr.. Salisbury came to Memphis
from Michigan in 1908 without
money but with undaunted courage
and the conscious power of his un-
eonquersble soul and with Arm pur-
pose to make real and practical his
dream of the possibilities locked up
in the natural undeveloped resources
of the South. These d-given re-
sources wooed and won to the
South many men of genius from
all parts of the United States and
from many lands of the world
Salsbury's vision contemplated a
great cotton plantation, where
would be applied the same scheme
of practical business organization
as is applied TO tae management oil
a great industrial or financial inSti-
tuition. He boldly entered upon his
program, beginning with ten thou
sand acres, but this was not large
enough for the great plans he had
formulated. There were thousands
who doubted and who made pro-
phecy Of failure. Not a banking
institution in the South or the East
could be induced to handle the large
financial plan in this untried field
of endeavor. Undaunted Salisbury
went TO England and won to his
cause Sir Herbert Dixon and other
English associates. It was Sit