The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-08
SOUTH IS RATED
 AS UNSIJRP ASSED' NATURAL WEALTH.
Blue Book Pays Tribute To Opportunities For
 Industrial Growth


 The purpose of the Blue Book of Southern Progress" as outlined by Richard Edmonds, the editor, lis to present few outstanding facts about the scientific achievements and general material progress sof the south of ante { bellum days, because the people of the south today have. inherited from their forebears some of the force and strength and initiative and technical trend and managerial ability which have enabled this section to achieve what has been accomplished during the last 30 or 40 years .
 The Blue Book" Edmonds adds, ''is now the standard authority of the country on the material resources and progress of the south."
 Striking of the editorial matter con-, talned in the latest edition is a re- print from the New York Herald, Sep : tember s26 1915, entitled Had the South Never Raised a Bale of Cotton It Would Be Vastly Richer and Mere Populous," written also by Edmonds.
 The idea conveyed is that the south early began thinking and acting in terms of cotton and neglecting it's other resources.
 Live Stock Raising
 Quoting a passage: "Without cot ton the south would have carried out well rounded agricultural growth which would have made it a great grain and live stock region, in the re- spect of rivalling, if not Nsurpassing, the west. That the south is admirably adapted for live stock raising, that hogs and cattle can be produced in this section at lower cost and to greater profit than in the west, is now almost universally admitted, and tM national government is looking forward to the time when the south will become the great beef producing section of the country.
 And had this been done,' Edmonds continues, with an agricultural pros perity equal to that of the west, made possible by grains and grasses and cat tles the south would have made this the manufacturing empire of the world"
 In touching upon manufacturing in the south the book declares: Some two hundred different industries, represent ed sby GA, $50 establishments capitalized atSover ,$6,194, 100000 with annual products valued at over $8,S32, GOO 900 show that the south is making strides in diversifying its manufacturing.
 "In addition to this, other industries not listed separately are represented by 2, ,1O2 establishments with a total cap- italization of $6S8, ,793, 900 and produc- ing goods to the value of $972, ,43d ,000.
 66,5OO Manufacturers
 "According to the last general cen sus, the south had an aggregate of 66s600 manufacturing establishments with total capitalization of over $6,- SS3, 3,000,0 900, of which at that time less than one-seventh was in cotton manu- featuring, which produced over $9,S05,- O00,000 worth of goods"
 In yet another article in the book are a collection of tributes paid to the south's opportunities by industrial heads.
 Richard A. McCurdy, president of the Mutual Life Insurance company, states: ''The southern. people possess a region unsurpassed on the earth in itSsnatural resources. With the intelli- gence and energy which characterize them, these resources ought, during the next generation to experience a devel- opment which will place them among the foremost communities of the civil ized world in wealth and happiness"
 fThere is no corresponding region," declared Abram s. Hewitt, one of the kEEdL IOn uudSLcES Ok this country, Ion this habitable globe which has so many advantages as the . south, all available by natural or arti- Nficial communications, and capable of @ore economical operation than in any other part of the country
 Chemical Plants
 Says Dr. H. l.. .Blakeland, one of the leading. chemists in the country ''There are few spots in the world which seem more adapted for the de- velopment of an enormous chemical iA- dustry than some of our southern states" ~9aas'-
 .I am firmly convinced that the day is mot far off when the Appalachian south will be the greatest industrial center in the whole country,y Colin G. Fink, president of the American Elec- trochemical society, is quoted as say ing,
 There are a number of tables in the book taking up the industries separate ly as compared to national manufac- turing, the death rate, the. cotton in- dustry, minerals, water-power, good roads, building construction, banking, etc.
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