Pocahontas star herald., 1926-05-20
Arkansas and Opportunity

Why don't you people in ARKANSAS
uuit raising cotton and get richF
That blunt question was put to tne
bankers of Arkansas at their recent
annual convention by Il. l.. klrkpat-
rick. president of the Chamber OF Com.
merce of Charlotte, N. G. But all OF
us must join in the answer.
Growing cotton always has been,
and still is, our chief activity HAS
il made us rich? Do we not, on the
contrary, If we face the facts, ma
our state handicapped in many ways
| hy a lack of wealth that constitutes
comparative poverty? Is not ungrasp-
ed opportunity the anly thing we can
truthfully call ourselves rich inF
In his address to our bankers, MT.
Kirkpatrick said that If Arkansas ID
to enjoy the full wealth Of her natural
resources she must do what Nortn
Carolina did-"stop growing cotton
He meant, in less epigrammatic IAN
guage, that Arkansas must abolish the
one crop system and stop merely pro-
ducing raw material to be manutac-
tured elsewhere, and start manufac-
turing on her own account. He made
Mr.. Kirkpatrick manifestly does not
believe that Just growing cotton viii
carry unusual weight They should
set us to thinking. North Carolina
was cotton state" once, too. Until
she ceased to depend on cotton as her
chief hope of prosperity she also was
a poor relation in the federal family
circle Now she ranks among the rich
est and most prosperous states In tie
Union. Mr.. kirkpatrick speaks for
her, aud furthermore speaks as the
chosen leader of the organized busi-
ness effort-the community prosperity
chest drive-of one of her most thriv-
ing cities
il plain that wealth has come to North
Carolina through an industrial develop
ment.
Citing comparative figures on our
enormous production of cotton and
timber and the almost negligible guam
titles OF each manufactured in the
state, he said our producers are un-
wisely shipping their raw materials
lOutside the state and letting people in
other sections, who prepare them for
the market, reap the real profits from
our resources He did not say, though
he might have, that such self-sacri-
ficing policy Is almost on a par with
planting and caring for an orchard.
and letting somebody pick and sell
the apples He did not need to say
that We know ii. We talk about 1t
constantly with one another. Some
day Northern capital" Is going TO
come down here and make our pecun-
iary desert bloom like the rose. Don't
we own Wonder State? 1t may
keep us land poor, but think Of our
political wealth when our inheritance
is developed. There are millions in
lit-milliOns- intangible, but ours.
In regard to that happy-go-lucl<y at
titude the visitor from rich North
Carolina also had a few words 10 say
He believed that we cannot afford to
wait for outside capital to develop our
resources. The delay is costing us too
much money To check the costly fiow
Of raw products across our borders We
must find the capital ourselves. Once
we have damned up n pool OF pros
perity-even a small One-plenty Of
outside capital will stroll down here to-
90 in swimming with us. But we our
selves must make the start. Trying to
sell an unbuilt house to a man who
needs immediate shelter is apt TO prove
fruitless piece of enterprise.
OF course these bits of advice are
all truisms, In way. But they have
the advantage of being true. Arkan-
sas must rustic her own opportunity
Like every other state, we want to- be
rich state. We cant get rich grow
4, ing cotton" We must have Industrial
development. But at the outset it
must be development from wlthin-the
sort Of development that Harvey Couch
and handful of others have proved
quite feasible.
We talk Of advertising our state as
means of forwarding its develop
ment The very hest advertising we
can give ourselves is intelligent sue
cessful productive effort 1t is all very
well to talk of our pOtentialities. But
actualities are the advertising which
brings cash customers herding in.-Ar-
kansas Gazette.