Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02
Georgia Capital Walked Up
in Midst of Boom in
Florida Realty.
ANNUAL PAY ROLLS GAIN
$4,000, 900 SINCE 1925
Business Houses Increased by 594
After Four-Year Publicity
Campaign.
By JOHN F. SINCLAIR,

Special Dispatch to The Star.
ATLANTA, Ga, March 1T was
the Florida boom that forced Atlanta
to wake upl In 1925 our people were
leaving to invest in Florida real estate.
Our banks were feeling 1t. So were
our business men. Out of 1t was born
the forward Atlanta commission" said
an Atlanta banker to me.
Atlanta has spent better than $780,
600 In the last three years-raised
through voluntary subscriptions-to tell
the world three things:
THE South is Americas latest
growing market and warrants careful
development.
2-Industry can no longer serve the
entire United States from any one point,
however centrally located
3-Because of transportation facili-
ties, Atlanta is the logical distribution
center of the South.
This commission surveyed Atlanta TO
learn which enterprises, by locating
here, could make a success and which
ones could not Probably no city In
the United States has made a more
complete survey Of its industrial pos
Sibilities.
The survey has brought surprising re-
suits. The four-year campaign has re-
suited in bringing to this city 679 es-
adjustments which have added 17,425
employees, with an estimated annual nav
roll OF $S0.000,000. During this time,
however, 85 firms, employing $40 peo-s
PIE, With an estimated pay roll of $s22,-
900, have retired, quit or failed.
So Atlanta's net tangible results show
an increase OF 594 establishments, en-
ploylng 1921 people and adding $20,-
49, 900 to the annual pay roll
Development Of Georgia.
MANY people do not realize that
Georgia developed very rapidly from
1850 to 1860. During that time her
property assessed value increased con-
slderably more than the assessed value
/ OF Massachusetts property, State then
with twice the population of Georgia.
II was then increasing faster in wealth
than Pennsylvania. or Rhode Island and .
Connecticut combined" said p. s. Ark
| wright, president of the Georgia Power
Co., and only recently retired as presi-
dent OF the National Electric Light AS
ISOLATION
Then the Civil War.
Sixty years later Georgia is again
expanding its industries to a decree
comparable with that of the fifties,
And why? 1t can't be the soil. or
climate, or natural resources, or water
ways. or even water power. Other ma
tons have all Of them in abundance"
| continued Mr. AkWrlgnt. Then what
is it?
THE dominant factor in Americas
| prosperity and In our Southern country
is the availability and use Of power. In
America we multiply mans produce
lvtty 35 times by the use Of power.
Our nearest competitor is England,
where they multiply it "a times, and
prosperity in the two countries is almost
a direct ratio of 35 to "a.
e.
South is as favored by natural water
| sheds, so helpful in the water-power de-
velopment. as any part of the Nation.
Power availability is no longer a prob
! lem in Georgia o. other Southern States.
we nave come to regard the gleam OF
the transmission line in the sky as a
| symbol of hope of the eventual restora-
tion OF this area to the comparative po-
sit1on 1t occupied before the war be-
tween the States impoverished it."
Electric Power, Development.
Speaking of electrical power develop
ment, Mr.. Arkwright related that Henry
Ford used to take Z, 200 man-hours to
make an automobile. he kept increas-
ing his power until he reduced it to
l34 man-hours for an automobile,
Naturally such a terrific reduction
showed itself In q lower cost-so low, in
TACT, that foreign manufacturers found
1T hard to compete with Henry In their
own countries. So a group Of Germans
decided to come to America and study
Ford methods.
They went to Detroit, were given
every opportunity to examine the great
Ford plant, then went back and built
a plant in Germany along similar lines.
But they had only / u horsepower per
worker where ford had u.s. and 1t took
them $500 or $500 man-hours per car
against Fords 134. They tried it again
in. France with less horsepower per
worker, and it took them 5000 hours Der
car against his 1874 with the use of
power.
So the South, realizing what cheap
power for factory and farm means in
industrial development, has concentrate
ed on its power development. The
States Of North and South Carolina.
Alabama and Georgia together repre-
sent 20 per cent Of the total developed
water power by public utilities of the
United States.
Business leadership.
Robert W. Woodruff. president of the
Coca Cola Co.. as well as the White
MOTOR Co. OF Cleveland, reports an in
crease in both of his companies since
the beginning of the year over the COR
responding period Of last year.
Mr.. woodruff, just turned 20, looks 10
years younger than that. while prob
ably no young man in the South is
carrying larger responsibilities. he pjyAA
one the impression that they rest lightly
on his shoulders. We talked of MANY
things-labor conditions, credit, oppor-
tunities in business for young men. bus
mess success, and the general business
situation.
Our conversation repeatedly came
PACK 70 the discussion Of the qualities
that made for business leadership.
what Is the greatest need Of the
South today?" asked him.
The same as it has always been
leadership. Too many Of our ablest
Young men have left the South for the
West, the Middle West and the East.
when it needed only little encourage
ment to have them remain. Many
Southerners have become leading citi-
zsnS in other parts of the United States.
Some OF them national leaders
Eyes, 1t Is leadership-the sympa-
thetic, understanding kind-that pre-
Sents the challenge to Southern busi-