Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-03-12

prices. Southern wages can be 10 to-
20 per cent under those in the North
because living costs are that much
less Third, there is plenty of cheap
power. Fourth-and very significant
the South is not yet union-ridden. The
combination of these advantages
makes the Southland a magnet for
northern businessmen and their in
dustries.
An Upward Spiral.
The parent factories may not yet
be moving, but new branch plants are
mushrooming up everywhere in the
South. The geographical spreading
out of factories as protection against
labor troubles and as a result of the
Robinson-Patman act is giving Dixie
a real boom. Meat packing, food pro-
ducts, metals. paper, chemicals, and
an expanding list of industries are
moving in" on the entire South.
Workers in these businesses provide
additional consumer markets for 9TH
err products and. in turn, more fac
tories spring up. Moreover, new in
dustries are being fostered. For in
stance, fast-growing Southern pine
has reat potentialities as an impor-
tant future source of newsprint.
The South, of course, is not an
Utopia. It has it's troubles. The sum-
mer heat problem may be solved in
part by air-conditioning. But there
are still soil erosion, farm tenancy,
and other handicaps to overcome
Tenancy is probably the worst fea-
ture of Southern life today. Earnings
of tenant farmers are unbelievably
low. AS a rule this is not due to ex-
ploitation of the landowner, but
rather to thep REVEALING system of ag-
riculturew hich cannot be supported
by present cotton prices. At ten cents
per pound, the annual net income of
the Southern tenant farmer is less
than $3.50 per year. Furthermore, land
owners do not fare much better
DiversificatiOn Great Need.
The South realizes that this pro-
!hlem must be solved. It is my obser-
walton, after spending nearly twenty
winters in the South, that the correct
remedy has been found diversified
agriculture and industry. / feel that
the administration policy of helping
tenants to buy their farms, while
spectacular, is only superficial. A pro-
gram of diversified industry and ag-
riculture- including crop rotation,
livestock and poultry raising, and We
getable gardening-is the basic solu-
ton. But this requires patience and
education. In fact, character and
training are the only sound basis for
any reform. The government can be
of the greatest help to the South by
encouraging farmers, through educa-
tional methods, to abandon their his
toric one-crop system in favor of a
general program.
The South's advantages, however
far outweigh these economic ills. I
firmly believe that down here below
the Mason and Dixon line lie the
great new markets of tomorrow. I am
convinced that the shift of industry
in this direction will continue. The
winter climate and the trailer will
bring here from northern cities mil
lions of people who are being tax-rid-
den by parasitic politicians and labor
racketeers.
Another section which has vast fu-
ture possibilities is Canada. Business
in the Dominion today is practically
at an all-time peak-and Canada is
just getting underway.
Hence, I. say to the young man
starting out for himself today: ftGo
South or Go North-Young Man. Be a
Pioneer Somewhere