Evening star., 1938-10-02


Sunday Star articles reporting on
conditions IN the ominous parts OF
the United States. The third-trom
Los Angeles-,Dill appear nert Sun
day. Mr.. McGil, author of this
story on the South, IS executive
editor OF the Atlanta Constitution)
n YOT quite so years have passed since
Henry Grady, editor of the Atlanta
Constitution, charmed and won
Boston audience with his elo-
quence and his marshaling of facts con-
cerning the South, which then was just
emerging from the shadow Of conquering
army.
He said that evening" before the New
England Society:
Far to the South, Mr.. President, lies
the fairest and richest domain of this
earth. There are mountains
stored with exhaustless treasures, forests
vast and primeval and rivers that, tum-
bling or lettering, run wanton to the sea.
OF the three essential items of indus
tres-cotton. iron and wood that region
, has easily control. In cotton, fixed
monopoly in iron, proven supremacy; in
timber, reserve supply Of the republic.
From this assured and permanent advan-
tage has grown an amazing system of in
dustries. Not maintained by human con-
trivance of tariff or capital, afar off from
the fullest and cheapest source of supply,
but resting in divine assurance, within
touch Of field and mine and forest, this
system Of industries is mounting to a
splendor that should dazzle and illume
the world"
That was ~ years ago.
Today the President Of the United States
declares the South to be the Nations No.
l economic problem. It is. Southern
pride was hurt. Yet no honest man could
do other than admit that by every yard
stick by which economic success is meas
ured, the South, as a section, is the No. l
economic problem.
Its Riches Still There.
Henry Grady, one Of the great editors
Of the South, was entirely correct. The
riches Of nature still are in the South.
There are 1s3,o0o,oO0 acres in the II
essentially Southern States which are
claased as forest land. The South furnishes
all the naval stores turpentine and rosin.
The pulp and paper mills Of the South
furnish 10 per cent Of the bag and wrap
ping papers produced in the United States.
The development Of newsprint from slash
pine is an amazing industry which is still
over the horizon.
Tho best cotton staple Is Produced in
the South.
One-fifth Of all the coal consumed in
this country comes from the mines Of
the South; two-thirds of the crude oil and
natural gas comes from the soil of the
South; tenth Of all the iron ore is mined
in the South. Twenty-seven per cent of the
electric power Of America Is produced in
the South. There are mines Of phosphates
sulphur. tale. silica and great crops of foods
This is but part a the story.
Northern Politics Has Ruled.
The South chose agriculture. Henry
Grady and Joe Chandler Harris were the
frst great apostles OF industrialism.
Grady was laboring the night he spoke
In Boston to conciliate the North, to bridge
the bloody chasm" He saw then what had
happened-that the politics of the North
were to rule and they would impose a handi-
cap on Southern agriculture and industry,
The South has come to see today that
the tndustrialists OF the North controlled
the economics Of America 1t has come to
see today what freight rates and tariffs
nave meant. We have sent our products
north and bought back the manufactured
article, losing the profits and gaining no
wages to be spent in the South.
The recent report Of the National Emer-
gency Council, from which any one study
Ing the South must draw material, tells the
story with its array Of cold, hard facts.
Not long ago stood with the owner of
great South Georgia farm. We were in
his bottom lands and came to the river It.
aS DO all other streams In the South. runs
red.
Look at the farms 60 by he said.
OF all the States in the South, Georgia
has suffered most from soil erosion The
entire South has suffered almost as much
Erosion is not entirely a problem of the
South, but the problem is most severe south
OF the Mason and Dixon line.
1t rather staggers the imagination to
read that as many acres OF top soil as are
contained in tract Of land as large as
South Carolina have been washed into the
rivers and the sea. And that a land area
as large as Oklahoma and Alabama has
been damaged
The one-crop system, lack OF education
and the system Of tariffs and freight rates
imposed by an industrial North have been
twin partners Of ruin in the South.
Education Lack Is Great,
It Is an old story, none the less tragic
because Of its age.
EoucauQn, or rather lack of it. explains
most OF the ILLS. It explains lack of intel
lisent consideration Of problems: lack Of
initiative.
II explains why in some Southern States
the percentage Of farm tenants and share
troopers makes up about 10 per cent Of the
rural population.
Georgia will serve as an illustration, In
Georgia charter for State university
was one of the first measures considered.
Georgia was the initial State to charter
such university. Public education was of
prime Importance. After the War Between
the States, to speak in the vernacular.
public education declined Not more than
rs years ago there were in GEORGIA not
more than half dozen accredited HIGH