The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1938-05-26

that the states last dipping vat
has been closed within the year.
Foui years ago they began not
only to conserve but to rebuild
their soil. That year they planted
8 million pounds Of seed for winter
iegumes. The next year they plant
ed 8. the next Ia, and during the
season just closed they quadrupled
the figure Of four years ago.
Such In broadest outline i, the
story Of the agricultural renais-
sance in Mississippi. Such IL to-
days picture Of a ~revitaiixed peo-
pie who are determined to build
there In the deepest southland q
civilization and . prosperity com.
m~ensurats with the natural re.
sources and manpower with which
an abundant nature and 4 virile
pioneering ancestry have endowed
them.
Backed solidly by such . people
and such . spirit, we are today
actively engaged in an attack on
that greatest Of our ehemursie
problems, the increased use Of our
agricultural products through an
piled science. The program Ne have
instituted 10, in . broad and true
sense. . program Of conservation.
. program designed 10 stop an
erosion Of money and Of men.
To make possible the p~artieipa.
ton Of al our citisenship In such
an effort We have declared BY STATE
law that industry Il - public con-
vsnience and necessity" q de-
~elaration upheld BY state and fed
eral supreme courts.
So great has been public enthus-
fasm. that In elections thus far
held, the average vote has been
. to ! in favor Of the plan.
Evidence Of Change
And what Of the results which
already r being felt, as either
through private enterprise or pub
lie promotion, the chemurgic move
ment begins to make itself felt in
= practical, dollars and cents way
among the population Of q state
which only recently has broken the
chains Of a. destructive I system
Of agricultural malpractice as any
in the nation?
Evidence Of the change 10 not
difficult to find. Between the last
two federal business censusen
Mississippi was surpassed by only
one other state in the average per-
centage increase in manufacturing
establishments, number Of wage
earners. amount Of wages paid, and
value Of manufactured products.
Within the past year, application
OF science and industry to the agri.
culture OF my state has increased
it, payrolls from new plants alone
BY $1.600,0O0; it has brought in
v~estsnents in plants and machin.
cry totalling nor than $4,000.
goo; it has provided jobs In new
factories alone for more than 1000
Of my people.
Within the month, contracts have
been signed for the first factory in
the states history, and tonight
there are seventy Mississippi COM
munities with industrial nexotia-
tions under way.
When I compare the welfare Of
my people today with that OF Z
decade ago, 1 see . new courage, .
new optimism, . new reality Of
wellbeing. I 80 industrial workers
earning an average Of eleven times
a. much ~ their brothers On the
farm; ! z . state whose treasury
in four years is paying off one
fourth Of its total bonded indebt-
edness, . state which ended the
past biennium with . five million
dollar surplus. 4 see two thousand
miles Of new paved highways being
laid under 4 program which al
ready is paying for itself faster
than the bonds win become due
and then ! know that those who
may criticise have not caught the
vision that Mississippi sees, as Il
brings the resources and manpow-
.er Of 10000 square miles and 2
million people along the path
which you have biazed.
Southwide Problem
am proud Of what Mississippi
has done. ! am proud of the pro-
gress she has made and of the
spirit which still carries her on
ward. Yet ! realize, a. do you, that
the problems of one southeastern
state ca0not be isolated and solved
for that state alone. The lines
which d~ifferentiate between polite
d subdivisions fade to insignifie-
anee in the face Of problems snch
a those which confront the south-
east.
Before such problems my peo-
pie become but z million ont a =
million. and their 5000 square