Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-04-14
South Today Ia Solving
Its Problems, Babson Says
Continued From Page One)


recent years has been down here.
Today, Dixie has over 25 per cent
of the manufacturing establishments
of the United States. And they keep
mushrooming up everywhere. North
ern concerns continue to flow toward
the Gulf, while entirely new indus
tries are springing up all across the'
South. Reasonable labor costs, saw
ings in fuel, nearnesS to raw mater
ials, cheap power, low taxes, ana
water transportation are among the
big sales points in the South's spec
tacular growth.
Latest new industry is neWSprlnt.
The first mill is under construction
in Texas. 1t may be the forerunner
| of a southwark trek of northern ana
| Canadian newsprint mills. Slash pine
| is the raw material. It grows three
times as fast as northern spruce.
Other branches of the paper industry
particularly kraft = are gong
strong in Dixie. The southern cheml-
cal business is growing by leaps and
bounds. Textile mills continue TO
multiply. Seventy per cent OF tour
rayon output comes from the South.
The center of the booming petroleum
business is in the southwest.
Steel Industry to Grow
The end of the So-called "basing-
point price system for steel should
help all southern industry. Once 1t
was Just as cheap to buy a ton of
Pittsburg- made steel delivered at
Birmingham as it was to buy ton
of Birmingham steel Now, the
ton of southern steel is cheaper.
Hence, foundries, forges, stamping
mills, and other metal fabricators
that have concentrated around north
ern steel towns will find it advanta-
geous to have branch factories near
the southern steel industry All Win
ter, Birmingham. steel mills were
J much buster than those in the North.
Present freight rates are unfair to
the South. Smash up these rates and
the products of southern factories
and farms can be laid down at
northern doors at a real saving to
consumers. If we believe in gradual
| lowering of world trade barriers, we
ought to climate such barriers with
in our own borders. Present freight
rate differentials amount to tariff
on southern products. The biggest
| boon to the South now would be the
changing of these rates.
King Cotton DethrOned?
The problem which has plagued
Dixie for years-depenednc on one
CROPS on its way to solution. Di-
versification of farms is speeding up
Low feed costs are stimulating live
stock raising and dairy farming.
Meanwhile, the chemists are finding
industrial uses for new crops such as
soy-beans, tung trees, and sweet po-
tatOeS and for older crops such as
cotton, tobacco and peanuts. Hence,
while King Cotton is mighty sick
i man, the southern agricultural out
look is very bright i.
Among the South's greatest assets
are her water-power resources. The
IVA development is a great thing.
Ii 1t is administered wisely and fair
~, the huge power surplus should
be completely utilized. Air-condi-
tloning has played big part in re-
cent southern growth and, stimulated
by cheap power, will continue to do
so. We hear. much about low wages
in Dixie. People overlook the fact.
however, that living costs in the
South are very cheap. A house cost
ing $4,000 to build in New England
can be put up in the South for about
$500 and can be heated for about
$50 per year less. Food-particular-
ly farm produce-sells for a song,
After lower living costs are consid-
cred, southern wages are not too far
out of line.
Great Future for Young People
Certainly, if were a young man
| would come down here in the South
to "seek my fortune" We need more
trained men here. Why stay in New
York, Philadelphia, or Boston and
starve when you can come down here
where you can live comfortably and
where you are really needed? Today.
for instance, nine of the 18 states
which are rated as excellent business
territories on my sales map are in
the South. Get in on the ground floor
OF this southern growth just as your
i forefatehrs, got in on the ground floor
! OF the industrial growth of the West.