The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1947-12-18

HAZEL
EYES
BY Huxsl Brunnon

pie of Mississippi is only about "A
percent that of the rest of the peo-
ple of the nation. W. are number 48
in the list of states.
The per capita income of the south
as a whole is only about fifty per-
cent of the national standard. The
south remains at the bottom of the
nation, economically speaking.
This is a subject which the writer
has stressed until surely our readers
are tired of reading about u be-
,ng at the bottom of everything.
But we continue to stress this
point believing that if our people
throughout Mississippi and the south
nave cur situation constantly in the
iimelight they viii eventually 60 TO
ayork and do something about It.
There Is 30 q sufficient for
Mississippi to trail the United States
In income.
With good leadership in govern
ment. intelligent planning, action
and by work we can raise ourselves
from the bottom to at least the level
OF income enjoyed by most of the
nation.
To do this the per capita income OF
Mississippi would have to be doubl-
ed. certainly a program ambitious
enough to inspire our best efforts.
We heard q speaker last week say
that If southern income could be
brought up to the level of the rest
OF the United States we would be-
come a fourteen billion dollar mar
ket for merchandise, goods and serv-
ices.
Can you visualize what this would
smean to American industry and
business?
This potential market in the south
would be many times greater than
all Of our exports to all foreign coun-
tries before the war.
It would be nearly three times
larger than all Of our exports to the
United Kingdom during the war
year of 1914.
We have always thought that Am
erican effort should be directed to
raising economic standards in the
south to the rest Of the nation; that
in doing this the south would once
again be brought back into the union
to enjoy the privileges Of sovereign
states and no nor be regarded as q
colonial possession. /. economic
status since the War Between The
States.
The south has to raise and sell its
products in an unprotected market
and at the same time purchase
everything in a market highly pro-
tected by tariffs.
We have had our natural resour-
.ces stripped, our forests denuded,
and shipped to the industrial north
and east to be processed and manu-
facturers into items which we could
no longer afford when sent back to
us as finished goods.
To some extent this practice has
been curtailed. Southern industry
has grown and expanded to where
the south's industrial future looks
bright indeed. But we still have a
long way to 60
We desperately need wider edu-
.cational and technical training for
our young people; encouragement OF
southern capital in business and in
.dustry creating greater opportuni-
ties for young people in the south.
A very practical way to raise the
income level of the people of Mis-
.sissippi is the development of the
livestock industry in Mississippi and
the south, said Sam Morrison, field
man of the Panola-Tate County Live
stock Association, last week.
The development of nationally
known lines starting from scratch"
in 1887 in the northwest Mississippi
area is one of the brightest pictures
in the state.
Mississippi has won nationwide
recognition and attention because OF
the fine livestock development IN
the Panola-Tate area.
Starting in 1897 with nothing at
all only five short years later the
area received national attention for
stock raised. Today these two north
west Mississippi counties through
which highway 81 (Chicago-New Or
leans) runs boasts some of the finest
herds in the United States.
The important point is what Pan
ola and Tate counties have accom-
plished can be accomplished in Hol-
mes county.
Some of our fine young men in
Holmes county are interested in
bringing in good blood lines and de-
veloping a real livestock industry
in Holmes county.
We feel that a livestock ~associa-
tion should be formed in Holmes
county to inspire interest in such a
development and to serve in an edu-
cational way if for no other for the
first year or so.
There is no reason why Holmes,
one of the heavy cotton-producing
counties of Mississippi, can't grow