The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-02-14
Save The Vanishing Coast"

We read an Associated Press story from
Montgomery this week quoting Alabama's
Governor James E. Folsom on some interest
ing and timely subjects, and we want to dis
cuss some of them which seem to us to have
direct bearing on our situation here in Mis-
sissippi.
Governor Folsom had been asked to appro-
pirate state money for building a bridge from
the mainland to Dauphin Island. His reply
was that the state woEld not build a bridge
until the island was made into a public park.
'I'm not going to approve spending state
money on a bridge to help private property
owners" he said.
On the other hand, he is solidly for extend
ing the system of state parks. He said his adj
ministration would try to carry out a pro-
gram for making the states 25-mile stretch
of beach into a public park so that the
people of Alabama can have a place to go to
spend their vacations at reasonable prices
and with ample cabin space"
He said the Gulf beach was the only one
the state owns, and if three million people
own just IS miles of beach, we certainly
should be able to develop it into something
as nice as anything in Florida" He pointed
out that Alabama vacationists now spend
something like five million dollars a year on
trips to Florida, and added that if Alabama
would develop "the kim of park and recrea-
ton they want, we can keep that money at
home"
We assume that in speaking of state own
ership of the 25-mile Alabama beach, the
governor is not speaking of land property
I-L.~1 A. Iaa.l I,4 - H. 1.., ...A4z. I-AnI
line and the shallow sound. So far as we
know, the ownership of beach property is
governed by statutes which are more or less
STANDARD in all states and private owners
along the beaches have right also to that
amount of shoreline which is between high
tide and low tide. But beyond the low tide
mark, the sound belongs to the state. A citi-
zen may swim or fish anywhere he wants to
so long as he is not violating other laws and
the state may build beaches, dredge, or UNI
dertake any development which is properly
authorized.
We think the program of beach develop
ment urged by Governor Folsom is ound.
Florida has tapped a valuable source of in
come by building up its beaches and selling
its climate and scenic beauty to rich vacation
ers from the North. The Mississippi and Ala
bama coast line has a feature which is lack
ing from the ocean-beaches of Florida, and
from most beaches of the woodland that is
the growth of trees and evergreen s~hrubbery
down to the water-liae. Most of the east
coast beaches of Florida are dune country,
and most of the foliage which now grows
along the beach is artificially cultivated. Here
on the sound, behind the sheltering chain of
islands, storms and surf rarely throw brine
on the shore vegetation. and as a result some
of the finest oak and pine forests in the world
have grown right down to the waters edge
of one of the most pleasant bodies of water
to be found.
1t is our fervent wish that Alabama act
uallY carries through thu plan of beach de-
velopment advocated by the Governor.
We have squandered our own beach re-
sources in Mississippi for generations. Per-
haps the example of a sister state awaking
at last to a tremendous opportunity might