DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW SOUTH
[1904]
The term New South signifies the transition which has taken place
through energy applied to the opportunities which that section of the
United States offers. The South has natural gifts which in themselves
will make it a marvel of wealth. The coast line measures 3,000 miles and
already the ports of New Orleans and Galveston are among the most
important on our seaboard. In 1898 the imports along the Gulf amounted
to $13,000,000, and in 1908 they amounted to $59,350,000. In 1898 the
exports were valued at $202,000,000; in 1908 they were valued at nearly
$400,000,000. The completion of the Panama Canal will certainly increase
the importance of the Southern seaboard cities.
[Illustration]
Copyright, 1900, by Detroit Photographic Co,
The port of New Orleans.
There are in the United States navigable streams amounting to 26,410
miles and of these the South has 18,215 miles. Mr. Wilson, Secretary of
Agriculture, has estimated that the waterpower facilities of the South
equal 5,000,000 horse-power for the six high-water months--five times
the amount New England has. By a system of reservoirs this supply could
be doubled. Roughly speaking, the country can be divided into three
water-power districts: (1) the wholly undeveloped district which lies
about Birmingham, Alabama, the centre of the great iron and coal
district of the South; (2) a well-exploited district along the
Chattahoochee, extending from Atlanta to Columbus, Georgia; (3) a
district which lies in the favored agricultural region of northern South
Carolina and southern North Carolina. Here about one-third of the easily
available power has been developed. To-day New England, poor in raw
materials and having an area of only 66,000 square miles, manufactures
as much as does the whole South which is rich in raw materials and has
an area of 1,000,000 square miles. It is hardly necessary to make
forecasts--possibly it is wiser to ask what can possibly hinder the
development of this favored section.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture.
In minerals and forests the South is equally rich. The coal supply,
according to the report of the National Conservation Commission, amounts
to 611,748,000,000 tons and the riches in iron in the southern
Appalachian district are equally enormous. Forty-one per cent of the
remaining forest area is in the same country. Unless a system of
conservation is put into operation, however, these vast timber resources
will pass away, for the forests are being used at a rate of more than
three and one-half times the annual growth. Private interests own
125,000,000 acres in the South and practically none of the timber is
being handled with the idea of conservation. There are no "State
forests"; neither are there adequate laws for the prevention of forest
fires.
The economic advancement of the South during the past thirty years has
been wonderful. The tide of migration within our country no longer moves
Westward as much as Southward and in its wake has followed a flood of
capital. The increase of population and capital is necessary to the
industrial growth of the South, and in spite of the recent influx the
scarcity of laborers remains a serious problem, the solution of which is
absolutely necessary for the development of the manufacturing industries
as well as agriculture. Immigrants of good standing are constantly
sought by the States, and to cope with the problem some individuals have
been guilty of operating a system of peonage. Lack of efficiency in the
laborers makes the problem still more perplexing. Scientific
investigations conducted with the aim of discovering the causes for this
general inefficiency have led to the conclusion that the eradication of
the mosquito and hook-worm will add greatly to the ability of the
wage-earners. A systematic campaign in this direction has been made
possible through the recent gift of Mr. Rockefeller.
[Illustration]
A field of cotton.
The South has always been largely an agricultural section, with the
production of cotton as the leading interest. In 1909 the yield was
about 13,500,000 bales from about 32,000,000 acres. In value the crop
equals about twice the annual output of all the gold mines in the world.
The 8,000,000 bales which are exported annually represent an income to
the United States of about $400,000,000. The problem which has called
for the most attention is that the average output per acre has been
decreasing for years. During the past few years the white farmers have
taken active steps to remedy this weakness. Agricultural experiment
stations have conducted investigations and the agricultural press has
interpreted these results to the actual farmers and has conducted a
systematic agitation for an agricultural revolution. Associations have
been formed for the purpose of studying conditions and introducing
improved methods in preparing the soil and rotating crops. More of the
food supply of the South is to be raised at home; better homes and farm
buildings are being erected, and better machinery is being used. The
invention of a mechanical cotton picker, which has been accomplished,
should reduce materially the cost of handling the crop.
[Illustration]
Bales of cotton ready for shipment.
Cotton-press yard, New Orleans.
Closely connected with this is the problem of roads. Where railroads are
scarce good wagon roads are all the more necessary. In the South
(excluding Kentucky, Arkansas, and Oklahoma) there are 500,000 miles of
public roads serving a population of over 20,000,000 people. In 1908
there were only 17,700 miles of improved road. To help along this work
good roads associations have been formed in the various States.
The old methods of financing the plantation system are passing. The
planters are breaking away from the credit system which has kept them as
borrowers and debtors and, as a result, they have money for investments
elsewhere. The great problems connected with cotton culture are the
labor supply and proper conservation of the soil. These solved, the
friends of the South confidently believe that thirty times as much
cotton could be produced as is produced at present. When one learns that
only 145,200,000 acres out of 612,000,000 are now under cultivation, the
claim does not seem extravagant.
[Illustration]
Loading cotton on the levee, New Orleans.
Southern farmers have learned that other products besides cotton pay
well. Less than twenty years ago practically no hay was raised for sale
in the Gulf States. The red clover and timothy which the planter thought
could only be raised in the North are now cultivated in the South. Iowa,
the greatest hay-growing State in the Union, has for the past ten years
averaged 1.58 tons per acre at an average value of $5.45 per ton.
Mississippi during the same time has averaged 1.62 tons to the acre
valued at over $10 a ton. Alfalfa has been found to be excellent feed
for stock and the yield, which averages from four to eight tons per
acre, sells for from $10 to $18 a ton. Corn is being cultivated now and
it is not uncommon to find yields of 100 bushels to the acre and under
the most favorable circumstances even twice that much has been raised on
a single acre. The prevailing high prices make the corn crop
particularly valuable.
Stock-raising, which has never been indulged in to any extent, now gives
excellent returns. The mules which are used so extensively in the South
are being raised at home instead of being brought from the North. Beef
animals and hogs are increasing in numbers and are being bred more
carefully. The great variety of food crops which ripen in rotation make
the cost of hog-raising very little--possibly two cents a pound will
cover the cost of raising, butchering, and packing. Sheep flourish in
the pine regions where they are remarkably free from diseases. They
range all the year, needing little attention.
[Illustration]
The Price-Campbell cotton-picking machine,
which does the work of fifty persons.
This shift in agricultural pursuits has been due in a measure to the
appearance of the boll-weevil which wrought havoc with the cotton crop
for some years. It is possible that the change has been decidedly
beneficial when one notes that the value of products in 1899 was
$705,000,000 and in 1909 about $1,430,000,000.
Agriculture is not the only interest of the New South. Northern capital
has worked wonders along industrial lines. Some communities have changed
entirely from agriculture to manufacturing. South Carolina is now second
among the States in the manufacture of cotton; North Carolina is third,
and Georgia is not far behind. In Alabama Southern tobacco is
manufactured. The steel and iron industries, the furniture industry, the
cottonseed-oil industry, and others are constantly becoming more
important. The effects of this industrial revolution are far reaching.
Social lines are shifting; a new society based upon business success and
wealth seems to be supplanting or at least breaking in upon the
aristocracy of the ante-bellum South, based upon family and public
service. The ideal of success is changing and the ambitious young man
now goes into business, manufacturing, or engineering as often as into
the profession of law and politics. The laboring class has changed also.
Years ago this class lived on farms and raised raw materials: now it
lives in the cities and fashions raw materials. The same social results
are found here as elsewhere, but on account of the conservatism and
personal independence of the Southern laborer, who is only a generation
removed from the soil, these results are not in evidence so soon. In the
manufacturing districts there is the political unrest characteristic of
the North. Labor unions develop here and Socialism has some adherents.
This tends to break the political solidarity of the section and it is
possible that in the not distant future the "Solid South" may pass away.
The South is enthusiastic; it is alert to its opportunities and it is
planning with hope for the future. Through practical education wonders
may be worked, and upon this practical education for the rising
generation the South bases its hopes. The new generation will make
greater strides in the utilization of the great natural gifts than the
old one has. The race problem will be solved in time, and the solution
must come through the efforts of the Southern people, for the best
classes now believe that the South can prosper best when all the people,
colored as well as white, are brought to the highest standard of their
efficiency.