Speech #510021728

But if we were to give the North and West the benefit of the large corn years of 1881. 185. and 1886. and take asa comparison the average crop for five years. the rate of increase in grain production for the whole country. excepting the South. from 1879 to 1887. would still be only about 12per cent. against a 45 per cent. increase in the South. In 1888 the West had phenomenally large corn and oat crops. and the increase over 1879 was very large. but the percentage of gain was only 28 per cent.. while for the same time the South made an increase of 46 per cent. Thus the South. burdened by its weight of poverty entailed by the war. with a disorganized labor system. and without immigration. except to Texas. has. since 1870. considerably more than doubled its cotton and grain crops. and made. surprising as it is. a much greater percentage of increase in the production of grain since 1879 than all the rest of the country. When we consider the poverty of the South at thestart and the lack of immigration. and contrast it with the wealth of the North and Vest and the tremendous immigration to the agricultural regions of the West. this agricultural progress of the South is astonishing. It is a monument to the energy of the people of this section. The condition of the natioualbanking system in 1879 well illustrates the true businesssituation in that year.