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THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA 5 GEORGIA—ITS GREATEST LIABILITY By THE EDITOR Georgia is the Empire State of the South. It is one of the thirteen original colonies. There is no state in the Union richer in our country’s history. It is the largest state east of the Mississippi. It is the second cotton producing state in the Union. It ranks seventh in agricultural pro ducts. It probably has greater natural resources than any other state of comparative area. It has some of the finest farm land in the world. It has forests of pine and cypress and hardwood. It has almost unlimited fields of iron ore, clay, ochre, bauxite, granite, marble, aluminum ore and mica. Its water power, if harnessed, could turn every industrial wheel in America. And yet Georgia is on the verge of bankruptcy. Our legislature does not know where to get the funds to pay the debts the state is obliged to incur. Taxes are high; there is better prospect of them going higher than coming down. Yet states poorer by billions in natural resources are in com paratively good condition financially. Some time ago one hundred and twenty seven of Georgia’s leading citizens, men with the inter est of their state at heart, made a trip through the North and East. The party was headed by the governor of the state and the president of one of Georgia’s leading institutions of learning. The purpose of the trip was to show these men what states less wealthy in natural resources were do ing, that they might come back to Georgia and urge the people of the state to do likewise. In Cincinnati they found an internationally known soap manufacturing establishment taking Georgia cotton seed oil, working it into cooking fats, and shipping a large part of it back to Georgia to be sold here at a very good profit. The profit in manufacturing went to enrich Ohio. Georgia could very well have manufactured the fat and pocketed the profit. At Cincinnati, too, they found Georgia clay be ing molded into expensive vases and pottery clay purchased in Georgia at rock bottom prices. That such, manufacturing can be carried, on in Georgia as successfully as in Ohio has been dem- onstrated on a small scale in various parts of the At Pittsburgh the Georgians found a great elec ts? company using not only unbelievable quan tities of Georgia asbestos and mica and other raw products of our state, but young men trained in the Georgia Technical School carrying on the work as well. Georgia Loses Millions The members of the party were told by a manu facturer that he estimated Georgia’s loss at $12 - 000,000 each year because it is not using its iron and steel. They found New England cities pros- permg by manufacturing Georgia cotton into cloth. Wherever they went, they saw Georgia pro ducts, purchased in their raw state for a song turned into manufactured goods and sold in many cases back to us, we paying the freight both ways, at a profit which, to avoid argument, we shall merely call very nice. The members of the party were given a great deal to think about. They could see no reason why Georgia’s raw products could not be manu factured m our own state instead of one thous and miles away. They could find no satisfactory explanation for a system which enriches the mid dleman, the manufacturing state, instead of the producer, Georgia. And while thinking over these things, searching for the explanation, they were told that the whole trouble lies in the lack of technically trained men. We will not say that this is not so, but we wish to point out that no matter where these Georgians went, they found Georgia boys, trained in the state’s technical school, working to enrich other states. They found them in Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Pittsburgh. So this cannot be the only reason why Georgia is not getting what is her due from her resources. Georgia has the natural resources. Nothing is needed to make the state first among the states of the Union but the working of these natural resources. Georgians know of the existence of these resources. Since they have not taken advantage of them, it may be assumed that they are in no position to do so. Outside assistance seems to be desirable. What is there in Georgia to attract outside capi tal? Natural resources? Yes. Man power? Yes. Then why does it not attract? The answer is: IN TOLERANCE. Intolerance As long as Georgia politicians think more of get ting into office than of serving their state, so long shall the state’s growth be stunted. As long as there are found men in public life who strive to set the people of the state at each other’s throats instead of welding them into a powerful whole, so long will men of means be unwilling to risk their capital in enterprises that would build up the state as well as bring profit to themselves. As long as men who pose as Christians preach the un- Christian doctrine of hatred of fellow-man, so long will Georgia be deprived of the growth that is her right. Georgia loses $12,000,000 annually because her iron and steel resources are not worked. That is a great deal more than enough to pay the running expense of the state each year. Add to this the losses she sustains by the neglect of her other re sources, and the total, which amounts into the hundreds of millions, is sickening. There is only one remedy and the people of Georgia have that in their hands. Make the preaching of religious hatred unprofitable, and it will cease. Judge a man by his services to his community, his state, and his country, and not by the zeal with which he hates fellow-Georgians, whose creed differs from his. Then the deep hat red in our political life will cease and gradually :One by one other barriers dividing our people will melt away and we will stand united and strong. Then will the idle acres of Georgia be green with growing crops. Then the long delayed mills and factories will rise up in every town and hamlet. Then will the wealth of Georgia grow; she will take her proper place among the states of the Union and she shall be more properly called the Empire State of the United States in stead of the Empire State of the South. Georgetown has been named by the United States War Department as one of the 34 “dis tinguished honorary military schools.” The rec ognition gives the University one appointment to the regular army each year. In Boston recently, five squares were named in honor of five boys who died in the service of their country during the world war. The five boys were all Catholics.