SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



of the South's basic economic problem, the low income 

 of its inhabitants. Being predominantly an agricultural 

 region, when the TVA deliberately destroyed six- 

 sevenths of the fertile bottomlands it cut deeply into 

 what was already a submarginal cash intake. 



Everything possible is being done to help the Ten- 

 nessee Valley farmers solve the problems of hillside 

 farming on washed-out soil. Phosphate fertilizers and 

 lime are being distributed generously. Forestry projects 

 are being vigorously pushed. Still the approach to the 

 problem seems to be out of focus. 



With much of the best land obliterated, the prospect 

 of raising the productivity of the remaining land to a 

 point where it will actually raise the income of the 

 community is not good. Even if such an agricultural 

 miracle might be consummated, common sense indicates 

 that the costs measured by economic results will be 

 fantastic. 



Rather than attempt to prop up the thin and narrow 

 agricultural base, the people of the Tennessee Valley 

 must be helped to plant their feet firmly upon a broader, 

 more solid economic foundation. The alternatives are 

 plainly migration or industrialization. To the latter end 

 the enormous power output of the TVA operations offers 

 a ready- to-hand, practical means. 



Failure to adopt this straightforward solution is not 

 wholly chargeable to the Authority. When the Congress 

 set up the TVA in 1933, it specifically instructed that 



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