The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



63 



economic waste to the State itself. For instance, when the timber 

 was standing on these lands, these lands were found on the tax 

 books at about $18.00 an acre ; now they are at about $2.00 an 

 acre. Look what the State of Arkansas loses on three million 

 acres assessed at only $2.00 an acre, and I take it that this is true 

 also of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and others of the Southern 

 states. There is a direct economic loss out of the revenues due 

 the Southern states, to say nothing of the economic waste to the 

 South as an industrial section ; and so we are going to make an 

 appeal, my friends, for these lands to be offered to settlers at 

 attractive prices. I am going to get in touch with John H. Page, 

 our Commissioner of Agriculture, along these lines, and with the 

 University and Experiment Stations, the University of Arkansas 

 and the Agricultural Colleges of our state, and see that exper- 

 iments are conducted on these cut-over lands designed to attract 

 settlers ; and I believe that in this way, within the next year, we 

 can certainly feed ourselves and we can certainly lay the founda- 

 tions for a great industrial empire. 



In connection with the stock industry of the United States, 

 I trust that at this meeting of the Cut-Over Land Conference a 

 resolution will be adopted, petitioning our great President — than 

 whom, in my humble opinion, no greater President has ever sat 

 in the presidential chair, combining as he does, the patriotism of 

 a Washington, the philosophy of a Thomas Jefferson, the con- 

 structive ability of an Alexander Hamilton, the sweet charity 

 of an Abraham Lincoln, the judicial temperament of a Wil- 

 liam Howard Taft, and the energy of a Theodore Roosevelt — 

 greatest men who ever occupied the presidential chair (applause) 

 — that a resolution willbe passed at this session of the Confer- 

 ence petitioning the President of the United States to admit, 

 free of all import duties, cattle from the Latin-American coun- 

 tries to our Gulf ports, in order that the South may have the 

 best breeds of cattle, and in order that these cut-over lands, which 

 are admirably adapted for pasturage, may be supplied with the 

 very best breeds of cattle from the Latin-American countries. I 

 believe this would be a great constructive measure that could be 

 passed by the Cut-Over Land Conference. 



My friends, there is an inscription on a monument in Atlanta, 

 Georgia, erected to Benjamin H. Hill, which reads: 



"Who loves his country, loves all things, 

 And all things will bless him; 



Economic 

 Waste in 

 Present 

 Situation 



Arkansas to 

 Begin Cut- 

 Over Land 

 Experimental 

 Work at Once 



Latin-Amer- 

 ican Cattle 

 Suggested to 

 Stock Soutli- 

 ern Farms 



