5*6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Southern people of protecting the South- 

 ern mountain forests is obvious. These 

 forests are the best defense against the 

 floods which in the recent past have, 

 during a single twelve-month, destroyed 

 property officially valued at nearly twice 

 what it would cost to buy the Southern 

 Appalachian reserve. The maintenance 

 of your Southern water powers is not 

 less important than the prevention of 

 floods, because if they are injured your 

 manufacturing interests will suffer with 

 them. The perpetuation of your for- 

 ests, which have done so much for the 

 South, should be one of the first objects 

 of your public men. The two Senators 

 from North Carolina have taken an hon- 

 orable part in this movement. But I do 

 not think that the people of North Car- 

 olina or of any other Southern state 

 have quite grasped the importance of this 

 movement to the commercial develop- 

 ment and prosperity of the South. 



COTTON AND THE CHINESE BOYCOTT 



From an address by President Roosevelt to the 

 citizens of Atlanta, October 20, IQ05 



I AM glad to see diversifications of 

 industry in the South, the growth 

 of manufactures as well as the growth 

 of agriculture, and the growing growth 

 of diversification of crops in agriculture. 

 Nevertheless it will always be true that 

 in certain of the Southern States cotton 

 will be the basis of the wealth, the main- 

 stay of prosperity, in the future as in 

 the past. The cotton crop is of enor- 

 mous consequence to the entire country. 

 It was the cotton crop of the South that 

 brought $400,000,000 of foreign gold 

 into the United States last year, turning 

 the balance of trade in our favor. The 

 soil and climate of the South are such 

 that she enjoys a practical monopoly in 

 the production of raw cotton. Under 

 proper methods of distribution, it may 

 well be doubted whether there can be 

 such a thing as overproduction of cot- 

 ton. Last year's crop was nearly four- 

 teen million bales, and yet the price was 



sufficiently high to give a handsome 

 profit to the planter. The consumption 

 of cotton increases each year, and new 

 uses are found for it. 



At present our market for cotton is 

 largely in China. The boycott of our 

 goods in China during the past year was 

 especially injurious to the cotton manu- 

 facturers. This government is doing, 

 and will continue to do, all it can to put 

 a stop to the boycott. But there is one 

 measure to be taken toward this end in 

 which I shall need the assistance of the 

 Congress. We must insist firmly on our 

 rights, and China must beware of per- 

 sisting in a course of conduct to which 

 we cannot honorably submit ; but we 

 in our turn must recognize our duties 

 exactly as we insist upon our rights. 

 We cannot go into the international 

 court of equity unless we go in with 

 clean hands. We cannot expect China 

 to do us justice unless we do China jus- 

 tice. The chief cause in bringing about 

 the boycott of our goods in China was 

 undoubtedly our attitude toward the 

 Chinese who come to this country. This 

 attitude of ours does not justify the ac- 

 tion of the Chinese in the boycott, and 

 especially some of the forms which that 

 action has taken. But the fact remains 

 that in the past we have come short of 

 our duty toward the people of China. 



It is our clear duty, in the interest of 

 our own wage- workers, to forbid all Chi- 

 nese of the coolie class- — that is, laborers, 

 skilled or unskilled — from coming here. 

 The greatest of all duties is national 

 self-preservation, and the most impor- 

 tant step in national self-preservation is* 

 to preserve in every way the well-being 

 of the wage-worker. I am convinced . 

 that the well-being of our wage-workers 

 demands the exclusion of the Chinese 

 coolies, and it is therefore our duty to> 

 exclude them, just as it would be the 

 duty of China to exclude American la- 

 boring men if they became in any way 

 a menace to China by entering her coun- 

 try. The right is reciprocal, and in our 



