Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 168, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1917 — HATTIESBURG AND SOUTH O. K. [ARTICLE]

HATTIESBURG AND SOUTH O. K.

OMAR C. RITCHIE, FORMER RESIDENT, SPEAKS HIGHLY OF THE SOUTH. L’Argent, La., July 29, 1917. Editor Republican: I have just read in your issue of July 24th the article wherein is stated Senator Watson “Does Not Like Site in Mississippi,” and following it your publishing “The Mississippi Side of It.” This is something unusual for a northern paper to do and speaks well for your spirit of justice arid fairness. As an old Jasper county boy, I want to commend you for it. The editor of the Hattiesburg News told the exact truth about the matter, but' not quite all of it. Hattiesburg was selected as a training site for the soldiers of the great middle west, because of its healthfulness, despite Senator Jim Watson’s facts (?), its accessibility, but above all else, its fine winter climate, so mild and salubrious, one can live outdoors and enjoy the sunshine almost every day, at a time when in the middle west one cannot be comfortable when indoors with all the doors and windows closed tight, often doubled, and a big furnace fire going. As most of the training of troops is done in the open, qne can readily see why Hattiesburg was selected. The boys will be delighted with the climate, the country and its people. This is the only section of our great country where the descendants of the original old American blood.still' predominates. Almost all family names here, are the good old English, Scotch, Irish or French of Revolutionary times, the true American of AngloSaxon stock. Because of the prejudice generated largely by the Civil war, and the fact that this country, with its magnificent climate and soil possibilities, has failed to be exploited by the railway interests, (as were California and Florida) it has not kept step with many sections of our country far less favored. It is now beginning to come into its own and many intelligent and farseeing investors in the north and west are coming now and buying and living on, these good cheap lands and helping develop its various industries, and when the parents and friends of our soldier boys visit Hattiesburg this winter and breath its pure, balmy air and enjoy its life-giving sunshine, who can tell the good results to come to this section from their coming and seeing. This is bound to be the greatest stock country in America and the character of the soil is such that almost every product of the soil can be brought to its best development. > California is the only state in the union to compare with southern Mississippi and Louisiana. I live in the latter state, just across the great Mississippi river, where the soil is better but the climate is damper and not so pleasant as southern Mississippi. . . - How I wish some of our best farmers in Jasper county could come down here and see our stock, our grain, cotton, sugarcane, etc., growing and gathered- It would open their eyes and cause many o" them to follow your lead, Mr. Editor, and buy one of these fine old plantations. You made no mistake in selecting your place early. Tell more of the best of them to come. We want and need them. Sincerely yours, OMAR C. RITCHIE.