One thing you can say about Selma’s economy is that it is resilient.

Good examples of that resiliency were present last week. Dallas Compress was in the news as another cotton crop is gathered for fall and the re-emergence of American Candy may only be days away.

Dallas Compress is more than 100 years old and is a family-run business that has changed with the times. Making a living in agriculture isn’t very easy in the United States.

Farmers compete in the world market and only the most productive survive. For more than 100 years Dallas Compress has changed with the times. The company was shipping cotton back when it was picked by hand and grown on family farms.

Today Dallas Compress is shipping cotton around the world. That cotton is grown on large corporate farms and harvested by machines. And over the years, pine trees have taken over fields where cotton once grew.

It’s different now, but Dallas Compress has shown that a business can survive for 100 years if it has the right leadership, can stay modern, and is willing to change.

The purchase of American Candy by Concord Confections is not complete but American Candy’s new owners are in a hurry for the deal to close. It is reported that Concord, which bought the company through federal bankruptcy court, can’t wait to get production lines going.

Concord will operate the wax division and officials with the company say orders are expected to be &uot;larger than normal&uot; at first as backordered merchandise is produced.

American Candy is another company that has been here more than 100 years. The candy company’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the years and it has been hard for many Selmians to watch a once successful company suffer recently.

But American Candy could be back soon and that would be great news for our town. It will be another good example of our resilient nature.