Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-05-10

| lions of the Southern States OF part OF
he country needing supplies of merchan-
lise which are plenty in other rarts, but
unable to obtain them even at large prices.
For example, hay is an article in great de-
mand in parts of Georgia. 1t was selling
by the bale in Augusta few weeks ago at
81 hundred Notwithstanding this high
price the ordinary rules of trade fail to OPP
crate, and there is no flow of the high
priced article to supply the demand. On
looking into the reasons for this we are
plainly compelled to attribute it. to the
great characteristic fact that the South has
neither money nor credit on which to un-
dertake business s'Why does not YES
sci load of hay come here at once % The
answer was, eff Northern man wishes to
sell hay here he must come down with his
load and peddle it out bale by bale, unless
he is willing to trust us, and as few are viii
ling to do so our supplies are short" This
incidental illustration tends directly to the
great and prominent point which is worthy
the attention of Northern men, namely the
openings for Northern capital in the
South.
There was never offered to CAPITALISTS a
more promising field of investment. 1t
needs only visit to convince them of this,
and they will be welcomed with the utmost
cordially, whether they come as visitors or
as residents. 1t matters nothing what is
the political faith of the Northern man;
radical OF conservative, he will be welcom-
ed and we'll received. The published state
untrue. If Northern rowdy gets drunk
in Southern Hotel, becomes riotous and
receives deserved punishment, it is general
| ly published in the North as an instance of
| Southern ill-treatment of Northern travel
ers. All classes of the people, old and
young, are impressed with the conviction
that they need Northern visitors and set
tiers among them. We have seen in sever
al instances groups of Northern travellers
conversing in hotels with Southern men
where in the course of the conversation it
appeared that some of them had been SOL
diers on opposite sides in the same battles,
and the course of the battles formed at once
the subject of animated and interested con-
versation, but in no instance was there the
slightest insult, ill~feeling, or passion dis
played. We have seen similar converse
tons between civilians where the subject
was the loss of near and dear relatives on
opposite sides of the contest. In short the
wal has already assumed i'll the minds Of
men a sort of historic aspect, It's re suits are
accepted as conclusive, and no one dreams
of ever again opening the questions invol-
we'd.
One of the best societies which could be
formed now would be benevolent society
to promote intercourse between the two
sections. It is not the expeditions of pol
itical speakers which will do good. 1t is
the visits to the South of honest men who
have no political ends to serve which should
be encouraged.
We speak of the openings for capital -
These openings are of two classes the first
| IN tho yuaU of loans of money bn SnoonI
in the way of purchases of property. There
is, of course, apprehension OH the part of
Northern men that tine values of Southern
securities may be over estimated But we
are persuaded that there can hardly be q
lower depth than has now been reached
Certainly it is impossible that the real es-
tate of the South can ever be worth less
than it is now offered at There are no
better securities in the world than are now
proposed in bonds and mortgages on South
ern real estate The margins are ample on
the present low valuations, while they are
! from four-ffths to nine-tenths of the value
of the property eight years ago. We have
seen improved property of the best class,
which was salable before the ar at 500 600
offered now for 1000, and loan asked
on it of So, 900, without a taker. We have
seen plantations formerly worth ten dollars
an acre, including cleared, swamp and tim
Der land, now offered urgently at one dol
lar and quarter an acre, without finding q
purchaser. The general depression is so
great that men are anxious only for Il little
money on which to endeavor to make q
new start from the beginning. They re-
gard their present ruin as absolute.
The question for capitalists is of course
simply, whether the future promises a bet
ter state of things and higher values It is
! l. l. L = L 7 70
the South and doubt that they will again
hereafter as heretofore produce wealth, and
sustain commercial and political power
The world wants their produce, and the
world will have it. Ii last years crop had
not proved to SO many a failure, this year
would have done much to increase values
and arouse industry.
And it is great error i'll Northern men
to suppose that the Southern agriculturists
are old fogy, and need Northern education
Let it be understood distinctly that no man
knows better how to grow cotton or rice
than the Southern planter. They have de-
voted their lives to it. They are men of
education and experience, who have studied
with the utmost care for many years the
most effective methods of cultivation. The
Northern man who goes there to plant must
expect to learn, not to teach. The results
of their labor are abundantly known in the
past and the whole country would ask
nothing more now than to see those annual
results restored to what they were few
years ago.
There is every reason for directing the
attention of capital to the Southern States.
The opportunities for safe investment are
abundant and if the investor seeks to
speculate, there are sure openings for in
creasing his capital two, five and tenfold.
There is no point where this is more mani
fest than in the neighborhood of Augusta,
one of the most beautiful cities of the South
Those splendid residences at the Sand Hills,
known to all travellers in old times as the
abodes of health, wealth and luxury, are
in many instances offered for sale at prices
fabulously low, and plantations near that
city are to be purchased at rates which must
be doubled within year if the crop be a
good one. Who can doubt that this por-
ton of Georgia will rapidly develop wealth?
Georgia itself is one of the most remarka-
BILE States, in natural wealth, on the earths
surface Within it's boundaries may be
grown nearly every article of food and lux
ury known to the tropics and temperate
zones. Bananas and oranges, tea and cot
| fee cotton and corn, apples, melons beach