The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1868-01-16
OUR COUNTY-ITS LATENT
WEALTH.

OUR COUNTY-ITS LATENT
WEALTH.
The events Of the past few years have
left an indeliblc impress on our industrial
system, obliterating all rcs%traintson labor.
A new era dawns, indicating new pursuits,
and diversified employment necessarily
follows, giving wider scope to mechanical
labor. Agricultural pursuits In this conn-
try have been seriously Influenced by the
changes entailed south Of us, from the nc
cessity which forces the cotton planters of
Georgia and Alabama to devote their eff.
forts to provide the first necessity ofbread-
stuils sufficient to meet their own wants.
That which has heretofore furnished q mar
kct for our surplus grains, no longer .eX-
lists. What we now need is q mechanical
population to increase our home market
for breadstuffs, when there is no market
south Of us, and with the present embargo
on the distillatiOn o fgrain, the prices re-
allied afford no compensation for the cap
ital invested, and labor expended in the
cultivation of corn. The growth Of wheat
in this locality has been comparatively
neglected, and it will be likely to remain
SO for some time to come, from the disin-
clination of farmers to change their system
of crops. The cultivation of cotton, al
ways uncertain and precarious, becomes II
greater uncertainty than heretofore, from
the new duties imposed on the freedmen.
The requirements Of the League, and the
functions of tllcl franchise, that may de-
mand his attention ut a critical period of
the cultivation Of the growing plant, blast
the prospects, and u snort crop results
Cotton Is sacrificed on the altar of the bal
lot-box, and all the concomitant train of
vice and crime attendant on poverty and
decentralization Is garnercd unto us. If we
are wise, by an earnest and cooperative
effort we will secure the development of.
our latent resources, that will ere long
make Franklin county one Of the most, ii
not the most prosperous county in Tcnncs-
see. Many Of our farmers still cling to the
1ilIacy Ofholding large tracts ofland, that
under the present system they cannot Sc
cure labor to cultivate one-fourth of, whilst
the other thrce-fourths represents dead
capital on which taxes and the interest on
the money invested is making the owner
poorer yearly. This course of impoverish-
mcnt must be arrested. Those surplus
lands involving so much inactive capital,
that the moth of interest Is consuming.
should be converted into something that
will ut least yield al interest. There is no
difficulty in selling out your Fertile caste.
Lctthc people of the Middle States know
the advantages or your climate, with n
winter so mild the mercury rarely reaches
to within 10 degrees of zero, and Il summer
range scarcely touching 90 f., with an ell
.,,t;nr, 80 cn,yn, hu,,1rnJ fa.t a1,,,,a thnl
basin ofMiddle Tennessee, insuring,a pIlrc,
free atmosphere above the malarious in
~ilucnccs and where epidcmirs are I'M
known; with an abundance of pure water,
and fertility of soil, that produces all the
grains of the temperate region; peculiarly
favorable to the growth of fruit, grapes,
grasses, tobacco, and most of the tropical
productions; where the hcmlOck and mag
nolia meet on common ground to testify
how much Nature, and how little man has
done for this the garden spot of Tonnes
see; with more miles of Railroad in good
running order, than any county In the
State, yet we lindthe best lands OF the lines
ofrailroad hardly bring 20 dollars per acre
where they are intrinsically worth four
times that amount. Let us endeavor to
build up manufactures, bring mechanical
labor, and we will have n population in al
ltN ltdIS luuL VIII ian ~ MAJ NV vi Nv |
product of your farms, and bring capital
here and fix 1t in Improving and adjoining
those lands.
No county in the state affords the same
guarantee to the successful investment of
capital In manufacturing as this county, |
possessing the finest deposit of coal south
ofthe Ohio river for manu- featuring pur-
poses, and ut lower prices than elsewhere
In the South, and an inexhaustible bed of
iron orc, Of superior quality, that q be
taken to the coal at less than One-third the
price ore can nc furnished In Pennsylva-
mia at the furnaces, and the advantages of
being nearly 300 miles nearer by, rail, the
markets Of Georgia and Alabama, thus sa-
wing transportation from the Ohio river,
Ia an item of no inconsiderablc Margin
The advantages ofthis locality for manu-
featuring leather, Is greater perhaps. than
can be found elsewhere on this continent,
The whole Cumberland range Ofmountains
il covered with al abundance Of accessible
chcstnut-0ak timber, and when the little
zap Is filled up connecting the w. Ala-
with the NJ, e c. X. II. (Which will prOba-
bly, be done ut an early day. will give us
two diverging lines by rail to the Missis-
sippi river, one at Hickman and the other
at Memphis, reaching the hide market, 10y
competing lines that will insure the lowest
rates Of freight. Along the line or roads
in this county and contiguous thereto, is
a number OF springs that afford from 800
to 1000 gallons of water perhOur, at tenn
peratpres varying from 50 to Gl.
Those advantages arc not likely to re-
main long u~nappropriated to their proper
and Legitimate purposes. A charter Is now
pending before the Legislature for the
Franklin iron Co., with a proposed capital
Of s2t0,0O0. a charter has been granted
tothe Sewanec Tanning and Manufacture
ing Co., with . capital of s200OO0 with
permission to organize when $4,000 has
been subscribed. It Is contemplated tOI
adopt all the modern Improvement in
tanning and produce q arst class m~crchant-
able article Of leather, and also to manu-.
facturc shoes on the most approved plan,
with all the appliances lately introduced
in the Eastern States, and we have every
reason to believe that shoes Of the same
character can be made In Franklin county
36per cent. cheaper than In Massachusetts.
Let us take hold Of this class Of enterprise
spd invest the surplus capital now absorb
sein unproductive lands, and make ~itavail-