Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-05-20
IMMIGRATION.
Proceedings Of the Citizens
Meeting ON 'Change
Yesterday.
An Elaborate Address ON
Southern Resources Read
and Adopted. q

Der Of Commerce yesterday afternoon,
Pitser Miller, Esq, presiding, an elab-
crate and voluminous address on the
subject of immigration, and the re-
sources, advantages. etc. OF the South
ern States, was read by Colonel ]. 7.
Trezeyant, chairman ef the committee
appointed to draft the same. The major
portion Of the document being Of gen.
eral rather than a local or sectional
character, and merely q transcript Of
national statistics Of population, agricul'
ture, navigation, etc., we extract simply
that portion of the report which refers
directly to Memphis and its surround
ings. The committee say:
Particularly do we invite attention to
the statistical tables, etc, Of that region
one hundred and twenty-five miles
around Memphis, embracing eighteen
counties in West Tennessee, and twenty
in North Mississippi, and twenty in Ar.
kansas, with four in North Alabama,
| lust beyond the circle, but tributary to
Memphis. A glance at the accompanying
map will show that all these counties
are remarkably we'll watered; many Of
the largest rivers in the Union fertilizing
them, and affording several thousand
miles Of steamboat navigation. Among
these are the Mississippi, Tennessee,
Hatchie, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha,
Yszoo, Arkansas, White and ST. Francis;
all navigable, and each having many
large branches, with extensive and fertile
valleys. This region, two hundred
and fifty miles in diameter, with
Memphis as its center, has more
than one thousand miles of railroad
in daily operation; four of them starting
out from Memphis toward the lakes, the
ocean, the gulf and the West, respective
". Nearly every county in West Tennes-
see and North Mississippi has railroad
running through it, aud the citizens of
no county in any one of the States with
in that circle are more than twenty-five
miles from a railroad or a navigable
stream. In 1859 the Southern States
raised s, 1897 900 bales of cotton, of four
hundred pounds each; and the State of
Mississippi alone raised 100000, or
nearly one-fourth of that whole crop
In the season of lS59-'60, Memphis re-
ceived 389, 79l bales, and was the fourth
cotton market in the Union. Before the
year 1850 nearly all the cotton received
at Memphis was shipped thence to New
Orleans; not more than 10000 bales GO
ing northward. Since then many cotton
factories have sprung up in the Ohio
valley, and river aud railroad compete
for It's transportation. The result is 49,
COG bales went northward in 1860; some
stopping at the various Western facto-
ries, some going directly TO New York
and the New England factories. The
factories just north of the Ohio river all
buy their cotton in Memphis as their
nearest supply market; and one of our
railroads has just perfected arrange
ments by which our Memphis merchants
can ship cotton direct to Liverpool
through Norfolk and Virginia. Althese
things combine to make Memphis the best
cotton market in the world for the planter;
and it is remarkable fact that, during
the season now closed, cotton has reg
ulary commanded price in Memphis
almost equal to that ruling in New York,
and from one to two cents higher than
that ruling in any but seaboard city.
Memphis being so readily accessible, in
any direction, by river or railroads, buy
ers meet here from all parts ofthe Union.
The agents for the Ohio factories meet
the New Orleans buyers on our streets
and both compete with the New York and
New England buyers. The river never
freezes over at Memphis, and the largest
steamers land at our wharves at all sea-
sons of the year. We are within two
days of Norfolk, the finest harbor on the
Atlantic; within thirty hours of the
Northern lakes and twenty hours of the
Gulf. This region around Memphis,
containing but one-thrity-ffth of the
population of the Union, produced
one sixth of all the cotton, onetwenty-
fifth of all the corn, one-tenth of all
the sweet potatoes, and one-twelfth
of all the meas and beans raised in
the whole Union in 1860. Its grain
and fruits ripen several weeks before
those in the Northern States; and our
lines of railroads and steamers enable
US to sell our grain and fruits in the
Northern markets at very high prices.
A region of equal extent, so favored in
climate, so beautifully yielding the lux
uries as we'll as the necessaries of life,
and so blessed with the many facilities of
transportation, can be found in no other
portion of the Union.
The report was adopted unanimously
and the American and German newspa-
pers of the city requested to print the
same