New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-09
IN GEORGIA..
THE COTTON COUNTRY,
-. or LAND-COTTON MANUFACTURE
III" me GIN IN OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES CAPITAL DE-
AIRED.

onotonous spsrsely settled country. Not In
forty aeon from the car windows IL under cultivation
For the first 80 miles one nothing but woods of
s,arveng pines and the occasional cabins and meager
ornpatches of the lowdown people called sandhill-
er yhe like the trees are stunted and scraggy Their
faces are of the color of the yellowish sand from which
they seem TO have sproued Further on. the country
improves, and there Is an hours stretch Of we'll
titled FARMS with large, comfortable farm
houses aud numerous negro cabins. The
soil is sapdy, but when literally fertilized
IL produces fair crops OF cotton. The few fields OF wheat
and oats that scarcely promised TO return the SEED
soyn The cotton at this is three four inches
high and all hands busy hoeng and blowing between
the rows. / observed fully as many negro women as
at work in the fields, who guided the shoyelplowS
with tuckedup skirts showing their bare black feet and
legs who swung the heavy, clumsy hoes side by side
with their male companions Rarely were any white
men to be seen at work about the farms inquired the
value of land Of farmer who got on at one OF the st
lions He said that he had little place oi lOO acres
that we had just passed, lying Oh the railroad
a mile from the depot, that he wanted to
sell at $40 an acre 1t was fair cotton land, was well
fenced and had "a right peart frame house on IT, ana
a negro-hOuse, carragc-house. ktchen-buiding, muk-
house and other buildings He said he owned more than
5000 acres of land. He had place six miles from the
railroad of 1850 acres with two good msites, plenty Of
GOOD pine timber and considerable cleared land that
would make good cotton, which he would sell for y an
acre. He had lost nearly $1,000 in his cotton crop last
year by agreeing in advance to pay his hands y cents
pound for their share OF the CROP which he was able TO
sell for only 6 cents All the planting in his neighbor
hood was done on shares, he said, and none OF the
planters had made anything last year.
At the station clustering fellow with big revolver
hung about his waist strobe up and down the PLATFORM
asserting with proper oahs that no white man could be
Radical and if he said nc was one, he ID liar.
" And 10 niger is a Democrat" he added. " don't
care what he says If ho calls himself Democrat ne
id liar. No white man would want 10 eat and sleep
with such fellows those" pointing to three negroes
who had Just finished unloading some freight, " ana
that's why say no white man be Radical and II
he SAYS he is he lies There's that gentleman" ndca-
ting me- "he's no Radical and if he so he's liar
The fellows political harangue here interrupted by
the whistle of the locomotive, and not sorry to
leave him to finish it to the three negroes, who ap
peared TO DO attentive though not admIlng auutOrs
For the last two hours Of the journey woods and WampS
predomnated, and cultivated fields were rarely seem
Eleven miles from Augusta made long halt at the
only village had thus far place called Granite
yile where there large cotton factory, employing
nearly all the inhabitants of the village few miles
further on there Is handsome paper-nill, and com
pact hamlet of 40 or so houses all just ahe hhdDed py
the operatives. Augusta is an old and quiet lte city
stretching for two miles along the bank of the Savannah
River having Wholesale trade, large cotton snip
ping business. and extensive retail trade. mile OF
sodly built stores line the broad main street on either
side The streets on which the best dwellings stand are
laid out after the manner of Inter den Linden in Berlin
two rows of skirtng little grasspat in the
center with carriage ways both sides, separated from
the sidewalks by other Of trees The effect OF these
long vistas of shade is very fine.
The city has always enjoyed steady, slow, and sure
sort prosperity and before the war possessed much
accumulated wealth. The path Of destruction which
shermans army made through Georgia did not touch
Augusta and no soldier visited until after
the peace The citizens hope for great things from the
development Of the magnificent waterpOwer furnished
by the rapids of the Savannah River. Some use is now
made Of this, by Of canal constructed by the
city before the This canal runs distance OF seven
miles, and affords power enough to two or three
-four mills largo cotton factory but tho power is
scarcely sufficient these and might he Increased more
than ten-fOld. This factory Is the pride OF the
city, II has proved notable financial success. having
paid dividend of 20 per every year since the war;
and besides accumulated surplus fund Of $4,000,
which will be devoted to enarsing its capacity as soon
as more water be obtained. The factory contains
5osooms The number of hands employed is 49, and the
aggregate annual sales produce SlC))O) the num-
Der of wards of cloth manufactured exceeding OoOO)0
visited the factory yesterday and found that for ORDER
SYSTEM and comfort OF operatives, 1t compares favOra
bly, with the NewEngland cotton mills. Inc opera
tyes are nearly all women and girls, belonging
TO the class of poor whites known as crackers" the
same race that inhabits the sandy pine belt OF country
stretching from North Carolina to Mississippi These
were by no means handsome, but was plain that their
factory life had frightened them into and elevated them
not little in intelligence above their kindred IN the
pney woods" The girls neatly dressed in calico,
and each had taken OFF her shoes and set them be-
side her loom going barcOOted for greater comfort.
gentleman whom found in the Office told me that the
IL 1.vsol l.fa f4atp ffa f4a
tory were owned by the company and rented to the OPP
eratiyes and that where whole family worked in the
mill house was furnished them rent free He said the
loom girls paid by the piece, and earned from 81 to
SC week. Eleven hours constituted days work. The
factory stock was worth l65 and nearly all owned
in the city.
The great success of this enterprise is stimulating
others of like character and company IL now forming
to put up factory with accommodations for 1000 looms.
But the first thing to be done is to increase the water
power and this the city proposes to do by nlagng the
canal The Mayor, anxious that the people at the North
should know through THE TRIBUNE something Of the
advantages for manufactures possessed by Augusta,
took me up the canal in boat, to-day, with party Of
dozen prominent citizens TO the rapids and dam from
which the supply Of water is now obtained At this
point the river is quarter Of mile broad, and falls
nearly 40 feet In the distance of mile. The Mayor said
that there unanimous sentiment among
the better class OF people in favor Of the Northern
immigration. Especially did they want men OF
capital TO develop their manufacturing resources Most Of
the Northern men who had thus far come to Georgia
had been penniless adventures whose purpose TO
enrich themselves at the expense Of the people, aud
leave with their gains The people wanted more OF
that kind but they would cordially welcome all respect
able men who came to make homes, and who brought
something with them He said that, after the there
was naturally bitterness Of feeling against all
Northerners but he believed that had Of and that
Northern people of good character would be pleasantly
treated only business relations but also socially
rest of the party Endorsed these views, and did
not to disturb the harmony of opinion by asking
Northern man could retain his Republican politics and
be active in promoting the Of his party and at
the same time enjoy social amenities and business pat
ronage. Inquiries I had made the day before had
convinced me thai public opinion has vet reached