Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-11-17
SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT.


SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT.
The South has been placed so far In
the background by the war and its con-
sequences, that many of our people are
disheartened and Indifferent to any sug-
gestions of possible, or probable i'm
proVement in the near future. The re-
cent elections, however, are working an
auspieious change in the public feeling
In this matter, and new life, energy,
hope and confidence, are visible on all
sides, which indicate the dawn of day
of gladness for a section, whose night
of sorrow has continued fourteen long
and dreary years. Let the dead past
bury its dead. 1t is the actual, living
present that concerns us. There are
opportunities for development within
our reach, which should not be
neglected. As compared with
past generations, we have a thousand
inestimable advantages, many Of which
are not seen nor appreciated by one
man in a thousand. They lie hidden
from the popular view among facts de-
veloped partly by science, partly by the
aggregation of capital, and partly by
skilful professional labor. Yet such
facts are as easy of access and as relia-
bic as any mathematics or astronomy.
After experimenting twenty-five years,
Mr.. Mech, of England, raised a crop
of wheat this year which turned out
sixty bushels per acre. This is done
by applying mathematics to agricul-
ture, just as the science is applied to
ascertain the exact distance of the sum
and moon from our earth.
James McHenry, London capital
list, who has more money invested in
American railways and bonds than any
other man in Europe, thus attesting his
confidence in our resources and integ-
rity, wrote as follows, recently, to a
New York railway official: "This very
year England aloneis paying five mil
lion pounds on freights for bread
stuffs from San Francisco, which, were
l IN command Of the routes, should,
every shilling,of it, pass into the rail-
way treasures; 100000 a year
would be comfortable addition to the
best of them" Here is a business
man who has had quarter of cen
tury's successful experience In moving
the products of the soil, such as we
raise in Tennessee, and. coal and iron
in their cheapest form, of which
our. State has a literally mex
haustible supply, who afirms sub
stantially, that wheat may be trans
ported proftably from California by
rail to the sea-board on its way to
England for consumption. If this
idea be sound, and it is based on mathe-
MATES tested by experience in Europe,
what future does it promise to the
farmers, mechanics, manufacturers,
merchants and railways Of the South,
all alike surrounded by such vast un-
developed resources
As minated above, the masses, in
Guiding our railroad men, fail to see
the capabilities Of these newly invented
iron ways, utilized By steam. Our
people want both Improvements and
confidence. 1t shall not be the fault of
the UNION AND AMERICAN if these
wants are not fairly and fully satisfied.
In the letter referred to,
MIR. McHenry said: ga furth-
er illustration was some three years
afterwards when spent several days
with j. Edgar Thomson, at Glencove.
He mentioned that he had large ele-
vator idle in Philadelphia, erected at a
cost of half million. 1 suggested the
propriety of carrying Indian corn from
Chicago at cent per ton per mile. He
argued that 1t was impossible to carry
it at that rate. 1 endeavored to con-
vince him that it would pay better to
carry at that rate thanto have his rails
idle, and we ciphered up that train of
800 tons could be brought into Phila-
delphia from Chicago, for $1,000. He
argued with me that it would cost