The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-04-06


take the other
Prof. G. D. Smith was next introduced,
and said.
Mr.. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GEN
TLEMEN: If 1 had been consulted, ]
should not have spoken tonight. was
in a committee room until dark, and con-
sequently am disqualified for speaking to
a mass meeting. All that I shall say will
be in reference to the road as business
enterprise. 1t is one thing to build the
Blue Ridge Road and another to furnish
it with treights. I apprehend that nc
capitalist would invest in its construction
without knowing about the dividends he
would be likely to receive from it. 1t is
therefore important in enlisting capital
and making success of building of this
road, to show that it will have business
which will paw after it is built. Railroad
statistics show that no road pays where
freights only go over it in one direction
This is great draw back upon the pros
perity of the Georgia Railroad. I have
seen as many as fifteen or twenty trains
going back to Chattanooga empty. This.
of course, reduces the income of the
road. The completion of this road from
Charleston to Cincinnati will secure large
freight lists, pointing each way over the
entire line The bringing of Western
produce to this country will secure
freights in this direction, and the return
of supplies to that country will secure an
equally good business in the other direc.
tion; besides, there will be large amount
of way freights in both directions. Ra.
bun, Macon, Swayne, Jackson, Hayward
Clay, Cherokee and Graham Counties is
a region of country which abounds in
more varieties of minerals of use than
any other section of our country. In
Cherokee County there is brown iron
ore of high per cent, and a pure lime
stone. In East Tennessee the iron is
mixed with magnetism limestone. 1t is
freer and better for fexing, and better
when extracted than the iron usually
met with in trade. 1t has been tested in
common forge under the direction Of
the Board of Trade of Cincinnati, and is
reported upon as being equal to the best
Swede iron. We have also a magnetic
ore which is capable of being used profit
ably. / was for some time employed by
an iron factory of Rome, Georgia, which
used an ore from the West, and am
satisfied we have ores of just as good
quality with us. The product of iron OF
the Lake Superior district was computed
at seven millions of dollars, and the yield
Of copper at seven millions of dollars,
also. It has been estimated that Chero-
kee County can furnish one-fourth OF
this amount of iron, and the remaining
counties one-seventh of the copper. The
transportation of this product alone will
give a large amount of freight to the
road. We have corundum in large
quantities, besides sapphires, rubies and
the oriental topaz. We have manganese,
which is used largely in the arts. We
have large beds Of mica which would
serve many practical purposes, and
chrome suitable for being used to many
advantages. We have granite in quanti-
ties of the very best quality for building,
besides states, which promise good yield
to the splitter for roofing, &c. There is
also a fine soapstone, suitable for the
manufacture of the finest china. 1t is
also found to be the very best article for
tips to gas burners, and is now being
worked and wagoned for seventy or eighty
miles, and then shipped north for manu-
facture. We have also valuable timber
growth. There are the cherry, black
walnut, birch, white oak, chesnut and
black locust. / have seen black walnut
tree that is twelve feet in the girth and
eighty feet to its first limb; cherry six
teen feet in the girth and sixty feet to its
first limb, and birch twelve feet in the
girth. These things come in to ensure
freights, and render this connection desi-
rable. There is also a very fine product
of fruits in this country-especially ap-
plies. I found man from Kansas who
was hunting a country in which he would
be secure from the ravages of grass hop
pers, and he wants specimens of our fruits
sent to the Centennial for exhibition to
the world. Our dairy farms are another
profitable resource of our people. Cheese
is made by keeping milk on ice for the
over night in order to keep it perfectly
pure and fresh, but up in our country we
have such cold springs that ice would not
be necessary. These things, with our NUT.
ton, beef, wool, mules and horses, will
furnish freights, also. Those who build
this road viii have one of the best paying
trunk roads in the country, and will re-
ceive good dividends. We have the finest
water power, and there is no reason to
prevent our country from becoming a
country, and noted espe-
cially for the manufacture of the finest
agricultural implements. The develop.
ment of the resources of our country will
greatly increase and diversity the freights
of this road. If completed, the Blue
Ridge line will be without competition
for seventy or eighty miles on each side,
and this, of itself. will ensure it to be a
profitable road to its owners.
Here the speaker entered into statistics
in detail, to show that upon an average
the Southern and Western roads pay q
better dividend on their capital stock
than the Northern roads do, and gave
facts and figures to prove his proposition.
He then continued:
Of late years there has been tendency
to change the shipment of Western pro-
ducts from the Northern to the Southern
cities, and on this account the trade of
New York with this section has decreased.
The effort to hurry up and rush the coun-
try into specie payments is intended to
force the South to make cotton for the
North. 1t is e struggle for independence,
and every road from the Northwest to
the South Atlantic is blow in favor of
the South. Charleston, Port Royal and
Savannah are interested in securing the
benefits to arise f.om the construction of
such road. The cotton of the South is
due to physical forces, and its culture
cannot be given up. Men may change a
government, but they cannot change
nature. The productions of country
depend upon its soil, climate and altitude,
and it has been found that the South
makes by far the best cotton in the world,
and it is useless to speak of giving up
the culture of this crop, for it cannot be