The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1879-02-27
BAGGERS.
What General sherman has TO
say about 10.

i du SdllSucdJ llOm NY tCCthO 'D-
it, that Northern professional men,
manufacturers, mechanics and farm
ers may come to Atlanta, Rome and
Chattanooga with a certainty of fair
dealing and fair encouragement.
Though 1 was personally regarded
the bete-noir of the late war in your
region, the author of all your woes,
yet 1 admit that I haYe just passed
over the very ground desolated by
the civil war, and have received every
where nothing but kind and courte-
GUS treatment from the highest to
the lowest, and | heard Of no vio-
lence to others for opinions sake.
Some Union men spoke to me Of So
cial ostracism, but | saw nothing Of it
and ever if it do exist it must disap-
pear with the present generation.
Our whole framework of government
and history is founded on the person
al and political equality Of citizens,
aud philosophy teaches that social
distinctions can only rest on personal
merit and corresponding intelligence,
and if any part Of community clings
to distinctions founded on past condi-
tions, it will grow less and less with
time and finally disapper. Any at
tempt to build up an ariStocracy or a
privileged class at the South, on the
fact that their fathers or forefathers
once owned slaves, will result in a
ridiculous failure and subject the au-
thors to the laughter Of mankind.
[ refer to this subject incidentally be
cause others have argued the case
with me, but whether attempted else
where in the South, [ am certain it
will not be attempted in Georgia.
Therefore, | shall bclleve and
maintain that North Georgia is now
in q condition to invite emigration
from the Northern States of cur
Union and from Europe, and all par
ties concerned should advertise wide
Iy the great inducements your region
holds out to the industrious and fru-
gal Of all lands; agents should be ap-
pointed in New York to advise, and
others at Knoxville, Chattanooga,
Rome, Atlanta, etc, to receive emil
grants and to point out to them on
arrival where cheap lands may be had
with reasonable credit, where compan
les may open coal aud iron mines,
where mills may be erected to grind
wheat and corn, spin cotton, and to
manufacture the thousand and one
things you buy from abroad; and,
more especially, that you are prepar-
ed to welcome and ~patronize men who
settle in your region and form u part
of your community.
Your growth and development since
the war have been good, very good
better than I was prepared to see;
but compare it with San Francisco,
Denver, Portland, Ore gon, Leaven-
worth, Chicago, st. Louis, or hun
drcds of places I could mention less
favored in climate and location than
Atlanta. These cities have been no
torious open to the whole world, and
all men felt perfectly at liberty to go
there with their families, with their
acquired wealth and with their per-
sonal energy, You must guarantee
the same, not specifically or selishly
but with that sincerity and frankness
which carries conviction.
Excuse me if | ask you asan editor
to let up somewhat on the f%avoritc
hobby of"'carpet- baggers." I know
that you personally apply the term
only to political adventures, but 9th
crs, your readers, construe it other
wise. have resided in San Francis
co, Levenworth and ST. Louis, and of
the men who have built up these great
cities, | ASSERT that not one in fifty
was a native Of the place. All, or
substantially all, were carpet baggers,
i. e., emigrants from all parts Of the
world, many Of them from the
South.
Our Supreme Court, Congress, and
our most prominent and intellectual
men now hail from localities Of their
own adoption, not to their birth.
Let the emigrants TO Georgia, feel
and realize that his business and So
cial position results from his own in
dustrv, his merits and his virtues,
and net from the accidental place of
his birth, and soon the great advan-
taye of climate, soil, minerals, tim
Der, etc, will fill up your country and
make Atlanta one Of the most pros
porous, beautiful and attractive cities
not alone Of the South, but of the
whole continent, IA an end which l
desire quite as much as you do.
Personally, / would not ike to
check the flow Of emigration west
ward, because of the vast natural i'm
portauc' of that region, but | do be-
lieye that every patriot should do
what he can TO benefit every part of
our whole country, and I nm sure
that good will result from turning n
part Of this great tide of humln life
and energy southwark along the val
leys Of the Allegheny mountains, q.
p%ccially Of East Tennessee, northern
Georgia and Alabama, ana if | can
aid you in this good work | assure
Won that viii Ia 81 wfth ;rG,;4.