Smyrna times., 1879-01-22
The Present and Future of the South.

CH"hI "uu banker OF Charleston, 5. c., has
been contributing to the Southern Chrsti4,,
AdLocdte series of articles entitled "How
TO Succeed" which, coming from a man
VINO began 10y succeeding in his own under
taklngs before trying to instruct others.
ought to have weight with his fellow.
southerners, and especially with the Young
men of that part of the country.
In the course of these articles Mr.. Will
llams has taken pains to controvert with
FACTS number of pessimst assumptions
which have had II baneful and paralyzing
effect upon young men Of the South. The
notion that white men cannot successfully
Till the soil IN the Southern States, and its
fellowerror that free negroes will not work
with steadiness, lie cOnfronts with the fact
that the cotton crop of 1873, which must
have been cultivated and picked by some.
body, is larger than any other ever grown.
even when the labor of the negroes was
compulsory. He has never accepted these
theories, and has been from the first so
strongly convinced of the success of the
South with free labor that ne began to build
great warehouses in Charleston for the
storage of cotton Immediately after the
war ended. His friends demonstrated with
HIM. predicting THAT cotton could not be
produced by white labor, and that the
leve any such doctrine" he says, and in
vindication of the soundness of his iudg-
ment he points to his overhowing ware.
houses, which are incapable Of holding the
| cotton which he has need to store. Mr..
Williams's confidence in the industry of
the negroes and in their disposition to
work harmoniously with the whites for the
good of the country and for their own
prosperity by legitimate means is un.
bounded. am happy to say" he writes,
that the relation between the whites and
their former slaves has greatly improved
We owe the freemen a debt of
gratitude for humane consideration Of the
wives and children of our soldiers during
the late war, who were left mainly to their
mercy. Their subsequent conduct has
been equally credtable, especially when
you consider their sudden elevation from
slaves to enfranchsed citizens"
The expression of conviction of this
nature by men Of prominence and in
| tucncc in the South. where public opinion
counts for more than it does elsewhere,
! besides It's significance, must tend to make
the relations between the two races pleas.
anter, and to promote that mutual good
| feeling out of which the healthy homo
Seneity of southern population will come.
| The letter-wrlter points out with great
sagacity certain facts which promise well
for the South if her people will make
| proper use of their opportunities, and labor
patiently to rebuild their fortunes under
the new conditions. One product alone of
the South, the cotton crop, will yield this
year, Notwithstanding low prices, the
enormous sum of two hundred and fifty
millions of dollars, which, estimating the
population of the cotton states at little
more than eight millions gives the start
ling average of thirty-one dollars income
from this one crop for each person, male
and female, old and young, black and
white, throughout the whole cotton region.
Other products of the South, her tar and
turpentine, her lumber and her grain, her
| mineral products and the products of her
| recently establish nuf:ictories-sources oil
| wealth the development of which is scarcely
yet begun-must be added to this as the
years go on-how rapidly depends upon
the energy OF southern men. Concerning
a single one of these resources, and that 9
minor one, Mr.. Williams says:
"Another source of considerable wealth
to the South has arisen from the discovery
of immense beds of phosphate rock anc
fossil bone in South Carolina. These re
markable deposits, both on land and in the
navigable streams, attracted the attention
of geologists more than a century ago, bu
strange to say their value was not knowr
until after the close of the war. These i'm
mense deposits have added greatly to th'
commerce Of South Carolina. Hundred o
cargoes are annually shipped from Charles
ton and Beaufort to foreign and domesti
: ports. The manufacture of commercial
fertilizers from these rocks and fossils ha
added to the wealth and trade of Charles
ton. The capital now employed in mining
phosphate rock and manufacturing fertili
, GERS exceeds the whole banking capital @
the State"
1t is a narrow and unsound philosophy
whether in the North or in the South
which sees the bright prospects of tn
South menace to the prosperity Of til
North. This country is one, and whateve
: enriches any part of it, whatever enable
any part Of it to sell more to the world fo
= the worlds money or the worlds products
increases the prosperity of the whole Ian
! and people, increasing domestic as well a
; foreign trade, and producing real and PEI
z manent thrift. 1t is only the savage or tn
: robber whose thrift is at the expense of b
neighbor; and even enlightened selfshne'
should prompt us to long for the day wher
{ as Williams says, "the production of co
( ton in the Southern States will amount I
ten million bales" and when the sons
men now living will "see more cotto
e manufactured into yarns and cloth in til
e Southern States than is now consumed
II North America. ~. 7. Post.