Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-09-11
PROGRESS uNrI4E sourH.


f the results of a visit TO the south BY
} Mr.. Robert p. Porter, political econ.
omist and statistician. They were
communicated by him to firm i'm
, Baltimore, and afterwards found
} their way into the columns of the
Baltimore American.
These statements entirely accord
with the reports Of the recent census,
which have produced so much as
tonishment and anger among repub-
lican Journalists, and ought to be an
occasion of pride and satisfaction to
them rather than of murmuring and
disparagement:
When Virginia has So per cent.
of unimproved land, West Virginia
over SO per cent, Tennessee 65 per
cent, and North Carolina 70 per
4 cent, as is the case in those states,
it Is easy enough to see that what is
!, needed for their further develop
ment, and the same thing is true of
all southern states, is the influx of.
labor and capital. How shall they
be obtained Well, immigration
with money in its hand is tolerably
sure to march into a country whose
resources of wealth have been so far
developed by the previously resi-
dent population as to prove their
yastness, and that there is very
much more money to be made out
OF them. Georgia has hundreds of
! thousands of acres of good soil for
sale at so cents an acre, and the
| financial condition of the state is so
sound that its loans are quoted at
| II per cent. above par. The rich
and comparatively unknown valleys
that lie between the Blue Ridge
and the lateral ranges of Virginia
and North Carolina, carry gold,
iron, copper and coal below the
ground, while the surface land can
hardly be excelled for grazing pur-
poses, and the hill-sides are clothed
with valuable timber. Tennessee
has received within the last two
years 1000 Immigrants, who have |
not come as paupers, but as pur- |
chasers of homes. Arkansas has
probably taken not less than 10000 |
of the same class during that time, /
tsAlNA LC(Aao 10 W. DtiOW IN tIllS
census population of fully 2,000,- /
600. Stock-raising in Texas affords |
magnificent field for enterprise /
and capital. The aggregate of Tex
as cattle is unknown to the best in-
formed operator, but Gen. Walker,
supt. of the census, is making spe-
cial effort to discover the particulars
in regard to this vast interest. No t
southern interest, however, is at
tracting more attention than the
endeavor to distribute cotton man
ufacturing through the cotton belt
itself. The four million bales of
cotton produced in the south last
year run Il, 100000 spindles, which
require nearly one thousand mill
lions of dollars in buildings, ma
chinery and working capital, and
employ about SOC, ,000' hands. Be-
sides this total, the 100000 spindles
in the southern states are cOmpara-
lively few, and the proportion of
cotton which they annually con-
sumo is only a drop in the bucket,
But we have heretofore shown the Ii
increase of profit in manufacturing /
where the cotton is grown, and it
has been estimated by. Mr.. Porter
that if the whole product was miiled
there it would save to the planter
$50, 900, 900 yearly in transportation.
There is plenty of iron in the south
ern states, and it can be manufac-
tured there as eheaply as in the
north. The business has been taken
up to some extent, and one expert
has given the opinion that Tennes-
al Il
vania if it will. By employing its
laboring population in manufactur- {
ing enterprises. the south will not
only retain within its own, borders
the. money of which it is now de-
pleted, but it will have products to d [
sell to other countries, and the more !
it has to sell, the more miles of rail,
roads will be built, and the more I
certain and remunerative will be
the home markets of its farmers,
and the greater will be the ability
of all its people to possess themselves
of luxuries and comforts drawn
from every quarter of the globe. In
sugar culture is having al (
boom. In 1865 the state produced
but 8 ZOO tons, this year it has mar :
keted 1928 hogsheads of sugar !
md 274, ,44O barrels of molasses, for z
which nearly $l9,000,00O was real F
ized. Yet there is still much sugar T
land that is not cultivated. Forty !
one mills for extracting oil from !
cotton seed are being worked in the =
cotton belt, and there is much money +
Id this industry. i
We have not space to follow Mr.. I
Porter through all the details of I
southern progress and possibilities y
that he submits, but enough has i
been quoted to enforce the convic- Z
ion that the day is breaking in that /
sections Its people stsre going to :
work in earnest, and in the new 4
ife that they are entering upon 4
here must necessarily be an aholi-
ion of those political and social in
which have been their :
,urse. Busy men haveinot time TOT
)rOod noVera old sores, nnrse dead f
ssues, and foster political hatreds. I
IFapy evidence were wanting to !.
how that the bolters are waging i
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