Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-08-28


what II Costs.
Woodbury. (Tenn) Press.l
Thoughtful lOw-tax men will find
interesting food for reflection in a
comparison of the present condition
of Georgia and Tennessee and their
relative advance in population and
prosperity during the past ten years.
Nearly equal in extent OF territory,
Tennessee possesses many adyanta-
ges not possessed by Georgia. For the
fertility of her soil and the variety
of her productions, Tennessee is I'M
surpassed while vast tracts of I'M
productive sandy barrens compel
Georgia farmers to rely largely up
on the use of fertilizers and unre-
hitting toll to obtain remunerative
crops. Pure air and water and a
mild climate fixes the death-rate in
Tennessee almost at the minimum,
while portions of Georgia are hot
and unhealthful. Large navigablte
streams course through Tennessee
and furnish her citizens cheap high
ways to carry the products of their
farms and workshops to market.
An extensive railway system GEN.
tiers in Nashville and lends its NIGH
ty aid in building up our State. Un-
bounded mineral resources await
but the developing hands of capital
and enterprise. Her forests are
yielding vast sums to her citizens,
and native timbers are finding their
way into every market. Her wa
ter-poWer is sufficient to run the
factories Of the world, and cheap
transportation to and from such
places has been provided by the
wisdom of her patriotic sons. An
efficient Board of immigration is
maintained by the state, and well
directed effort is made to attract inn
migration to her borders. Taxes
are lower, perhaps, than in any
other state of the Union. A good
common school system is maintain
ed by the state, and wealthy men
have established great colleges and
universities in her borders. Church.
es have been erected in every local.
ity. Yet with all these advantages
immigration comes not, and our ma
tive citizens seek homes in other
states. Our population in ten years
has only increased about 2O9, 900,
while that of Georgia has increased
355, 232.
With scarcely an effort Georgia
has outstripped us in the march of
Improvement, population, wealth,
and influence. Immigrants have
visited our state, and many of them,
shifting an uncanny odOr, have left
us and settled in Georgia. They
have passed through our borders,
for owing to our admirable railway
system they could not easily go
around us, and sought homes else
where. Our low taxes, our vast and
varied resources, our healthful cli- |
mate and italian skies and beautiful |
scenery, availeth not to fill up our |
waste places nor to retain our native
born sons.
In 1870 Tennessee had popula-
ton of 1888, $50, and was the ninth |
State in point of population in the
Union, with a membership of ten in
the House of Representatives. The
population of Georgia thesame year
was 1874, 100. Her relative rank
in the Union was twelfth, and she
has nine representatives. Congress.
In 1880 Georgia has population of
], 539, 34I, while that of Tennessee is
estimated at 1 ,467 900. This ena-
bles Georgia to maintain her rela-
tive position of twelve in the family +
of States and her representation in |
Congress, while Tennessee recedes
from the ninth to the thirteenth
place and will lose one of her repre-
under the new apportion-
ment.
In addition to this loss of power
and influence which Tennessee will
soon suffer in the House of Repre-
other and greater loss
has befallen her in the depreciation
of her property. The decrease in
the value of her taxable property in
the decade just closed is not less
than one hundred millions of dollars
and we believe it is as much more
and this enormous shrinkage in val
ues is due in a great degree to other
causes than theinflation which pre-
vailed ten years ago.
1t may be urged that Tennessee
is burdened with great debt, and
that she suffered great losses in
during the war. Georgia,
too, had a great debt, a much greater
proportion of which was fastened
upon her by carpet-bag and Repub-
lican rule, and she suffered q far
greater loss in property than did
Tennessee but Georgia satisfactO-
rily adjusted her debt, and is on the
high road to prosperity, while Ten
nessee, certainly not burdened with
any effort to pay or settle her debt,
Eails to keep pace with her Southern
sisters in the march onward and up
ward.
Why should Tennessee thus fail
10 keep pace with her sister States :
If the South? Why should she I
llone except Alabama, lose repre- I
Why should she not
yainone, as Kentucky, with natural {
advantages no better and much :
higher rate of taxation will do? It
s not because persistent effort has
lot been made to secure immigra- :
ion. 1t is not because cheap and $
homes cannot be obtain
d by all who win cast their lot with /
Ter. tits not because her soil refuses a
o yield varied and bOuntiful harvest
b reward honest toll. It is not for the
ttCh Vi Cllcltp I11tLAoI1OI0SAOA Ats~AAA
les. It is not for the lack of schools 7
n churches. What reason, then,
an be given for this failure of Ten
lersee to maintain her relative POI :,
ition In the family Of States and her !
Oss of power In Congress? The In o
vitible conclusion that forces itself d
pom candid minds is that Tennes-
ee's broken faith, her apparent I'M
to meet her obligations, Z
he odOr OF reputation pervading 3
er atmosphere, is the only and suf- <
Gent reason. This conclusion cam 81
ot be successfully gainsaid or its
,rce explained away. Republication
Ike bird of evil omen, hovers over A
ar beloved State and blights our =
Ist expectations of progress. One "
snth Of our representation to Con- u
ress, many millions in value of n
nr property, are some of the sub Il
antiaI benefits we have foolishly
artered away for the cheap twaddle'
demagOgues about low taxes.
t what avail are low taxes if with
lem we prosper not?