Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-04-09
Our Splendid Inheritance.

The people of the South are slower to
recognize the advantages of this section
OF the country than are observing men
elsewhere. Our rich soil, our genial eli
mate, our cheap lands, offer such induce
ments to the immigrants that, now we
are rid OF carpet-bag governments, every
year swells higher and higher the great
tide of labor and capital which is sweep
ing down on US from the North. Half
million of foreign immigrants will
come to America during the year from
Europe but few of them will
come to the Southern States;
our Immigrants will be Americans, at
tracted by the cheap lands and mild eli
mate. The severe winter has created
much discomfort il the North, especially
in the Northwest. while the great i'm
provements in our railroad system, the
completion of the Southern Pacific, the
wonderful impetus given to railroads in
Arkansas and Texas by the schemes of
Jay Gould and the influence of the
Louisville and Nashville system
throughout the South, all tend to give to
the farmers here the same railroad facili-
ties enjoyed elsewhere.
The railroad development is both the
cause and the consequences of other
changes going on about us. Capital is
seeking investment in mines and ma
chinery. The South is producing to a
considerable extent, and will steadily in
crease its production of iron and of coal,
of lumber and of leather, of woolen and
cotton fabrics. Our industries are devel-
oping themselves, not because of protec-
ton, but in defiance of its restrictions.
A =
important changes. Large plantations
are divided, small farms increase in num-
Der, new agricultural machinery is intro
duced, new methods of cultivation
are studied, the land is better cared
for, small economies are practiced,
cattle is watched and we'll tended,
care is shown everywhere, and the
cost of raising bale of cotton or
of bushel of wheat is, little by little,
decreased. Much of this is due to ne
cessity and much is due to the example
of the Northern farmers, who come, it
is true, with many misconceptions of the
actual situation, and who have to modify
their plans to suit their surrounding, but
who do not put aside their habits Of
economy of thrift and personal superin-
tendence.
Politics have become less of an alb
sorbing passion; parties are judged, and
to be Judged more and more, by their
fruits Men we will honor hereafter
will not be those who have succeeded in
manipulating caucuses or in securing 3
certain amount of political patronage,
but they will be the men who have done
something for the financial regeneration
of this people, who have built railroads,
opened mines. erected mills, reclaimed
abandoned lands, decreased the
cost of cultivation, or who have
done something TO add to our
material welfare. Money talks as no ora
tor ever will Wealth for this whole
section-not sordid wealth, secured by
wrong, injustice or personal or party
unfaithfulness-has a wonderful trans
forming influence; and it is needed no.
where more than in the South. We want
wealth and all it will bring; wealth and
all of its refining and humaniZing intiu-
enees; wealth not for the few, but for
all mankind.
Every day brings evidences that those
who have predicted great things for the
| South have not been in the least imagina
tive. A great work is going on around
us now. New cities are a-building, and
new lines of road are extending in all
directions. 1t is time for those who
have so long waited Tor this day to cease
complaining. Lift up your hearts; the
present is bright and the future is full
of promise. If disaster overtakes us it
will be no fault of our own, if the work
comes to a stand-still, it will be because
of our own lethargy.