Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-11-30
THE BUSY SOUTH.
DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE PROS
PECTS OF THE COTTON STATES.
An Awakening Among the People Gath
ering of Farmers from All the Sunny
South-The Cotton Exposition.
THE CENTRE OF SOUTHERN INDUSTRY


iSpcCi1 tnyTcsoOhd,7tcc Dfihc Register.
ATLANTA, Ca, Noycmbcr27. 27.-The people
of the South are taking great interest in
the Cotton Exposition at this industrial
! city. They were slow to awaken, but, now
| they have been aroused, are moving in
masses on Atlanta, aS the industrial centre
of the South. The railroad trains are filled
! with hundreds OF men who have not been
| fifty miles from home since the surrender
| Uf Lee and johnson. With the exception
that they are attended by wives and chill
| dren. they travel in pretty much the same
| h0mclv fashion that characterized them
| when called to the first COuvocati0u of the
! Southern States al Manassas in 1861. They
| crowd the cars from neighh0rhOOdS and
| stick together like conscriptS Of the Ger
| man laudwehr They wear the same gray
! Jeans and wOOleu hOmeSpun, and use the
| same jaCkkniyeS to cut up ham and corn
! bread; and they carry their COmmiSSary
| stores III the same lcathcr-hingcd candle
! boxes aS when they came from the cotton
! fields twenty Years ago To fight. Indeed,
| there are hut very few changes in the out
| ward madC-up of the 'gOobcr boys, though
| in many things more essential than raj
mcnt and food they have made remarkable
| progress.
The past week has been an cvcntful one
| III TIC HlSlpIN Vi tLit
Cotton Exposition.
| Thousands of thoughtful men and women
| from every section Of the South have been
| in daily Attendance. and the distinctive les
| SONS OF the great exhibition in their bear
| ing on Southern economies are takingdccp
| root. The cultivation and manufacture of
| cotton occupy, Oi course, the most prOmi-
| ncnt position, and the benefits that will
necessarily result from their associated
| study are inCalCulahle. | do not know
! rightly how To- estimate their great value,
| but the planters and manufacturers see in
I the exposition the grand possibilities of the
| future. Many Northern capitalists have
| been so deeply impressed with the import
ance Of fully developing the manufacture
| ing growth of the South that already it is
! proposed to establish in this city a teChni-
| cal school for the training of Southern
youth in the manufacturing industries, cS-
| pecially in their relation 10 the principal
Southern staple This establishment will
| Dee furnished with all the improved ma
Clincry for the manufacture OF cotton
| goods and under the direction of cOIupc-
tent managers, Ulir own people Will hc
trained to the practical application OF a sci.
enCc that has reyOlutiUnized the commerce
| Of the world.
The small farmers who comprised the
masses OF
1he SOuInCrH NrUHieS "Orkeu
eiOrc the war in She cotton fields with the
few negroes they owned Just is they work
now without the blsCkS. Indeed u great
| many more of them work now than form
erly, and they claim that it is to this in
creased labor ot the whites, made necessary
by the changed social conditions, that the
cotton product has become so largely above
that OF the years before the war. As a rule,
the yoemanry oi the South, holding the
uplandS by regular descent from the carli-
est settlements, were not large SlavC-ownCrS.
though slavery existed sufficiently tD bind
them To the support Of the "inStitHtion.'
The desire which they most frequently cx'
press now is to get rid of the blacks, and
! there is no politics in the thought or wish,
| for the whites control their State govern
ment irrespective Of the negro. They want
! white immigrants, and people who will
bring new ideas and teach them by pres
| enCC and example.
II !, follow, however, tn think of doing
without black labor, or indeed. Of any labor
which may he available in this country.
| I'm the upland regions ut the cotton belt
slave labor was not as valuable, perhaps, aS
| in the lowlandS. In the UplandS some OF
| the conditions Of life We're formerly SINH
| lar 10 those of Northern Virginia, but there
are not white men enough in'thc South tn
| do the work and the negro Is Il very im-
!
Nclupmcnt In other
Industrial Pursuits
| few or no blacks are engaged except per
| hans in the cities where q few COlOrci men
| are carpenters, hricElayCrS, &c. Few or no
| blacks are employed in cotton mills. In
| the Atlanta Exposition negro labor is rep
! resented only by the raw products Of the
| fields. and | was struck with the absence uf
| colorcd people i'll the visitors to the expo
StiOn.
believe the soldiers who returned to the
South carried more enterprise and Il
| greater number of useful ideas than had
| found the way into these remote regions III
| Il century previous The careful farming
| the attention to stock, and other things
| which the men Of Lees army saw during
| the brief months of the invasion OF Mary
| land and Pennsylvania, have been among
| the most valuable lessons OF the war to the
whole South. The evidences Of the practi-
| cal usefulness Of observations made under
! these conditions are not wanting in the up
! lands of the tarolnaS and in northern
| Georgia and Alabama. II you converse
| with any of thse yeomen and you should hap
| pen to be from either Mary land or PennSy.-
| yania, they will be very sure to remark
| that You take mVnstrOus good care of
! stock in your country. mister They will
| never forget the fine horses, cows and brrns
| which they saw in
! The Cumberland valley.
| Though they have not been quick I" apply
| some of the lessons which are applicable 10
| the South, and its soil, climate and agr
| culture, SO different from those OF the
! Middle States yet the intelligent interest
! manifested and the increased production
| during the past fifteen years are
| strongly significant Of still further dcyet-
! upmcnt during the present generation.
| ! Il NM lrliryp that mart of the South to
| which these observations arc limited wants
northern capital So much ~ white skilled
| labor to stimulate and instruct the white
resident population. Those sections ri our
country which are most prosperous have
| become 50 by muscle and brains chchY.
! and with proper auXiliariCS "f the same
| sort from the North or from Europe, there
! is no reason why the South could not get
! along without northern capital, which
! would exact its tribute To enrich nCn-rrsI-
! dents. 1t is not the purpose 0f this writing
| to discuss questions OF capita! and labor
| but TO transmit impressions made By OBJ
| scryatiOn. Both capital and
Skilled Labor,
! however. are welcomed in this rich rcgi, n,
| where the resources are SO immense aS 10
smother envy and rOw-mindcdneHS.
| Strangers VIII" visit the South for the frSt
! time express surprise, even now, with us
| hackwardncS> in comparison with progress
| in the far West. A gentleman from the
North made the observation that the South
rrn people never finish their undcrtaklnS'.
| As he made the rcmarl, he pointed out
number of untidy features III the cHp"'i-
ton grounds, and to some III the buildings
Which would have been vastly improved
hr little paint or even whitewash. he
also referred to the inConvcniences OF travel
to the absence of comfort in wayside houses
and to many instances where abundance
prev allied and thrift and neatucSs were want
ing. Atlanta is Il town full of large ware
houses and Of business on large scale; II