Daily Republican., 1881-09-13
The south Re.awak entng.

TUESDAYs SEP EEM BEk lSs ASSl
The south Re.awnk ening.
We read of extensive arrangement
being made by the Ex-Contederates G
Tennessee to receive and welcome tn
army of the Cumberland at its project
ed re-uD;on in October Everything
to be done in style worthy OF the oc
casion and Ex-Confederate officers ar
to alternate with Federal officers II
making speeches AMI trying to SHOW
that the effects and incidents of the late
civil war though remembered, only the
good is cherished and veil is drawn
over the bad. There seems to be com
mon desire to be in deed and in truth
brethren once more. Not only have we
this indication of a re-awaking in pa
triotism and love for the old flag and
the government, but common impulse
seems to be animating the whole South
in business point of view as well.
Every day we read glowing accounts of
an old time prosperity which is setting
in all directions, mainly through the
agency of northern men and northern
capital it is true, but with the full con
sent and encouragement of our South
ern brethren. Politics have apparently
succumbed at last to business. The
solid South in politics which held a
menace over the Union and stability OF
our government is falling into pieces
and giving way to more enlightened
and common sense conservatism. The
generation of hot heads who have so
long ruled and ruined the South have
had time to cool their added brai IS and
tone down their sectional prejudices,
and are now engaged in the far nobler
object of upbuilding Southren interests,
and encouraging Northren men to in
vest money in that section and locate
there to look after it.
Unquestionably not since the days at
tending the rebellious outbreak at fort
Sumpter has there been such an era of
good feeling between the two sections
as there is now and it is earnestly hop
ed that the reunion OF interests so aus.
piciously begun may continue through
years to come. Another good sign of
the times is that immigration to the
South is steadily increasing. The in
dustrial resources of the South are be-
ing gradually developed, and well au-
thenticated statistics show an enormous
influx Of Northern capital. A CORES
pondent of the New York Herald for ex.
ample writing from Atlanta, Georgia,
where the great International Exposi-
tion is to be held, says there have been
Subscribed in the North and in Europe
during the past eighteen months, $780,
600, 900 for Investments in the South.
From Texas to South Carolina the
demand for skilled labor, improved
machinery and more capital is far great
er than the supply. In nothing is the .
re-awakened South showing ii greater
amount of skill and enterprise than in
the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Be-
fore the war and away back III ante !,
bellum times the south only raised the ;,
raw cotton and the North manufac-
tured 1t into muslins sheetings aud
other cotton goods, but now extensive
cotton manufactures are being erected
and cotton fabrics are spun, woven, =,
bleached and prepared for the market 7
on the spot where the white cotton g
bells are raised. Statistical. reports
show that last year the annual divi- y
dend OF the principal mills of the
South was twenty-five and half per. r
ent. In our general news column will i
De found an extract from letter South +
~ the New York Herald, setting forth
the giant strides the re- awakened South
Ii making in manufacturing the cotton +,
she raises. !,
Another good sign of the times in the it
South is the fact that the great cotton a,
plantations are being broken up ri
and divided into smaller farms. Such d
q breaking up even here in DelaW are d
would add to her material prosperity. te
According to the census in b1ississippi, O;
there were i2,340 plantations twenty
years ago, with an average extent of
31O acres. Ten years ago the number u
Of plantations, or rather farms, had in tt
creased to 6S,O2S their average being dt
l73 acres. The tent of cultivated cl
and it will be seen was less than in nj
1860, and the loss in that respect has ia
1ot since been regained, for the num- pl
Der of farms in 1880 was 75,2O5 and
heir average size 1856 acres, and yet the
production Of cotton is nearly twice as IN
great as before the war sp
Here is a combination of facts which r.
90 to show al extraordi nary reawaken- W
ng in the South. This is undoubtedly
'he tloodtide of the affairs of that sec
lion which is being intelligently en- Fo
oraced and which will lead on to for
'une The southern people have it in IN
heir own hands to foster this spirit of on on
or they can etf.ctual,y check pa
t and drive it into other fields if thew rii
pursue their old time policy of intol- nh l,l
rance of other peoples political opip- be
ons and continue to hug the traditions be
# old fsuds and antiquated ideas. A W.