The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-11-05
Southern Possibilities.
SOUEItFH =
Atlanta Constitution

one of the leading fnanclers OF TINS
country. Although young man
there are only two or three men IN
New York who command more
capital than he. Counting..hls wealth
well up intothe millions, he has the
thorough confidence of capitalists all
through the country, and his sagaci-
ty and success strengthen nm yea,
after year. He has lately invested
heavily in Southern property, and IS
now prospecting with a view OF
making other investments.
A representative of the Constitu-
ton called on Mr.. .Inmap on yester
day and asked his. view on the out
look, which he moderately offered
to give, In response to an inquiry
as to what he thought of the pros
poets of,the South, he said;
at is my opinion that the whole
country will develop very rapidly
within the next ten years. The i'm
mense amount of capital in New
York, Philadelphia and Boston, as
well as throughout the smaller cities
Of the North and East, uninvested
or in use at low rates will lnev1ta
bly, seek investment in sections OF
the country that are yet undevel-
oped and not supplied with capital.
There is little to do in the way OF
development in New England and
capital looking for investment must
seek the West or the South. The
West has already been occupied, so
to speak, the best points having
been taken, and the most promising
projects carried out. The South,
on the other hand, devasted by the
war, has suffered ever since for the
lack of capital. ~ p" .'
Most of the region that is mark
ed unsettled on the maps is COM
posed Of alkah plains too poor to be
worked, of virtual deserts, or of
prairies too cold to live upon. The
recent drouth and fires in even
those parts Of the Northwest that
are occupied, show how terrible
the summer is, and the terrible suf
fering of last winter, when whole
villages were showed up, and hun
dreds of people persisted through
the cold, can give us an idea of their
winters. OF course capital will hes.
tate to seek sections in which there
are such troubles in all seasons as
these. In the South there is moth
ing of this. The climate is equabIe,
the crops are certain, and there is
no occasion for any thing like a
general failure. The very fact that
the Southern farmers have been
compelled to produce the cotton
crop and at the same time pay for
supplies fifty per cent interest for
the use of money for eight months
on the immense amounts they have
paid out for fertilizers, farm nipple
mentS and provisions, which is over
six per cent a month-the fact,
say, that they have been paying
this ruinous interest for the past fif-
teen years, at the same time CON
tending with the untried labor and
new condition of things, and have
yet managed not only to keep their
heads above water. but to make
money, is perfect proof that this is
the best section for the farmer in
America. As soon as capital comes
into the South and farmers can pay
cash for their supplies, getting them
at cash Tates-as soon as they have
} mastered the new science OF farm
J ing with free labor and with i'm.
proved machinery and scientific
, methods, and as soon as they Learn
to diversity their crops and adop
!. the exact and prudent management
= Of the Northern farmers, they viii
become the most prosperous people
on the earth, in my opinion. Where
the farmers are prosperous there is
: always little risk in lending or in
: vesting capital"
: "What are the greatest agents 0
= development in the South?"
II should say the railroads. 1t i
commerce that builds up and devel
ops any country. In olden time
1 those portions of the coasts on which
1 there were the best bays and har
( bors became sites of great cities sim
ply because they were points a
which the products of the interio
were collected and sent TO market
Y The railroads are to the interio
r just what the harbors are to tn
coasts, and will just as certainly de
velop the sections through which
e they run. They will bring into cul
O tlvation vast tracts of land, hereto
fore too remote from market to pa,
for the cultivation of staple crops
They will develop mining prosper
l. ties that were heretofore inaccessi
i BILE; they will make available vas
n forests of common and hard wooc
) that heretofore would not paw 70
n the telling, and they will build vii
s lagos, towns and cities to handl
j the trade and forward the product
y of the heretofore undeveloped re
: gion that they penetrate.
o. Better than all these, new road
q will bring in their wake new set
S tiers from all over the world. 1t i
0 NECESSARY for their prosperity tina
s they should establi' h colonies o
d farmers and mechanics along thei
e lines, and already many of then
e have agents in Europe to Undue
n emigrants to seek homes in tn