The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-12-06
The Industrial Growth of Missia-
sippi,

1
ing at saeatoga, New York. 1t con
| tains the able address delivered befor
the Association BY Mr.. w. H. Perkins
Cashier of the Capital State Bank Q
this city, which is here reproduced:
| Mr Presidene-and Gentlemen Of tbe ConYen
/ tion
| had no thought when came here 0
| having anything to do but to listen anC
learn, but your officers will have it that
should contribute my mite to the genera
stock of information as to the present anC
perspective movements of that great wave o
industrial renovation which is everywhere
| pouring its fertilizing streams through thu
rich valleys of the South, and nowhere
more than in my own State.
Mississippi has an area of thirty million;
of acres, less that one-half of which are in
cultivation; population of nearly mil
lion and a quarter, and is still the first
State in cotton oduction-making now
very nearly one million of bales.
The good prospects before
us, the result of diligent labor and propitious
seasons, put genial smile upon the faces oi
our farmers and business men; but a more
SHQuI4uS PI0IulSS Vi prosperity ID LH6 ui6-
| position of planters to give up the one idea
of planting cotton. For years the mass OF
our farmers have been aware that chief
attention to the culture. of cotton was an
error, but they were in debt, chiefly through
the incubus of thriftless labor, like the
man in the old story who held the bear by
the tail--afraid to let go and afraid to hold
on. Our best farmers, one by one, on the
hill lands are giving their broad acres TO
the cultivation of the Bermuda, Johnston
grass, the German millet, oats and corn,
and stocking their farms with thorough
bred cattle and sheep. Old fields, for
years fallow land and public common, can
now often be seen, enclosed with wire
fences, carpeted over with Bermuda, that
excellent native grass, and instead of the
dreary waste the eye is greeted with the
sight of the snow-white South Downs and
French Merinos, and the music of lowing
herds falls upon the ear. We have our own
State Stock Breeders Association, our stock
journals, and growing stock market. a
more favorable climate and soil for raising
stock cannot be found in the United States,
and it is possible that the next census will
report the growth of cotton in Mississippi,
confined chiefly to the alluvial lands of the
Yazoo delta the Mississippi and the Tom
bigbee rivers, and the undulating high
lands appropriated chiefly for stock raising
and the growth off grass and cereals. And,
by the way, it is said that the Yazoo delta,
embracing strip of country from one to
two counties wide, and extending from
Memphis to Vicksburg is capable of pro-
ducing more than one-half as much cotton
as is now raised in the entire United States.
The population of Mississippi might be in
creased by millions, still there would be |
room for more, and still undeyeloped sources
of wealth.
In the past year railroad enterprises have |
begun or are being prosecuted that will |
cause an expenditure within the State of
fifteen to twenty millions of dollars within |
the next two or three years. The Erlangers,
who bought the old Southern Road run
ming east and west across the middle of the |
State, and are relaying it with new steel |
rails, are also building a road from Meri- |
dian to New Orleans, running 100 miles |
across the Southern portion of |
the State, opening up to settlers the great |
pine forests of that region. The road from |
Natchez will be completed to Jackson, in
the centre of the State, some time next |
month.
The directors of the Chicago, st. Louis
and New Orleans Railroad have resolved to
build road from Jackson to Yazoo City, /
and the work will be begun some time this
fall. The most important enterprise in the
State is that of Mr.. r. T. Wilson, of New |
York City, who is building railway from
New Orleans to Memphis, running parallel
with the Mississippi river, and for hun
lred miles or more through region as fer
.ile as the Valley of the Nile The old
Memphis and Selma Road project has been
revived and placed under contract for speedy
This road runs diagonaIly
lcross the Northern part of the State from
to the southeast.
The old roads have been greatly improved,
'ates Of freight and travel reduced, and en-
,ouragement given for the growth and de.
7elopment of business along the lines
During the past two years hundreds of
thousands of acres of public lands have been
old, chiefly of the pine timber lands alongl
he new lines ofrailway. Western saymill
ind lumber men, anticipating the exhaus-
ion of timber in the West, have been
oouring in and buying up these splendid
imbered lands, SO long unappreeiated, and
Ilmost valueless for want of railroads. l
Eill venture the assertion that during the
wslye months inst elapsed Mississippi has
1aid more money into the United States
my State in the Union, and that it is with
,ut parrellel in the history of that State.
Did time permit, might give you many
easons to show you that Mississippi has
AIKEN up her line of march, and she
means to go resoluteiy forward. We have
ome lgwlessness, it is true. What State
las not +? We have an excellent Code of
avs, and the mass of our people honor and
bide by our laws, conscious that without I
aw there can be no real liberty. The time
las been when we thought we were ruined !
lmost beyond redemption, when, adYersity
Fas heaped upon adversely. until there
eemed to be no light at all behind the
lack clouds. but as it often is in an indi-
idual experience, so it is proving in our
tate affairs-the clouds We so much dread-
q are found working together forour good.
Under the old system our young men and
oung women we're growing up in idleness,
nd idleness~ does not tend to the higher
irtues But Providence put us upon the |
ack Of ftrihulaIion and has allowed US to be
ifted as wheat, and is bringing great good
ut of what seemed great evil. We have ]
enereration growing up who win be more
irtu0us than any that has preceded il.
Three-quarters of million Of dollars are
ON expended annually on our FIVE thou-l
and free schools, besides which there are j
So private schools for advanced students Of |
9th races, including the university for /
lhite students at Oxford, with It's 800 stu
entss To1gaieo University with its $50 stu i
ents, and which receives So 900 annually :
ON the State, and two agricultural and J
lechanical colleges Our educational in-
;itutions have increased near fOurfold in
be past decade 8
Now, only word and will not eneroach /
lrther upon your valuable time. We want 4
ney-cheap money We have one ma
onal bank with capital OF $75, 600, and
erhaps hall Z million in various private
anks scattered khfoughout the State. Wei 2
eed National bank, with akleast half {
Iillion capital, an 0f which could Be profit Z
BIy and safely employed il developing i
ia aiding mannIaelBries Of cotton, wool. !
Iachinery, il bringing q the surface the J,
ast wealth il 0nr mari beds, which are
1undant and Il aiding our planferss and 8
bring producer and consumer into more
rect contact
NE. Riehars kuown q some Of /
ID IS the largest cotton planter n the