Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-11-27
The Progress aft Georgia.

Of betterment in all instances,
and cOnfound the easy running of the ma
chine with the perfection of all its parts.
The engineer, who has control of COM
plicated and scientifically constructed
piece of mere mechanism, only worthily
fills his place as a director of its motions
and a responsible agent for the results
accomplished, as he fully understands the
adaptability of all the parts Of his ma
! chine, and cunningly notes every move
ment which goes to make up the result
which must follow the perfect working OF
the whole.
These remarks are Introductory TO a
brief review Of the present status OF the
political, industrial and social position OF
the State of Georgia as revealed by the
facts and figures constituting the Annual
Report of Comptroller General Wright,
which has recently been issued, for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 1882.
For the past ten years the internal gov
eminent of our State has been controlled
and regulated by her own citizens, under
| the leadership and direction Of her own
statesmen. The borrowed advice and DO
| gus craftsmanship Of adventures, which
| cursed the commonwealth during the
years of reconstruction Immediately after
the war, have been relegated to oblivion,
where they justly belonged. Their rule
and ruin policy left the State civil
wreck; its people dispirited; its resources
wasted; its treasury plundered; its rich
| fields now teeming with agricultural
wealth desolated without a spot of YER
dure to break the dismal continuity, or
rose of the wilderness left on its stalk to
tell where the garden had BEEN"
During these ten years of home rule
with patient toll our people have worked
and labOred, each consecutive year, going
| forth ''Often weeping and bearing precious
seed with them,' but doubtless anticipat-
ing the realization of their hopes and
dreams that they would come again with
rejoicing, clearing their sheaves with
| them"
1t would be an interesting exhibit, did
| space and time admit, to take historic
glance at these years of patience and toll
and endurance of our people, and
to trace the gradual moving of events
to the present year; to note the political
| currents which have carriedthe Common
wealth to its present position in the body
| polite; to mark the prOvidential leading
| Of events directed by no mortal hand; the
changes of political feeling from section
| alism to brotherhood. and the individual
| efforts of brave and honest hearts TO cul-
| tivate the virtues of a true brotherhood in
noble ends and aspirations. To mark how
| individual ambition has yielded to the
| public veal; how noble impulses have per-
meated throughout our social organism;
| how self has been sacrificed for the benefit
| of the many, and how glorious old Georgia
has redeemed, vindicated and sanctified
| the glorious truths to which she put her
| hand and seal in 1776, when she declared
that all men were born free and equal,and
| were entitled to the inalienable rights of
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
/ ness" But the limits of this article fOrbids
this.
We proceed, therefore, to give what we
started out to do, GeOrgia's progress in
| nutshell, as compiled from the report of
the Comptroller General of the State Gust
issued) from the 3Oth day of September,
| 1891, to the Both day of September, 1882
First, as to the financial condition of the
| State as regards its Indebtedness. The
! bonded debt of the State is represented by
bonds amounting in the aggregate to the
| sum of $. 1924. I35. The issuance of these
/ bonds commenced in February, 1866, at a
| time when desOlatiOn and ruin marked
| the face of the State, and they are COM
posed of per cent. and per cent. bonds,
| running. twenty years, redeemable in 1876;
| per cent bonds, redeemable in 1S90-92:
| per cent. ten, eleven, twelve and thlr-
teen wears bonds, Tedeemable in loS3-o4-
! SJ-S6: : per cent. bonds, issued in 1876,
redeemable in twenty years; per cent.
| bonds, issued in 1880. payable in 1886, and
: per cent. bonds, issued under the au-
thOritv of an act of the Legislature in 1881,
redeemable in fifty years, or the year A.
ID. 1882. The annual interest on this debt
is $649, 40.
The report shows that on October eth,
1881. there was balance in the State
Treasury of $794.547 81, and that the re-
ceipts of the fiscal year of 1892 were
$1,000, 49, 10, making total in the Treasu-
~ to be accounted for, 81, 403. 979 81. The ne
cessary expenditures for 1882 in all the de-
partments of the government were $1,113,-
597 46. for which vouchers are exhibited
i'm the report, leaving a balance in the
Treasury on the LIST day of October last Of
S69O.472 Is. This is not all cash balance,
but represents cash values. The indebted
| ness of the broken State repositories, the
Citizens Bank Of Atlanta and the Bank
of Rome, is a portion of this balance,
| which, deducted, leaves an actual cash
balance in the Treasury of $310,Of Al.
The reports show a very marked in
| crease in the value of the property in the
State over the valuation of 1881 and 1880.
In 1881 the total value of taxable property
of the State returned was $270, 1893, SSS, be-
ing an increase of $1S,777,9l1 over the
wear 1880. and the returns for 1882 show
an increase over those of 1891 of SIG, 255,-
$50. making a total increase of property in
the State for the two years, 1881 and 1882
amount TO So, 232, 761. This state of af-
fairs is by no means regarded as spas
mOdic. but is the actual addition to the
wealth of the State and to its consequent
resources, added by the energy and labor
of its agriculturists, its merchants and its
laboring men during the past two years.
The increase in cotton manufactures is
little more than one million. 1t has
been the policy of the State to protect their
Young industries by exemptions, up to
certain limit, from taxation, and thirty of
the cotton and other factories of the State
enjoy the benefits Of this protective policy,
which expires in 1897 in majority of
cases. The amount of capital thus eX-
empted amounts to 81, 49,
/ As indicating the remarkable improve
! ments accomplished during the past year,
/ if is shown that the taxes paid by the rail-
roads running in the State were, III 1881,
I 81. Alb So. while in 1882 the taxes paid
! from the same source was $42,247 40, the
/ increase in the valuation of railroad pro-
perty being estimated at 81 1855, 1869.
The report also gives an insight into the
economy with which the government has
been carried on during the past year, and
/ comparatively for the past ten years, I'M
I der the rule of her own citizens, and di-
/ rected by the control of her own states
men. Our large legislative body and its
paw roll consumes but S1o0,4l6 30 of the
public money. The contingent fund used
in 1882 was only $1,000. The civil estab=
lishment cost but $29,170 "A and all the
! judicial departments of the State, Judges
/ and Solicitors General, cost but $40, 7'5 in