Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-05-15
From the N. Y. Mail and Express
Brighter Days for the South.

From the N. Y. Mail and Express.l
Brighter Days for the South.
A NEW ERA OF PRosPERITY-MILLs IN
FULL BLAST AND ACTIVITY EVERY
WHERE NOTICEABLE.
Mr.. Jefferson M. Levy, a well.known
lawyer and politician of New York city,
has returned to that city, after an ex-
tended tour through the Southern
States. He has. for several years past,
been deeply interested in the progress
which the States ''below the linen have
been making towards prosperity. On
the 18th inst, a reporter of the Mail and
Express called on him, and in answer
to several inquiries regarding his trip,
Mr.. Levy said:-
II was greatly astonished during nv
last trip when l saw how greatly the
| South had advanced towards that uIti
mate good fortune which every North
erner would like to see attend his efforts.
The people of Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama
are wonderfully prosperous. Cotton
mills have been established in large
numbers in all the States I have men
toned, with the exception of Virginia
and Alabama, and in those States the
iron and coal mines are being worked
with determination on the part OF
their owners to make them pay The
! crops have been more prosperous than
for many years past and the acreage for
cotton has increased at least five per
cent. over last year. The cotton crop
this year will aggregate in the cotton
growing States south of Virginia about
eight millions of bales, and as the growth
has been a little backward there is less
chance for late frost to injure it. Last
year the crop amounted to seven mil
lions of bales and was considered large
growth. The Southerners are begin
ming to realize that they can manufac-
ture equally as good cotton cloths in
their own towns as we can in the North,
and in consequence a number of cotton
mills have been built and are now
doubling their capacity, so great is the
demand from consumers at home. The
cotton cloths are sold much lower than
the Northern manufactures, and neces-
sarily the profit is considerable factor
in the universal prosperity. The mills
at Augusta, Ga. are very extensive and
supply great portion of the population.
The cotton seed oil has become a very
important industry and very large
revenue is derived from its manufacture
Mills have been erected in almost every
city, and large quantities of it are eX-
ported. The cotton exposition at At
lanta tended greatly to bring capital to
the South, and the present prosperity is
mainly due to its having been such al
unqualified success Large tracts of
land are being bought by New York
capitalists and turned to plantations or
mining fields. Plantations will sell fer
$40 to $12 an acre in most of the South
ern States, while they can be obtained
in a state of cultivation from their own
ers at an annual rental of from $l.50 to
So an acre. The consequence is, that
many of the large plantations are under
the direction of lessees. In Alabama a
great tract of pine timber land has been
bought up by an English syndicate
you mentiOned the progress which
Virginia and Alabama have made in
coal and iron mining. Has it been very
great ?"
Wonderfully SO. Perhaps the reason
why these States have utilized their re-
sources is because railroads are being
pushed through them In every direc-
ton. The Shenandoah and Allegheny
Valley railways have been built within
the past three years, and along the lines
of those roads at least twenty five iron
furnaces have been built The New
River Railroad now enters Roanoke and
has transformed it from a misera bic
little village into q wide-awaks t0rt o!
5000 inhabitants, with hotels, rolling
mills, furnaces, shops, and ell the evi
dences of growing railroad ceatre -
Both Richmond and Lynchburg have
increased in population and In wealth,
and Norfolk is now to all appearances
q Northern city. In Alabama all the
iron furnaces are in full blast The iron
producers claim that they can and dc
sell the metal in pigs for So ton cheap
er than it can be obtained ia any other
part of the country. The limestone and
coal fields are all together, and q: a re
suit the smelling OF the ore csn be done
st comparatively small expense The
producers also claim that they can send
their iron TO the Northern markets and
undersell the metal Of Pennsylvania
The Georgia Pacific Railroad is finished
as far AS Annoston and is being extend
| paying is shown by its local husin ess
=
Birmingham Is now town of Is, 900 in
habitants where five years ago there
was clump of trees. 1t is a regular
mining depot. The coal fields which
surround it are very extensive. These
coal lands are sold for from 81 to $40 an
acre. 4 Mr.. Pratt, of Birmingham, is
at present the largest individual owner,
but there are syndicates of England and
New York capitalists who own q large
portion of the coal and iron fields of the
State. There are 1900 tons of coal
brought to the surface in the mines near
Birmingham every day, and there are
1000 miners steadily ct work.
"In Albemarle county, Va, great
quantities of fruit are being grown. It's
most important product is about 100 000
gallons of wine each year. The grapes
give perhaps the best medicinal wine in
the South. The large iron fields in the
immediate vicinity of the vineyard give
d peculiar taste, but add to the stren < tn
ening properties of the wine A vines
yard which would cost $3.50 for land aud
setting will return 5000 net on the first
reimbursement. The winesells read.
lily for 81 gallon. Albemarle county,
in addition TO its grapes, produces the
finest fruit in the South
| AS neHfiy aS you GEL luuge, " Dat
are the most important political issues
at stake in the South at present?"
ut is very difficult question to an
swer. In Alabama the largest producers
are all most determined in their oppo-
sition to the continuance o. the present
tariff sud the same spirit of opposition
is evident throughout the South. They
claim that in iron and coal, were the
tariff changed, they could compete with
the North and throw their products on
she market with some chance of profit,
while they are now harassed by the ex.
ceseive tariff rates. In Virginia the
Malone folly has gradually died away,
and the people are beginning to see their
lack of wisdom in not paying the in
terest on their State debt. They now
have plenty of money in their treasury
TO meet the State obligations, and repu.
diation has become very unpopular. -
Aside from these two questions the poi.
itical sentiments of the people Of the