The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-04-12
Letter from Georgia.
AN AUGUSTA MANS OBSERVATIONS AND
SOME VERY SENSIBLE REFLECTIONS.

AN AUGUSTA MANS OBSERVATIONS AND
SOME VERY SENSIBLE REFLECTIONS.
ATLANTA, GA, April 4, 1883.
MEssRs. EDITORs:- Being in full SYM
pathy with your public spirit, and appre-
clating the energy and vigor with which
you have used your pen and talents to adj
vertiSe and build up our southern country,
and especially our dear old State and county
in all their material interests, | take the
liberty of addressing you this letter to
state some OF the impressions made on my
mind by what [ have seen while in this,
the Gate City of the South
Standing on the Broad street iron bridge
which spans Wall street, through which
run the tracks of a half-dozen Oh more rail
roads, all centering at the Union car shed,
one is in the centre of the business portion
Of Atlanta. From this standpoint the OBJ
server has q good view Of the incoming
and outgoing trains as they go laundering
along beneath him to their places of des-
tination. Under the kUrnion shed he sees
at one time five and six passenger trains,
some unloading and others receiving their
precious freights of human beings. Stand
ing by prominent passenger agent | asked
him how many passenger trains pass to
and from the city during q day. about
fifty" he replied. The freight trains are
innumerable. 1t seems to me that they
are running every minute in the day While
acres are covered with cars waiting to be
unlOaded. He sees them loaded with coal
from Tennessee and Alabama, with cotton
from all parts of the South, with fruits and
vegetables from South Georgia and Florida,
with granite from Stone mountain, and
with every other article Of trade that can
be mentioned. 1t will only require his
observation from this point a short while
to convince him that Atlanta is lively,
busy city, full of pushing business men
who are endowed with all the energy and
active zeal necessary to make it q great
manufacturing and commercial centre.
Its growth is regular and maryelously
rapid. Its population in 1880 was 10000
souls, now they claim $4,000. Everybody
is rushing and pushing ahead in earnest
pursuit of the dollar that drives the wolf
from the door OF elevates him to the plane
lists. Property is advancing rapidly in
value in and around the city, a truth which
has been appreciated by one of our neigh
bors who lately invested largely in real es-
tate. Yesterday [ attended the sale at
public auction of a fOur-story brick bust
ness house 50X60, standing on the corner of
Broad and Alabama streets. The first bid
was $4,000, second bid $25, 900, and up
ward it went until finally it was knocked
down to our esteemed eX-congressman Hon.
John T. Harris, of Harrisonburg, Va, for
$33 300, and bid in by his nephew, Mr..
Glen Harris, son Of Jas. O. Harris, of this
city.
Now, Mr.. Editor, what does this mean? |
| know our Hon. Judge knows how tomake |
a good investment for he has done it in
this instance; l know too that be has a
right to invest money where he chooses;
but [ know further that he is a great be- |
lever in Virginia's future prospects and
tries to induce northern men and capitalists |
flom other sections of the country to III
vest in Virginia property. Has the Judge |
lost confidence in Virginia as q place to |
make good Investments or not? Does he |
intend to cease trying to boom up his old
Mother and to bring into her limits the |
surplus capital of the North, and to take |
from her even what capital she now has?
He has been for many years one of our |
leading men and is one OF them now. He |
has been honOred by his people whenever |
he asked anything from their hands by |
such rousing majorities as no other man |
ever received. Has he lost confidence in !
her prospects? | again ask. If he has, why? |
Mr.. Editor, the monied men of Virginia |
are doing her more harm than might at |
first sight be supposed. Look at them in |
your own city. They have no aspirations |
above a shaving bank, an insurance COM
pany OF a stack of whiskey barrels as high |
as their ceilings. How can we expect |
northern men to come among us with their |
capital unless our own capitalists manifest |
a little confidence in the work they would |
have others undertake? You may write |
and eXpatiate on our natural advantages |
until the ''crack of doom" and it will do /
no good unless Virginia capital comes out |
from behind negotiable notes ''and strong |
to show itself ready for the |
great race that is set before us to run for t
future emlnence among our sister states. I
| intended to tell you something of the |
different branches of manufacturing con-
Quoted here, but my letter is getting too |
long already. | wished to tell you Of the
chemical works, the cotton seed oil works.
the cotton factories NOW making over
100000 yards of cloth per week., the phos-
Dhate works, the broom factories, and
many other factories, &C., SC. Atlantians |
say if a man has $500 here idle OF lying in
Dank he will be drummed out of town if he
IS found out. Everybody must be busy,
from the colored bootblack and newSboy
up to the richest dealer. Few kid-sloved
men sporting iyory-headed canes are to be
seen on the streets. 1t is the special duty
II all, old and young, to talk up the town
md to make strangers believe they have
pig city. Printers ink is profusely used.
OBSERVER.
l failed to tell you that the East Tenn
Va. & Ga Railroad company has agreed
20 furnish coal to Atlanta for 50. 50per ton.
md this is 0ncOuraOin0 manufacturers IN |