San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-07-19
of prosperity the like of which tina

leQCeus Ii 10 uoe hihi"N w ~S Va
two states. From the Potomac To
the Rio Grande del Norte all the states
are dressed in the new rig of progress
up to the fashion, north and west.
The south use to depend upon king
Cotton" alone. If the king crop
failed there was no other resource.
They looked to the north and west for
their corn, pork, bacon, lard, butter.
clothing and flour. They had open
shipping ports only for the export o
cotton, and if the manufacture of the
staple ever entered into the southern
mind a quater of a century ago it
was only as a vague dream. The
dolce far niente of plantation life was
content with its semi-civilized sur
roundings, and from its long seclusion
and love of seclusion never aspired to
rivalry with the restless activity of the
outside world. All that, like slavery
and the pet theory of state rights and
a seperate empire, has passed away;
passed almost out of remembrance
and certainly beyond recall. Virginia
is reaching out after those mining and
manufacturing industries in iron that
have. made Pennsylvania SO great and
her resources are not less than those
of the Keystone state in coal and iron.
South Carolina and Georgia have tak-
en- on the condition of varied agricul-
ture, on which Illinos and Ohio pros
pered, without in the least discounting
their staple of cotton.
Cotton manufactures are growing
in these states and Alabama more
rapidly than in any part of New Eng
land, and for the good reason that
the net profits are greater than in
New England. It is not metaphor
to say that New Orleans slept for
twenty years, from 1860 to 1880, al
most as unconscious of her natural
advantages of position and of what
was going on in the world as Rip Van
Wrinkle was of the changes in his
native town. All at once the old
Creole city has risen out of her slum
Der and put on new life as vigorous
as that of the most enterprising city
in the west. Her exports, which prior
to 1880 were insignificant, last year
reached $380,OO0,00O in value, and
the estimates for this year are nearly
$500, 100000. No doubt the improve
ment of the navigation of the river
below the city has contributed largely
to this boom, but the railway system
Of the southwest, and especially Of
Texas, has contributed more.
And as this system expands and as
The navigation of the great river above,
to the Black Hills on one side and the
Falls of st. Anthony OIL the other, is
bettered by contributions from the Fed
eral government, the growth of the
of New Orleans must con-
5inue to increase till it shall be at
east the second export city on the
continent. Wheat and flour produced
vest of Illinois will not 60 to New
York, Boston or Baltimore by rail
when it can reach New Orleans by
water at cheaper rates. Arkansas,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, the
indian Territory and Texas will, from
he railway facilities afforded, nearly
Ill 60 New Orleans that does not 60
10 Galveston. AS to Texas, that great
state is only beginning to be appre-
dated at it's future value and capabili-
lies. Larger than France, it has a
better soil generally, as good aclimate,
S watered by many rivers, and will
soon be as well railroaded as any state
n the Union. Marvellous as was it's
Increase in population from 1870 to
1880, much more is expected in the
present decade. AS good judge as
general McClellen, who has recently |
Visited many parts of the Texas Pan
handle, predicts a population of 5,000,-
100 for the whole state by the year
1870, and he declares that it can
,rosperously support 20,000,000 and
without crowding. A state like that
S capable of supporting a commercial
ity of the frst-class. Already Texas
S second only to Georgia in the pro-
luction of cotton and she produces
more cattle than any other two states.
The social and commercial relations
,etween California and the southwest
must in h few years become very close
closer perhaps between us than any
ther part of the Union-San Fran
isco Chronicle.