The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-09-23
PALATKA, FLA, SEPT. %, 1885.
THE GROWTH OF THE SOUTH

III Is W. wv
Orleans Times Democrat, TO see how
certain republican papers persist IN
their mistakes about the south. One
great mistake of theirs is we'll
brought out in the following lamcn
tation from the Cincinnati CONNER
ciaI Gazette:
'sThe south is very important
part of this country. It is very rich
: in natural resources. 1t has every
element of prosperity, except popu
lation and capital. 1t has these IN
greater proportion than formerly,
but still the tide does not run in that
direction in the proportion that the
natural advantages Of the country
should command. Look at the tide
Of immigration. How is that dis
fributed ? Look at the overflow
from the east and middle states
How il that distributed 1t does
not 20 south, 1t does 90 north.
Why? There are vust forest IN the
south; the lands are as good on ~
average as in the north; there are
vast deposits Of mineral wealth.
On the surface and underneath are
ineShaustibIe supplies Of treasure
the very thing that men seek
and that enterprise is beginning TO
develop; but still foreigners and ma
tives prefer the frozen north to the
genial south. People iostlc each
other to get lands in Dakota, where
the weather is cold enough to
''frecze the smoke stack off q loco
motive" and pay big prices for
them, turning their backs upon the
comparatively cheap and yet fertile
lands of the south. See how rapid
ly the northwest has grown III pop
ulation an! wealth, and how it CON
tinues to grow from an inflow from
Europe and the older states. The
rush is to that section. There is no
rush to the south. While the for
mer booms, the latter stands com
9aratively still The south grows,
If coutse, but il does not grow III
proportion TO It's natural advantages
There is a cause for this, and il mus;
he found in the organization Of So
ciety"
..Therc is no rush to the south.
While the northwest booms, the
south stands comparatively still.
This mistake can scarcely have been
nnintentional The Cincinnati Ga
zette has a copy of the census in its
Office, and if II had but turned to
this book it would have seen that in
the past decade there was a much
greater rush to the south than to
any other portion of the country,
AMI that il Increased M orclapidly
than in the North. There was n
movement of the cent?, uf popuIa
ton south ward of seven miles, show
ing that the drift OF our people is in
this direction; and as for the great
northwest, on which the CONNER
cial Gazette dwclls SO particularly,
while it increased 50 per cent in pop
nlation, the corresponding portion
of the south, the southwest, grew 81
per cent-not sufficient difference to
crow very loudly over. The move
.ment has kept steadily on ever since.
Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska
have certainly grown wonderfully
since 1880, but during these five
years the neighboring state of Tex
as has added as many people to its
population as Minnesota, Nebraska
end Dakota combined.
What surprises us is the CONNER
cial Gazette's forgetfulness. When
the late census showed that the
south had outstripped the north in
the rapidity of its increase, and that
it would in consequence largely add
TO its strength in congress, the Ga
zette was among those papers that
howled over this fact and insisted
that the census, taken under repub-
1ican auspices, was incorrect. 1t
was retasen in some sections, com
pletely indicating its accuracy and
again demonstrating in most en-
phatic manner the greater rate of
Increase of the south.